Film Studies 2159A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Norm Lewis, Disney Princess, Merrin Dungey
28 Jun 2018
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Screening 11; Lecture 11
Thursday, March 29, 2018 9:24 AM
The Little Mermaid
Tron:
• Screen Credits: Chinese Characters or Code?
○Trivializing their important job
○Crediting the workers in their own language
• Women in the Disney Dream Factory
○As discussed in the readings, Wendy Carlos a classical composer and artist worked on the film's
electronic soundtrack. The musical score is a blend of synthesized orchestral and choral music. She
is known for her work on the soundtracks for Clockwork Orange and the Shining. She used both an
analog Moog synthesizer and Crumar's GDS
Xerox Era
• Some critics cut the Silver Era short and refer to an initial "Xerox Era" (1961-1977) that set the stage for a
slightly shorter "Bronze Era/Dark Era starting in 1977 and not 1970 or even replace the "Bronze Era"
(previously seen as 1970 – 1989)
• 101 Dalmatians (1961 - ?)
• Walt Disney died in 1966
• At the time for financial reasons the studio was replacing rotoscoping and inked outlines with xerox
copying
• By the 1980s the ink and paint department essentially vanished
• Xerox-Era animation led to compositional looseness
• Some critics cut the Silver Era short and refer to an initial "Xerox Era" (1961-1977) that set the stage for a
slightly shorter "Bronze Era/Dark Era" starting in 1977, not 1970 or even replace the “Bronze Era”
(previously seen as 1970-1989) entirely with a longer “Xerox Era” (1961-1989). In this case, one could
view The Little Mermaid simultaneously as the final film of a copy-cat “Xerox Era”, also utilizing older
film-technologies and the start of the Disney Renaissance (1989-1999).
• Walt Disney died in 1966…
• At the time for financial reasons, the studio was replacing “rotoscoping” and inked outlines with xerox
copying ….
• By the 1980s, inkers had almost disappeared from the studio’s payrolls. Tron (1982) and Little Mermaid
(1989) were two exceptional films that still made heavy use of inkers and painters for the film’s fantastic
color effects, although they also used CGI effects and xerox copying.
• Xerox process was an electrostatic process adapted for transferring animators' pencil drawings to cels.
• •Xerox-era animation led to “compositional looseness” …coloring does not reach an object’s edge or it
extends beyond an object’s outline. Animators feared that it diminished the “inspiration” and “vitality” in
their drawings. It was said to lead to a downward cycle in animation. Instead of whimsical “caricature”
and spontaneity drawings were infused with a heavy-handed uniformity.
The Little Mermaid and Special Effects
• Last film to use the framed multiplane camera for key sequences
• Continued the tradition of using live-action reference rotoscoping was now replaced with a xerox-
technique
• Each bubble had to be hand drawn and hand traced although xerox copying was used to transfer most
other drawings to the animation cells. The inkers and painters provided the final “magic” touch (color).
• Ariel's Live action model was Sherri Lynn Stoner
Repetitive Formulas/Repeating Characters
• Recycling Footage and characters from earlier films
• this “xerox period” and beyond again for financial reasons, but also to create more “Disney magic” for
fans who might try to decipher a vast world of intertextual references and “Easter eggs” embedded in each
film. The Little Mermaid recycled backgrounds used for The Rescuers (1977)…
•
Renaissance Era
• The Little Mermaid was the first film in the Renaissance Era
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
