Walt Disney Feature Animation

Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA) is the animation studio that makes up a key element of The Walt Disney Company. The Feature Animation studio was an integrated part of Walt Disney Productions from 1934 (the start of production on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) until 1986, when, during the corporate restructuring to create The Walt Disney Company, it officially became a subsidiary of the company. It is headquartered in Burbank, California, across the street from the original Walt Disney Studios in a specialized building that was completed in 1995. Satellite studios once existed at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (1989–2003) and Paris, France (1995–2002), but those studios were closed due to high production costs and low returns. From 1985 until his resignation in November 2003, WDFA was officially headed by Chairman Roy E. Disney, who exercized much influence within the division. Most decisions, however, were made by the WDFA President, who officially reported to Disney but who in practice also reported to the head of the Disney studios and Disney chief Michael Eisner.

Related Topics:
Animation - The Walt Disney Company - 1934 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - 1986 - Burbank, California - Walt Disney Studios - 1995 - Disney-MGM Studios - Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, Florida - 1989 - 2003 - Paris, France - 2002 - 1985 - Roy E. Disney - Michael Eisner

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Walt Disney began the move into features in 1934, pulling selected animators away from the short subjects division that had previously been the whole of Walt Disney Productions. The result was the first animated feature in English and Technicolor, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White which became an unprecedented success when it was released to theatres in February 1938, and it and many of the subsequent feature productions became film classics. Following the success of the features, Disney expanded his company's operations, moving into live-action features, television, and theme parks. Besides successes like Snow White, Dumbo, and Cinderella, Disney also had the Feature Animation staff create experimental and sylized films such as Fantasia and Sleeping Beauty, which sustained losses and did not recoup their costs until decades after their original releases.

Related Topics:
1934 - Short subjects - English - Technicolor - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - February - 1938 - Television - Theme parks - Dumbo - Cinderella - Fantasia - Sleeping Beauty

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After Walt Disney's death in 1966, the animation department found itself without direction. The animators struggled to regain their footing but created films which were technically polished but told lackluster stories. In 1973, lead animator Eric Larson began an experimental recruitment program to see if new young talent could be found to bring new blood to the industry. This began the training of a whole new generation of animators that would bring animation to new heights and greatly influence the world's popular culture. After honing their craft on a series of fairly modest pictures, these new artists finally found true success again with The Little Mermaid in 1989. A string of successful films followed suit, and Disney expanded WDFA to a total staff of over 2400 by 1999, including employees located at satellite studios in Orlando and Paris. However, the expansion coincided with a decline in both revenue and quality of the department's output. Competition from other studios drove animator salaries to a high level, making 2D animated features a costly proposition, and beginning in 2000, massive layoffs were done to bring the staff back down to 600. Deciding that the reason for its failing box office draw was the fact that they still used traditional animation methods in a time when Pixar and DreamWorks were producing highly successful computer-animated features, Disney converted WDFA into an all-CGI studio, performing more layoffs and selling off its traditional animation equipment. As of 2004, WDFA's last traditional film was Home on the Range. Its first all-computer animated film will be Chicken Little in 2005. Disney continued to release lower-budget traditional films produced by the DisneyToons studio in Australia until 2005, when that studio was shut down as well.

Related Topics:
1966 - Eric Larson - The Little Mermaid - 1989 - 1999 - 2000 - Pixar - DreamWorks - Computer-animated - CGI - 2004 - Home on the Range - Chicken Little - 2005 - DisneyToons - Australia

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The Feature Animation studio is noted for creating a number of now-standard innovations in the animation industry, including:

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• the multiplane camera (for Snow White, but first used in the Academy-award winning short "The Old Mill")
• the realistic animation of special effects and human characters (for Snow White)
• advanced composition processes to combine live-action and animated elements using color film (for The Three Caballeros)
• the use of xerography in animation to transfer drawings to cels as opposed to ink-tracing (developed for One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but first used in the Academy-award nominated short Goliath II)

Among its significant achievements are:

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• the first major motion picture in stereophonic sound (Fantasia)
• the first large format animated film (the 70mm Sleeping Beauty)
• the first film to be shot using Disney's CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) all-digital process (The Rescuers Down Under)
• the first animated feature to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (Beauty and the Beast),
• the highest-grossing traditionally animated feature of all time (The Lion King).
 
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