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AND
THE
SEVEN DWARFS
SNOW WHITE
AND
THE
SEVEN DWARFS
Contents
6 Our Museum Collection
14 A Welcome Event
38 Im Wishing
250 Glossary
252 Index
255 Acknowledgments
never seen a colorful, feature-length animated film with engaging characters and stunning
environments. The film marked a pivotal milestone in animation. Calling upon the
experience they gained from creating the early Disney animated shorts and the awardwinning Silly Symphonies, Walt Disney and his artists defined the artistic foundation
that would shape all subsequent animated films. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The
Creation of a Classic commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the films release, is
especially significant because it is the first special exhibition organized by The Walt
Disney Family Museum, which is dedicated to celebrating the genius of Walt Disney.
The exhibition art is drawn from the collections of The Walt Disney Family Museum,
the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, Andreas Deja, Dave Pacheco, and ardent
Snow White collector Steve Ison. Since the few nitrate cel setups that remain at the Walt
Disney Company are too fragile to travel, the Studios current ink and paint department
painted replica cels. Such challenges created serendipitous opportunities to use other
elements of animation to illustrate the storyline. The exquisitely drawn story sketches,
for example, quite marvelously reveal the evolving vision Walt and his artists had for the
film. Exhibition visitors will gain an understanding of the collaborative process that
produced a creative milestone in cinematic history.
Lella Smith
Creative Director
Walt Disney Animation Research Library
10
21
22
Fantasy in Depth
The opening sequence is one of the special scenes that made
use of the studios newly developed multiplane camera
crane. Animated scenes were usually filmed on a camera
table designed to hold the background painting and the
animation cels pressed tightly together, to ensure maximum
registration. The multiplane was, instead, a towering
structure that allowed the camera to shoot through widely
separated planes of animation and scenic elements, creating
a believable sense of perspective and depth. As the camera
moved through a forest toward a distant castle, the audience
was not looking at a flat painting but rather was drawn into
a convincing animated world.
33
Im Wishing
Snow White, dressed in rags, scrubs the steps in the castle garden and dreams of romance.
Standing by a wishing well, she wishes aloud for the Prince of her dreamsand hears her
voice echoing back from the well, a sign that her wish will come true. And it does: the
Prince, riding past on horseback, is attracted by her lovely voice and enters the garden. He
declares his love for Snow White in song. But the Queen is listening too, and, consumed
with fury, she orders her Huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her.
39
40
Live-Action
Reference
The images on these pages illustrate the use of live-action
reference as an aid to the animators. On the opposite page,
Marjorie Belcher is filmed on a studio sound stage, playing
one of Snow Whites scenes while standing at a prop well.
Her actions are synchronized to the song Im Wishing.
This image was one of dozens of photostats from this scene,
blown up from frames of 16mm film so that the artists
could study minute stages of the girls movement.
On this page, the photostats are translated into three
drawings that demonstrate steps in the animation process.
At top, animator Jack Campbell, after studying the live
action, produced one of a series of character animation
drawings of Snow White playing the scene. In the center,
the rope, pulley, and bucket were drawn separately by effects
animator Sanford Sandy Strother. At the bottom, both
elements were combined in a single animation drawing.
These ruff pencil drawings were cleaned up, then traced in
ink on cels. Painted in color, the cels were combined with
the background painting and photographed to produce the
finished scene.
47
50
Joe Grant
Seated Queen
Concept art: charcoal and
pastel on paper
59
The Huntsman
66
Character Design
110
113
Heigh-Ho!
Like their house, the dwarfs workplace is filled with handcarved objects. This ingenious little clock, carved in the side
of a tree, announces the end of the dwarfs workday. To strike
the hour, little figures emerge from the doors and strike tiny
hammers against a tiny anvil. The figures and the clocks
minute hand were animated on cels; note that the hour hand,
which remains stationary throughout the scene, can be
painted directly on this background painting.
117
122
124
Homer Brightman
Dopey Searches the Premises
Story sketch gags: graphite and colored
pencil on paper
125
197
202
Joe Grant
Witch Bringing the Poison Apple to Snow White
Story sketch: mixed media on paper
208
228
Jack Campbell
Happy Ending, the Prince Lifts
Snow White onto a Horse
Cleanup animation drawing: graphite
and colored pencil on paper
235
PRODUCTION
254