Disney Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios effectively invented the feature-length animated film with Snow White in 1937, a project the industry expected to fail badly enough that it was widely referred to as Disney's Folly. The studio's contributions are technical as much as artistic: synchronised sound in 1928, the multiplane camera, full-colour Technicolor animation, and later the digital ink-and-paint systems that carried the 1990s revival.
About Disney Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios effectively invented the feature-length animated film with Snow White in 1937, a project the industry expected to fail badly enough that it was widely referred to as Disney's Folly. The studio's contributions are technical as much as artistic: synchronised sound in 1928, the multiplane camera, full-colour Technicolor animation, and later the digital ink-and-paint systems that carried the 1990s revival. Its character design language — large eyes, simplified shapes, strong silhouettes readable at any scale — became the default grammar of Western commercial animation and remains the most licensed body of character work in existence.
Snow White was widely nicknamed Disney's Folly during production; it became the highest-grossing film released to that point.
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Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Age | 1937–1942 | Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi in five years. |
| Renaissance | 1989–1999 | The Little Mermaid through Tarzan; a commercial and critical revival. |
| Revival | 2008– | A return to form with Tangled, Frozen and Moana. |