Disney’s History Through Animation
Disney has always been a pioneer in the world of animation. And today we are going to take a look at where Disney started and where they are today!
So where does Disney begin? Well with Walt Disney of course! Walt Disney started animating in the 1920’s, with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit being one of his first successful cartoon characters. You may notice Oswald is much like a certain mouse you may know. In case you’ve never heard of the story of Oswald and Mickey, it’s a bit of an interesting one. Mickey Mouse only came into existence after Oswald was no longer available for Walt Disney to continue creating with. Though Walt Disney came up with the character of Oswald and worked on all of his cartoons, he didn’t actually own the rights to Oswald. The distributor of the cartoons owned his rights, and so when Disney went to negotiate more money for a second year of Oswald cartoons after the first year did so well, he found out that the distributor went behind Walt Disney’s back to hire most of Disney’s animators to create Oswald cartoons in his own studio for less money.
And so with that betrayal, Oswald would be lost to Disney for a long while, until 2006, when he would be brought back to the Disney Company. Unfortunately, Disney himself wouldn’t see Oswald back at his studio again, but he took it as a lesson. He made sure following this ordeal, to own everything he created. So when he came up with his next hit, Mickey Mouse, he wouldn’t lose him to anyone.
Mickey Mouse really is a great start to telling you about the many accomplishments of Disney Animations! Mickey Mouse really hit the ground running with his innovative Steamboat Willie cartoon in 1928. Steamboat Willie, actually isn’t the first cartoon Mickey appeared in. He had 2 cartoons before, but with the film industry moving into sound productions, these weren’t very popular.
But Mickey made a comeback with Steamboat Willie with being the first synchronized sound animation! Mickey would then go on to have many more cartoons, with long running shows still being created today!
Walt Disney would then go on to create an animation project called Flowers and Trees in 1932 which had been part of his Silly Symphonies which accompanied his now famous Mickey Mouse. Flowers and Trees was the first color animation using the technique Technicolor and Disney would use this on all his projects moving forward. Flowers and Trees also won the first Best Cartoon subject at the Academy Awards in 1932. This was the first year a category was offered like this.
Disney continued his innovative creative efforts with his first full length feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
Disney and his team of animators achieved a realistic movement in their characters by using a process called rotoscoping. They would film a real person making the same movements they wanted their character to do, and then would trace over the film. This was done with Marge Champion as Snow White and other characters in the film! The rotoscope was invented by Max Fleischer. Snow White also saw the use of the multiplane camera, and was the first film to do so! The multiplane camera would be used until The Little Mermaid was made!
Snow White was the start of what has now been called The Golden Era which started in 1937 and ended in 1942. Disney would go on to have many eras! The Golden Era was finished by the release of Bambi in 1942, but also had hits like Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941). The first version of Fantasia (1940) was also produced during this time.
Disney’s era following Bambi was The Wartime Era. Disney saw many challenges during this era that started in 1942 and ended in 1949. Disney lost many of his animators to the war effort, and because of the war, many countries didn’t allow films from America. The State Department asked Disney to create films and training videos for the Allies in South America. So Disney created Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944).
After World War 2, Disney focused on trying to get back to the success the studio had seen before the war. Starting in 1950 with Cinderella, we see Disney enter The Silver Era. This era was filled with films focused on narrative storytelling and creating a formula that would be successful for generations to follow. Unfortunately in this era, we see the death of Walt Disney. He died December 15th, 1966. We actually close this era out with the last project he ever worked on, The Jungle Book which was released in 1967. Walt Disney would not see this project finished. He did however, got to see another innovative technique in his studio with the making of 101 Dalmatians (1961). This project used the technique called xerography which was introduced by Ub Iwerks, and just in time too! This technique is a process where drawings could be directly printed onto animation cels. Which made drawing and animating all those adorable pups much easier!
Following Walt Disney’s death the studio enters The Bronze Era which was a sort of transition period for the studio. Not only was the company adjusting to not having their founder anymore, many of the original animators of the company also died or retired. This presented the opportunity to hire on newer artists, and see the passing of the torch to the new generation! This era was kicked off by The Aristocats in 1970 and wrapped up in 1977 with the Rescuers.
Following the Bronze Era, came the Dark Ages. The films of this era did not do well for the studio, with many barely making what it took to create them at the box office. These movies were not popular and wouldn’t find more people to appreciate them until much later on. The films of this era also experienced darker themes, with more scary villains and greater risks for characters. This era started with The Fox and The Hound in 1981 and ended with Oliver and Company in 1988.
Disney would make quite the comeback with The Renaissance Era! This era started with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and finished with Tarzan in 1999. Disney went back to their storytelling roots, and made many of the films of this era with a new Broadway formula in mind. This era also saw the dabbling of CGI, but Disney wouldn’t take the plunge until 2005. Disney first dabbled with computer animation in Beauty and the Beast (1991) during the ballroom scene between Belle and Beast.
The Experimental Era started in 1999 with the revamped version of Fantasia called Fantasia 2000, and ended with Bolt in 2008. Disney not only experimented with computer animation but with new stories and new places in those stories! Chicken Little in 2005 would be Disney’s first all CGI animation project! Also during this era was the purchase of Pixar in 2006 with the first project being Cars in 2006 under one roof.
And that leads us into our most recent Disney era, The Revival Era which was kicked off with The Princess and The Frog in 2009, and going on to now! The Princess and The Frog saw a temporary return to 2D animation. But Disney would go on to fully embrace the new CGI technology that most of the industry was using. Tangled (2010) saw the level of their advancements with computer animation with the detail and movement of Rapunzel’s hair!
Disney has only improved in their CGI skills, producing many more movies. Some would argue that their storytelling isn’t the same as it once was, and I am in that boat, but visually and technique-wise Disney has and continues to be a leader in their industry!
