current projects (click to view):
The Flying Moose
Little Kit’s Driftwood Adventure
The Apparatus
The Smiling Blue Moose
Projects
‘GOLD MEDAL WINNER’ at the 2024 Atlanta Children’s Film Festival
The Flying Moose is an award winning 17-minute animated film about an inventor Moose entering a flying machine contest, so he can win enough money to save his bicycle shop from being foreclosed by his arch nemesis, the evil banker Grizzly Grimhart. As told through the narration of an old bird, Clyde P. Chickadee, it’s a whimsical story that encourages creativity and perseverance.
Click on image to watch first act.
Summary: Little Kit's Driftwood Adventure is the tale of a young raccoon who lives in the cottonwoods next to a river but is afraid of the water. When land developers suddenly start capturing animals, Little Kit escapes on a piece of driftwood that floats away to a big bayou where he is befriended by a snake, alligator, and pelican. They teach him how to swim and help him to get back home, where he rescues all the animals and saves the cottonwoods from land development.
To be released soon in an eBook version with a follow-on animated film.
In the time yet to come, after the human race became subservient, dominated by a revolution of machines collectively called The Apparatus…
In the year 2072, three teenagers’ parents are unjustly arrested by the machines and sentenced to 20-year prison terms on Mars. The teens make a pact to free their parents and in the process, save humanity.
A three-part middle grade book series followed by an animated film francise.
The Smiling Blue Moose: A hunter bear meets a gentle moose who is looking for a new friend. The moose is so friendly that the hunter decides to totally stop hunting. Instead, he hangs out with the moose in the woods, playing games, having fun, and enjoying nature. After the fall colors change, it's time for the bear to go home, leaving the moose all alone in the woods. The moose is sad because he again does not have anyone to play with, so he is looking for a new friend. He invites whoever is reading the book to become one.
Soon to be released in an eBook version.
About
MICHAEL SKY DANLEY was born in Peoria, Illinois — a town so ordinary that Hollywood producers would famously ask, “but how will it play in Peoria?”
During his childhood, Sky’s father worked as a computer programmer for the company that built NASA‘s Onboard Apollo Guidance Computer, the technological marvel that enabled man‘s dream to soar to the moon.
This engineering feat motivated Sky’s lifelong passion for aviation. Sky even attempted, with his childhood friend, to build a rocket propelled flying bicycle.
Continuing this passion, Sky attended Purdue University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, majoring in aerodynamics and minoring in rocket propulsion.
After completing a NASA contract for the computer modeling of air flow, Sky entered and served as a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, earning his wings as a USAF Pilot.
Sky later flew as a Captain for the legendary Trans World Airlines (TWA), an airline once owned by the famed Howard Hughes and forever christened “The Airline of the Stars.”
Also drawn to the Stars, Sky dreamed of producing and directing Hollywood stories, and with that goal, he enrolled at Harvard University and earned dual Master’s Degrees in Film/Studio-Arts and Business Management.
Concentrating on the business of story, Sky wrote his Harvard thesis while at the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, California, where he documented and catalogued the unique creation process of Walt’s original 1930s story department, which emphasized the visual over dialogue.
Sky continues this visual story interest today, writing two award-winning children’s picture books and producing a gold-medal winning 17-minute animated children's film about an inventor moose who overcomes adversity and builds the world’s first flying machine, a cartoon Sky hopes will encourage today’s children to become tomorrow’s innovators, and thus creating a future where dreams can soar…
StoryDocs
Preface: I have a vast collection of historical story documents that I accumulated while studying for a Master’s Degree in Film and Studio Arts. It is my intention, as time permits, to make these documents digitally available here so all may use for research, as I did. Personally, I found them invaluable in learning the essential elements of visual story construction.
Also, reading the documents is almost like becoming an historical fly on the wall to the creation of genius.
If you find any potential transcription errors, please report to info@skydanley.com, and I will cross check against the archives. (Disclaimer, I’ve tried to be faithful to the original, and many times, the grammatical error is within the original document.)
I am starting with the Walt Disney Snow White collection, and I don’t believe you can read through these documents and not walk away understanding the absolute genius of Walt Disney and his story construction process. The attention to detail and drive to betterment unprecedented in anything I’ve ever studied.
After Snow White, I will move on to other productions as time permits.
Click on the hyper links below to go to the individual feature productions and shorts grouping.