The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation Interactive Edition
[article]
Michelle L. Walsh
2017
Acknowledgements A great many people helped me with support and guidance over the course of this project. I would like to give special thanks to Sam Geonetta and Russ McMahon for working with me to complete this project via distance learning due to an unexpected job transfer at the beginning of my final year before completing my Bachelor's degree. Additionally, the encouragement of my family, friends and coworkers was instrumental in keeping my motivation levels high. Specific thanks to my
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... , Keith Anderson, for the resources he provided that allowed me to complete the project. ii iv Abstract Few people would disagree that the Disney Studios had enormous impact on the the art of animation coinciding with the development of motion pictures. While entertaining to their audience, the earliest drawn animations tended to be unrealistic. The study and adjustments made in the techniques of producing animations at the Disney Studios happened over many years and resulted in some of our most revered animated full-length motion pictures. Walt Disney coined the title for his "Nine Old Men," to refer to the premier animators that headed the productions during the classical period of Disney animation. Two of these men, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston co-authored a book about the development of the techniques used by the Disney Studios, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, that has been frequently referred to as the "bible" of animation. The book is an excellent resource for animation, art and design students and professionals, but is limited by the two-dimensional static medium in which the content is presented. Animation, being the illusion of movement, needs to be seen in its final form to show the effectiveness or in-effectiveness of a particular method of production or drawing. This paper discusses a project in which the content of one chapter of Thomas' and Johnston's book was presented in an interactive multimedia format. The project could be expanded to include the entire content of the book as well as additional media (such as video and sound) that cannot be included in a book with simple type and illustrations. The paper covers development of the scope of the project including the intended audience, rationale for the tools used, and an alternate sequence of presentation of the full content. Additionally, conclusions reached and lessons learned during the development are discussed.
doi:10.7945/c2b60j
fatcat:2uddqfejp5de7iqjv4v43bi2ka