Processes

The Early Years

First Walt and his team would hold a story conference where they would present storyboards and review the story. Then they would present ideas and act them out as they would need to be animated for the film. After the storyboards were approved, live action reference footage would then sometimes be filmed to further assist the animators. The animators would then define the characters and focus on the key poses of movement and action. A team dubbed the ‘inbetweeners’ would complete the necessary number of drawings for the 24 frames per second of on-screen running time. The inkers would then trace the animation drawings onto clear cells which would then be painted on the back with specially made paint where the cell would be placed onto a background and under the animation camera to create one final frame of film. When the animation team are developing characters for new films, they need to figure out colours, composition, and diversity. For example, in Beauty and the Beast, Belle is the only character who wears blue in the town during the opening number Belle. In doing this, the animators separate her from the rest of the crowd who are calling her different and unusual, it makes the character stand out (The Disney Book, 2015)

In 1992’s Aladdin, Disney incorporated blue tones in the main characters, especially Genie, as blue is generally associated with water. They did this as the film is set in the middle east where much of the land is a desert and water symbolise a life-giving source in the desert. The films villains are depicted in the red range of colours, opposition to the blue tones of the heroes (The Disney Book, 2015). Acquiring the rights to Mary Poppins seemed as a great achievement for Walt Disney as he felt inspired to make a blockbuster. He combined everything he knew was working in his films to make, what is deemed, his greatest film achievement. Disney combined live action actors, animation, music, comedy, sentiment, and audio animatronics technology to bring Mary Poppins to cinematic life. The film became a huge hit when released in 1964 and was nominated for 13 Oscars winning 5 of them including Best Actress for Julie Andrews (Dockterman, 2018). Disney has repeated this method of filmmaking many times since including in 2007’s Enchanted and 1971’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Now the Disney Studios are combing live action entertainment with animation like never before with many films incorporating CGI animation to bring the action and in their live action retellings of the company’s hit animated films.

CGI Animation

An animated film is generally 90 minutes long with many sequences each of which goes for 1-7 minutes. Encanto, specifically, has 40 sequences. Each sequence is made of many shots, typically 0 to 30 secs long. There are 24 frames in 1 second of animation. Each frame is on screen for approximately 0.04 secs. Encanto has a total of 133,709 frames. Each frame is then rendered for left and right eye viewing to create depth. Each film takes about 2-5 years to complete from storyboard stage. It all starts with an idea where storytellers begin to craft the narrative, characters, and worlds. Editorial and sound teams begin crafting a score and soundtrack for the film which evolves the story. The production team begin researching before production begins to build the story. The research team continues researching throughout the development of the film. The director then begins casting to provide voices to the characters. Artists then turn concepts and 2-D drawings into 3-D digitally rendered forms to create the world inside the film. Shot production includes the work of many animators and technicians who bring sequences to life in everything from a character’s acting to fine details in their hair, clothing, and world. Everything is then combined to create the film which audiences view (Disney Animation Studios, 2021).

The Walt Disney Animation Website goes into exact detail on how they are currently making their films.

Walt Disney Animation Studios

How Disney Animation Processes have Evolved

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