Disney's overall impact

Even as a disney fan, I definitely do find myself questioning Disney's impact; was it good for the animation industry? Bad? Why exactly do we like Disney? Or, if not like, respect?

IIRC, they were cutting edge in a lot of ways. They expanded the technology of animation, and were the first animation company to create a major amusement park as well. If they didn't have firsts, they probably wouldn't stand out. Those parks aided in the growth of robotics, and public perception of animation, and really made them stand out above the crowd.

Their work is good, but I don't think it's anything special anymore.

Now, the Disney movies I still like are the big musical ones, like Lion King and Road to El Dorado. I like their catchy lyrics, and the big sweeping scenes in them. That's another of the big innovations Disney did: incorporating CGI and drawing into a single scene. There's some documentary scenes at the end of El Dorado VHS tape talking about some of the scenes toward the end of the movie, where the action was done better through hybrid animation like that.

edited 8th Aug '12 7:57:45 AM by Journeyman

the road to el dorado isn't a disney film

If it wasn't for Disney the concept of animation as a genre would likely have never taken off as it did - particularly animated films. Shorts might have continued to be a factor, but likely would not have gone beyond niche in their role in society.

I do occasionally find it annoying how Disney is constantly blamed for Follow the Leader; I mean, it's not the only animation studio with influence.

Remember that Walt was laughed at for trying Snow White. People thought that a feature-length animated film was the stupidest thing anyone had ever thought of, and that Disney was creating his own ruin. It was openly referred to as Disney's Folly.

That single film changed the landscape of cinema forever. That's Disney's impact.

It introduced animated movies, which was good.

However, it introduced Disney movies, which is terrible.

Methinks somebody else would have made an animated film, maybe fourty or fifty years later than Walt did, but maybe the somebody else would have been more respectful of other cultures than the Walt Disney Company.

wat

Well, Disney's imitators started The Renaissance Age Of Animation and it helped them too. But then Disney made Pixar overshadow them, and then Pixar imitators took over animation. What were they thinking? They have always changed the face of animation over the years.

edited 9th Aug '12 2:06:10 PM by hotrods4ben

''It introduced animated movies, which was good.

However, it introduced Disney movies, which is terrible.''

Comment of the year.

I stand corrected. El Dorado is Dreamworks. It just uses the same musical dream team that Lion King did.

The Disney Studio was the first animation studio to remain independent of a major motion picture company. Warner Bros. bought Termite Terrace from Leon Schleshinger (most of his animators thought he was an idiot for selling, but there you go), Universal took over the Fleischer Bros, etc. Walt retained ownership of his cartoons and characters and thus was able to chart his own destiny. Stylistically, Disney's impact isn't only felt in the west; Osamu Tezuka, Japan's God of Manga, the man whose style pretty much became the nation of Japan's house style (with infinite variations, of course), cited the Disney cartoons as a major influence.

So, we can thank Disney for anime. Wow.

You didn't know that?

Why are you surprised? If you're not an anime fan, there's no reason to know that. I didn't know it.

I'm ignorant. It took me five weeks to find out that Prometheus was actually a prequel to Alien, and to this day, I am still punishing myself for being that much of a doofus.

edited 11th Aug '12 6:43:28 AM by eternalNoob

Anyway...

So of course, Disney has had a vast influence on animation, Western AND Eastern.

What other innovations was it responsible for?

Well, by playing dem fairy tales straight, it and the Wizard of Oz are the indirect contributors to the "hoho we are making these fairy tales soooo dark and edgy with politics, and racism" phase of entertainment.

Or maybe that's just Gregory Maguire...

edited 11th Aug '12 7:32:14 AM by eternalNoob

Yeah, that's just him. Oh, and the sex, can't forget the sex!

Well, even if tales got Disneyfied, they were at least brought back for the young public.

Other Disney innovations, all used today, all over the world:

• It developed more naturalistic animation, along with introducing the 12 Animation Principles, which made people believe the world they were watching more. Before the first Disney films, all cartoons had choppy aimless movement, and the characters had rubber-hose appendenges and black eyes.
• Snow White introduced the first pan-and-scan camera movement using the first rigged camera for sequential shoots.
• Steamboat Willie was the first US cartoon with synced audio.

edited 22nd Aug '12 11:43:48 AM by kyun

Disney introduced the "squash and stretch" technique which went a LONG way to making animated movement less stiff and more dynamic. Disney invented the storyboard, now a critical production step in pretty much any kind of film-making (live action and animation). Many, if not most, of the terms used in the animation process (sweatboxing, for instance) were coined by Disney. Disney studios invented the Multi-Plane Camera. The list goes on and on.

One of the big things Disney did was use a good percentage of his profits to improve his craft; he paid for his artists to get further art training, he paid to develop new filmmaking techniques, he put money back into filmmaking. That was VERY rare at the time.

edited 22nd Aug '12 10:41:31 PM by Robbery

Generally, he was interested in pushing the technology of animation further and wanted to see it continually evolve. If he were alive today, he would be fascinated by CGI, 3D conversions, and whatnot, even though he may not agree with what we're using them for.

Wasn't he the guy that founded the art school, Cal Arts?

From The Other Wiki:

"The school was founded and created by Walt Disney in the early 1960s and staffed by a diverse array of professionals.[2] The institute was started as Disney's dream of an interdisciplinary "Caltech of the arts." Cal Arts provides a collaborative environment for all sorts of artists. Students are free to develop their own work (over which they retain control and copyright) in a workshop atmosphere, as respected members of a community of artists in which authority is constantly tested and where teaching works through persuasion rather than coercion. Intercultural exchange among artists helps in practicing and understanding of the art making process in the broadest context possible."