Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty: Background Information
During the 1950's, many critics were praising the UPA studios for their
stylistic experimentation, while accusing Disney animation of being too "old
fashioned". In response, Walt Disney planned his masterpiece, a film that would
merge modern design sensibilities with state-of-the-art wide-screen and
stereophonic sound technology. Without question, Sleeping Beauty is Disney's
lushest feature, with an unprecidented attention to detail and bold stylization
in the use of color, character, and background design. The influence of Sleeping
Beauty can be found in the design of many recent animated features, like The
Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Swan Princess.
Interestingly enough, as modern and forward thinking as Sleeping Beauty appears
on the surface, it still echos the story elements and plot points of Disney's
earliest feature, Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. In fact, several sequences,
including the dance with the Scarecrow Prince and the scenes of the Prince's
capture and imprisonment, were originally planned for Snow White [See Note #3],
but were cut from the film before they could be animated. Two decades later,
they were incorporated into Walt Disney's last great fairy tale feature,
Sleeping Beauty.
In his quest for quality, Disney allowed his top artists: Marc Davis, John
Lounsbery, Milt Kahl, Eric Cleworth, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and John
Sibley, extra time to pencil test and refine their scenes until they were
absolutely perfect. Sleeping Beauty was the last animated feature to receive
Walt's full attention, but since his time was also required in Anaheim for the
building of Disneyland, he was often away from the studio for weeks at a time.
To keep busy, animators who were waiting for approvals often did their own
inbetweening and preliminary clean-up on their scenes. These delays and Disney's
unrelenting attention to detail ended up driving the budget up to an unheard-of
amount of six million dollars. Combined with the cost overruns of Disneyland,
the film drove the studio very close to bankruptcy, but the effort and sacrifice
was worthwhile. Even though the comic characters, like the Kings and the
Fairies, pale in comparison to earlier creations, the realistic ones, like the
Prince, Briar Rose and Maleficent are among the most subtle, expressive and
natural characters that the studio ever produced. Overall, Sleeping Beauty
stands as an impressive achievement, displaying a level of refinement and
sophistication that no animated feature has ever surpassed.
Sleeping Beauty: The Storyboard
This info is taken from a draft of the film.
- Sequence 01.0: Opening to entrance of Maleficent
- Director Les Clark
Animators
- Throng of vassals, trumpeters and Herald
- Nicholas, Youngquist, Bailey, Kopietz, Carlson
- King Stefan & King Hubert
- Lounsbery, also: Carlson, Sibley, Gibson
- The Queen
- Davis
- The Fairies
- King, Gibson, Lusk, Ambro, Johnston
- Gift Montages
- Boyd
- Effects
- MacManus
- Sequence 02.0: Entrance of Maleficent
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Maleficent
- Davis
- The rest is basically same as in Sequence 01.0
- Sequence 07.0: The Fairies Plan
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Fairies
- Thomas, Johnston, also: Lusk, Ambro, King
- Objects
- Tanous
- Sequence 06.0: Fairies try to make dress and cake for Briar Rose
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Briar Rose
- Davis, also: Ambro
- Fairies
- Thomas, King, Johnston
- Objects
- Lusk, Tanous
- Sequence 07.1: Maleficent kicks the Goons around
- Director Woolie Reitherman
Animators
- Maleficent
- Paliwoda, also: Cleworth, Davis
- Goons
- Lounsbery, Kahl, also: Lucas, Keil, Goepper
- Sequence 08.0: Boy Meets Girl
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Briar Rose
- Davis, also: Ambro, Gibson
- Prince & Sampson
- Kahl, Lounsbery
- Animals
- Lounsbery, King, also: Lusk, Nordberg, Stanchfield
- Scarecrow Prince
- Lounsbery, also: Gibson
- Sequence 09.0: Fairies finish dress and cake
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Fairies
- Thomas, Johnston, also: Lusk
- Objects
- Lusk, King, Toombs, Gibson
- Effects
- Carlisle
- Raven
- Gibson
- Sequence 12.0: Girl returns
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Briar Rose
- Davis, also: Ambro
- Fairies
- Thomas, Johnston, also: Ambro
- Raven
- Gibson
- Sequence 13.0: King Stefan's castle
- Director Gerry Geronimi
Animators
- Stefan & Hubert
- Kahl, Lounsbery, also: Sibley, Carlson,
- Lackey
- Sibley
- Prince & Sampson
- Kahl, Lounsbery
- Sequence 14.0: Girl pricks finger
- Director Eric Larson
Animators
- Aurora
- Davis
- Fairies
- Johnston, also: Toombs, King
- Maleficent
- Davis
- Effects
- Meador
- Sequence 15.0: Fairies put castle to sleep
- Director Gerry Geronimi
Animators
- Stefan & Hubert
- Lounsbery, also: Carlson
- Fairies
- Thomas, also: King, Clark
- Soldiers & Vassals
- Kahl, King, Carlson
- Sequence 17.0: Prince captured, Fairies discover his capture
- Director Gerry Geronimi
Animators
- Prince
- Kahl, Sibley
- Fairies
- Johnston, Gibson
- Maleficent
- Davis
- Raven
- Gibson
- Goons
- Sibley
- Sequence 18.0: Maleficent meets the Prince, Escape from castle.
- Director Gerry Geronimi
Animators
- Prince & Sampson
- Kahl, Hathcock
- Fairies
- Thomas, Johnston, also: Clark, Youngquist, Kopietz, Hathcock
- Maleficent
- Davis
- Raven
- Davis, Gibson, also: Nicholas, Hathcock
- Goons
- Clark, Sibley
- Effects
- MacManus
- Sequence 19.0: The fight
- Director Woolie Reitherman
Animators
- Maleficent
- Paliwoda, also: Cleworth
- Prince & Sampson
- Hultgren, Keil, Lucas
- Dragon
- Cleworth
- Fairies
- Keil
- Effects
- MacManus
- Sequence 21.0: Girl awakens and ending
- Director Gerry Geronimi
Animators
- Prince
- Kahl, O'Brien
- Aurora
- Davis, O'Brien
- Stefan & Hubert
- Lounsbery
- Fairies
- Johnston
- Queen
- Davis
- Vassals
- Carlson
Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty: Disney vs. the Brothers Grimm
Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" presents a sharp contrast from "Brier Rose,"
the version presented by the Brothers Grimm. This is to be expected for a number
of reasons. In the following paragraphs I intend to explore the following
differences and the possible reasons for their existence. To be sure, a primary
source for these differences, indeed a major difference itself, is the length of
the two stories. The Grimms' tale is barely 3 pages, while the Disney version is
almost 80 minutes long. Keeping that in mind, I will concentrate in the
following; First, I will discuss the role of the uninvited fairy in the story.
This is the character who sets everything in motion by cursing the newborn
princess at her christening. Second, the actions on the part of the prince are
vastly different in each of the two stories. Finally, there is a vast difference
between the way to the two stories handle the princess' interaction with the
prince.
In the Grimm's "Briar Rose," the thirteenth fairy is not invited because the
king and queen posses only twelve plates. Of course, she comes anyway and is
much offended by the lack of an invitation. She proceeds to exact her revenge by
cursing the princess to die by pricking her finger on a spindle in her fifteenth
year, and she promptly leaves the story, never to be heard from again. More
aptly put, she has fulfilled her role as evil protagonist and now exits the
story, having set the future conflict in motion.
In the Disney version, things are hardly this simple, and yet they are also
simplified greatly. Disney has only four fairies, the three good fairies, and
the one who casts the curse. The last fairy is more a witch than a fairy, being
garbed fully in black and appearing and vanishing in a thick cloud of green
smoke. In addition, the is named. She is called Maleficent, a name for a witch,
if there ever was one. Here, it is not a matter of begin embarrassed for lack of
dishware that causes the omission of her invitation to the ceremony. The king
and queen did not invite her because she is an evil character. This is in sharp
contrast the (presumed) initial lack of alignment for the thirteenth fairy in
the Grimms' story, in which it is only outrage at being denied an invitation
which causes the fairy to follow the dark side, so to speak. Beyond this,
Maleficent does not leave the story once she has cast her evil spell. Indeed,
once the princess (here known both as "Briar Rose" and a birth name of "Aurora")
reaches the designated age, it is Maleficent who eventually coaxes her into
touching the spinning wheel so that the prophesy may come true. By making
Maleficent an inherently evil person, Disney sets up an evil for the audience to
hate, and thus an easier conflict to identify. Disney seems to consider this
especially necessary in dealing with young children. It makes all the sticky
moral questions go away, and the children can simply hate the witch. Even after
this point, Maleficent's role is still not complete, as I shall discuss this a
little later in my discussion of the prince's actions.
In the old tale, the princess does prick her finger and she sleeps for exactly
100 years. It is at this time that a wandering prince is able to penetrate the
thick thorn hedge which has grown around the princess and all in her castle,
though many previous princes have tried and failed, dying on the horrible thorn
hedge. The prince comes, as though he is fated to, indeed he is in this story,
and awakens the princess from her slumber after the hedge parts for him easily.
All that is required for him to do this is to kiss the princess.
In Disney's version, this is hardly the case. First of all, (as I will mention
shortly) the prince is already in love with Briar Rose and thus has a more
concrete motivation. He must fight his way through the thorns, hacking them to
pieces valiantly with his sword. Upon surpassing this obstacle, he must then
deal with the evil Fairy. She assumes the form of a horrible dragon (black and
green, of course), and they do battle, whereupon the prince kills the dragon.
This represents a considerably more significant effort on the part of the
prince, as well as creating a sort of test to demonstrate that he is truly
worthy of the princess. It also serves to put some action into a tale otherwise
devoid of any violence, again appealing to youths who are used to action-packed
cartoons.
Finally, in the Grimms' tale, Briar Rose never meets the prince prior to being
awakened by him. Indeed, if she had not slept, she would have been dead long
before the prince's birth. However, once the prince sees her, he kisses, she
wakes up, and they are married immediately. Hardly the modern model of a
cautious, mature relationship based on love and affection.
Again, Disney makes things a good deal more complex and this results in a
slightly convoluted plot line. To begin with, the princess and the prince meet
at least once before she ever goes to sleep. While walking in the woods, she
encounters him, and they dance, all the while the audience knows that they have
met even once before, if only in their dreams. This serves to create a more
realistic basis for them to fall in love and get married later on. Whereas in
the Grimms', the princess served her full term on sleep, a full 100 years,
Disney has her sleep for only a short while (about a day) before the prince
comes to her rescue. The conflict with the original statement of how long she
must sleep is conveniently overlooked. After defeating Maleficent, he awakens
the princess and the kingdom, and the prince and princess are married. Here, it
is much easier to see the, as a couple which might get married, and much easier
for the child audience to wish for it to happen.
The Grimms' and Walk Disney versions of sleeping beauty are extremely different
versions of a ubiquitous tale found in many forms. Major differences added by
Disney include the treatment of the uninvited fairy, the effort required on the
part of the prince, and the development of the relationship between the princess
and the prince. The changes serve primarily to make the tale more accessible to
today's youngsters, making it more compelling and more appropriate, and thus
more likely to be watched, at least one person (the one who made the following
graphic) has even referred to it as...
Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Context
Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901, to an
Irish-Canadian father and a German-American mother. The family raised Walt, his
sister, and his three other brothers on a farm near Marceline, Missouri. An
unusually energetic boy, Walt developed a passion for drawing at an early age,
along with an equally intense passion for salesmanship. He sketched
relentlessly, then sold his sketches to neighbors, friends, and family. Moving
back to Chicago for high school, Disney continued to draw but also took
photographs, wrote for the school paper, and attended the Academy of Fine Arts
in the evenings. A thirst for adventure led him to attempt military service in
1918, but he was too young to enlist. Instead, he joined the Red Cross as an
ambulance driver and official chauffeur. In 1923, Walt followed his older
brother, Roy, to Hollywood, carrying with him only a few drawing implements, one
completed short animated film subject, and almost no money. Securing borrowed
funds, he and his brother began an animated production company in their uncle’s
garage. Disney’s entrepreneurial spirit and inspired imagination led quickly to
the development of the Disney empire.
While Walt Disney’s success as a businessman is legendary, his artistic
accomplishments should not be overlooked. Over the course of his career, he
stretched the limits of animated film by constantly innovating and perfecting
new methods of animation. Before he was twenty, Disney became the first animator
to seamlessly combine live-action footage with drawn animation. In releasing the
world’s first fully synchronized sound cartoon, “Steamboat Willie,” in 1928,
Disney also introduced the public to the character of Mickey Mouse. He
introduced Technicolor to his productions in the early 1930s and used a
revolutionary multiplane camera technique as early as the mid-1930s. Throughout
his career, Disney and his teams innovated in the realms of effects animation,
special processes, multiple exposures, props, and camera tricks.
The amazing success of Disney’s early films gave him unusual freedom to expand
and experiment further, despite the Great Depression and World War II. In the
thirties, when the nation’s economy was at its lowest ebb, the budgets for his
films seemed staggering—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, for example, cost an
astonishing $1.4 million. Still, the studio (constructed in Burbank in 1940)
tightened its belt a bit during wartime, devoting much of its money and energy
to the production of government-commissioned propagandist and military training
films. In the 1950s, Disney created the Disneyland theme park in California and
debuted the wildly successful “Disneyland” anthology series, later renamed “Walt
Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.” By the time the workaholic Walt Disney died
on December 15, 1966, his studio had released eighty-one feature films and won
forty-eight Academy Awards. Today, the corporation which bears his name
continues to expand and forge ahead in the fields of computer animation and
restoration.
Sleeping Beauty was Walt Disney Pictures’ sixteenth animated feature and, at the
time, the most expensive of his films to produce. Making the film took more than
six years at an estimated cost of $6 million, a figure that was totally unheard
of for an animated feature in Disney’s day. The lengthy production period
resulted in part from the fact that Disney was preoccupied with the creation of
Disneyland and the development of future projects. He rarely visited the studio,
yet much of the creative process depended on his explicit approval.
The film process for Sleeping Beauty employed a new film size—Super Technirama
70. The 70-millimeter filmstrip was twice as wide as the 35-millimeter usually
used both then and now and captures backgrounds with stunning clarity. It also
employs a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, meaning that the width of the screen runs 2.35
times as wide as its height. Even today, 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 aspect ratios are
more commonly used. The super-widescreen format allowed for the radical content
and design of the film to be presented in a noticeably new way, with crystal
clear focus and ultra-sharp backgrounds spread over more frame area. In
contrast, other famous Disney films like Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Alice in
Wonderland employ softer geometries and softer focuses.
Background painter Eyvind Earle based his radically detailed backgrounds on
medieval, pre-Renaissance, and Gothic art. Artists who influenced his designs
include Pieter Breughel and Jan van Eyck, as well as other Dutch, Italian, and
Greek masters. The incredible detail of the art parallels the more adult content
of this film as compared with Disney’s earlier animated features. Sleeping
Beauty, unlike the Mickey Mouse films or even Snow White, emphasizes human
characters and renders death, sadness, and longing with realistic displays of
emotion. The epic widescreen style also lends to the importance of spaces in
conveying the emotional temperature of a scene. Earle answered directly to Walt
Disney but supervised the visual design of the film by using an assembly line to
divide up the labor. For example, Frank Armitage, an acquaintance of the Mexican
muralist Diego Rivera, focused on the wide, sweeping backgrounds. Marc Davis
supervised Princess Aurora’s and Maleficent’s characters.
Beginning in 1956, widescreen blockbusters rose in popularity, a trend that
Disney attempted to capitalize on with Sleeping Beauty. Mammoth epic films shot
in widescreen format changed the film world as they appeared one after another,
including War and Peace (directed by King Vidor, 1956), The Ten Commandments
(Cecil B. DeMille, 1956), Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959), and Lawrence of Arabia
(David Lean, 1962). These epic films are longer than Sleeping Beauty—all of them
are over three and a half hours long—but given its artistic scope and ambition,
Sleeping Beauty deserves the title of epic as well.
Sleeping Beauty also stands out among other animated films because of its score.
The music of the instrumentalists and singers plays for the duration of the
movie. Only in rare moments does all instrumentation or song drop out. In most
cases, a moving score sweeps the film along as an undercurrent. Disney chose to
adapt Tchaikovsky’s music for “The Sleeping Beauty” ballet, and in choosing to
draw from such a grand composer for his seemingly simple family film, Disney
declared the timelessness and artistic merits of Sleeping Beauty and brashly
placed it in a canonical tradition. Disney spared no expense for its technical
production, either. George Bruns, who is also noted for composing original tunes
for Pirates of the Caribbean, The Jungle Book, and the 1950s hit The Ballad of
Davy Crockett, recorded the score in Germany with state-of-the-art equipment.
Sleeping Beauty has the distinction of being the last film that Disney
personally produced. Recently, Sleeping Beauty became the second film to receive
a thorough computer restoration, in which a team of forty computer technicians
pored over all 108,000 frames of the film to clean and refurbish the colors. The
print that the crew succeeded in creating, with its rich hues and subtle
saturations, actually surpasses the print of the film’s initial 1959 release.
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