Walt Disney Animations

REALITY CHECK

It's absolutely fascinating to see the physical drawn out process of creating the timeless tales that we all know and love. Pocahontas, Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast,Snow White, Cinderella- I know all the songs by heart and still get goosebumps at 21 when I re watch. Everything about them is timeless and comforting, a reminder of beautiful life and the nostalgia of childhood. I never would have imagined, or rather never took the time to think, about just how challenging the process of starting out would be.

The night and day shifts of workers, conferences looking over the stories, directors finalizing the script and dialogue, then acting out the actions as the musical score is produced so they're perfectly in sync..

A little trick I found to be highly humorous and clever was the usage of a mirror to capture facial reactions while the artists were illustrating their cartoons- once again, to make sure the final product was absolutely perfect and nothing but stunningly life like.

Once the animations were made, they were tested via this little projection device and then the coloring process came into play. One of the most clear characteristics of Disney movies is the COLOR that brings the film to life. Without it, the dancing, the singing, the gestures of love, the struggles against evil, would all be bland.

To see the factories women worked in coloring the drawings and hearing the man describe them "the prettiest women in air conditioned spaces" it sounded like the most sacred of tedious yet glorifying jobs.

Then in the final stages, the images would be taken to a studio paint lab where more than 1500 shades of color would be used and finally photographed by the master camera in Technicolor.

Snow White, Disney's first production consisted of more than 3 million paintings and cost 1.5 million dollars- and broke every box office record.

What a legend to leave behind- I've always appreciated and adored Disney's films but understanding how animations first started out and learning about the process of filming and producing makes me that much more in awe of the beauty and idea that we ever could have lived without it. To see the transformation from the early stages up until now is jaw dropping- you have to wonder what will come next just 10 years down the road.