Critically Analysing The Animator Walt Disney

Animation CG Arts and Animation Year 1 15th May 2012

Jake Carpenter

Phil Gomm

Contents Introduction... page. 3 Main Body... page. 3 Conclusion... page. 6 List of Illustrations... page. 7 Bibliography... page. 7

Introduction This assignment will investigate the American animator Walt Disney and his work, throughout the years. Main sources that will be included are; Christopher Finch's The Art Of Walt Disney (Revised and Updated) (2004) to examine the history behind Walt Disney and his company's art that he had crafted, Neal Gabler's Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (2006) to examine the how Disney came to produce his work with very little money and Bob Thomas' Walt Disney, the art of animation (1958) investigating the art style that Disney had incorporated into his work and how that has remained at the company. The assignment will begin by investigating cel drawing, a method that Walt Disney had donned, introducing Walt Disney and the basics of which he built his company upon to then move onto Disney's cultural background and influences that impacted his work. The assignment will then focus on the impact that Disney, himself, has had on contemporary animation. To conclude the assignment, the assignment will review Disney's life and outlook in relation to his art. Main Body Walt Disney (1901-1966) was an American animator, entertainer, entrepreneur, film director, international icon, philanthropist, producer, screenwriter and voice actor, that never once took a single career path but instead explored and branched out to every artistic aspect of the process. The co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney created some of the world's most famous and iconic characters, that are still being produced among a variety of media to this day, to which have been used as a tribute to the artist. Walt Disney had always maintained a high level of input towards any animation that he had a part in, regardless of whether he is the concept artist or the producer, which was evident and recognised, globally, for. He had an
Fig. 1. Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney's most famous character 3

irreplaceable impact on the audience that, the company that he had built up, Walt Disney Productions carried on in his manner with the same level of commitment to the children as Walt Disney had. It was said, by Jim Korkis, that Walt Disney was a man of great pride and joy, who laughs easily and heartily, and his voice is often filled with tones of eternal smallboy wonder at the miracles around him (Korkis, 2012). Walt Disney became attracted and ambitious towards animation when he took up cel drawing, as opposed to his work with cutout animations that he did for commercials beforehand. There are multiple methods of animation concerning traditional animation, focusing in Disney's use of cel drawing and the introduction of the multiplane camera. A celluloid, that is used in cel drawn animation, is a piece of transparent sheet that is used in hand drawn animations. This was the method used in early animations, until computer animation programs simplified and shortened the process. Cels are generally layered, using a static background at the bottom and the characters animated on top, this meant for a faster production rate and allowed for division of teams in a company. Before the use of the cel, animation frames were drawn entirely from scratch every time, causing the whole feature to be in constant movement despite a static background. The multiplane camera, is
Fig. 2. Disney presenting the multiplane camera

a tool that is used to create depth to 2D scenes. The images are placed in-front of the camera, following the usual parameters of layers; The back layer being the background and the front image being an animated person or object, and the camera can pull the images further apart or closer together to create the illusion of depth. The opposite effect that occurs to the foreground and background, can create a rotation which is seen as early as Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) where the camera is appear to be sinning around the evil Queen as she drinks her potion. Walt Disney created a vertical, as opposed to the horizontal multiplane camera that had been accustomed to many, multiplane camera, as it allowed for greater alteration of the scene. Another method used in traditional animation include Rotoscoping, which animators use to trace over previous footage, be it live-action or scenes from the previous frame. The common use of Rotoscoping is to mimic actions that are possible within the human body, which Disney
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had avoided in his animations, giving them a 'squash and stretch' appearance. The Disney company replaced cel drawn animations with Computer Animation Production System, as traditional hand-drawn animations no longer attained the popularity that it once had. However, Disney now produce both traditional and computer animation, due to receiving large success from the film The Princess and the Frog (2009). Walt Disney was said to have had, metaphorically speaking, no money throughout most of his career until the opening of Disneyland though this was not of a fault of his animation, but to the expense of his production speed. His animations were making money, but the studio was losing money as Walt Disney did not cut corners. He held quality above all else, where he could create his own perfect fantasy world. However, it was that quality that costed so expensive. Walt Disney, as an example of his dedication to the arts, invested more than a hundred thousand dollars to set up a training program for rising animators. Neal Gabler said it was only a means to an end, never an end in itself (Gabler, 2006) in regards to Walt Disney's mentality towards the financial side of a business. Walt Disney made unique contributions to the mass media, to make millions of people happy. He used film technology, in it's early stages, to make animated shorts, which were followed up by fulllength films to then use television programmes to promote his theme parks, which became a huge success. Merlin Jones said, referring to Walt Disney, that he always said that we could never stand still. He had to explore, innovate, and experiment and he was never satisfied with his work (Jones, 2006). Whilst Walt Disney was not the first animator to make short animated films, he
Fig. 3. Walt Disney at work

created characters that were different to other animators, earning him an audience. He expanded his audience when he created full-length animation films, reaching a new family market. Disney's films are revered as timeless because they were created and made to appeal to everyone from children to adults. Disney was the first to make a full-length animated film which he received with critical acclaim and financial success.

Walt Disney did pass away but his legacy remains as the company he built, creates in his style and manner. The company created films; such as The Little Mermaid (1989), The Lion King (1994) and Toy Story (1995), that were deemed to be 'his kind of movie'. Despite the recession of traditional hand-drawn animations, it did not stop the studio from revisiting Walt's creations, with his most famous character being Micky Mouse who received such treatment, with this technology. His colleges viewed Walt as a master storyteller, that could create and correctly display a personality in the characters of his films. Conclusion In conclusion, Walt Disney used traditional hand-drawn animations as a means of displaying a character come to life which brought about an entire generation of storytelling animation, in contrast to the animations, before Walt Disney's iterations, where their main purpose was for a gag and a smile. Walt Disney built a company that has become the main distributor to the animation industry, serving films such as Toy Story to an audience, and had it not been for Walt Disney, the animation films that are so cherished by people, of all ages, would not exist and many would have not been inspired by such a great influence. The films that are seen today, may or may not have existed but they would not have the finesse nor admiration that Walt Disney gave them. Walt Disney did not concern himself of the financial cost, as he only wanted to provide an experience, an experience to be shared with others. He took a different approach to the way animations were, and saw it through with quality regarded as the most valuable object.

List of Illustrations Figure. 1. Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney's most famous character. Accessed at: http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/05/19/mickey-mouse.gif (Accessed on: 13/5/2012) Figure. 2. Disney presenting the multiplane camera. Accessed at: http://geektyrant.com/storage/page-images/Multiplane%20Camera.png? __SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1297100739798 (Accessed on: 13/5/2012) Figure. 3. Disney at work. Accessed at: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_VbV7uhUCMQ/T5QomgzX-ZI/AAAAAAAAAPY/3OAqmfwYbLI/s1600/walt+disney+4.jpg (Accessed on: 13/5/2012) Bibliography Korkis, J. (2012) Mouse Planet. Accessed at: http://www.mouseplanet.com/9563/A_Visit_With_Walt_Disney_in_May_1959 Unknown. (2012) TCM. Accessed at: http://www.tcm.com/this-month/movie-news.html? id=196711&name=Working-With-Walt-Interviews-With-Disney-Artists Jones, M. (2006) Re-Imagineering. Accessed at: http://imagineerebirth.blogspot.co.uk/2006/04/walt-disney-talks-his-business.html Finch, C. (2004) The Art Of Walt Disney (Revised and Updated). Published by: Virgin Books. Gabler, N. (2006) Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Published by: Knopf. Thomas, B. (1958) Walt Disney, the art of animation. Published by: Simon and Schuster.