Jason Anders: What was it like to be a part of the visual effects team at Walt Disney Animation Studios working on the 1991 Academy Award-winning film, Beauty and the Beast?
Dan Lund: I loved every moment I spent at the studio. From day one I worked my ass off, and felt like a very big part of the process, even when I was just a production assistant. I didn't study animation in college, so with a little passion and interest shown, and a live action film background, Disney trained me on the job to animate EFX. Beauty and the Beast being the first "learn on the job" experience, and with a mentor like Dorse Lanpher and Don Paul I learned to love the art of EFX.
JA: What originally inspired you to become involved in animation?
DL: Being there every day got me excited about animation, but mostly it felt like filmmaking is what we did, and that's how I felt different from most animation geeks. I was raised on Spielberg and Zemeckis- they were doing live action films that felt like animation, so to me it's all just great storytelling.
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