Part I - A Brief History of The Walt Disney Company
Laugh-O-Gram Studios (1921-1923)
Founded by Walt Disney on the 28th of June 1921 in Kansas, Missouri and bankrupted by the 20th of November 1923.
Walt Disney wanted to make animated shorts of his own so created the company with the remnants and funding Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.
The first inspiration for Mickey Mouse came to Walt whilst at the studio.
Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (1923-1926)
Walt carried on with Laugh-O-Gram’s Alice Comedies, being the first production within the company.
In January of 1926 the company changed its name to Walt Disney Studio.
Walt Disney Studio (1926-1929)
After the Alice Comedies ended, Disney developed the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbitwith shorts being distributed by Universal Pictures. The contract was lost in 1928.
After losing Oswald, a replacement character was created in Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie was released on the 18th of November 1928, being Disney’s first project with synchronised audio. The company would then continue to make Mickey animated shorts.
Disney then struck a deal with Columbia Pictures in August 1929 to create Silly Symphoniesanimated musical shorts.
The company would later reorganise as a corporation with a merchandise division and 2 subsidiaries – Walt Disney Productions, Limited. The company shares were split 60/40 between Walt and his brother Roy respectively.
Walt Disney Productions, Limited (1929-1986)
Between 1932 and 1935, Walt Disney Productions, Limited had a deal with Technicolor to produce colour cartoons.
The popularity of Mickey Mouse Shorts gave Walt the idea to produce a feature length animated film – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The films began production in 1934 and was released in 1937.
With the profits from Snow White, Disney built a new 51-acre studio in Burbank, California. Opening at the end of 1939 and is still running to this day.
In April of 1940 the company was put on the Stock Market. But with WWII profits declines and many animators were drafted into the army.
Disney began producing War Training and Propaganda films commissioned by the US and Canadian governments. Their own feature length films became ‘package’ films comprised of animated shorts and made little to no profit.
In 1950 Cinderella proved feature length animated film could still work. Treasure Island also proved that Disney could produce fully live action films. In December Disney co-produced their first TV Special One Hour in Wonderland with the Coca-Cola Company for NBC.
Disney’s distribution deal with RKO ended in 1953 so the company instead formed their own distribution arm Buena Vista Distribution.
Disney produced their first regular TV Show Disneyland in October of 1954, where the titular theme park was also first announced to the public.
Disneyland opened to the public on the 18th of July 1955, with its first expansion taking place in 1959. Disney World in Florida was announced in November of 1965.
Walt Disney died aged 65 on the 15th of December 1966, with his brother Roy O. Disney taking over as Chairman, CEO and President of the company. Disney World was renamed as Walt Disney World in honour of Walt and opened on the 1st of October 1971. Roy Disney subsequently dies on the 20th of December 1971.
In 1979, Disney teams up with another company for the first time to co-produce films; Popeyeand Dragonslayer (both 1981).
The Walt Disney Productions was incorporated for all of the company’s film productions on the 1st of April 1983.
On the 15th of April 1983 Tokyo Disneyland opened, and 2 days later The Disney Channelopened.
In 1984 Disney opened Touchstone Films to produce more feature films in the PG-13 and R-Rated range.
A hostile takeover bid from Reliance Group holdings was attempted in 1984. Later in the year Michael Eisner and Frank Wells became the new CEO and President respectively.
In 1986 the companies name was changed to The Walt Disney Company, as it still is today.
The Walt Disney Company (1986-Today)
Throughout the late 1980’s and on, Disney began releasing Home Video tapes of their previously released earlier films for limited times.
Starting in 1989, the Disney Renaissance bred new life into the flagship animation studio with major successes all around.
In 1993 Disney purchase Miramax Films to broaden its adult content offerings.
On the 1st of August 1995 Disney acquired Capital Cities / ABC Inc. for $19 Billion.
On the 24th of October 2001, Disney purchased Fox Family Worldwide and in November renamed the network as ABC Family.
On the 17th of February 2004 Disney purchased the rights to The Muppets and placed them under Muppets Holding Company LLC, a unit of Disney Consumer Products.
Bob Iger was announced as the new CEO on the 13th of March 2005.
Hong Kong Disneyland opened on the 12th of September 2005.
After nearly 80 years, Disney reacquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and ill its intellectual properties.
Over the course 6 years Disney makes 3 of its most valuable purchases ever. On the 5th of May 2006 Disney purchased Pixar for $7.4 Billion in stock. On the 31st of December 2009 Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 Billion. And on the 30th of October 2012 Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas for $4.05 Billion.
Shanghai Disneyland opened on the 16th of June 2016.
In August of 2017 Disney increased its ownership of BAMTech to a majority 75% to launch its own subscription streaming service similar to Netflix.
On the 20th of March 2019 The Walt Disney Company complete it largest purchase ever purchasing the majority of 21st Century Fox’s assets, including 20th Century Fox, for $71.3 Billion. The Fox name stripped from most of the products, now 20th Century Studios.
Disney’s streaming service Disney Plus officially launches on the 12th of November 2019 – continuing its worldwide rollout to this day.
Bob Chapek became The Walt Disney Company’s new CEO on the 25th of February 2020 – prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Founded by Walt Disney on the 28th of June 1921 in Kansas, Missouri and bankrupted by the 20th of November 1923.
Walt Disney wanted to make animated shorts of his own so created the company with the remnants and funding Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.
The first inspiration for Mickey Mouse came to Walt whilst at the studio.
Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (1923-1926)
Walt carried on with Laugh-O-Gram’s Alice Comedies, being the first production within the company.
In January of 1926 the company changed its name to Walt Disney Studio.
Walt Disney Studio (1926-1929)
After the Alice Comedies ended, Disney developed the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbitwith shorts being distributed by Universal Pictures. The contract was lost in 1928.
After losing Oswald, a replacement character was created in Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie was released on the 18th of November 1928, being Disney’s first project with synchronised audio. The company would then continue to make Mickey animated shorts.
Disney then struck a deal with Columbia Pictures in August 1929 to create Silly Symphoniesanimated musical shorts.
The company would later reorganise as a corporation with a merchandise division and 2 subsidiaries – Walt Disney Productions, Limited. The company shares were split 60/40 between Walt and his brother Roy respectively.
Walt Disney Productions, Limited (1929-1986)
Between 1932 and 1935, Walt Disney Productions, Limited had a deal with Technicolor to produce colour cartoons.
The popularity of Mickey Mouse Shorts gave Walt the idea to produce a feature length animated film – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The films began production in 1934 and was released in 1937.
With the profits from Snow White, Disney built a new 51-acre studio in Burbank, California. Opening at the end of 1939 and is still running to this day.
In April of 1940 the company was put on the Stock Market. But with WWII profits declines and many animators were drafted into the army.
Disney began producing War Training and Propaganda films commissioned by the US and Canadian governments. Their own feature length films became ‘package’ films comprised of animated shorts and made little to no profit.
In 1950 Cinderella proved feature length animated film could still work. Treasure Island also proved that Disney could produce fully live action films. In December Disney co-produced their first TV Special One Hour in Wonderland with the Coca-Cola Company for NBC.
Disney’s distribution deal with RKO ended in 1953 so the company instead formed their own distribution arm Buena Vista Distribution.
Disney produced their first regular TV Show Disneyland in October of 1954, where the titular theme park was also first announced to the public.
Disneyland opened to the public on the 18th of July 1955, with its first expansion taking place in 1959. Disney World in Florida was announced in November of 1965.
Walt Disney died aged 65 on the 15th of December 1966, with his brother Roy O. Disney taking over as Chairman, CEO and President of the company. Disney World was renamed as Walt Disney World in honour of Walt and opened on the 1st of October 1971. Roy Disney subsequently dies on the 20th of December 1971.
In 1979, Disney teams up with another company for the first time to co-produce films; Popeyeand Dragonslayer (both 1981).
The Walt Disney Productions was incorporated for all of the company’s film productions on the 1st of April 1983.
On the 15th of April 1983 Tokyo Disneyland opened, and 2 days later The Disney Channelopened.
In 1984 Disney opened Touchstone Films to produce more feature films in the PG-13 and R-Rated range.
A hostile takeover bid from Reliance Group holdings was attempted in 1984. Later in the year Michael Eisner and Frank Wells became the new CEO and President respectively.
In 1986 the companies name was changed to The Walt Disney Company, as it still is today.
The Walt Disney Company (1986-Today)
Throughout the late 1980’s and on, Disney began releasing Home Video tapes of their previously released earlier films for limited times.
Starting in 1989, the Disney Renaissance bred new life into the flagship animation studio with major successes all around.
In 1993 Disney purchase Miramax Films to broaden its adult content offerings.
On the 1st of August 1995 Disney acquired Capital Cities / ABC Inc. for $19 Billion.
On the 24th of October 2001, Disney purchased Fox Family Worldwide and in November renamed the network as ABC Family.
On the 17th of February 2004 Disney purchased the rights to The Muppets and placed them under Muppets Holding Company LLC, a unit of Disney Consumer Products.
Bob Iger was announced as the new CEO on the 13th of March 2005.
Hong Kong Disneyland opened on the 12th of September 2005.
After nearly 80 years, Disney reacquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and ill its intellectual properties.
Over the course 6 years Disney makes 3 of its most valuable purchases ever. On the 5th of May 2006 Disney purchased Pixar for $7.4 Billion in stock. On the 31st of December 2009 Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 Billion. And on the 30th of October 2012 Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas for $4.05 Billion.
Shanghai Disneyland opened on the 16th of June 2016.
In August of 2017 Disney increased its ownership of BAMTech to a majority 75% to launch its own subscription streaming service similar to Netflix.
On the 20th of March 2019 The Walt Disney Company complete it largest purchase ever purchasing the majority of 21st Century Fox’s assets, including 20th Century Fox, for $71.3 Billion. The Fox name stripped from most of the products, now 20th Century Studios.
Disney’s streaming service Disney Plus officially launches on the 12th of November 2019 – continuing its worldwide rollout to this day.
Bob Chapek became The Walt Disney Company’s new CEO on the 25th of February 2020 – prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Part II - Animated Shorts and Technicolor
Laugh-O-Gram Shorts
The Laugh-O-Gram Studios was an animation studio founded by Walt Disney in Kansas, USA on the 28th of June 1921.
The first animated short released by the studio was 1922’s Little Red Riding Hood.
One of the very first recuring characters in animation was created by Walt Disney at Laugh-O-Gram Studios, named Jasper the Cat, who appeared in many different shorts.
The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on the 20th of November 1923.
Walt Disney Company Shorts
The Walt Disney Company started off as the Disney Animation Studios where they created a series of animated shorts featuring their newly created character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, first introduced in 1927’s Trolly Trouble. These shorts were distributed by Universal Pictures. In 1928 Disney Animation lost the license and with that, lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – the Disney Company didn’t regain the rights to the character until 2006.
In response to the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney needed to find a replacement that was solely their own. In 1928, Steamboat Willie was released staring Mickey Mouse for the first time. The short was also the first animated film in history with synchronised sound to animation.
From August of 1929, Disney entered a deal with Columbia Pictures to co-produce an animated short series called Silly Symphonies. These shorts combined animation and synchronised sound, particularly music, to produce what would become award winning animated shorts.
Technicolor
In 1932, Disney made a deal with Technicolor to produce colour cartoons, one of the only animation studios to produce colour cartoons at the time. This deal lasted until 1935.
The deal with Technicolor allowed Disney to be one the first major animation studios to produce Colour Animated Shorts. Disney’s first use of this deal was the Silly Symphony; Flowers and Trees, released in 1932.
The use of Technicolor later allowed for the first feature length colour animated film to be released in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
What This Achieved
The success of animated shorts proved that actual story driven concepts could be told in the form of Animation.
Animation gained traction as something that people of all ages could enjoy and became recognised as award winning pieces of art via Academy Awards.
Above all, the success of animated short films allowed for the realisation that feature length animated films could be a reality.
The Laugh-O-Gram Studios was an animation studio founded by Walt Disney in Kansas, USA on the 28th of June 1921.
The first animated short released by the studio was 1922’s Little Red Riding Hood.
One of the very first recuring characters in animation was created by Walt Disney at Laugh-O-Gram Studios, named Jasper the Cat, who appeared in many different shorts.
The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on the 20th of November 1923.
Walt Disney Company Shorts
The Walt Disney Company started off as the Disney Animation Studios where they created a series of animated shorts featuring their newly created character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, first introduced in 1927’s Trolly Trouble. These shorts were distributed by Universal Pictures. In 1928 Disney Animation lost the license and with that, lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – the Disney Company didn’t regain the rights to the character until 2006.
In response to the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney needed to find a replacement that was solely their own. In 1928, Steamboat Willie was released staring Mickey Mouse for the first time. The short was also the first animated film in history with synchronised sound to animation.
From August of 1929, Disney entered a deal with Columbia Pictures to co-produce an animated short series called Silly Symphonies. These shorts combined animation and synchronised sound, particularly music, to produce what would become award winning animated shorts.
Technicolor
In 1932, Disney made a deal with Technicolor to produce colour cartoons, one of the only animation studios to produce colour cartoons at the time. This deal lasted until 1935.
The deal with Technicolor allowed Disney to be one the first major animation studios to produce Colour Animated Shorts. Disney’s first use of this deal was the Silly Symphony; Flowers and Trees, released in 1932.
The use of Technicolor later allowed for the first feature length colour animated film to be released in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
What This Achieved
The success of animated shorts proved that actual story driven concepts could be told in the form of Animation.
Animation gained traction as something that people of all ages could enjoy and became recognised as award winning pieces of art via Academy Awards.
Above all, the success of animated short films allowed for the realisation that feature length animated films could be a reality.
Part III - Animated Camera Tracking: The Multiplane Camera
Origins
The Multiplane Camera wasn’t initially invented by The Walt Disney Company, and had smaller variations in the past – with that being said, the most advanced version was built at Disney.
The first use of the technology was in Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
Formed Walt Disney Studios animator Ub Iwerks first built his version of the Multiplane Camera form old Chevrolet car parts. This technology was used in animation completed by the Iwerks Studio’s in the mid 1930s.
Another version of the technology was created by the Fleischer Studio’s in 1934 – this technology was known as the Stereoptical or Setback Camera. The technology was basically an advanced form of Stop Motion used specifically for animation.
Disney Company Multiplane
Disney’s version of the Multiplane camera was created by William Garity and commissioned by the company for the intended use on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The device was completed in 1937 and tested on the Silly Symphony; The Old Mill. This short went on to win an Academy Award in 1937.
Disney’s Multiplane Camera was far more sophisticated than the previous designs by other people, using up to 7 different layers of artwork in its multiple planes of animation.
The last time the physical multiplane camera was used in a Disney production was in 1989s The Little Mermaid. The only reason the device stopped being used was because a digital version of the technology was created, so the physical device became obsolete.
How it Worked
Each element needed for the animation frame is separated in accordance to distance to the camera.
The Multiplane Camera allows the speed of each individual layer to be determined – this also means that certain layers may not even need to be moved to enhance the sense of depth and 3-Dimensions.
Animation is painted with Oil on Glass – hence ‘plane’. Each plane can move independently to each other.
Frames are shot with the camera facing downwards, each layer raised in the air – hence the term ‘Multiplane’.
Each frame has the different planes move independently to one another which causes the sense of depth and dimension in the animation.
What This Achieved
The Multiplane Camera allowed animators to create good looking animated tracking shots in a fraction of the time and in much higher and consistent quality.
The Multiplane Camera wasn’t initially invented by The Walt Disney Company, and had smaller variations in the past – with that being said, the most advanced version was built at Disney.
The first use of the technology was in Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
Formed Walt Disney Studios animator Ub Iwerks first built his version of the Multiplane Camera form old Chevrolet car parts. This technology was used in animation completed by the Iwerks Studio’s in the mid 1930s.
Another version of the technology was created by the Fleischer Studio’s in 1934 – this technology was known as the Stereoptical or Setback Camera. The technology was basically an advanced form of Stop Motion used specifically for animation.
Disney Company Multiplane
Disney’s version of the Multiplane camera was created by William Garity and commissioned by the company for the intended use on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The device was completed in 1937 and tested on the Silly Symphony; The Old Mill. This short went on to win an Academy Award in 1937.
Disney’s Multiplane Camera was far more sophisticated than the previous designs by other people, using up to 7 different layers of artwork in its multiple planes of animation.
The last time the physical multiplane camera was used in a Disney production was in 1989s The Little Mermaid. The only reason the device stopped being used was because a digital version of the technology was created, so the physical device became obsolete.
How it Worked
Each element needed for the animation frame is separated in accordance to distance to the camera.
The Multiplane Camera allows the speed of each individual layer to be determined – this also means that certain layers may not even need to be moved to enhance the sense of depth and 3-Dimensions.
Animation is painted with Oil on Glass – hence ‘plane’. Each plane can move independently to each other.
Frames are shot with the camera facing downwards, each layer raised in the air – hence the term ‘Multiplane’.
Each frame has the different planes move independently to one another which causes the sense of depth and dimension in the animation.
What This Achieved
The Multiplane Camera allowed animators to create good looking animated tracking shots in a fraction of the time and in much higher and consistent quality.
Part IV - Feature Length Animation
Snow White and the Early Successes
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was The Walt Disney Companies first feature length animated film, released in 1937. The film proved that feature length animation was a viable form of filmmaking and pushed Disney forward prioritising feature length animation over all other content.
Snow White also utilised the Multiplane Camera for its entirety, increasing the quality of animation to a point never seen before.
The next couple of feature length animated films (Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambireleased in 1940, 1940, 1941 and 1942 respectively) were all critical and commercial successes – up until World War II.
War Time Films
Once the United States entered World War II, the US Government commissioned War Propaganda animated short films, with one even going on to win an Academy Award in 1943 (Der Fuehrer’s Face).
With time and money being used mainly on the War Propaganda, feature length films became harder to produce. This resulted in ‘Package’ films – a compilation of similar shorts within a series comprised into a feature length film, starting with Saludos Amigos in 1943 and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949.
Feature length animated films continued with normality in 1950 with Cinderella.
The Dark Ages
After the death of Walt Disney in December 1966, the company (specifically the animation department) suffered heavily in terms of creativity. A large majority of the new animated films weren’t as good as previous films and made little profit, if any at all. Disney Animation entered a new era – The Bronze Age of Disney Animation, more commonly and cynically known as The Dark Age.
The Dark Age began in 1970 with The Aristocats and ended in 1988 with Oliver & Company. Even though the films mostly lacked quality when it came to the animation, there were two very inventive techniques that were pioneered in this era.
One very overlooked animation technique that was utilised profoundly in this time was the ‘Copycat’ technique. This technique was very easy and drastically decreased the cost of animation. The simple technique basically allowed you to draw over existing animation cells with new figures but retaining the animation movement – this allowed for mostly intermediate scenes to fit the new film whilst not having to put the time and effort into creating an entirely new scene.
Another important technique that was first used by Disney Animation that completely changed the way the company produced their animated features was editing. Prior to 1985 Disney had never edited their animated films, the animated film that was created, once finished, was sent out as is to watch. Starting with The Black Cauldron, Disney started editing their animated films which allowed a final product to cut out uninteresting scenes, shorten scenes or reorganise them to fix pacing issues – this allowed for films to become better experiences to watch.
In the Dark Age, The Walt Disney Company were struggling financially most in part due to the constant failures of the animated feature films that cost a lot and brought in little to no profit. At the time, other rival animation studios kept on beating Disney out at the Box Office - until 1989.
The Disney Renaissance Era
Named in part for the retellings of classic stories, the Disney Renaissance Era revitalised the animation department at Disney and reinvented the animation genre as a whole. This new era started in 1989 with the release of The Little Mermaid and ended in 1999 with the release of Tarzan.
In this era, Disney changed the way they made animated musicals. Mostly thanks to co-songwriter Howard Ashman whilst working on The Little Mermaid, the songs in animated musicals helped mould the story in a new way – from now on, each song would push the storytelling forward rather than interrupting the story to sing a song. This drastically changed the pacing of these films and also allowed the songs to be seen as vital to the actual story of the film.
The newly built CAPS Computer System brought animation into the new age of technology. The system allowed animation to be completed on a computer and saved digitally. To put it in its simplest term, CAPS was a computerised version of the Multiplane Camera. Originally created by Pixar, CAPS allowed animators to ‘paint’ and assemble animation on a computer. The system was first used on The Rescuers Down Under in 1990.
Animated films in the Renaissance era had consistently good stories, good animation, good music (songs and score) and were always critically and commercially successful – leading to Disney Animation rising back to the top of the game and saving the company from bankruptcy. Animated films of this era consistently gained recognition in terms of Academy Award nominations and wins, starting with Beauty and the Beast’s Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards in 1991.
Slow of 2D + Transition to CGI Animation
Starting with a few of the films released just pre-Renaissance, CGI animated elements began being included in films – starting with The Great Mouse Detective in 1986. As the years went on, more and more CGI elements were introduced in traditionally animated films – eventually to the point of full CGI animated sequences being integrated.
In the early 2000s, when the Renaissance era ended, Disney began experimenting with fully CGI animated feature length ‘tester’ films to compete with Pixar after their distribution deal was not renewed. With only 2 of these films really being developed, Chicken Little in 2005 and Meet the Robinsons in 2007 – to little critical or commercial success.
What This Achieved
Very early on after starting to produce feature length animated films, both Disney and audiences began to realise that animation was a viable way of telling engaging, quality stories.
Animation, specifically at Disney, became so much easier, less time consuming and drastically cheaper thanks to the ‘copy-cat’ technique and CAPS Computer System.
Beginning in the Renaissance era, feature length animated films began gaining high recognition and began being regarded on the same stature as live action films, both critically and commercially – all the way up to the Academy Awards.
The end of the Renaissance era began the process of moving animation from 2D and hand drawn to 3D and CGI – moving animation into a new stage.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was The Walt Disney Companies first feature length animated film, released in 1937. The film proved that feature length animation was a viable form of filmmaking and pushed Disney forward prioritising feature length animation over all other content.
Snow White also utilised the Multiplane Camera for its entirety, increasing the quality of animation to a point never seen before.
The next couple of feature length animated films (Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambireleased in 1940, 1940, 1941 and 1942 respectively) were all critical and commercial successes – up until World War II.
War Time Films
Once the United States entered World War II, the US Government commissioned War Propaganda animated short films, with one even going on to win an Academy Award in 1943 (Der Fuehrer’s Face).
With time and money being used mainly on the War Propaganda, feature length films became harder to produce. This resulted in ‘Package’ films – a compilation of similar shorts within a series comprised into a feature length film, starting with Saludos Amigos in 1943 and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949.
Feature length animated films continued with normality in 1950 with Cinderella.
The Dark Ages
After the death of Walt Disney in December 1966, the company (specifically the animation department) suffered heavily in terms of creativity. A large majority of the new animated films weren’t as good as previous films and made little profit, if any at all. Disney Animation entered a new era – The Bronze Age of Disney Animation, more commonly and cynically known as The Dark Age.
The Dark Age began in 1970 with The Aristocats and ended in 1988 with Oliver & Company. Even though the films mostly lacked quality when it came to the animation, there were two very inventive techniques that were pioneered in this era.
One very overlooked animation technique that was utilised profoundly in this time was the ‘Copycat’ technique. This technique was very easy and drastically decreased the cost of animation. The simple technique basically allowed you to draw over existing animation cells with new figures but retaining the animation movement – this allowed for mostly intermediate scenes to fit the new film whilst not having to put the time and effort into creating an entirely new scene.
Another important technique that was first used by Disney Animation that completely changed the way the company produced their animated features was editing. Prior to 1985 Disney had never edited their animated films, the animated film that was created, once finished, was sent out as is to watch. Starting with The Black Cauldron, Disney started editing their animated films which allowed a final product to cut out uninteresting scenes, shorten scenes or reorganise them to fix pacing issues – this allowed for films to become better experiences to watch.
In the Dark Age, The Walt Disney Company were struggling financially most in part due to the constant failures of the animated feature films that cost a lot and brought in little to no profit. At the time, other rival animation studios kept on beating Disney out at the Box Office - until 1989.
The Disney Renaissance Era
Named in part for the retellings of classic stories, the Disney Renaissance Era revitalised the animation department at Disney and reinvented the animation genre as a whole. This new era started in 1989 with the release of The Little Mermaid and ended in 1999 with the release of Tarzan.
In this era, Disney changed the way they made animated musicals. Mostly thanks to co-songwriter Howard Ashman whilst working on The Little Mermaid, the songs in animated musicals helped mould the story in a new way – from now on, each song would push the storytelling forward rather than interrupting the story to sing a song. This drastically changed the pacing of these films and also allowed the songs to be seen as vital to the actual story of the film.
The newly built CAPS Computer System brought animation into the new age of technology. The system allowed animation to be completed on a computer and saved digitally. To put it in its simplest term, CAPS was a computerised version of the Multiplane Camera. Originally created by Pixar, CAPS allowed animators to ‘paint’ and assemble animation on a computer. The system was first used on The Rescuers Down Under in 1990.
Animated films in the Renaissance era had consistently good stories, good animation, good music (songs and score) and were always critically and commercially successful – leading to Disney Animation rising back to the top of the game and saving the company from bankruptcy. Animated films of this era consistently gained recognition in terms of Academy Award nominations and wins, starting with Beauty and the Beast’s Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards in 1991.
Slow of 2D + Transition to CGI Animation
Starting with a few of the films released just pre-Renaissance, CGI animated elements began being included in films – starting with The Great Mouse Detective in 1986. As the years went on, more and more CGI elements were introduced in traditionally animated films – eventually to the point of full CGI animated sequences being integrated.
In the early 2000s, when the Renaissance era ended, Disney began experimenting with fully CGI animated feature length ‘tester’ films to compete with Pixar after their distribution deal was not renewed. With only 2 of these films really being developed, Chicken Little in 2005 and Meet the Robinsons in 2007 – to little critical or commercial success.
What This Achieved
Very early on after starting to produce feature length animated films, both Disney and audiences began to realise that animation was a viable way of telling engaging, quality stories.
Animation, specifically at Disney, became so much easier, less time consuming and drastically cheaper thanks to the ‘copy-cat’ technique and CAPS Computer System.
Beginning in the Renaissance era, feature length animated films began gaining high recognition and began being regarded on the same stature as live action films, both critically and commercially – all the way up to the Academy Awards.
The end of the Renaissance era began the process of moving animation from 2D and hand drawn to 3D and CGI – moving animation into a new stage.
Part V - Conversion to Live Action and Animation Hybrid's
Initial Live Action
Although Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company had dabbled in live action quite a few times in the past, most notably Laugh-O-Grams Alice Comedies shorts from the 1920’s which are also the earliest Disney live action / animation hybrids – it wasn’t until the 1950’s when live action feature films finally started being developed.
A few hybrid feature films and television productions had been produced, but it wasn’t until 1950 that a fully live action feature film was made by The Walt Disney Company; Treasure Island. The film was a critical and commercial success, prompting Disney to continue the path of fully live action films. It was also produced in colour.
In 1954, Disney’s live action colour feature length adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was released, to massive critical and commercial success, going on to win 2 Academy Awards – further proving to Disney that fully live action films were a more than viable option for the company.
Live Action Animation Hybrid’s
Live Action and Animation Hybrid films were always something The Walt Disney Company was interested in, starting with the Alice Comedies and eventually making its way to the War time package films Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros and Melody Time in 1943, 1945 and 1948 respectively, although these films were a majority animation over live action.
It wasn’t until 1946 when the first majority live action animation hybrid film was released, with the highly controversial Song of the South.
Live action animation hybrid films continued into the 1960s but with little recognition. It took 1964’s Mary Poppins to revitalise the genre. The film did something previous films had never done, having the live action and animated characters and set interact fully with one another – this allowed the film to blend together and tell a single cohesive story that made audiences believe the two forms of media were actually one. The film was a huge success both critically and commercially, even winning multiple Academy Awards.
Another successful hybrid that broke the boundaries of technology of the time was 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The films utilised real physical props to blend between the live action and animated characters in the real world, amounting to a feat no one had seen before – the seamless transition between live action and animated elements. The film was also a critical and commercial success and is currently in the United States National Film Registry classed as ground-breaking and ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.
The age of the live action animated hybrids ended in 1996 with the release of James and the Giant Peach – a live action stop motion animated hybrid film that did not blend the two mediums. Since then, The Walt Disney Company has only released a single live action animated hybrid film, 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, that used the same 2D animation techniques its 1964 predecessor used (albeit this time digital). Like its predecessor, it was critically and commercially successful and nominated for 4 Academy Awards.
Big Live Action
By the late 1980s The Walt Disney Company had decided to branch out their live action feature film business – attempting to now produce blockbuster films. The first of which, being a massive success, was 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. As well as being Disney’s first blockbuster film, it also utilised advanced robotic systems for fantastic visual effects of the time.
In 1993 The Walt Disney Company began producing Independent and Adult orientated feature films thanks to their purchase of Miramax - most notably Pulp Fiction, released in 1994. This allowed the company to easily produce films that would gain major recognition – with little to no effort on behalf of The Walt Disney Company itself. In 2010 Miramax was sold, along with the rights to all its films.
The Walt Disney Company needed something fully of their own creation to build into blockbuster films, so in the late 1990s / early 2000s the company started development of films based on their theme park original attractions. 2002 saw the failed Country Bears film which led to worries about the upcoming adaptations. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl became an unexpected hit for the studio when it was released in 2003, critically and commercially successful and still to this day one of the studios only successful ride to film adaptation – becoming one the biggest live action films released at the time and spawning a continuously successful franchise.
Live Action Remakes of Animated Projects
Thanks to the successes of Disney’s blockbusters, in the late 1980s / early 1990s the company started development on live action adaptations of their animated classics – starting with The Jungle Book in 1994. The film was moderately received.
The Walt Disney Company continued with 2 more live action remakes with 101 Dalmatians in 1996 and its sequel 102 Dalmatians in 2000, the first being successful but the second being negatively received. The company stopped producing live action remakes from this point until 2010.
The second wave of Disney’s live action remakes started with 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, continuing with 13 more with the latest release in 2020 with Mulan, with many more on the way.
The Jungle Book, released in 2016, was at the time the most successful of all the live action remakes. It was a technologically remarkable film in terms of its incredible visual effects and its box office gross proved to the company that live action remakes were more than viable money makers.
Although technically a CGI Animated film, 2019’s The Lion King is classed as a live action remake due to its perfect photorealistic CGI all throughout the film – it is one of the biggest achievements in visual effects in the history of film. The film became the highest grossing animated film of all time despite its mostly negative critical response – still reinforcing the idea that live action remakes are viable ways of making money.
What This Achieved
The advancements made by live action animated hybrid films allowed for seamless blending between live action and animated elements in films – this also set the stage for CGI to be used in films in the same way.
The Walt Disney Company realised that live action films could be made and marketed specifically for children.
Although Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company had dabbled in live action quite a few times in the past, most notably Laugh-O-Grams Alice Comedies shorts from the 1920’s which are also the earliest Disney live action / animation hybrids – it wasn’t until the 1950’s when live action feature films finally started being developed.
A few hybrid feature films and television productions had been produced, but it wasn’t until 1950 that a fully live action feature film was made by The Walt Disney Company; Treasure Island. The film was a critical and commercial success, prompting Disney to continue the path of fully live action films. It was also produced in colour.
In 1954, Disney’s live action colour feature length adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was released, to massive critical and commercial success, going on to win 2 Academy Awards – further proving to Disney that fully live action films were a more than viable option for the company.
Live Action Animation Hybrid’s
Live Action and Animation Hybrid films were always something The Walt Disney Company was interested in, starting with the Alice Comedies and eventually making its way to the War time package films Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros and Melody Time in 1943, 1945 and 1948 respectively, although these films were a majority animation over live action.
It wasn’t until 1946 when the first majority live action animation hybrid film was released, with the highly controversial Song of the South.
Live action animation hybrid films continued into the 1960s but with little recognition. It took 1964’s Mary Poppins to revitalise the genre. The film did something previous films had never done, having the live action and animated characters and set interact fully with one another – this allowed the film to blend together and tell a single cohesive story that made audiences believe the two forms of media were actually one. The film was a huge success both critically and commercially, even winning multiple Academy Awards.
Another successful hybrid that broke the boundaries of technology of the time was 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The films utilised real physical props to blend between the live action and animated characters in the real world, amounting to a feat no one had seen before – the seamless transition between live action and animated elements. The film was also a critical and commercial success and is currently in the United States National Film Registry classed as ground-breaking and ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.
The age of the live action animated hybrids ended in 1996 with the release of James and the Giant Peach – a live action stop motion animated hybrid film that did not blend the two mediums. Since then, The Walt Disney Company has only released a single live action animated hybrid film, 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, that used the same 2D animation techniques its 1964 predecessor used (albeit this time digital). Like its predecessor, it was critically and commercially successful and nominated for 4 Academy Awards.
Big Live Action
By the late 1980s The Walt Disney Company had decided to branch out their live action feature film business – attempting to now produce blockbuster films. The first of which, being a massive success, was 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. As well as being Disney’s first blockbuster film, it also utilised advanced robotic systems for fantastic visual effects of the time.
In 1993 The Walt Disney Company began producing Independent and Adult orientated feature films thanks to their purchase of Miramax - most notably Pulp Fiction, released in 1994. This allowed the company to easily produce films that would gain major recognition – with little to no effort on behalf of The Walt Disney Company itself. In 2010 Miramax was sold, along with the rights to all its films.
The Walt Disney Company needed something fully of their own creation to build into blockbuster films, so in the late 1990s / early 2000s the company started development of films based on their theme park original attractions. 2002 saw the failed Country Bears film which led to worries about the upcoming adaptations. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl became an unexpected hit for the studio when it was released in 2003, critically and commercially successful and still to this day one of the studios only successful ride to film adaptation – becoming one the biggest live action films released at the time and spawning a continuously successful franchise.
Live Action Remakes of Animated Projects
Thanks to the successes of Disney’s blockbusters, in the late 1980s / early 1990s the company started development on live action adaptations of their animated classics – starting with The Jungle Book in 1994. The film was moderately received.
The Walt Disney Company continued with 2 more live action remakes with 101 Dalmatians in 1996 and its sequel 102 Dalmatians in 2000, the first being successful but the second being negatively received. The company stopped producing live action remakes from this point until 2010.
The second wave of Disney’s live action remakes started with 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, continuing with 13 more with the latest release in 2020 with Mulan, with many more on the way.
The Jungle Book, released in 2016, was at the time the most successful of all the live action remakes. It was a technologically remarkable film in terms of its incredible visual effects and its box office gross proved to the company that live action remakes were more than viable money makers.
Although technically a CGI Animated film, 2019’s The Lion King is classed as a live action remake due to its perfect photorealistic CGI all throughout the film – it is one of the biggest achievements in visual effects in the history of film. The film became the highest grossing animated film of all time despite its mostly negative critical response – still reinforcing the idea that live action remakes are viable ways of making money.
What This Achieved
The advancements made by live action animated hybrid films allowed for seamless blending between live action and animated elements in films – this also set the stage for CGI to be used in films in the same way.
The Walt Disney Company realised that live action films could be made and marketed specifically for children.
Part VI - CGI Beginnings
Early Use
CGI started off in extremely simple ways. The Walt Disney Company’s first use of CGI was in 1979’s The Black Hole, in a brief opening credit scene using a simple digital wire frame model.
In the early 1980s CGI was available but there was no animation system build specifically for CGI yet, so when it came to 1982’s Tron something new had to be created. Simple 3D models could be created on a computer, so single frames could be created to present an image – because there was no CGI animation system, each individual frame had to be produced separately. This time-consuming technique could be simply described as computer stop motion animation – it was never used again, at least to the capacity it was used in Tron.
Animation
People often confuse Digital Animation and CGI Animation, thinking they are synonymous – which they most certainly aren’t. Digital Animation, specifically animation created using Pixar’s CAPS System, still requires the animator to build everything themselves albeit on a computer. CGI Animation specifically allows the artist to tell the computer what they want something to look like and for the computer to do it, giving the animator more time to fine tune everything to perfection.
The CAPS System allows animators to ‘paint’ and assemble scenes in a computer, first being used for some scenes in 1989’s The Little Mermaid. In 1990, the first fully digitally made film using the CAPS System was produced with The Rescuers Down Under.
Early films from the Disney Renaissance implemented scenes animated with CGI and as time went on, although slowly, more and more CGI animated scenes were implemented also becoming longer in runtime. The first fully CGI scene in an animated Disney film was the seamlessly implemented ‘stampede’ scene from 1994’s The Lion King.
The CAPS System set the stage for animation created on computers to be seen as actually possible at Disney Animation.
Live Action
Although not actually used in a live action scene, CGI was first used by The Walt Disney Company in 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ opening credits – the scene blended CGI animated elements with hand drawn elements. CGI was not blended in with live action elements but did prove that CGI could be used to animate, and still look good both in comparison and aside hand drawn animation.
Disney’s first fully CGI animated character in a live action film was the titular Flubber in 1997. Despite the film being a critical failure, it is highly regarded for its visual effects. The character not only had a full personality even without defining features, but also had fantastically animated movements, reflective surfaces and above all else, fit within the real world seamlessly.
What This Achieved
Over the course of 20 years, CGI models not only became more detailed but also developed systems in which these models could be articulated and subsequently animated.
A more important feat was also that the innovations themselves proved that CGI could be used to create things that physically could not be done by hand – allowing for the development of CGI blending into live action films.
CGI started off in extremely simple ways. The Walt Disney Company’s first use of CGI was in 1979’s The Black Hole, in a brief opening credit scene using a simple digital wire frame model.
In the early 1980s CGI was available but there was no animation system build specifically for CGI yet, so when it came to 1982’s Tron something new had to be created. Simple 3D models could be created on a computer, so single frames could be created to present an image – because there was no CGI animation system, each individual frame had to be produced separately. This time-consuming technique could be simply described as computer stop motion animation – it was never used again, at least to the capacity it was used in Tron.
Animation
People often confuse Digital Animation and CGI Animation, thinking they are synonymous – which they most certainly aren’t. Digital Animation, specifically animation created using Pixar’s CAPS System, still requires the animator to build everything themselves albeit on a computer. CGI Animation specifically allows the artist to tell the computer what they want something to look like and for the computer to do it, giving the animator more time to fine tune everything to perfection.
The CAPS System allows animators to ‘paint’ and assemble scenes in a computer, first being used for some scenes in 1989’s The Little Mermaid. In 1990, the first fully digitally made film using the CAPS System was produced with The Rescuers Down Under.
Early films from the Disney Renaissance implemented scenes animated with CGI and as time went on, although slowly, more and more CGI animated scenes were implemented also becoming longer in runtime. The first fully CGI scene in an animated Disney film was the seamlessly implemented ‘stampede’ scene from 1994’s The Lion King.
The CAPS System set the stage for animation created on computers to be seen as actually possible at Disney Animation.
Live Action
Although not actually used in a live action scene, CGI was first used by The Walt Disney Company in 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ opening credits – the scene blended CGI animated elements with hand drawn elements. CGI was not blended in with live action elements but did prove that CGI could be used to animate, and still look good both in comparison and aside hand drawn animation.
Disney’s first fully CGI animated character in a live action film was the titular Flubber in 1997. Despite the film being a critical failure, it is highly regarded for its visual effects. The character not only had a full personality even without defining features, but also had fantastically animated movements, reflective surfaces and above all else, fit within the real world seamlessly.
What This Achieved
Over the course of 20 years, CGI models not only became more detailed but also developed systems in which these models could be articulated and subsequently animated.
A more important feat was also that the innovations themselves proved that CGI could be used to create things that physically could not be done by hand – allowing for the development of CGI blending into live action films.
Part VII - CGI Animated Films and Pixar
Disney’s fully CGI Animated Films
The Walt Disney Company first started producing CGI Animated films in the late 1990s, with the first release being 2000’s Dinosaur – the film was released as a ‘Disney Animated Classic’ but the CGI animation was provided by a separate studio in the company rather than Walt Disney Feature Animation. Although the film contained no hand drawn 2D animation, it wasn’t fully CGI Animated either – Dinosaur utilised a rare technique where the backgrounds were real images taken around the world and the dinosaurs in the film were CGI animated characters. Despite making a profit, the film was extremely expensive to make (on animation terms) and was mildly received by critics.
Fully CGI Animated films were still in production but didn’t see the light of day until 2005 with the release of Chicken Little. This was the first fully CGI animated film by Walt Disney Feature Animation – also being the last released under the Walt Disney Feature Animation banner before being renamed as the Walt Disney Animation Studio. The film proved that Disney was capable of producing quality CGI Animation, more lacking in story areas.
Since then, CGI Animated films became more prevalent as time went on with the Walt Disney Animation Studio’s last traditionally animated 2D film, Winnie the Pooh, being released in 2011.
Pixar Early Start
Pixar started off as the Computer Animation division of Lucasfilm in 1979. The Pixar Image Computer was developed specifically by Lucasfilm’s Animation division. In 1986, Apple’s Steve Jobs purchased this division of Lucasfilm for $10 million, spinning it off into its own company ‘Pixar’.
In 1983 John Lasseter, who would later on lead Pixar, tested CGI Animation for the first time at The Walt Disney Company. He produced a short, blended version of Where the Wild Things Are – blending traditional 2D hand drawn animation with CGI created sets.
By 1984 Pixar had developed new computer animation techniques that allowed for the stretching of CGI shapes and motion blur in the animation with their first released short The Adventures of André & Wally B..
To prove what Pixar was capable of the animation studio created the animated short Luxo Jr.to showcase all of their technological achievements in computer animation – the short, released in 1986, was a huge success and went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for best Animated Short Film.
The studio started to produce their first ‘commission’ based products in 1990 with animated advertisements for companies.
Pixar Feature Length Animation
In 1991 The Walt Disney Company commissioned Pixar’s first feature length animated feature; Toy Story, which would be released in 1995. After the success of the film, Pixar Animation Studio’s went public on the stock market and gained $100 million in stock.
The biggest strength that Pixar has always had when making its theatrical feature length films is the need to innovate – every new film always had a goal set and wouldn’t be completed until that goal was met. Some examples include: 1998’s A Bugs Life having multiple crowd scenes increased from 50 to 430 individual characters, 2001’s Monsters Inc.having fur, 2003’s Finding Nemo having realistic water (the animation was actually so good that it had to be dialled down because the studio was afraid that audiences would think it wasn’t animated), 2004’s The Incredibles having flowing hair and fabrics, and 2006’s Carshaving ‘goldilocks’ zone reflective surfaces.
One technique used in the production of Pixar’s animated films, that has now also been adopted by other studios not only for animated projects but also for live action projects was 3D Storyboarding. Developed in the early 2000s and initially used during production of The Incredibles, 3D Storyboards allow animators to have a larger sense of depth before starting animation of a scene.
Disney Acquisition of Pixar
On the 5th of May 2006, The Walt Disney Company officially purchased Pixar for $7.4 billion – also allowing Steve Jobs to become Disney’s biggest individual shareholder, owning 7% of The Walt Disney Company.
This new purchase deal allowed for Pixar to always have a guaranteed distributer for their feature films and no chance of bankruptcy. In turn, this also allowed the Walt Disney Animation Studio’s to keep creating 2D traditionally animated films whilst also learning how to produce quality CGI animated films.
What This Achieved
Walt Disney Animation began to learn how to make good quality CGI animated films that also balanced their stories equally.
Pixar Animation no longer had to worry about finances and distribution, instead allowing them to continue to innovate via their theatrical films.
The Walt Disney Company first started producing CGI Animated films in the late 1990s, with the first release being 2000’s Dinosaur – the film was released as a ‘Disney Animated Classic’ but the CGI animation was provided by a separate studio in the company rather than Walt Disney Feature Animation. Although the film contained no hand drawn 2D animation, it wasn’t fully CGI Animated either – Dinosaur utilised a rare technique where the backgrounds were real images taken around the world and the dinosaurs in the film were CGI animated characters. Despite making a profit, the film was extremely expensive to make (on animation terms) and was mildly received by critics.
Fully CGI Animated films were still in production but didn’t see the light of day until 2005 with the release of Chicken Little. This was the first fully CGI animated film by Walt Disney Feature Animation – also being the last released under the Walt Disney Feature Animation banner before being renamed as the Walt Disney Animation Studio. The film proved that Disney was capable of producing quality CGI Animation, more lacking in story areas.
Since then, CGI Animated films became more prevalent as time went on with the Walt Disney Animation Studio’s last traditionally animated 2D film, Winnie the Pooh, being released in 2011.
Pixar Early Start
Pixar started off as the Computer Animation division of Lucasfilm in 1979. The Pixar Image Computer was developed specifically by Lucasfilm’s Animation division. In 1986, Apple’s Steve Jobs purchased this division of Lucasfilm for $10 million, spinning it off into its own company ‘Pixar’.
In 1983 John Lasseter, who would later on lead Pixar, tested CGI Animation for the first time at The Walt Disney Company. He produced a short, blended version of Where the Wild Things Are – blending traditional 2D hand drawn animation with CGI created sets.
By 1984 Pixar had developed new computer animation techniques that allowed for the stretching of CGI shapes and motion blur in the animation with their first released short The Adventures of André & Wally B..
To prove what Pixar was capable of the animation studio created the animated short Luxo Jr.to showcase all of their technological achievements in computer animation – the short, released in 1986, was a huge success and went on to be nominated for the Academy Award for best Animated Short Film.
The studio started to produce their first ‘commission’ based products in 1990 with animated advertisements for companies.
Pixar Feature Length Animation
In 1991 The Walt Disney Company commissioned Pixar’s first feature length animated feature; Toy Story, which would be released in 1995. After the success of the film, Pixar Animation Studio’s went public on the stock market and gained $100 million in stock.
The biggest strength that Pixar has always had when making its theatrical feature length films is the need to innovate – every new film always had a goal set and wouldn’t be completed until that goal was met. Some examples include: 1998’s A Bugs Life having multiple crowd scenes increased from 50 to 430 individual characters, 2001’s Monsters Inc.having fur, 2003’s Finding Nemo having realistic water (the animation was actually so good that it had to be dialled down because the studio was afraid that audiences would think it wasn’t animated), 2004’s The Incredibles having flowing hair and fabrics, and 2006’s Carshaving ‘goldilocks’ zone reflective surfaces.
One technique used in the production of Pixar’s animated films, that has now also been adopted by other studios not only for animated projects but also for live action projects was 3D Storyboarding. Developed in the early 2000s and initially used during production of The Incredibles, 3D Storyboards allow animators to have a larger sense of depth before starting animation of a scene.
Disney Acquisition of Pixar
On the 5th of May 2006, The Walt Disney Company officially purchased Pixar for $7.4 billion – also allowing Steve Jobs to become Disney’s biggest individual shareholder, owning 7% of The Walt Disney Company.
This new purchase deal allowed for Pixar to always have a guaranteed distributer for their feature films and no chance of bankruptcy. In turn, this also allowed the Walt Disney Animation Studio’s to keep creating 2D traditionally animated films whilst also learning how to produce quality CGI animated films.
What This Achieved
Walt Disney Animation began to learn how to make good quality CGI animated films that also balanced their stories equally.
Pixar Animation no longer had to worry about finances and distribution, instead allowing them to continue to innovate via their theatrical films.
Part VIII - 3D and CGI Animated Films
Early Attempts – The Second Dark Age of Disney
After the end of Disney Animations first Renaissance Era in 1999 with Tarzan, Disney’s animated films went downhill. The Second Dark Age’s films were mostly critical and financial failures.
The Walt Disney Company allowed the Florida Studio (situated in the Walt Disney World Resort theme park MGM Studios, now known as Hollywood Studios, in Orlando) to continue producing 2D animated films whilst the main animation studio in Burbank, California continued attempting to produce 3D CGI animated films.
The initial 3D CGI animated films that the studio made were deemed financial and critical failures; Dinosaur, Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons in 2000, 2005 and 2007 respectively, with the Florida Studios’ 2D Animated films, although not all financially successful most were critically successful to some extent.
Later Successes – The Second Disney Renaissance
After the acquisition of Pixar, Disney Animation quickly started to learn how to make quality 3D CGI animated films. The first critically and financially successful of these Post-Pixar acquisition films was 2008’s Bolt – starting The Second Disney Renaissance Era. This era caused a resurgence of quality animated film, most being 3D CGI animated.
The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger reorganised the Disney Animation Studio to allow for the concurrent production of quality 2D and 3D CGI animated films. Since then, Disney Animation’s 3D CGI animated films have been increasing in quality and revenue, all being critical and financial successes. Disney’s 2D Animated features went on a decline with the last produced being 2011’s Winnie the Pooh.
Current Era – The ‘Revival’ Era
The Second Disney Renaissance Era ended in 2016 with Moana. This new era doesn’t have an officially coined name as of yet, but a large majority of people refer to it as the Revival Era.
This Revival Era of Disney Animation started off with sequels to 2 different Second Renaissance Era films; Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018 and Frozen II in 2019 – both being critically and financially successful. This is the first time since 1990’s The Rescuers Down Under that the Disney Animation Studio has produced direct sequels to previous films, and only the 2nd and 3rd time respectively.
The Revival Era has continued with the critically successful Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021 which will most likely be a financial failure due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. Encanto is the next film scheduled which is likely to follow the same path as Raya – the Revival Era will continue and is currently unknown as to when it will end.
What This Achieved
The Walt Disney Company, and more specifically the Disney Animation Studio, learned how to produce quality 3D CGI animated films.
Disney Animation once again became the leading force in the Animation Industry.
After the end of Disney Animations first Renaissance Era in 1999 with Tarzan, Disney’s animated films went downhill. The Second Dark Age’s films were mostly critical and financial failures.
The Walt Disney Company allowed the Florida Studio (situated in the Walt Disney World Resort theme park MGM Studios, now known as Hollywood Studios, in Orlando) to continue producing 2D animated films whilst the main animation studio in Burbank, California continued attempting to produce 3D CGI animated films.
The initial 3D CGI animated films that the studio made were deemed financial and critical failures; Dinosaur, Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons in 2000, 2005 and 2007 respectively, with the Florida Studios’ 2D Animated films, although not all financially successful most were critically successful to some extent.
Later Successes – The Second Disney Renaissance
After the acquisition of Pixar, Disney Animation quickly started to learn how to make quality 3D CGI animated films. The first critically and financially successful of these Post-Pixar acquisition films was 2008’s Bolt – starting The Second Disney Renaissance Era. This era caused a resurgence of quality animated film, most being 3D CGI animated.
The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger reorganised the Disney Animation Studio to allow for the concurrent production of quality 2D and 3D CGI animated films. Since then, Disney Animation’s 3D CGI animated films have been increasing in quality and revenue, all being critical and financial successes. Disney’s 2D Animated features went on a decline with the last produced being 2011’s Winnie the Pooh.
Current Era – The ‘Revival’ Era
The Second Disney Renaissance Era ended in 2016 with Moana. This new era doesn’t have an officially coined name as of yet, but a large majority of people refer to it as the Revival Era.
This Revival Era of Disney Animation started off with sequels to 2 different Second Renaissance Era films; Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018 and Frozen II in 2019 – both being critically and financially successful. This is the first time since 1990’s The Rescuers Down Under that the Disney Animation Studio has produced direct sequels to previous films, and only the 2nd and 3rd time respectively.
The Revival Era has continued with the critically successful Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021 which will most likely be a financial failure due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. Encanto is the next film scheduled which is likely to follow the same path as Raya – the Revival Era will continue and is currently unknown as to when it will end.
What This Achieved
The Walt Disney Company, and more specifically the Disney Animation Studio, learned how to produce quality 3D CGI animated films.
Disney Animation once again became the leading force in the Animation Industry.
Part IX - CGI in Live Action
Transition to CGI
A large amount of live action films Disney produced did utilise visual effects but prior to CGI, hand drawn elements would be layered over the top of frames with very few using actual CGI.
1982’s Tron was the first live action Disney film to extensively use CGI as well as traditional (and complex) methods but was considered too expensive to be a viable film making method going forward.
The use of CGI was sparce until the very late 1990’s and early 2000’s when Disney started using CGI specifically to create things you wouldn’t otherwise see in the real world.
Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was one of the first Disney franchises to utilise large amounts and variety of CGI throughout their films.
The films built sets and set extensions using CGI – although mostly used to create fictional or expansive locations, the final product always looked realistic.
One of the biggest achievements of the franchise, not just for Disney but for all CGI in the film industry is the CGI characters and creatures created for these films. Entire creatures were created near perfectly from scratch. Pirates allowed for creature characters to be created, sometimes fully CGI but mostly an incredible blend between the real people and real makeup with CGI extension makeup and add-ons.
The character of Davy Jones is regarded as one of the best CGI characters ever created. The character was created using a blend between heavy makeup and costume design, motion capture and CGI additions – despite the massive mix of different techniques and the fact that the character isn’t based on something that actually exists, Davy Jones is a 100% completely realistic character who even won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, is a franchise specifically built for the need of CGI. As with the Pirates franchise, the MCU features CGI sets and extensions, creatures and characters and a large amount of completely fictional creations.
Over the course of the 12 year, 23 film, 24 project franchise, the MCU has extensively and progressively used more and more CGI – mostly increasing in quality as they go on. There’s a lot I could talk about, but I am only going to talk about the few things that the MCU has done well specifically.
Although the MCU is usually very strong with its visual effects, its fully CGI sets are sometimes slightly hit and miss but its CGI set extensions are mostly perfect. This also proves that their techniques themselves are very good with most of the problems coming from the practical side of production.
One of the MCU’s best CGI creations is the character Rocket Racoon who first featured in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The character is an anthropomorphised CGI racoon who walks upright, speaks and most importantly emotes heavily as if human. The CGI effects, although a stand in is used, are completely from scratch creating a perfectly realistic fictional version of a real animal.
Another important feat that the MCU perfected in its 2 biggest films came curtesy of the character Thanos. A fully fictional alien character 10 foot tall that interacts with human characters and environments, created with motion capture and looks entirely real – the MCU’s equivalent of Davy Jones from the Pirates franchise. The most impressive micro facial movements of a CGI character.
Photorealism
Photorealism is a term used is visual effects that describes a CGI creation that looks and feels like it was really filmed. Despite being improved as the years went on, the biggest achievement in Photorealism came in 2016 and 2019 with The Jungle Book and The Lion King respectively.
The Jungle Book blended a live action character and sets with CGI created animals, sets and set extensions. The film constantly, seamlessly blended the real and CGI aspects together.
The next big step, easily the best photorealism to ever be produced and potentially the best it could ever get came in 2019’s The Lion King. Despite it commonly being referred to as a live action remake, The Lion King is actually a full CGI animated film with photorealism employed throughout (bar a single moment of a live action scene). Without knowing, anyone would assume that the majority of this film was real, when in actual fact virtually none of it is.
Other Notable Projects
Although not technically a live action film, Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 motion capture animated film A Christmas Carol drastically pushed motion capture techniques further than any previous Disney project, and even potentially the film industry as a whole.
What This Achieved
As well as pushing CGI techniques forward drastically throughout the years and films, the biggest thing this achievement accomplished was the realisation that CGI spectacle films could become a reality and attract viewers by showcasing things that could never be seen in real life.
Photorealism allows films to create fully real looking environments without filming a single frame.
A large amount of live action films Disney produced did utilise visual effects but prior to CGI, hand drawn elements would be layered over the top of frames with very few using actual CGI.
1982’s Tron was the first live action Disney film to extensively use CGI as well as traditional (and complex) methods but was considered too expensive to be a viable film making method going forward.
The use of CGI was sparce until the very late 1990’s and early 2000’s when Disney started using CGI specifically to create things you wouldn’t otherwise see in the real world.
Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was one of the first Disney franchises to utilise large amounts and variety of CGI throughout their films.
The films built sets and set extensions using CGI – although mostly used to create fictional or expansive locations, the final product always looked realistic.
One of the biggest achievements of the franchise, not just for Disney but for all CGI in the film industry is the CGI characters and creatures created for these films. Entire creatures were created near perfectly from scratch. Pirates allowed for creature characters to be created, sometimes fully CGI but mostly an incredible blend between the real people and real makeup with CGI extension makeup and add-ons.
The character of Davy Jones is regarded as one of the best CGI characters ever created. The character was created using a blend between heavy makeup and costume design, motion capture and CGI additions – despite the massive mix of different techniques and the fact that the character isn’t based on something that actually exists, Davy Jones is a 100% completely realistic character who even won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU, is a franchise specifically built for the need of CGI. As with the Pirates franchise, the MCU features CGI sets and extensions, creatures and characters and a large amount of completely fictional creations.
Over the course of the 12 year, 23 film, 24 project franchise, the MCU has extensively and progressively used more and more CGI – mostly increasing in quality as they go on. There’s a lot I could talk about, but I am only going to talk about the few things that the MCU has done well specifically.
Although the MCU is usually very strong with its visual effects, its fully CGI sets are sometimes slightly hit and miss but its CGI set extensions are mostly perfect. This also proves that their techniques themselves are very good with most of the problems coming from the practical side of production.
One of the MCU’s best CGI creations is the character Rocket Racoon who first featured in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The character is an anthropomorphised CGI racoon who walks upright, speaks and most importantly emotes heavily as if human. The CGI effects, although a stand in is used, are completely from scratch creating a perfectly realistic fictional version of a real animal.
Another important feat that the MCU perfected in its 2 biggest films came curtesy of the character Thanos. A fully fictional alien character 10 foot tall that interacts with human characters and environments, created with motion capture and looks entirely real – the MCU’s equivalent of Davy Jones from the Pirates franchise. The most impressive micro facial movements of a CGI character.
Photorealism
Photorealism is a term used is visual effects that describes a CGI creation that looks and feels like it was really filmed. Despite being improved as the years went on, the biggest achievement in Photorealism came in 2016 and 2019 with The Jungle Book and The Lion King respectively.
The Jungle Book blended a live action character and sets with CGI created animals, sets and set extensions. The film constantly, seamlessly blended the real and CGI aspects together.
The next big step, easily the best photorealism to ever be produced and potentially the best it could ever get came in 2019’s The Lion King. Despite it commonly being referred to as a live action remake, The Lion King is actually a full CGI animated film with photorealism employed throughout (bar a single moment of a live action scene). Without knowing, anyone would assume that the majority of this film was real, when in actual fact virtually none of it is.
Other Notable Projects
Although not technically a live action film, Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 motion capture animated film A Christmas Carol drastically pushed motion capture techniques further than any previous Disney project, and even potentially the film industry as a whole.
What This Achieved
As well as pushing CGI techniques forward drastically throughout the years and films, the biggest thing this achievement accomplished was the realisation that CGI spectacle films could become a reality and attract viewers by showcasing things that could never be seen in real life.
Photorealism allows films to create fully real looking environments without filming a single frame.
Part X - Lucasfilm's Volume
Origins / Development
Lucasfilm’s Volume started out its journey on the set of Jon Favreau’s 2016 film The Jungle Book. The technology originally composed of interactive light wall panels that allowed for real light to be projected onto the characters to be placed in CGI backgrounds, with the light actually accurately correlating with the CGI backgrounds.
The next stage of development came from Favreau’s next film, 2019’s The Lion King. The technology furthered with the creation of a virtual camera that could be used with a VR system within the computers 3D digital film set to allow for conventional filming techniques to be utilised within a virtual environment.
The technology would also later use other production devices such as Unreal Engine 4 which allows for real time 3D 4K rendering, Industrial Light and Magic’s (ILM) visual effects designs and their StageCraft Virtual Set.
All of these separate developments were joined together for Jon Favreau’s use on the first live action Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
How It Works
Dubbed ‘The Volume’, Lucasfilm’s new StageCraft device encompasses both the interactive light panels and virtual camera technologies, whilst also making them much larger. The Volume now allows for 3 distinct things to happen.
The Volume is made up of a 75-foot LED Screen Room and ceiling that projects the virtual set strongly that also, and more importantly, allows for interactive lighting to be produced.
The camera technology from The Lion King had now been developed further and connected to the interactive light panels to become motion tracked, allowing for real background movement in camera where the virtual set projected on the panels move within the camera’s viewpoint.
The Volume also allows the seamless blending of practical set pieces with the virtual set to create an environment onscreen that looks completely natural, this being a new form of CGI set extensions. This technology works so well that actors on set genuinely couldn’t differentiate between the physical set and LED panels, occasionally walking into either not realising which was which.
Further Development and The Future
After the first season of The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm developed their own real time rending system in place of Unreal Engine 4 name Helios. This now allows Lucasfilm to complete productions fully in-house from now on.
Since the original Volume was completed, 3 more are set to be built around the world. 2 have already begun construction in London and Australia with both new devices being larger than the original used on The Mandalorian – the 3rd to be built in Los Angeles.
These new Volume’s are set to be available for all filmmakers and production studios to use, even including non-Disney owned companies. Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige also confirmed that the technology would be used on their upcoming Disney Plus Original Streaming shows.
What This Achieved
This technology has been a massive strive in filmmaking, potentially the biggest development of modern times. I personally think this may be one of the most important developments in film history and will change the course of filmmaking for the better.
The technology allows real time virtual sets that can also be changed and edited in post-production. Also drastically improving and near perfecting interactive lighting and shadows on set where CGI backgrounds are to be used.
There is no longer the need to build ‘one and done’ physical sets that may also limit storytelling. The sets can now be stored digitally and projected at a moment’s notice.
As of the world we are living in at the moment, the set allows for a closed system to be in place where cast and crew only have to be on a singular set, which is perfect for pandemic shooting. This is also a strong technique to prevent set leaks from projects.
As well as the final product physically looking better thanks to this new technology, the biggest feat amounts to better actor performances. The technology allows for an immersive experience as if on a fully real set, providing the best performances possible as actors can actually see what they’re looking at rather than a blue or green screen.
Lucasfilm’s Volume started out its journey on the set of Jon Favreau’s 2016 film The Jungle Book. The technology originally composed of interactive light wall panels that allowed for real light to be projected onto the characters to be placed in CGI backgrounds, with the light actually accurately correlating with the CGI backgrounds.
The next stage of development came from Favreau’s next film, 2019’s The Lion King. The technology furthered with the creation of a virtual camera that could be used with a VR system within the computers 3D digital film set to allow for conventional filming techniques to be utilised within a virtual environment.
The technology would also later use other production devices such as Unreal Engine 4 which allows for real time 3D 4K rendering, Industrial Light and Magic’s (ILM) visual effects designs and their StageCraft Virtual Set.
All of these separate developments were joined together for Jon Favreau’s use on the first live action Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
How It Works
Dubbed ‘The Volume’, Lucasfilm’s new StageCraft device encompasses both the interactive light panels and virtual camera technologies, whilst also making them much larger. The Volume now allows for 3 distinct things to happen.
The Volume is made up of a 75-foot LED Screen Room and ceiling that projects the virtual set strongly that also, and more importantly, allows for interactive lighting to be produced.
The camera technology from The Lion King had now been developed further and connected to the interactive light panels to become motion tracked, allowing for real background movement in camera where the virtual set projected on the panels move within the camera’s viewpoint.
The Volume also allows the seamless blending of practical set pieces with the virtual set to create an environment onscreen that looks completely natural, this being a new form of CGI set extensions. This technology works so well that actors on set genuinely couldn’t differentiate between the physical set and LED panels, occasionally walking into either not realising which was which.
Further Development and The Future
After the first season of The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm developed their own real time rending system in place of Unreal Engine 4 name Helios. This now allows Lucasfilm to complete productions fully in-house from now on.
Since the original Volume was completed, 3 more are set to be built around the world. 2 have already begun construction in London and Australia with both new devices being larger than the original used on The Mandalorian – the 3rd to be built in Los Angeles.
These new Volume’s are set to be available for all filmmakers and production studios to use, even including non-Disney owned companies. Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige also confirmed that the technology would be used on their upcoming Disney Plus Original Streaming shows.
What This Achieved
This technology has been a massive strive in filmmaking, potentially the biggest development of modern times. I personally think this may be one of the most important developments in film history and will change the course of filmmaking for the better.
The technology allows real time virtual sets that can also be changed and edited in post-production. Also drastically improving and near perfecting interactive lighting and shadows on set where CGI backgrounds are to be used.
There is no longer the need to build ‘one and done’ physical sets that may also limit storytelling. The sets can now be stored digitally and projected at a moment’s notice.
As of the world we are living in at the moment, the set allows for a closed system to be in place where cast and crew only have to be on a singular set, which is perfect for pandemic shooting. This is also a strong technique to prevent set leaks from projects.
As well as the final product physically looking better thanks to this new technology, the biggest feat amounts to better actor performances. The technology allows for an immersive experience as if on a fully real set, providing the best performances possible as actors can actually see what they’re looking at rather than a blue or green screen.