Animation Theatre: Walt Disney

5th December 1901- 15th December 1966

Fig. 1 Walt Disney

Walt Disney is probably the most well-known figure in animation history, the one who is looked back on the most for inspiration and the one who has set the bar for where animation needs to develop from. He is an animation figure who lived and breathed his work and refused to give up on his dreams, battling through all those possible clients who didnt see the genius of his handiwork until he got to the point where he didnt need them, instead having his own company where he himself was the client. Walt Disney wasnt just an animator he had so many talents under his belt including film producer, director, voice actor, entrepreneur and screenwriter. His motion picture company is one of the most recognised around the world. It was during his time spent in Marceline, Missouri that Disneys love for drawing emitted and that is perhaps why Marceline has played such a major influence in his career work as Brian Burnes, Dan Viets and Robert W. Butler have observed in Walt Disneys Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius. Wherever you look in Walt Disneys art there are echoes of Marceline, from Disneys tremendous affection for small-town, turn-of-the-century life to the boyhood experiences that were echoed and expanded in his animated cartoons. (Burnes, Viets & Butler: 2002) Disney properly started off his aspire for an animation career when he met artist Ubbe Iwerks- who would later become an extremely close friend and colleague- and they started up their own company. They created cartoons which they named Laugh-O-Grams and screened them across Kansas, they were extremely popular and so Disneys career launched with him being able to expand his company and produce the Alice Comedies series of animated shorts. However, things then started to go downhill with Disney losing his highly popular character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit as well as most of his team. Yet Disney being Disney he didnt give up and was determined to find a way to new success, something animators now hope to follow.

Fig. 2 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh6DzKb8NAk

It was then that Walt Disney went on to start his work on the character that has become the face for Disney, whenever we think of Disney we think ofMickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse has quite a similar likeness to Oswald but Disney probably did this because Oswald had been such a success. It wasnt an easy feat though with the first animated short featuring Mickey not being picked up on. Disney went about adding sound to his next Mickey animation Steamboat Willie. It was this that grabbed attention but not just because it had music. Disney had managed to create something that hadnt been as successful for other company animations, he had combined sound and moving drawings to construct an animation and an animated character that audiences automatically fell in love with, one that they could easily respond to and be absorbed in their adventures. An animated character which seemed to make its own noise. Walt didnt know if people would believe that the character on the screen was making the noise. Nobody had ever seen a drawing make noise, and there was no way to be sure that the people would believe it. It might just look like some kind of a fake thing, and Walt wanted it to seem real, as if the noise was coming fright from what the character was doing. (Jackson: 1963) The appearance of Mickey Mouse has been a major point in animation history and continues to work as reference because it seemed as though Mickey was a physical being, producing noises and making the audience believe he was real. One is reminded of when Mickey pulls the rope in the opening of Steamboat Willie, the rope is pulled with force and control that it isnt questioned if Mickey has made the boat pipes blow, we know he has.

Fig. 3 Steamboat Willie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nfEIHcsR8c

Disneys animation had added the extra personality to characters that was needed, he had taken ideas from inspiration such as Winsor McCay and developed on them producing characters that audiences didnt see as just images on screen, if we were to compare Walt Disneys work to McCays now you would see how his way of adding sound and exaggerating movement and expression has enabled characters to seem more alive. This was something clearly defined by Walt Disneys first full colour feature length animation Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which had a range of character emotions to portray and which Disney managed to capture so well to lots of success.

Fig. 4 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The success of just these few Disney animations has continued to impact on Disneys company as well as the rest of the animation world so much so that Walt Disney has become viewed as somewhat a legend; a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination, optimism, creation and self-made success in the American tradition Through his work he brought joy, happiness, and a universal means of communication to the people of every nation. (A: Unknown)

Bibliography
A, Brad, (Unknown) Walt Disney, Biography http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio02.html (Accessed 13/03/2012) Jackson, Wilfred, (1963) The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=96 (Accessed 13/03/2012) Burnes, B, Viets, D & Butler R. W, (2002) Walt Disneys Missouri: The Roots of a Creative Genius. U.S.A. Kansas City Star Books. (Accessed 13/03/2012)

List of Illustrations
Fig. 1. Walt Disney. On photobucket.com http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz352/loaloauk/5184cf06f3d22ac7_large.jpg?t=1259968247 (Accessed 13/03/2012)

Fig. 2. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. [Online image].On cartoonscrapbook.com http://www.cartoonscrapbook.com/01pics-L/disney_L14.jpg (Accessed 13/03/2012) Fig. 3. Steamboat Willie. [Online image].On blogspot.com http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bxVZ7GvshNg/ShIOdn9wp8I/AAAAAAAAAzk/9DLr3TtDL8E/s320/Steamb oat+Willie+1.jpg (Accessed 13/03/2012) Fig. 4. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. [Online image].On listal.com http://www.listal.com/viewimage/950764h (Accessed 13/03/2012)