Infinite Perspective by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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A brief description: A practical project depicting the subject of my Graphic Arts Research Project: The evolution of Disney animation since the formation of the company in 1923.
A complete overshare, info-dump of a description because I will take any opportunity to talk about my interests: A practical project depicting the subject of my Graphic Arts Research Project: The evolution of Disney animation since the formation of the company in 1923. The research project discussed technical processes of animation and their development, as well as giving specific movie examples.
For the most part, this project was me talking about my interests and hobbies and presenting them in various formats. I took something I love and made a project about it. Like many other people, my relationship with Disney started as a child. As most grow out of their love for animated movies, I only became more in love with the movies the older I got. When I was 10 years old, ‘Tangled’ was released, and it completely changed my life - which sounds way too dramatic, but it’s true and there’s no better way to phrase it. I spent hours researching it, how it was made, how I could do it and how Disney’s animation style can grow so much. I have seen it so many times I can quote it word by word which would be embarrassing if I cared. Tangled is what made me want to pursue art as a career. Now, 12 years later, the development of animated storytelling still interests me as much as it did then.
I chose the scenes in this film carefully, with a lot of consideration. There are a lot of areas I wanted to cover with this, and my aim was to create an informative and comparative yet fun and engaging animation. For example, the scene in ‘Snow White’ is reflected in the scene from ‘Frozen II’ as both include animated water. The difference in these aspects alone are enough to show the development in animation. Not only visually, the growth is shown with the actual character interactions themselves. The scenes from ‘Snow White’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ are very romantic and stereotypical depictions of Princesses - waiting for a Prince, innocent and gentle. I chose contrasting scenes from more recent movies like ‘Tangled’, with Rapunzel threatening her co-protagonist or ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with Belle discussing books. For lack of better words, the characters became a lot more interesting and actually have personalities now. Additionally, these examples of recent Disney animated movies are a stark difference to ‘Steamboat Willie’. What originally started as a company that created short, comedy animations with a bit of music has evolved over 100 years into a company that creates emotional, heartfelt and inspiring stories that can leave a strong impact on audiences.
There was a specific quote in particular that I found whilst researching this project, from a book by Charles Solomon titled ‘Disney Princess: A Celebration of Art and Creativity’. In this, Solomon quotes author Marina Warner, who sums up the Walt Disney company in a short sentence:
“The reason these stories are important is that they have the power to shape reality, not merely reflect it.”
This quote really resonated with me, and it ties in perfectly with my research area. I think, and hope, that the future of Disney animation will remain true to this quote, and that they will continue to explore and promote diversity and representation throughout their movies. Nothing will ever beat Tangled, though, and I will stand by that statement - do not challenge me.