''How to Stay at Home'' is an American animated series of short films written and directed by Eric Goldberg and produced by

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

. The series stars

Bill Farmer Bill Farmer (born November 14, 1952) is an American voice actor, comedian and impressionist. He has performed the voice of the Disney character Goofy since 1987, and has also been the voice of Pluto and Horace Horsecollar since 1990. Early li ...

with narration from

Corey Burton Corey Gregg Weinberg (born August 3, 1955), known professionally as Corey Burton, is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake, Dale and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on '' The Transforme ...

, and centers on

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

as he is forced to stay in his home due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The three shorts were released on August 11, 2021, on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

Synopsis

Told in the style of the classic ''How to...'' series, the series follows

's life in his home during the

Cast

The Narrator ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

Episodes

Production

Development

During Fall 2020, animator Eric Goldberg pitched to

chief creative officer Jennifer Lee and president

Clark Spencer Clark Spencer (born April 6, 1963) is an American film producer, businessman and studio executive best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and for winning the Oscars for Best Animated Feature for his work on ''Zootopia'' and '' ...

a series of shorts starring

that centered on his life during the

in the spirit of his ''How to...'' shorts, having been personally fond of the character.Inside Goofy’s Hilarious and Relatable How to Stay at Home Shorts from Walt Disney Animation Studios
/ref> Lee and Spencer felt that Goofy's "everyman" persona was perfect to showcase regular life during the pandemic. The series was announced on July 26, 2021, with Goldberg set to direct and

Dorothy McKim Dorothy McKim is an American film producer, best known for ''Meet the Robinsons''.. McKim and fellow producer Lauren MacMullan were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the 2013 film ''Get a Horse!''. She served as the ...

set to produce.

and

reprise their roles from previous Disney media as Goofy and The Narrator. In addition to the three initial shorts, Goldberg pitched to Lee several additional ideas for ''How to Stay at Home'' shorts.Director Eric Goldberg Talks About “Goofy in How to Stay at Home” and Points Out a Few Easter Eggs
/ref>

Animation

Contrary to most modern Walt Disney Animation Studios productions, the series was made with

hand-drawn animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Pro ...

. Each short had a different supervising animator; Goldberg was the supervising animator for ''How to Wear a Mask'', Randy Haycock for ''Learning to Cook'', and

Mark Henn Mark Alan Henn (born April 6, 1958) is an American animator and film director. His contributions to animation have included several Walt Disney Animation Studios leading or title characters, most notably heroines. His work includes Ariel in ''The ...

for ''Binge Watching''. Goldberg choose to animate ''How to Wear a Mask'' due to the short's use of physical humor, which he always was personally fond of.INTERVIEW WITH ERIC GOLDBERG ON GOOFY IN HOW TO STAY AT HOME
/ref> McKim assembled a 10-people team for the series. Due to the pandemic, the shorts were remotely produced, with technical director Brandon Bloch delivering scenes personally to the animators' homes after receiving them at Goldberg's home. While the shorts were inspired by the ''How to...'' Goofy shorts directed by

Jack Kinney John Ryan Kinney (March 29, 1909 – February 9, 1992)Lenburg (2006), pp. 180 was an American animator, director and producer of animated shorts. Kinney is the older brother of fellow Disney animator Dick Kinney. Early life Jack Kinney was bor ...

, the animators didn't wanted them to "feel like it came directly from 1942", so background artist Lureline Weatherly made backgrounds more detailed than those of the original shorts, and Goofy was given a slightly thicker outline in order for the animation to feel modern, while also evoking the original shorts.

Music and sound

The short series utilizes several sounds created by Jimmy McDonald for the original ''How to...'' shorts. The sounds were selected according to Goldberg's preference, while McKim obtained the rights to use them.

Release

''How to Stay at Home'' was released on

, on August 11, 2021. The series consists of three shorts.

References

External links

* * {{Walt Disney Animation Studios short films Disney+ original programming Goofy (Disney) short films Films about the COVID-19 pandemic