ORLANDO, Fla. — Like many kids who grew up in Central Florida, Michael Woodside had an annual pass to Walt Disney World. But little did he know that his family’s frequent visits to the theme parks would lead him out of this galaxy and to a “Strange World” as part of Disney’s most recent feature film.
“My family and I would go to MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios,” said Woodside, who graduated from University of Central Florida in 2008. “At the time they had a tour for how to make an animated movie (called) the Magic of Disney animation where Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite would walk us through the process. And that to me was like so eye-opening to see that ... you could draw for a living.”
Using what he saw at the theme park as inspiration, Woodside went on to create his own hand-drawn films at home, using the family’s glass dining room table and a light from below as a makeshift lightbox.
Fast forward to 2022, and Woodside has been at Disney for a decade, working on projects like “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Frozen 2,″ “Encanto” and most recently “Strange World,” which opens in theaters Wednesday.
On his most recent project, Woodside helped bring the characters of father and son Jaeger and Searcher to life, leading the animation on the characters’ facial expressions.
Woodside said he enjoys character animation specifically because it allows him to help drive home the emotion of the films he works on.
“Hit(ing) that perfect expression, and saying if I do this right, it’ll be a laugh or a tear, depending on the shot ... it’s a ton of fun.”
Currently, Woodside is working on top-secret content for Disney that has yet to be announced, but he said he’s having a blast working on new projects, especially during the studio’s milestone 100th year.
“It’s great to be at the animation studio for the 100-year anniversary because that’s where it started,” he said, adding that the return to the office this year has injected some “awesome energy” into the team. “I feel like we’re getting an extra little of love because people (are) just excited to be here.”
Though the genesis of Woodside’s animation career came from a Disney park, he said anyone with the drive and inspiration to create could one day end up at Disney, no matter where they might be from, their background or even their age.
“You have people in our department from everywhere in the globe, from every background, there are animators who decided that they wanted to be animators when they were in their forties and then went to school and then learned, and now they’re here. And then there are animators like me [that were] nerds as children and grew up to fulfill that prophecy,” he said.
“It’s a hard road to become an animator because it’s a lot of work to get you there, but it’s so satisfying to be a part of something that is celebrated and hopefully bringing good into the world.”
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