DISNEY

ANIMAT

ION

F RO

M C

AR

TO

ON

S T

O A

NI M

AT

ED

PR

OD

UC

TI O

J NS

EARLY DISNEY

DISNEY BROTHERS CARTOON STUDIO

• Established in 1923

• Built on animated shorts beginning with 1921’s Cleaning Up!

• Little Red Riding Hood (1922): http://youtu.be/fRe6ItAQigg

• Alice Comedies established Disney as a studio

• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927 (lost the character when Iwerk left Disney)

• Trolly Troubles (1922): http://youtu.be/c9LmDpMO2k0

• Mickey Mouse, Plane Crazy replaced Oswald in 1928 (released 1929)

• http://youtu.be/oUS8x4xZ3m4

DISNEY MOVES INTO FEATURES

SNOW WHITE AND CLASSIC DISNEY FEATURES• Unprecedented success when released (1937-38)

• Made in “multiplane Technicolor”—both the multiplane camera and the full-color Technicolor process were still new in animated films.

• Best Feature: Fantasia (an experimental film produced to an accompanying orchestral arrangement conducted by Leopold Stokowski)

• http://youtu.be/-gZbMOq_Ge8

• http://youtu.be/cqyVZK5yN1E

CLASSIC DISNEY AFTER WWII

DISNEY FEATURES AFTER WWII

• Production of features temporarily suspended due to WWII, between Bambi and Cinderella

• European Market cut off from the war

• Huge amount of studio productions for the military—propaganda films (from 1942-45, 95% of animation was for the military

• Example: http://youtu.be/oqMVpcbhpqw

• Song of the South and So Dear to my Heart = live action/animation

• http://youtu.be/11AVwBBtruM

• Cinderella was the first fully animated feature after the war in 1950

• http://youtu.be/_TKBHJeEljU

SLEEPING BEAUTY

DISNEY MOVES INTO THE 1960S

• Sleeping Beauty: stylistic shift that led to renewed interest in features through 1960shttp://youtu.be/CfsyUyi_FJM

• High expense of features, however, led to economic losses—and did not recoup costs until decades after original release

• 1962: Disney shut down the short subject department, focusing attention on television and feature films

• Expansion into television coincided with decline in both revenue and quality of output

DISNEY AFTER TELEVISION

DISNEY IN THE 1970S AND 80S

• 1970s: decline in popularity that spread to 1980s

• 1979: Don Bluth left Disney and created his own studio, producing works that arguably surpassed Disney quality and challenged its economic dominance

• http://youtu.be/FwNfsLwQBhM

• Rock Bottom in 1985 with The Black Cauldron (the first Disney animated feature with a PG rating)—

• http://youtu.be/xUGfIvi6uvc• failed to break even and so poorly received • would not be released for home viewing for more than a decade.

MICHAEL EISNER AND DISNEY RESURGENCE

MICHAEL EISNER

1984-2004:

• CAPS and Who Framed Roger Rabbit:

1. bombastic animated musicals, using music as well as high-quality animation to attract audiences.

2. Coincided with introduction of computer-aided animation techniques

• Oliver and Company (1988)

• The Little Mermaid (1989)

• Beauty and the Beast (1991)

• Aladdin (1992)

• The Lion King (1994)

• Pocahontas (1995)

COMPETITION FROM OTHER STUDIOS

• Layoffs from 2000 to 600 animators

• Dismal performances in relation to Pixar, DreamWorks

• Converted WDFA into a CGI studio

• Paris studio shut down in 2003

• Orlando studio shut down in 200 and turned into a Theme Park attraction

• Home on the Range (2004) last traditionally-animated feature until The Princess and the Frog (with Pixar’s John Lassiter)

DISNEY TODAY

• Pixar’s Edwin Catmull and John Lassiter

• DisneyToon Studios—Consumer products, direct-to-video, etc.

• Waking Sleeping Beauty

• Tangled

• http://youtu.be/hsJFEqOL1UI

• Brave

• http://youtu.be/TEHWDA_6e3M