🎬History of Animation Unit 2 – Disney and the Golden Age of Animation

Origins of Disney and Animation

• Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in 1923, which later became The Walt Disney Company
• The studio's early works included the Alice Comedies (1923-1927), a series of live-action/animated shorts featuring a young girl named Alice in an animated world
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, created in 1927, was one of Disney's first successful characters but the rights were lost to Universal Studios in 1928
• Mickey Mouse, co-created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, made his debut in the short film "Steamboat Willie" (1928), which was the first fully synchronized sound cartoon
  • "Steamboat Willie" premiered at the Colony Theater in New York City on November 18, 1928
  • The success of "Steamboat Willie" led to a series of Mickey Mouse shorts and merchandise
• The Silly Symphony series (1929-1939) allowed Disney animators to experiment with new techniques and styles without being tied to a specific character
  • "Flowers and Trees" (1932) was the first commercially released film to use the three-strip Technicolor process
  • "The Three Little Pigs" (1933) was a major success and its song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" became a Depression-era anthem

Key Figures in Early Disney

• Walt Disney (1901-1966) was the creative force behind the studio, overseeing animation, story development, and production
  • He voiced Mickey Mouse in the early shorts and provided the vision for the company's future projects
• Roy O. Disney (1893-1971), Walt's older brother, managed the company's finances and business operations
• Ub Iwerks (1901-1971) was a skilled animator who co-created Mickey Mouse and developed many of the studio's early animation techniques
  • He left Disney in 1930 to start his own studio but returned in 1940 to work on special projects
• The Nine Old Men, a group of core animators at Disney, included Les Clark, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Frank Thomas
  • They were responsible for creating many of the iconic characters and scenes in Disney's feature films
• Carl Stalling (1891-1972) and Leigh Harline (1907-1969) were notable composers who created music for Disney's early shorts and features

Technological Innovations

• The multiplane camera, invented by William Garity for the Walt Disney studio in 1937, created a sense of depth in animated scenes by using a vertical stack of glass planes
  • Each plane held a separate layer of artwork, which could be moved independently to create parallax effects
  • The multiplane camera was first used in the short film "The Old Mill" (1937) and extensively in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937)
• The rotoscope, a device that projects live-action footage onto an animator's drawing board, allowed animators to trace over the footage and create more realistic movements
  • The rotoscope was used in several Disney films, including "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) and "Cinderella" (1950)
• Storyboarding, the process of creating a visual representation of a film's story using a sequence of drawings, became a standard practice at Disney in the early 1930s
• The synchronization of sound and animation, as seen in "Steamboat Willie" (1928), revolutionized the animation industry and paved the way for more complex musical scores and sound effects
• Technicolor, a color motion picture process, was first used in a Disney short called "Flowers and Trees" (1932), which won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

Iconic Disney Films of the Golden Age

• "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) was the first full-length animated feature film produced by Disney and a milestone in animation history
  • The film's success demonstrated the potential for animated features to be commercially viable and artistically ambitious
• "Pinocchio" (1940) pushed the boundaries of animation with its intricate character designs, detailed backgrounds, and emotional storytelling
• "Fantasia" (1940) was an experimental film that combined classical music with imaginative animation, using the multiplane camera and stereoscopic sound
• "Dumbo" (1941) was a simpler, more cost-effective production that still managed to captivate audiences with its heartwarming story and memorable characters
• "Bambi" (1942) was noted for its naturalistic animation style, particularly in the depiction of animals and landscapes
  • The film's iconic scene of Bambi's mother's death has become a cultural touchstone
• "Cinderella" (1950) marked a return to feature animation for Disney after focusing on package films during World War II, and its success helped revitalize the studio

Animation Techniques and Style

• Disney's animation style during the Golden Age was characterized by realistic character movements, expressive facial animations, and detailed backgrounds
• The 12 principles of animation, developed by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, became the foundation for creating believable and engaging character animations
  • These principles include squash and stretch, anticipation, staging, straight ahead action and pose to pose, follow through and overlapping action, slow in and slow out, arcs, secondary action, timing, exaggeration, solid drawing, and appeal
• Character animation often involved studying live-action reference footage to capture realistic movements and expressions
  • For example, actress Marge Champion served as the live-action reference model for Snow White
• Animators used pencil and paper to create the initial drawings, which were then traced onto cels (clear sheets of acetate) and painted by hand
  • Cels were photographed in sequence against painted backgrounds to create the final animated footage
• The use of color and lighting played a significant role in setting the mood and atmosphere of a scene
  • Disney's color stylist, Mary Blair, was instrumental in developing the distinctive look of films like "Cinderella" (1950) and "Alice in Wonderland" (1951)

Cultural Impact and Legacy

• Disney's animated films during the Golden Age have left a lasting impact on popular culture, with many characters and songs becoming iconic and instantly recognizable
• The success of Disney's feature films helped establish animation as a legitimate form of cinematic storytelling, paving the way for future animated productions
• Disney's influence can be seen in the works of other animation studios, such as Warner Bros. and MGM, which adopted similar animation techniques and storytelling approaches
• The Disney theme parks, starting with Disneyland in 1955, have brought the studio's animated characters and worlds to life, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the magic of Disney
• Disney's merchandising and licensing efforts have made their characters a ubiquitous presence in toys, clothing, home goods, and other products
  • This has helped to create a strong emotional connection between audiences and Disney's brand
• The Walt Disney Company has grown into a global media conglomerate, with a vast portfolio of film, television, music, and theme park properties, all building upon the foundation laid during the Golden Age of Animation

Challenges and Controversies

• The Disney studio faced financial difficulties in the early 1940s due to the high costs of producing animated features, the loss of the European market during World War II, and a animators' strike in 1941
  • These challenges led to the production of "package films," which combined shorter animated segments into a single feature-length release
• Some of Disney's early films have been criticized for containing racist and sexist stereotypes, reflecting the social attitudes of the time
  • For example, the depiction of African Americans in "Dumbo" (1941) and the portrayal of Native Americans in "Peter Pan" (1953) have been called into question
• The studio's adaptations of classic fairy tales and stories have sometimes been accused of simplifying or sanitizing the original source material
• As the studio grew larger and more successful, some critics argued that its films became more formulaic and less innovative compared to the groundbreaking works of the early Golden Age
• The working conditions and treatment of animators at the studio have also been a subject of controversy, particularly during the 1941 animators' strike, which led to the formation of the Screen Cartoonists Guild

Beyond Disney: Other Studios and Animators

• Warner Bros. Cartoons, led by directors like Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng, created a distinctive style of animation known for its irreverent humor and slapstick comedy
  • Characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig became popular icons of the era
• Fleischer Studios, founded by Max and Dave Fleischer, produced successful animated series like Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor
  • The studio's feature films, such as "Gulliver's Travels" (1939) and "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" (1941), showcased technical innovations like the rotograph and stereoptical process
• MGM's animation department, under the direction of Tex Avery and Hanna-Barbera, created memorable characters like Tom and Jerry, Droopy, and Screwy Squirrel
• United Productions of America (UPA) emerged in the 1940s with a more stylized, modern approach to animation, as seen in shorts like "Gerald McBoing-Boing" (1950) and the "Mr. Magoo" series
• Stop-motion animation, as practiced by George Pal and his Puppetoons series, offered a distinct visual style and creative possibilities alongside traditional hand-drawn animation
• International animators, such as Lotte Reiniger in Germany and Oskar Fischinger, explored abstract and experimental forms of animation, pushing the boundaries of the medium beyond conventional narrative storytelling