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The Way We Were: How Disney Animation Used to Be Made

By Cindy Davis | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (18)

snowwh.jpg

I came across this video at IFC and was immediately taken in—and taken back, to another time. Most of us know Walt Disney’s first (full color/Technicolor) animated feature, Snow White, was beautifully and painstakingly hand drawn and put together, but to see it in front of one’s eyes is another thing entirely. I especially like that only pretty girls, kept in a special air-conditioned building, were used to transfer the cartoonists’ drawings to celluloid.

Snow White has stood the test of time and I don’t care what kind of fancy 3D or motion capture crap they come up with, the old style animation is my favorite. If you’re looking to grab the Blu-Ray/High Definition edition, do it before the end of the month because Disney is sending this princess back to the vault April 30th.









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Comments

So they didn't have mentally handicapped people back in 1937? They just called them Dopey or Grumpy?

Posted by: Junior at April 6, 2011 7:34 PM

Wow. They were very concerned about informing you that there were pretty girls, and that the pretty girls had a comfortable work environment. Weird . . .

Posted by: Lauren at April 6, 2011 7:34 PM

Man, Foley artists always look like they're having a blast, don't they? It must be the best job ever.

Posted by: Nubbies Away at April 6, 2011 7:43 PM

Wow 1938 Mickey mouse looks like the Greendale Human being with a rat mask.

Posted by: novatrooper at April 6, 2011 7:47 PM

I hate Disney's "vault" policy! Those emotional blackmailers! Those jerks! (great post, Cinders)

Posted by: coveredinbees at April 6, 2011 7:49 PM

There's something different about that era entirely, both animated and real-life.

Posted by: duckandcover at April 6, 2011 8:04 PM

I would not have minded being one of those pretty girls who gets to sit around and paint all day.

Posted by: Lexie at April 6, 2011 8:05 PM

What's a "radio picture?"

Posted by: BWeaves at April 6, 2011 9:21 PM

I went to an exhibit of the Snow White cels, and they had a film about the making of Snow White. It described how the men were the animators and the women were only allowed to copy and paint the cels. Disney wanted to add a flush to Snow White's cheeks to make her look more realistic, but couldn't get the right effect by painting the cels from the back. The women suggested they put actual makeup (eyeshadow and blush) on the front of the cels. Disney was concerned that they wouldn't be able to get the makeup in the same place on her face on every single cel. The women replied, "Mr. Disney! What do you think we do every morning?" That settled it.

Posted by: BWeaves at April 6, 2011 9:36 PM

Aw BWeaves. Love that.

Posted by: cinekat at April 7, 2011 3:20 AM

Boy, Disney was just lousy with pretty girls back in the day. I was all like, "I'm pretty impressed with a whole building of pretty girls tracing cels," and then the narrator was all like, "the paint department where MORE pretty girls apply paint," and I was all, "What the fuck, Walt?! Save some for the rest of us!!!"

Fuckin' Disney, man. Hoardin' fine bitches since "Adolph" was still an acceptable first name for a baby.

Posted by: Kballs at April 7, 2011 9:01 AM

That's a riot, BWeaves.

Posted by: Cindy at April 7, 2011 10:29 AM

*sigh* Really? "Grumpy" is now politically incorrect? I'm no longer allowed to be grumpy when the kids are on my lawn?

That's it. Stop the world. I wanna get off.

Posted by: lubeg at April 7, 2011 10:30 AM

some of those girls weren't so pretty.

Posted by: gp at April 7, 2011 12:23 PM

I really enjoyed this post and the video. Except for the clips of Walt, because he kind of comes of as a creeper.

Posted by: TWoP_Fan at April 7, 2011 4:07 PM

"Dwarfland", how could that have not sounded wrong even back then?

Posted by: csb at April 7, 2011 5:57 PM

"Dwarfland", how could that have not sounded wrong even back then?

Posted by: csb at April 7, 2011 5:57 PM

It was a different world then. And Uncle Walt was NOT a creeper!

Posted by: Uriah Creep at April 7, 2011 10:39 PM

man it's sad how many people are anti 3D animation. Just cause the movies comming out all look the same. You shouldn't judge the medium by it. A 3D movie can look like anything you can imagine.

Were are our feature length 3D movies that look like this?
http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/2/16/the-blackwater-gospel-animated-short.html

Posted by: Benza at April 8, 2011 12:52 AM