It All Started With A Mouse: The Disney Story

Students of animation can never know too much about the history of our craft. Fortunately, there are tons of great (free) resources online, including this one: It All Started With A Mouse: The Disney Story, now available at YouTube. Why study the history of our medium? Because it gives you credibility in an industry which, as much as any other, builds upon the achievements and talents of the pioneering animators of the past. Learn from the masters at Disney, polish your craft - and aim to do even better yourself. To watch the video, follow this link, or paste this into your browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnpGiEjxN0


One of the nice details in the documentary is the segment where Disney sound designer Jimmy McDonald talks about how he used the sound of an old wallet being bent and squished to create the sound of the Seven Dwarves walking. Who would have thought that a wallet would make the perfect sound for a marching dwarf?

In fact, there was a lot more to the Disney Studio than just animation - it was a hotbed of creativity in which new ideas and new ways of doing things were constantly being tested and tried out.

---Alex