jenny we're gonna learn about each other
today
hey everyone welcome to what's up disney
plus where we talk
all things disney plus today we are
celebrating black history month by
honoring black stories and black
creators that helped shape the world of
disney plus
to spotlight that you can find an entire
collection of series and films
centered around black characters
families
heroes and storytellers called celebrate
black stories yes all the favorites are
there including hidden figures
remember the titans lucasfilm's red
tails ruby bridges
and safety today we'll be talking to
marlon west the vfx
supervisor of the walt disney animation
studios
series iwaju and we're going to be
bringing on a disney plus
youtube dynamic duo and no we're not
talking about us
no we are talking about kenneth and
marcellus the host of disney plus deets
we'll be talking to them today
in one big disney plus youtube family
event
let's get things going shall we
you have seen his work over the years
i'm talking the prisoners and the frog
moana frozen one and two my personal
favorite the lion king
marlon west has been bringing the magic
for over 20 years
west's newest project iwaju is the first
ever collaboration between
walt disney animation studios and the
pan-african
entertainment company kugali here to
talk all about it and more
is marlon west himself hey marlon thank
you so much for coming on the show
how are you doing today i'm doing very
well thanks for having me
so we would love to hear how you got
started on your journey
were you always interested in animation
yes i was always interested in movies
and movie making i would just
get books on movies seeing this behind
the scene
photo of a grown man animating but
looked like two toy
dinosaurs fighting to my second grade
mine that was like a
job where a grown man could take his
toys to work with him i love that
and what does it mean to be a vfx
supervisor and what led you to that
specifically well for a long time
most of my disney career up until a
couple of months ago i was an effects
animator
and head of effects and effects is
generally everything in an animated film
that
moves on screen that's not the
characters themselves the fire the water
the rain
smoke effects are there to kind of give
what i like to call production value
it's a lot of stuff that you don't
notice being an effects artist is a
lesson and kind of going unnoticed a lot
of the times well
we notice it but i can imagine seeing a
scene
without those elements i have been very
fortunate
to work on disney films like both
frozens and moana where effects are
front and center when you have a woman
shoot
throwing ice out of her hands building
her own eyes palace or a lava guardian
people notice those cause especially if
you hear so much about
traditional hand-drawn animation versus
cg animation but it seems like you've
been doing a lot of the
merging of the two every film that i've
worked on starting with the lion king
had cg like some of the wildebeest were
computer generated
pocahontas dug out canoes computer
generated grandmother willow's trunk
you know in the knot hole that her face
would appear in these are films that i
would watch
over and over again on my vhs so i'm
geeking out right now marlon
i am geeking do you have a movie or a
scene from a movie that
is like a personal favorite something
you're very proud of all these films
have had different moments for me
you know professional milestones my kids
got to see the princess and the frog and
the first film they saw on the theater
you know what princess to look like that
that meant a lot so some of the projects
you worked on like moana the princess
and the frog and the upcoming owaju they
all showcase great representation can
you tell us how that feels and why you
think that's important i feel it's
really
important to see yourself on screen and
i also think the representation is very
important behind the camera
900 people make these films and they
need a lot of folks of all different
hues to make them
everybody brings a little bit to the
table a little bit of themselves
and what do you hope to see more of in
the animation
landscape we have some new directors
that have entered the studio in the last
couple of years
they're people of color and they've got
some stories to tell are coming straight
from their heart
and i can't wait for folks to see those
movies for them to get their voices
amplified
it's going to be cool so tell us about
uwaju and the collaboration between walt
disney animation studios and kigali
i'm really thrilled to be working with
the leaders of
kugale to makeuaju it's a show that's
set in in lagos nigeria maybe
50 to 100 years in the future we're not
being very specific about it we're just
here to kind of
help tell their story so obviously
diversity is important
in front of the camera but i would like
to know what experiences you've had
where
having diversity behind the camera helps
with the storytelling to make it
genuine and authentic you want everybody
to be entertained but you want
there's one percent of people who might
recognize something to go like
oh you see that they got that when
somebody
stops me or or i'm having a conversation
and they recognize something that's from
their childhood or from their culture i
know we got it right
and i'm sure with working on a project
like wajo you're definitely
keeping that in mind i'm curious what
that process has been like we have
filmmakers that are are african two of
them are from lagos where the story is
set
one of them's from uganda and they are
actually making
an african story for africans there's
europa language in it there's pigeon
english in it there's
inside jokes there's a lot of things
that are
very very specific and sometimes when
you see stories like that you'll even
have people
of the culture goes wait i i understand
that too so you kind of feel like oh
yeah something very specific but also
universal yeah
yeah and it brings us all together that
way there's universal truths
to you know to truly great kind of
classic storytelling that's what we do
as a company generally you want to have
those things that really ring true to
people either
someone spoke up somebody did some
homework somebody brought something from
their mama's house and was like this is
how we do it
i agree there's a couple moments in
person the frog where i was like yeah
they did their work absolutely you got
to do it you got to get it right
well thank you again marlon for being on
the show this was such an important
conversation to have
and i'm pretty sure you just inspired a
bunch of new
future visual effects artists well
that's really good to know but yeah i
had a really great time talking to you
all this was super duper fun
and yeah thanks for having me be sure to
stream some of marlin's work
right now on disney plus and now it's
time for what's new
rogers and hammerstein's cinderella the
1997 movie starring brandy
starts streaming february 12th writer
director producer ryan coogler
and proximity media will develop a black
panther spin-off television series based
in the kingdom of wakanda for disney
plus be a part of hashtag black history
always by exploring the celebrate black
stories collection
featuring movies that both honor black
history and made history
including hidden figures black as king
soul
and many more life could be perfect when
it's made just for you
we have a new mid-season trailer for
marvel studios one division
now streaming on disney plus
[Music]
that's right from digitally right next
door we have two very special guests
from our disney plus
youtube family to chat with us today yes
here are two guys who are just as
obsessed with disney plus
as we are marcellus kid and kenneth
brown the host
of disney plus deets which you can watch
right here on the disney plush youtube
channel
what's up guys
excited y'all we're matching oh we are
wait a minute it's and everything the
multiverse is real
i love you so for the folks at home who
may not be familiar with you
or the series tell us about yourselves
and give us the deets on disney plus
deets
absolutely well me and ken have been
friends for a very long time we know
each other super well
and we love disney plus movies and
series and what better way
to hone that all in than to talk about
it on disney plus d what we do is we
talk about the things that you need to
know or maybe you didn't know about your
favorite disney plus
movies and series we take a deep dive
into all things disney plus
and i get to go on that journey with
this crazy guy over here
yeah after watching the first episode i
knew immediately i was like these guys
known each other for a while now
absolutely a long time i'm always poking
funny
it's my favorite thing this wouldn't be
a proper disney plus
youtube family reunion without a little
competition so
kenneth how well do you think you know
marcellus
i believe that i know marcellus quite
well
uh i'm worried about how well he knows
me and there's going to be a lot
of how this comes out kenneth is
unpredictable so we'll see
well we're about to be put to the test
with a little
challenge called battle of the hosts
in order to find out which duo knows
each other best
we're going to be asking some deep cut
questions so in order for your team to
win
we have to guess what our co-host is
thinking are you ready yes
andre i'm counting on you all right let
the battle
of the hosts begin hey
if we could be any disney plus character
who will we be i can't live don't look
[Music]
okay i'm ready we're gonna show it let's
do it
who did you put jack jack i put mr
incredible
marcellus loves the incredibles so i
figured he would want to be mr
incredible
jack-jack is amazing okay all right here
we go okay
one two three
oh my gosh that was the other answer i
was gonna put oh no
i even drew the symbol terribly i don't
stand out
who are our inner marvel superheroes
okay okay i think i got you on this one
jenny
let's do it go ahead go first oh yay
okay now i was like all you talking
about is microsoft
okay one two three
yes that one division
it's friendship looks like marcel let's
take a look
what is our hosting superpower i know
okay myself you got this all right let's
see what you got
[Music]
oh
i think that he's amazing at memorizing
the lines
yes i think i just make jokes on
anything that's how i get through stuff
okay and review
it's a lot oh that is good too
andre is a walking encyclopedia
and finally for marcellus and me which
pixar films make us cry the most
this is a tough one this has to be it
okay we're ready
okay ready go ah
we are back on track i'm proud of you
i'm very proud of you
oh
there was definitely something in my eye
when i was watching it yeah
i am ready to announce the winner of
battle of the hosts
no are you kidding me
yeah we need to still be friends that's
beautiful
that's friendship you really do know me
inside out i do i know you will
be real well if you want to see more of
this friendship working together
telling you all the details of disney
plus and make sure you check out disney
plus deets
right here on the disney plush youtube
channel king of the marcellus thank you
both for being here
definitely appreciate your time is there
anything you would like to say any final
words
before we head out absolutely everyone
take care of yourselves and the planet
marcellus and ken signing off
[Music]
we got to talk to some amazing black
creators today
both from the big screen and the youtube
screen make sure you support and uplift
these creators by checking out marlin's
work on the princess and the frog
atlantis lost empire
hercules and so much more and be sure to
check out kenneth and marcellus right
here on this channel on disney plus
deets
continue celebrating black history month
together by streaming the celebrate
black stories collection and until next
time be sure to stream all of your
favorites on disney plus
i'm gonna watch some more proud family
one two three you