Walt Disney is a legend in America and the world. He is considered the man who took animation to the mainstream and rightfully so. With his iconic movies like Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, and Snow White, the first ever full length animated movie. Walt Disney was ground breaking in animation and was the one who proved that you could do more then just 5 minute shorts and could do great stories with it. One of Walt Disney's biggest boosts to his fame is how he used music in his movies.
Part of the reason that music was so important to Walt Disney was because that was the only audio he had to work with at first. See, back in the 20's films were just starting to come out of the silent movie era thanks to The Jazz Singer in 1927, "which was the first movie to have synchronized sound". Before that, the only way to keep your audience engaged was with music. Granted it typically wasn't much, many times it was just a piano being played in the theater while the movie was on, but because there was some form of audio to go with it, the audience kept their attention on it. Animation was no exception, music was the audio driving force to keep the audience is attention.
When The Jazz Singer came out, Walt decided to use this new technique of synchronized sound to create his Steam Boat Willie. Now, while this short had more sound effects then in the past, music was still what kept the audience engaged because it had a flow that kept the show moving forward. Without music, the short would have been more dull and less interesting. For Walt though, he never really saw this as a problem, in fact he saw more opportunity in it and it became a staple in his shorts and movies.
In 1937 Walt Disney made Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This movie is credited for being the first full length animated movie. Along with that, this movie was also the first in something else. It was also the first movie to make its soundtrack commercially to the public. The soundtrack contained 8 songs on the soundtrack and for the first time, people could purchase it. The downside for Walt though was that since he did not have his own music company at the time, the rights for the songs went to Bourne CO. Disney wouldn't have their own music label until 1949.
Part of the reason that music was so important to Walt Disney was because that was the only audio he had to work with at first. See, back in the 20's films were just starting to come out of the silent movie era thanks to The Jazz Singer in 1927, "which was the first movie to have synchronized sound". Before that, the only way to keep your audience engaged was with music. Granted it typically wasn't much, many times it was just a piano being played in the theater while the movie was on, but because there was some form of audio to go with it, the audience kept their attention on it. Animation was no exception, music was the audio driving force to keep the audience is attention.
When The Jazz Singer came out, Walt decided to use this new technique of synchronized sound to create his Steam Boat Willie. Now, while this short had more sound effects then in the past, music was still what kept the audience engaged because it had a flow that kept the show moving forward. Without music, the short would have been more dull and less interesting. For Walt though, he never really saw this as a problem, in fact he saw more opportunity in it and it became a staple in his shorts and movies.
In 1937 Walt Disney made Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This movie is credited for being the first full length animated movie. Along with that, this movie was also the first in something else. It was also the first movie to make its soundtrack commercially to the public. The soundtrack contained 8 songs on the soundtrack and for the first time, people could purchase it. The downside for Walt though was that since he did not have his own music company at the time, the rights for the songs went to Bourne CO. Disney wouldn't have their own music label until 1949.
Even though Walt Disney didn't owned his own music, it didn't stop him from making it a major part of his movies. He would continue his musical formula in his follow up movie, Pinocchio in 1940. Just like Snow White, Walt worked to make catchy music stuck out just as much as the animation. The film would end up winning an academy award for best score, and the song, When You Wish Upon a Star, would become a Disney Anthem. Even today, this song is still a Disney staple that is recognized all over the world.
After Pinocchio, Walt decided to take a new approach and instead of making music revolve around his movie, he made his movie revolve around music. This would lead to the creation of one of my favorite Disney movies, Fantasia. Fantasia is a series of shorts where Walt took classic big orchestra songs and made animation to go with the songs in the movie. This movie would have some classic scenes such as "A Night On Bald Mountain", a dark song about demons partying in the night. It was then followed by the beautiful, peaceful "Ave Maria", a peaceful song that Disney used to illustrate darkness being defeated and a new sun rising from it. The most popular song though is " The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This scene was considered to have the best combination of all the other scenes. The song was good, the animation matched the song perfectly and the concept with Mickey Mouse wanting to learn magic would be what got people to say that Disney is magical.
Sadly, shortly after Fantasia, World War 2 broke out and this created many problems for Walt Disney. in order to gain support for the war, the government turned to entertainment to make propaganda to make people hate the Nazi's and Japan. Walt Disney was not exempt from this. However, unlike how some people say that Walt was a willing participant in making this propaganda, that really isn't true. What really happened was that the government came and took control of his studio. The animators were to make nothing but shorts depicting the war. To add on to Walt's problems, he wasn't allowed to release any full length movies. The only movies he could release were Packaged Films. These were basically collections of old and some new shorts. One of these packaged films actually contains one of my favorite shorts, Father Noah's Ark. A short musical story about Noah and the Ark.
One of the packaged films that contained new shorts was Saludos Amigos. This movie was a series of shorts inspired by Latin American countries, including Argentina and Brazil. Along with the locations, Walt also used a lot of their music as inspiration for this film. The most famous scene in this movie is Aquarela do Brasil. This short has a short but very catchy song used to illustrate the parrot, Jose Carioca, teaching Donald Duck about South America. Surprisingly, this movie would go on to wing 3 academy awards.
Once the war ended, Walt was able to get to doing what he loved doing most, great animated musicals. The movie, Cinderella would his first post war animated movie. This was the first movie that was published musically under Walt Disney Records. By this time, Walt Disney finally secured his own record label that gave him full rights and full control over his music. This soundtrack would produce some classic Disney songs such as "A Dream is a Wish Your Heat Makes", and the popular, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo. Clearly, the Walt Disney Everybody loved was back.
After Cinderalla, Walt continued to make great musical movies until his death in 1966. The last movie that he oversaw was "The Jungle Book". The Jungle Book is a movie with many classic songs including, "I Want to Be Like You", and Trust in Me. However, the biggest song off this soundtrack is "Bare Necessities". This song has become a Disney staple you hear all over Disney radio and referenced in Disney Parks. Walt Disney did a great job on his last project and this soundtrack shows that.
As you can see, Walt Disney wasn't just a man who was innovative in terms of animation, he also knew how to make music work for his movies very well. He had a lot of appreciation for music and ended up creating a classic formula. This is formula that is still being used in Disney movies today such as Tangled and Enchanted. While there are other great animated musicals outside of Disney, Walt Disney developed this formula and if any of these other movies makers are being honest, they were inspired by Disney. RIP Walt Disney, you truly were a man of many talents.
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