Health! Disney animation has been bringing joy to the whole world for more than half a century. Although the essence of entertainment remains the same, it is still different in shooting skills, content selection and sound.
In terms of music, Disney's works have also undergone great changes, which can be roughly divided into the following periods:
Entrepreneurial period (1937 ——1942)
The adjustment period between the two world wars (1943-1949)
Golden age (1950 ——1966)
Dormancy exploration period (1967 ——1988)
The second golden age (after 1989)
The success of Walter Disney during the period of the founding of the People's Republic of China (1937- 1942) can be said to be a great story in the history of Hollywood movies. He started with his own ideas and came to Hollywood alone from his hometown of Kansas at the age of 22. At that time, the film was still in the silent stage of black and white, and cartoons were just entertainment programs before the film started, only ten minutes. Disney first lived in obscurity in a single apartment. 1927, Walter Disney finally created a popular cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the lucky rabbit, which was favored by many people at that time.
1February, 928, Walter Disney confidently took a train to new york with his wife, Lily Lian, and discussed with the publisher Charles Mintz the contract for the next issue of the cartoon Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Lucky Rabbit. Walter originally intended to raise the price, but at this time, the publisher told Walter a cruel fact: he had paid off all the behind-the-scenes personnel of Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit at a high price! Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the lucky rabbit, can still be introduced, but Walter can't have Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the lucky rabbit ... Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an eternal pain in Walter Disney's heart. In this incident, Walt tasted the betrayal of his subordinates! After this painful experience, Walter Disney learned a lesson: You must own the copyright of the film! On the train back from new york, Walter Disney was inspired by another cartoon protagonist, that is, a mouse! Walter immediately named the mouse Mortimer Mouse, but Mrs. Dinic thought of a better name: Mickey Mouse!
With the painful experience of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit the Lucky Rabbit, Disney can learn a lesson this time. The secret plan of the mouse is carried out secretly in its own garage. With the efforts of Disney and his partner Ubervox, the first Mickey cartoon airplane fan has finally finished! Disney showed some filmmakers the finished product, but no one was interested. Walter Disney didn't give up and continued to launch. But the response is still very cold! At that time, the era of sound movies had just begun, so Disney came up with the idea of making cartoons into sound movies! As a result, the third Mickey cartoon was made into a sound cartoon, and this film became the first sound cartoon in film history! 1928165438+1October 18 Steamboat Willie held a grand premiere in new york Colonial Theatre, and the response was unprecedented. Many people flocked to the cinema not to see the movie that was released that day, but to see the Disney cartoons that were shown before the movie.
Disney released the world's first colorful cartoon flower and tree in 1932, and his Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck became household names. However, Walter Disney is not satisfied with this. He has a bigger dream, that is to make a cartoon movie. When Walter Disney decided to start filming Snow White, many film critics ridiculed that no one would want to spend money to watch cartoon movies. Unexpectedly, the film was an unprecedented success as soon as it was released. When it premiered in Hollywood cinemas, it won standing ovations from celebrity audiences including Chaplin, and the songs in the film became catchy melodies.
1940, Disney released its second animated puppet, which won two music awards for the first time, and still made a good box office in the United States. However, due to the outbreak of World War II, the European market fell, and the high cost of making this film made Disney unable to make a profit. That is, Japan suddenly attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States declared its participation in the war, and the United States was involved in the world war overnight.
The adjustment period between the two world wars
(1943-1949) In the early 1960s, countries in Europe and Asia were engaged in the Second World War in full swing. At that time, the United States originally hoped to be isolated from the war and not be affected. Therefore, at that time, the United States attached great importance to its neighboring relations with Central and South America and expected American countries to maintain peace. Several films before Disney, such as Pinocchio and Dumbo, have not met the audience in Europe and Asia, but they have been warmly released in Latin America, and Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have also been welcomed by local audiences. Therefore, the State Council invited Walter Disney to visit Central and South America on behalf of the country in order to establish diplomatic relations with each other. 194 1 year, Disney spent about six weeks visiting Central and South American countries and photographed many local customs. After returning to China, Disney edited these films into two documentary-like animated films, Saludos Amigos and Three Caballero, both of which were starring Donald Duck. However, I didn't expect that the United States had been involved in World War II before these two films were released. Nevertheless, these are two works of great significance in Disney's classic animation.
When the United States entered the war, half the employees of Disney Studio were recruited by the military, and most of the studios were borrowed by the US government for military purposes. Therefore, Disney was unable to shoot long cartoons like Snow White and Bambi before, and some original long animation plans of Disney were temporarily put on hold. After the war, Disney also accepted the commission of the government and filmed some short films to promote joining the army and paying taxes. For example, a touching short film about tax payment, Donald finally asked for it.
During this period, because of the war, Disney could not continue to release feature films, but Disney had to continue to release animated works to explain to filmmakers and paid employees. So Disney combined some short stories into an animated feature film. Therefore, after Bambi of 1942, the next six animated films released by Disney are not feature films, including the two documentaries My Friend and Three Horsemen mentioned earlier. Two short music compilations set the music and melody time for me, and two novella compilations featured the films Fun and Fantasy of Freedom and The Adventures of ichabod and Mr. Toad. Among them, Mickey and the Magic Bean, Melody Time, Teacher Yi and Little Toad officially landed in American cinemas after World War II.
As World War II drew to a close, the situation in the United States became more and more optimistic. In addition, during the war, Disney helped the country shoot many films promoted by laws. Therefore, many enlisted studio employees were sent back to Disney Studio to assist in filming. Walter Disney began to plan to shoot long animated films again, and Disney animation entered a golden age.
Golden Age (1950- 1966) The first cartoon released in the golden age of Disney Animation Kingdom was Cinderella (1950). The idea of this film actually existed during the Second World War, but it was not until after the war that filming officially began. The theme song of the movie "Dreams are your inner wishes" is considered as a kind of prayer. Later, Disney released Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, which were stopped because of the war. In 1955' s Lady and the Tramp, the animation scene moved from the fantasy kingdom to the real city for the first time. In this golden age, Disney animation filmed almost all fairy tales, whether it was the sleeping beauty with the theme of prince and princess, the loyal dog with the theme of animal characters10/kloc-0, or the sword in the stone adapted from historical legends.
In this golden age, Disney also made many movies starring real people and many documentaries about wildlife. Treasure Island, released on 1950, is the first movie starring a real person in Disney film history. Walter Disney has also become a frequent visitor to the annual Academy Awards. Among them, in 1964, Disney released a movie "Full of Joy" starring real people and animation, which won thirteen nominations and five awards in one fell swoop, including the best actress award won by Julie Andrews. "Happy World" has also become the most successful film in Disney film history.
In addition, Disney's entertainment kingdom expanded during this period, and California Disneyland officially opened in 1955. 1954 In order to help promote the upcoming Disneyland, Disney bought a time slot of the National Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and broadcast a program called Disney every week. Every episode introduces everything about Disneyland. Later, Disney continued to broadcast during ABC, but the name of the program was changed from the original Disney to several names, and the content was no longer just the introduction of the park, even including Disney animation and company introduction, and even used to broadcast some early works and specially filmed dramas. Later, the program was also changed from ABC to other channels. 196 1, when the program switched to NBC channel, it was officially renamed Disney Wonderland. This series of Disney TV programs has been broadcast in the United States for 26 years.
In his later years, Walter Disney focused on designing Disney World, a new paradise in Florida. When he was infected with lung cancer and had to lie in the hospital bed, he still looked at the grid on the ceiling and used it to "plan" the future EPCOT center. Unexpectedly, he died at 9: 35 am on 1966 12 15. The Jungle Book became his last work. When 1967 was released, The Jungle Book immediately opened an unprecedented box office. For fans, this is also a mourning for this immortal figure in the history of animation!
During the dormant groping period (1967- 1988), when Walter Disney was still alive, there was no need to write a script during Disney animation shooting. Walter Disney always gathers all his work partners in one room and then spends nearly four or five hours. He played the role of a dwarf and an old witch ... The whole plot of the movie was presented by dancing, and the whole script was in Walter's head! Disney himself is a dreamer, and he is also the creative source of the company. However, when Disney died in 1966, Disney immediately faced the embarrassment of losing its "creativity". 197 1 year, Walter's brother roy disney died one after another after completing Walter's dream of building Disney World in Florida, and the company immediately fell into the predicament of the absence of its predecessors, so the animation work had to grope for a new direction.
After Walter Disney's death, animated films, originally regarded as Disney's extraordinary achievements, also reduced mass production. In the1970s, Disney released only four animated films, including The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was just a film composed of works. Other works, such as Aristo Cat and Robin Hood, still retain the humor and music of early Disney cartoons. As for The Savior (1977), it is a Disney work in the transitional period. In the movie, you can see the lovely characters in the traditional Disney animation and hear the popular theme song. During this period, with the reduction of animation production, Disney's profit mainly comes from theme parks, so Disney decided to cross the ocean and authorize OLC of Japan to establish Tokyo Disneyland to increase the company's stable income.
By the1980s, all the animators who worked with Walter Disney had reached retirement age, and the company actively trained new successors. 198 1 released The Fox and the Hound, a work jointly completed by two generations of animators. Newcomers always want to have a new style when they take over, so "Black Cauldron" released by 1985 can be said to be the most unusual work of Disney animation. There are not only no songs in the film, but also many dark expressions, which are not suitable for children to watch by American standards at that time. Although the theme positioning is still in the exploration stage, the shooting skills are constantly improving. The Legend of the Black God Pot was first aided by computer animation, but it was only a few short pictures. It was not until 1986 that Disney first created the scene of the London Bell Tower with computer animation. 1988, Oliver &; Company) made many wonderful pictures by computer.
However, apart from exploring the direction of animation works, factional disputes within Disney became more and more fierce during this period. At that time, Ron Miller, CEO of Walter Disney, turned his business focus to real estate investment and cut the creative department, which angered Walter's nephew roy disney (with the same name as his father). He thinks that if we continue to operate like this, the company will only become a "memorial hall" in Walter Disney. Movies have always been the foundation of creativity. There is no Snow White, Cinderella, etc. There would be no Disney. The different ideas between Ron Miller and roy disney made some people eager to merge take advantage of this, and a war for Disney began.
In the mid-1980s, the American entertainment industry was swept by a wave of mergers and acquisitions. Many companies expand their film and television capabilities by operating various types of media, such as time warner Inc. and Sony-Colombian. But on the other hand, under the attack of this merger hurricane, the CEO of Disney, Ron Miller, finally resigned. Ray Watson, the president, urged roy disney, a retired director, to return to the company and solve the crisis brought by family management for a long time, so Roy hired michael eisner, a professional enterprise manager, to take over the company, and the full name of Disney Company was changed from "Walter Disney Film Company" to "Walter Disney Company" and diversified. The original animation department was changed into a general film production process, with elements such as scripts and directors, which maintained the high quality of traditional Disney animation. Later, Disney set up two subsidiary film companies, Hollywood and Touchstone, to shoot films from more angles. After Michael entered Disney, it was the first time that the company was run by an outsider, but it was probably the most exciting time for Disney except Walter Disney himself!
In the second golden age (after 1989), with the changes in the mainstream of the film market, Broadway-style musical films gradually lost their aura in the 1980 s, and Disney films faced bottlenecks. By the late 1980s, even though The Adventures of Olivier was still a hit, the film was still full of music and songs, but there was always a feeling that something was missing. It was not until The Little Mermaid was filmed that Disney really found the problem of musical creators alan menken and Howard Ashman, that is, the fusion of song music and plot, so plot and music were closely combined in the production process of The Little Mermaid, instead of going it alone, and finally came together.
Although Disney still released the animated film Under the Saver on 1990, the Little Mermaid of the previous year has successfully set the future direction, so Broadway musicals have been reborn in Disney animation! Beauty and the Beast is more successfully combined with pop music. Since then, Disney cartoons have had a popular theme song, and Beauty and the Beast is also the only cartoon in film history that has been nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.
In terms of shooting skills, Disney's computer animation technology has become more and more flexible, and it can only draw scenes in Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. When the lion king began to use it on living animals, the hunchback of Notre Dame de Paris even used it on people. In particular, in 1995, Toy Story, a movie made entirely by computer, was released together with Pixar. After that, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2 both achieved good results, and in 2000, Disney released the first completely homemade computer-animated dinosaur at great expense. In addition, Disney also tried to use clay models to go out of the new animation direction, and both "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach" achieved good results.
In terms of story materials, Disney's animation themes are becoming more and more diverse. Besides Aladdin and Hercules, Disney also tried to draw materials from historical legends, such as Romance in the Wind and Mulan. Or from masterpieces, such as hunchback of notre dame and Mount Tai; I even tried original stories, such as The Lion King and The Emperor's New Ditch. Disney has also opened up a new way for these classic cartoons, such as adapting them into musicals, ice performances and TV dramas. Or directly launch sequels with audio-visual products, such as Aladdin's sequel, The Return of Jia Faer, Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Lion King's sequel, The Lion King 2: The Glory of Simba.
Disney began its second golden age from diving to rebirth. Not only continue to occupy the territory of the animation kingdom, but also successfully enter various entertainment fields, from paradise to cruise ships, from TV to websites, from ice performances to musicals, as well as specialty stores, interactive playgrounds, sports teams and so on. Disney has become the leader of the entertainment circle! Farewell to the 20th century, especially the Millennium, Disney launched the 2000(Fantasia/2000), a classic music animated film combined with IMAX technology, symbolizing Disney's magic and magic inheritance. After the new century, Disney's new movie themes include Atlantis: The Lost Empire and LiLO &; Stitch), Treasure Planet, The Man Who Moved the Story Background to Outer Space, Brother Bear, The Boy Who Becomes a Bear, Home on the Ranch, The Man Who Returned to the Pioneering Age in the American West, etc. However, with the successful operation of Disney animation market, Warner, DreamWorks, Columbia University and other companies have also begun to prepare cartoons, and Disney's new challenges have just begun!