Walt Disney Research Paper

Walt Disney and those employed under him were without a doubt the biggest contributors to the revolutionary age of ingenuity in the field of animation during the 1930s, referred to as the “Golden Age of Animation”. The source of this ingenuity probably stems from Disney’s drive and dedication, as well as “his willingness to sacrifice immediate profits to the long range benefits of increased excellence” (Solomon 41). He was discontent with the fact that animation being currently released was mediocre at best because of time and money constraints. He found himself breaking off multiple partnerships as he found these aspects of the animation industry incredibly limiting, and formed his own animation studio, where he found the greatest successes

“By 1932, Technicolor had a vision of a three-strip color process that could be used for animation. Disney signed an agreement that guaranteed him exclusive use of the technique for two years” (Solomon 47). By the time he signed the agreement, the film Disney planned to apply it to, “Flowers and Trees” had already been about halfway done in black and white. Competing animation studios and their two-strip color process couldn’t compare to the pleasantness of the three-strip and went bankrupt while audiences flocked to see Disney’s color films which included the rest of the Silly

For instance, the Silly Symphony The “Three Little Pigs” was considered a landmark film in the History of Animation because “for the first time, characters who looked alike revealed their individual personalities by the way they moved” (Solomon 50). Along these lines of character personalities, animatos took into consideration theatrics as well. They implemented concepts such as secondary action anticipation, and staging. A character’s secondary action follows through in response or with relation to the primary action. Anticipation “emphasize[s] an action by suggesting what is going to happen next” (Solomon 53). Finally, staging ensures that a character’s “actions are clear and at the focus of the audience’s attention” (Solomon 54). Disney artists also revisited the physics of their films. The most significant of these is “squash and stretch,” which made the effects of gravity appear more exaggerated and apparent on a character whereas the older formula caused stiffer movements. It is derived from the principle of physics that states that “an object elongates along its axis of acceleration and contracts when it meets with resistance” (Solomon 52). Separate crews of animators were also delegated to experimenting with different effects such as “falling leaves, fire, lightning, water, snow, smoke, etc” (Solomon