FROM 2007
FRANCIS XAVIER "X" ATENCIO
talks about stop-motion animation

by Scott Wolf

Francis Xavier Atencio started out at Disney in animation but thanks to Walt Disney's keen perception of people's talents, he eventually ended up as a writer for some of Disney's most popular attractions.

Amongst his projects, X not only wrote the dialogue for the "Haunted Mansion" and "Pirates of the Caribbean", but he also wrote the lyrics for those attractions' popular songs including "Yo Ho (A Pirates Life For Me)."

X is a particular inspiration to me because of his positive outlook on life. I think he really lives by that old saying about when life gives you lemons you make lemonade. It is certainly evident in his professional life. He went to work for Disney as an artist but was asked to become a writer and today admits that he enjoyed writing more than being an artist.

I'm so pleased to share my interviews with you so you can learn about this wonderful man.

X Atencio: I worked with Woolie (Reitherman) and we did a lot of short subjects.

SW: Were you an animator at that time?

XA: Actually I did more story sketch and stuff. I was lessoned as an animator but I did very little animation.

SW: What was story sketch? Is that doing the storyboards?

XA: Yeah.

SW: That’s almost like directing isn’t it? Figuring out what it will all look like?

XA: Yeah.

SW: And what’s layout?

XA: That’s planning out the scene, and I had to do quite a bit of that. By that time I hooked up with Bill Justice, and we were doing the “I’m No Fool” series (starring Jiminy Cricket). There was just Bill & I, and we had a unit and I was doing layout for the scenes.

SW: Is layout part of story sketch?

XA: That’s the second phase. First is story sketch and then layout.

Ward Kimball recruited me to work in his unit because he had the very stylized characters, pointy nose characters we used to call them, and that was right down my alley. So he wanted to know if I’d come to work with his unit.

SW: So each animator had their own unit and they were able to choose who they wanted to work with?

XA: Yeah, so I went to work with Ward for a short period and we did “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.”

SW: I always wondered why some of the stylized films would have the style of one particular animator, like Ward’s style.

XA: As a matter of fact, when Ward got the Academy Award for “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” Walt said, “That’s Ward’s picture. That’s not mine.” So he never took the credit.

SW: So you were with Ward in his unit, and then where did you go from there?

XA: Then I moved back with Bill Justice and we did some stop motion films like “Noah’s Ark” and “A Symposium on Popular Songs,” etc. So that was a good career.

SW: Those were stop motion as opposed to traditional animation...

XA: Yeah, so there again I wasn’t animating I was doing more layout.

SW: Did you have to learn a lot of new things for stop motion or was it similar to animation but with objects?

XA: It was more tedious. We had a glass with the background underneath it and you moved a character on it. We’d move a character that far (gestures) or maybe this far depending on how fast the action was. If you had more than one character you had to move we’d say, “Okay, let’s get a system here. We’ll work clockwise.” Or counter-clockwise, either way we do it, but we keep track of it. “Did we move that one? Okay.” Click. Move. Click. Move. Click. If you got to a place that you couldn’t remember if you moved it or not you had to go back to the beginning because there were no tests or anything that you could refer back to. So it was a very tedious job. Bill Justice was very good at it. So I worked with Bill on the stop motion things.

SW: And you weren’t just doing whole films, but you did segments for live action films like the “Parent Trap” right?

XA: We did “Parent Trap” and the “Shaggy Dog,” stuff like that.

SW: Didn’t you work on “Mary Poppins”?

XA: We did the tidying up the nursery. (“Spoonful of Sugar”) Making the bed and all that, shooting it in reverse, etc. That was our contribution to “Mary Poppins” and that was the last feature I worked on.

SW: Yeah, and it was a good one.

XA: Yeah, that was a good screen credit to have, you know.

SW: And without computers.

XA: Yeah, it would have been a lot easier today.

More from X:
His start with Disney
Working on "Pirates of the Caribbean"
Disney attractions he's worked on

See other interviews

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.