The Disney Channel is rebranding its Playhouse Disney programming as Disney Junior with a focus on learning through animated and live action series. A block of Disney Junior shows begins airing on basic cable on Feb. 14 to more than 99 million homes in the U.S. and to international viewers through 25 channels and broadcasters. In 2012, a separate Disney Junior cable and satellite channel will become available for U.S. subscribers. Television industry veteran Joe D’Ambrosia, who has worked at Nickelodeon and Sony Pictures Family Entertainment, has been named as the vice president for original programming. D’Ambrosia will oversee the production, programming strategies and creative development for the learning-based shows. The Disney Junior programming block will air weekdays from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. and weekends from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. Among the original shows is “Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” featuring the voice talent of lifelong San Fernando Valley resident Corey Burton. In the show, Burton voices Captain Hook, who, along with his sidekick Smee, are outwitted by a crew of pirate kids, Jake and his pals Izzy and Cubby. Interestingly, one of Burton’s first professional jobs doing voice work was as a substitute for Hans Conried who did the voice of Captain Hook in the Disney feature “Peter Pan.” This 21st Century incarnation of the good captain stays in the spirit of how Disney first presented him. “This is Captain Hook as he would exist in a more contemporary time,” Burton said. “Yet it’s light-hearted, completely safe and in a non-threatening environment.” With the target audience of Disney Junior being children ages 2 years old to 7 years old (and their parents) there was some concern over youngsters being able to comprehend the character as he speaks in an effected and pompous style and can have a general intimidating tone. “A lot of us knew that when played true to character and the material and the performance is funny all of that goes away,” Burton said. “It really clicks with any audience.” Voice Talents Burton describes himself as a “utility voiceman” who can do something usable for just about any kind of voice requirements, be it announcing, narration, television and film work and even video games and theme park attractions. His work with Disney goes back 30 years and often finds himself doing voice work for a division of the company three to four times a week. Burton had to create the legible voices for mischievous chipmunks Chip and Dale for the series “Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers” because the movie version only spoke in unrecognizable chatter. He returns for a second season on “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” also airing on Disney Junior. During his career, Burton has seen voice acting and voice-over work transition from radio actors with vaudeville backgrounds to performers trained for the stage and screen. Digital technology, in fact, is more suited for the latter because they have the luxury of retakes and edits. “It’s loosened up a bit,” Burton said. “Still the people who end up cast in TV series, animation especially, have to meet a high standard of professionalism. It is a job that most performers really want to do because it seems like so much fun.” Envelope Please The 9th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards take place on Feb. 1 at the Beverly Hills Hilton. New to the awards show this year is the Visionary Award to be given to director Christopher Nolan. The award recognizes an individual who has been a trailblazer, said VES Executive Director Eric Roth. “His career is about a decade long and when you look at “Memento” through “Inception” this is a guy who is changing the game of how we look at stories being told and how visual effects are being utilized,” Roth said. “Inception” received the most nominations of feature films with four. It is one of five films in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture, which is the VES equivalent of the Best Visual Effects category at the Academy Awards to be given on Feb. 27. In the previous four years, the winner of the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture award also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, the exception being 2008 when “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” won at the VES but lost at the Oscars to “The Golden Compass.” The Encino-based VES presents its award – a statuette based on an image from the 1902 silent film “A Trip to the Moon” of a bullet-shaped rocket in the eye of the Man in the Moon – to outstanding effects, compositing, miniatures, animation and matte paintings in feature films, television, commercials and video games. The society has more than 1,800 members around the world. The society is giving its Lifetime Achievement Award to Ray Harryhausen, the effects pioneer whose groundbreaking work with stop-motion model animation in the 1950s and 1960s can be seen in “Mysterious Island,” “Jason and the Argonauts,” and “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.” “He is the one who created an entire world using tools and imagination that opened a new way to look at creating fantasy,” Roth said. Filming Deal Empire Film Group will make multiple feature films with Tayrona Entertainment, a production company serving the Latin American market. Tayrona will commit $10 million each to three announced projects: “Havana Heat,” now filming in Colombia; “Did U Get My Text,” directed by Joel Zwick; and “The Final Game,” an action adventure film. Empire, based in Westlake Village, produces and distributes feature films and television series for theaters, videos, video-on-demand and the international market. Tayrona finances, produces and distributes films that have grossed an average of $30 million to $50 million by combining international themes, Latin American stars, Hollywood talent and major marketing campaigns. “Our joint venture with Empire Film Group will follow the same successful game plan, giving the three earmarked pictures the potential to become major international blockbusters,” said Tayrona President James Ordonez. And Finally… Now that the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department has approved Comcast buying NBC Universal here’s hoping the karmic wheel spins and the inevitable cost cutting starts with the NBC Corporate Non-Communications Department. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]
‘Voiceman’ Still Hooked on Disney After 30 Years
