Walt Disney and Animation

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                            Walt Disney and Animation
Directions: Read the passage and answer the questions.

      Fascinating facts about Walt Disney, Inventor of the Multiplane
                             Camera in 1936.
From http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/disney.htm

AT A GLANCE: Walt Disney, inventor of the multiplane camera in 1936, is a legend and a folk
hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity is based upon the ideas his name represents:
imagination, optimism, and self-made success in the American tradition. Through his work he
brought joy, happiness, and a universal means of communication.

   Inventor: Walter Elias Disney
    Criteria: First to invent. First to patent. Entrepreneur..
      Birth: December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois.
     Death: December 16, 1966

Nationality: American

  Invention: Multiplane Camera in 1936
   Function: noun / still frame motion picture camera
  Definition: Disney’s invention of the multiplane camera brought better looking,
              richer animation and in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was
              the first full-length animated film to use the camera.
      Patent: 2,201,689 (US) issued May 21, 1940
Milestones:
1923 An aspiring cartoonist leaves for Hollywood
1924 Partnered with older brother Roy, and the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was officially born.
1928 First Mickey Mouse sound cartoon "Steamboat Willie" released on November 18, in New York.
1930 Mickey made his debut merchandising appearance on pencil tablets, books and comic strips
1936 Walt invents Multiplane Camera to improve the filming quality of his first picture film.
1937 First full-length animated film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was released.
1954 "Disneyland" anthology series premiered on network television. It remained on TV for 29 years
1955 Opening of his fantastic theme park in Anaheim, California -- Disneyland.
1966 Before his death Walt purchased 28,000 acres near Orlando, Florida, to build his dream world.
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The Story:

The creator of Mickey Mouse and founder of the Disneyland® and Walt Disney World® Theme
Parks was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901. His father, Elias Disney, was Irish-
Canadian. His mother, Flora Call Disney, was of German-American descent. Walt was one of
five children, four boys and a girl.

Raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri, Walt became interested in drawing at an early age,
selling his first sketches to neighbors when he was only seven years old. At McKinley High
School in Chicago, Disney divided his attention between drawing and photography, contributing
both to the school paper. At night he attended the Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1923 an aspiring cartoonist named Walter Elias Disney left for Hollywood. Twenty-one years
old, Walt's only possessions were a suitcase, a sketchbook, and the $40 in his pocket. A legend
was about to be born. In Hollywood, Walt peddled his first cartoon series, the "Alice Comedies,"
and landed a distribution deal. He soon partnered with older brother Roy O. Disney, and the
Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was officially born.

For four years, the Disney Brothers made "Alice Comedies" and 26 episodes of "Oswald the
Lucky Rabbit." Then came Mickey Mouse. Conceived by Walt during a train ride, "Steamboat
Willie" was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released on November 18, 1928, at the Colony
Theater in New York. "Steamboat Willie" featured the first appearance of Minnie Mouse as well
as the first use of fully synchronized sound, at a time when sound was revolutionizing the
film industry.

Mickey and Minnie were instant hits. In 1930, Mickey made his debut merchandising
appearance on pencil tablets. The year 1930 also marked the first publication of a Mickey
Mouse book and newspaper comic strip.

Walt Disney experimented with the revolutionary Technicolor process, and "Flowers and Trees,"
part of the "Silly Symphony" series, was the first industry full-color release. "Flowers and Trees"
won the Academy Award® for Best Cartoon in 1932, the first year such a category was offered.
It was the first of 32 Academy Awards Walt Disney won personally.

Ever industrious and inventive, Walt Disney was not satisfied with producing cartoons. In 1934,
the Disney Studio began work on the first full-length animated movie. Three years later, "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" was ready for a 1937 Christmas release. It was a tremendous
success at the box office and provided the financial means for the Disney's' move to the
Burbank Studio.

"Pinocchio" and "Fantasia" (both 1940) were followed by "Dumbo" and "Bambi," in '41 and '42,
before Walt Disney focused his studio's creative energies on the war effort. During World War II,
The Walt Disney Studio made propaganda and training films for the military, as well as two
goodwill pictures in South America ("Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros"), at the
request of the State Department.

Following the war, Walt Disney resumed production of award-winning and innovative cartoons
and animated movies, while branching out into live-action and television. "Treasure Island,"
Disney's first completely live-action movie, was released in 1950.

Walt Disney forever changed his company's future in 1954 when his "Disneyland" anthology
series premiered on network television. This series would eventually air on all three networks
and undergo six title changes. It remained on television for 29 years, making it the longest-
running prime-time series ever. In the realm of daytime children's programming, "Mickey Mouse
Club" premiered in 1955 and quickly became an American television classic.

Brilliantly successful with his cartoons, motion pictures, and television programs, Walt Disney's
imagination and drive to create were not yet fully tapped. He had many more ideas to explore
one of which was realized on July 17, 1955, with the opening of his fantastic theme park
in Anaheim, California -- Disneyland.

Walt Disney continued to produce hit television series, such as "Zorro," and beloved movies,
including "Mary Poppins," the Academy Award®-winner which quite possibly marked the
pinnacle of his entire screen storytelling experience.

Before his death in 1966, Walt Disney purchased 28,000 acres near Orlando, Florida, where he
planned to build his dream world, unhampered by the urban sprawl that now surrounded
Disneyland in Anaheim.

Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, and included a Magic Kingdom theme park like
Disneyland, as well as hotels, golf courses, campgrounds, and shopping villages. Walt Disney
World quickly became one of the world's premier vacation destinations.

Walt's brother Roy Disney, who had overseen the building of Walt Disney World following Walt's
death, died in 1971. A dedicated team trained by the Disney brothers, which included Card
Walker, Donn Tatum, and Ron Miller, led the company to realize one of Walt Disney's last plans
-- the building of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, also known as EPCOT.
EPCOT Center opened on October 1, 1982, to great acclaim.

In its present incarnation, The Walt Disney Company has made even greater strides in motion
picture producing, television programming, feature animations, and family entertainment
destinations. Today, The Walt Disney Company includes theme parks, motion picture and
television studios, a television network, cable and radio stations, newspaper and book
publishing companies, record companies, travel divisions, a cruise line, retail stores, special
effects and engineering firms, new media companies, and much more.

Built on the unlimited imagination, creative talent, technical genius, and dedication of Walt
Disney and countless other men and women, The Walt Disney Company has become a leading
entertainment corporation. Founded more than seven decades ago, The Walt Disney Company
continues to grow, guided by its mandate of providing quality entertainment for the entire family.

Celebrity Invention: Walt Disney's Art of
Animation
By Rebecca Greenfield

From: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/11/celebrity-invention-walt-disneys-art-of-
animation/66826/

Some celebrities aren't just pretty faces. A few of them are also touched with that
Yankee prowess for tinkering and invention. In this weekly series, we introduce you to
the Patents of the Rich and Famous. And maybe you learn a little bit about how patent
literature works along the way.

Inventor: Walt Disney

Known For: Kids watching clever CGI-heavy films will one day associate their
childhood with a crotchety old man and his Asian boyscout companion, but also a
chronically happy mouse with a high-pitched voice. Because before Shrek, Wall-E, or
Woody, there was Mickey. And thanks to Walt Disney's animations, there will always be
Mickey.

Disney founded the studio that not only created Mickey Mouse, but also the entire
canon of animated films including Snow White and The Lion King. Not only did his
movies have enduring characters and stories, but they embodied the art of animation --
they looked good.

So while Pixar's films might rule this millennium's box offices, Walt Disney was the
original king of animation. And nobody can ever take that from him because like any
good American business man, he got it in writing.

Really. He patented the 'art of animation.'

Invented Apparatus: "The art of animation"

It's not like there weren't animated characters before Disney. He just made them look
better, devising a multiplane camera that accurately depicted the shadowing of his
characters in a less labor intensive way.

The present invention is particularly directed toward methods whereby the foreground
object or character may be properly and accurately placed and correlated with respect
to the background and accurate shadows rapidly produced so that the finished drawing
(or combination of drawings) which is photographed in the production of the finished
projection film, correctly and accurately locates the character with respect to the
background and includes a virtually accurate shadow.

To do this, Disney separated background art and animation into different focal planes
from each other so that the camera could move between them in a way that created
depth.

Generally stated, the method of this invention comprises forming a three dimensional
model of the desired background, projecting the image of the foreground character upon
such three dimensional background, and utilizing the position of the character and its
shadow with respect to the three dimensional background in locating and representing
the shadow of such character in its correct relationship with said background upon the
final drawing or photograph record.

The camera not only made the scene more realistic, but it also saved hours of labor,
allowing the animator to re-use any elements not in motion.

Rationale Behind Invention: Prior methods made it difficult for animators to draw
realistic shadows:

When the background is complicated, singular, or contains a number of objects such as,
for example, a balustrade, it is extremely difficult for the animator to properly create, by
drawing, the shadow of the character upon these background objects.

Those balustrades ... always causing trouble.

Disney first used the technique while filming The Old Mill and later while producing his
Oscar-winning Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Looks like his technique worked.

See Walt himself explain it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94nUxlbD2UY

                                      Study Guide

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