- Now, this is a different kind of drawing.
[music]
- Here at Disney, we believe strongly in the legacy of innovation that Walt Disney began
when he started his career in the family garage.
His earliest works tested the limits of animation,
but it was in starting his own studio that he changed the medium forever
- We used to have to do everything at one time. We'd have the fellas with the sound effects,
we had the orchestra going, and everybody had to synchronize.
[steam boat whistle] [Mickey Mouse whistling]
- Steamboat Willie didn't just create an icon, it created opportunities.
Opportunities to experiment and innovate.
Walt sees these opportunities with projects like the Silly Symphonies, pushing the boundaries of the art form like never before.
His passion, commitment to quality, and belief that good things can be made great and great things,
can be made better, attracted brilliant artists to the studio.
- He was looking for something that was different,
something that was way out in front of what anybody else was doing with animation.
- At the creative core were Walt's Nine Old Men, legendary animators such as Milt Call,
Ward Kimball, Mark Davis, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston.
Working at Disney Studios, they created the principles of animation that we all use to tell our stories.
- The key to these characters is making them think. The expressions on their face that register what their feelings are what's going on in the mind.
- And they adhere to the most basic principle of all...
the secret to great animation is great storytelling.
- Chaplain said he believed that Walt knew more about story than anybody in Hollywood, at any time.
- Never did he allow a movie to have new technology or some look
without it being in the service of the story.
- It was with these artists and with these principles
that Walt risked everything to create a history-making film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- Here were characters that had made me laugh and and feel good throughout the film and now they were
experiencing and expressing sorrow. This was an important breakthrough in personality animation.
- When the premiere came, everybody in Hollywood came out and I was so impressed because the people that
I'd always admired and thought "gee, these are my gods, you know they're so good" they wanted to meet me.
- Walt Disney's vision transformed the art of animation and film at large forever.
- Now take a bite.
- And it pioneered animation techniques we still use today. His approach was simple, combining creative imagination with technical innovation.
- When he was doing Fantasia, one of the story people said
"You know, I don't think we're using the cartoon medium as we should be". And he immediately turned
on the guy and said, "This is not the cartoon medium, we have worlds to conquer here".
- Walt and his team weren't just great storytellers, they were true innovators in the way stories were told.
- Bambi comes back and searches but he never sees her. He was the best story man in the studio, the best story man in Hollywood.
- By inventing new creative processes, like storyboards and story reels
and implementing technical achievements, like the multi-plane camera and the xerography process.
Disney Animation became the standard by which the art form is judged.
Walt knew that animation is without limitations. And the artists at Disney Studios use this freedom to discover new ways to explore classic tales.
- Our whole 40 some odd years here has been in the world of making things move, inanimate things move.
- This is Walt's legacy to the company that bears his name.
Telling timeless stories in ways that are ahead of their time.
Inventing and incorporating cutting-edge technology
that complements our ageless style
all the while, retaining the artistic and storytelling integrity that is synonymous with the name Walt Disney.
- I'm thinking back on those days he said looked like
every last frame of film was manicured.
Someone had just worked over to pack every last thing you could into it, and they had.
- We take this legacy seriously at Disney Animation
and are committed to taking audiences to worlds they've never seen before
and to never stop challenging ourselves
to tell the best story, in the best way possible.
This legacy continues today
as the creative spirit of Walt and his Nine Old Men
influence and inspire everyone working here at Disney Animation
- There's a limit to what you can build, to what you can make, but you can draw anything... and that always stuck with me.
- It's the characters that really drew me into Disney films.
There was just something very appealing to me that that made me as a kid open my eyes, get excited... I had to see it.
- At Disney, we have this whole heritage of design.
It feels like a school, everybody is learning. They're just soaking up
as much knowledge as you can get and sharing it constantly, because that's the only way we're going to get there.
- You have so many people that you can work with that all they all
work to plus what you did. You see what these guys did, they're like look I decided to do this with the light,
I decided to do this with the animation, and and all of a sudden you're like oh it's magnificent I can't believe it's amazing.
- Once you see the film of your drawings
then you're hooked on animation. There's nothing can give you that same feeling of life.
- I remember Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston saying, "Glenn, someday you're going to do greater things than us."
There's another generation that's going to be springboarding off of
the same principles of learning, of mentors, teaching, and passing it on
this legacy will just keep going, and going, and going.
- Walt Disney's legacy has touched anyone
who has brought their drawings to life.
Walt knew that animation is a special form of storytelling,
because in animation, anything is possible.
We can tell any story we want, in any way we want
[cat's meow]
The only limits... are our imagination.