#2: L’Introduction des Frères Lumière

Published: 5th September 2006 by Anthony

The classic Disneyland Railroad Station, Disney-MGM’s Crossroads of the World, Animal Kingdom’s Oasis, DisneySea Plaza... The magic of a Disney theme park begins right at the turnstiles, as the Imagineers welcome you into the theme world on show and begin their story with a grand entrance plaza worthy of Walt Disney’s original.

The entrance plaza also serves many practical purposes. You need ticket booths, turnstiles, guest relations, stroller rental, toilets, cash machines, boutiques, and even tiny details such as park map dispensers.

Pointing the way to Place des Frères Lumière

Where to begin with a movie studio theme, then? Look no further than the original Hollywood and Burbank studios, and you immediately find a vast array of stunning entrance gates and plazas. Only the cast and crews were allowed onto the lot, so all the money to be spent on beautification went direct to the studio entrance gates, the icon and symbol of every studio and a showcase of the studio’s power. The sumptuous designs of Paramount’s famous Bronson gate or the original MGM gate gave no indication of the bland soundstages beyond. This gave the Imagineers free reign to create an exuberant entrance of their own, a chance to step back in time and design a Walt Disney Studios gate in the grand Hollywood tradition.

Paramount Pictures’ Bronson gate

The original plans for Disney-MGM Studios Europe showed an entrance not dissimilar to Paramount’s gate, with two large guest relations wings either side of the main studio gate, nestled in the middle. The archway would have been fully connected to these two buildings, similar to the Bronson gate, and the entire area would have also featured a pueblo deco style, remarkably similar to the Paramount studios (and indeed our in-production Tower of Terror). The entrance would have been sheltered by huge palm trees, and the taller buildings with smaller walkways would have actually given the entrance a much cosier, smaller feel than the Walt Disney Studios version.

One through the archway, you’d be standing in a courtyard not too different to today’s version, although the design was again far cosier. Buildings either side would have been interconnected to the archway and front wings, with the smaller courtyard leading almost immediately into the Hollywood Boulevard soundstage.

Original Disney-MGM Studios Europe entrance model

When the Disney-MGM Studios Europe plans were dusted off to begin the Disney Studios Paris project, the Hollywood Boulevard soundstage and entrance plaza were kept remarkably similar to the original plans. Of course, huge budget restraints restricted the size and scale of the project from the outset. The massive buildings previously designed to enclose the courtyard were cut back to two smaller, single floor buildings either side of the courtyard, with a separate entrance gate forming a centrepiece between two sets of turnstiles.

With the loss of the MGM name, changing styles since the early 90s (see Disney-MGM Studios Florida’s studio gate) and lessons learnt from the opening of the first park, the Imagineers set about creating an entrance gate that would feature Disney whimsy, Hollywood glamour and European style... and would be as timeless as the Disneyland Hotel next door.

Walt Disney Studios entrance concept

The final entrance is still very much “Disney does Hollywood”, a classic studio entrance with a glossy Disney overlay. The large Mickey Mouse studio gate was planned since the early days of the project, whilst smaller details such as the lighting, signage, stained glass windows and green canopies were added at a very late stage, as the entrance plaza continued to grow in Disney quality. The entire design is, however, quite unique in Disney history in that it provides very little shelter from the “outside world” whilst in the entrance courtyard.

The Earful Tower was always planned to be much more of an icon for the park. Whilst as Disney-MGM Studios Florida it sits uncomfortably towards the back of the park, since the earliest plans for Paris it has been prominently placed right at the entrance. The final tower, standing 33 metres high, uses a different design to the Florida version, with a taller “body” to fit the Walt Disney Studios logo. Something changed with the design after it became a reality, though – the “Walt Disney” lettering, originally red, was repainted in white after the Imagineers realised it was incredibly hard to read on its blue background!

The completed entrance at night, dressed up for Christmas

The theme of the entrance and Front Lot as a whole fits very much into the park’s theme of a “real studio”, since it is meant to represent the administrative offices of a studio complex. If you were visiting the studio for the first time or just passing by, this is all you’d see, and so this is where all the studio’s money has gone.

From the outset, then, the Imagineers planned elegant flooring tiles, rich planting, a large centrepiece fountain and the iconic Earful Tower. The configuration of all these elements, however, remained undecided for quite some time. Most early plans show the planting and fountain as below, with five palm trees either side of a zig-zag-edged yet plain fountain in a circular design. There would then have been a large gap before more planting areas and the Front Lot buildings. A unique flooring design would have led guests towards the doors of Disney Studio 1. Very little about the original design, other than the Earful Tower and entrance gate, said this was a “Disney” studio.

Front Lot overview sketch

The park began construction, and the courtyard area became an ideal parking place for service vehicles as the boutique buildings took shape. Somewhere during this period, perhaps as the park hit a quick redesign phase that saw the Flying Carpets and Reign of Fire set introduced at the expense of the Sound Production show, Front Lot was immediately given a massive extra dose of Disney magic.

Place des Frères Lumière becoming a reality

The plaza became a Hidden Mickey paradise, with silhouette designs of the mouse that started it all appearing on signposts, fences, metalwork, buildings and tiles, not the mention the courtyard’s new centrepiece...

Fantasia Fountain

Animation Courtyard never received its Sorcerer Mickey statue at park opening, did Front Lot beat it to the prize? Suddenly, the plain star-shaped fountain plans were replaced by an elegant “Fantasia Fountain”, with Sorcerer Mickey atop a rocky outcrop and broomsticks working all around him, even finding their way onto the paving in front of the fountain. The crystal clear waters allow guests to see the colourful Mickey-shaped tile mosaic below, whilst extra planting in the tile-decorated walls of the fountain cleverly keep guests from ruining the magic.

Place des Frères Lumière overview, from Disney Studio 1

The configuration of the planting was also drastically altered, with four large planting areas replacing the single circle of palm trees. These areas feature not only congregations of palm trees, but also other large planting to complement the surrounding buildings and better enclose the areas of the courtyard.

Park map alterations - before and after

It seems that, like the Reign of Fire set on Studio Tram Tour and the detailing of Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, these changes were made too late to even be included in the original park map. The new fountain and planting were only added to the map in late 2002.

An important part of any Disney park, and especially the entrance plazas, is the background music or “area loop” soundtrack. Over at Disneyland Park, the Imagineers were lucky to have an immense collection of classic songs and musical scores to choose from, creating a loop with such iconic Disney music as Phantom Manor, Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life For Me), When You Wish Upon A Star and It’s A Small World. At Walt Disney Studios Park, they looked not to Disney’s archives for musical inspiration but to other studios. In an unprecedented move, they were able to gather the rights to soundtracks from some of the world’s most famous films, from some of the most varied studios.

Yann Tiersen’s Amélie soundtrack fades into John William’s Harry Potter theme, John Barry’s Goldfinger merges effortlessly into Alan Menken’s Disney classics, James Horner’s Titanic mixes straight into Max Steiner’s Gone with the Wind. The magic and power of Disney’s music loops has never been more apparent than when you step through the studio gates with these classics echoing around. Fans have often suggested an outdoor café would be perfect in Front Lot, to give guests more time to enjoy the beautiful plaza and swirling movie scores.

Exterior concepts for Walt Disney Studio Store, Studio Photo and Studio Services

The Front Lot buildings remained almost exactly the same between sketch and reality, using a “Spanish revival” style of architecture noticeably different to the original Disney-MGM plans and far more European in style. The buildings, taking the form of single-story administrative offices, continue the design of the main entrance gate, with warm yellows and dark orange tiling on the lower sections. The left building is used entirely for the huge Walt Disney Studios Store, whilst the building on the right is split in two, one half featuring Studio Services (the park’s City Hall), and the other featuring Studio Photo and stroller rental, with an archway between the halves leading to toilets.

The buildings were given more Disney touches through Hidden Mickeys and signage added in the later stages of construction, but ultimately didn’t change at all between early concepts and the finished design.

Studio Photo entrance

Over the years of production, Front Lot square became a melting pot of ideas, with new ingredients introduced at every stage to constantly add more beauty, more Disney magic and more identity to the courtyard. The final pièce de résistance in this spectacular entrance plaza is its dedication, ticking the fourth box of the design specification. We have the Hollywood glamour, the Disney touches and the timeless design – now for the European influence. As you begin your movie studio experience, where better for the Imagineers to begin their story than with those who practically invented cinema – the Lumière Brothers.

The brothers, raised in Lyon, France, were keen inventors, and designed the pioneering Cinématograph, a device that functioned as a camera, printer and projector. They are credited with the world’s first public film screening on 28th December 1895, a showing of around 10 short films in the basement lounge of the Grand Café on Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. The brothers, despite their later unwillingness to join the commercial market, gave birth to cinema as a medium, an art form and a commercial enterprise. And so, the courtyard which so heavily features Disney’s “one that started it all” was named after the pioneering French inventors who truly did “start it all”, and Place des Frères Lumière was finally inaugurated.

Frères Lumière dedication

In Part 3 of the “From Sketch to Reality” series, we’ll step inside the imposing Disney Studio 1 to discover how “Lights! Camera! Hollywood!” came to life, over 10 years after the initial concept was born. Until then, enjoy the magic of Place des Frères Lumière, widely believed to be one of Disney’s most elegant, yet beautifully subtle, entrance plazas ever created. A detailed, relaxing and thoroughly cinematic first step behind the scenes that became infinitely more alive with Disney magic in the vast space between “sketch” and “reality”.

Click here to discuss this article »

© WDS Fans 2006