Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Screening Report:
1. Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first animated feature film by Walt Disney.
It was a turning point in animation and gave it new life in an era that was
riddled with war and unemployment. After serving in the First World War, Disney
moved back to California and worked as a cartoonist for an ad company.
Eventually he began to create famous cartoon characters like Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit with the rights going to Universal. However, Disney wanted to retain the
rights to all the characters he created; therefore, he created a mouse while on
a train ride to California from New York and eventually his wife Lillian named
the mouse Mickey. Disney then began designing small-scaled cartoons in a small
studio in Los Angeles. He and his staff then moved to a larger studio and
wanted to create a film length animated feature film, which was something that
had never been done before. The film cost over $1,000,000 to make, which even
cause Disney to mortgage his house. However, after the films’ December 21st
1937 release, it was a big hit making $8,000,000 worldwide and earned
Disney an honorary Oscar at the 11th Annual Academy Awards. With the
success of Snow White films like Dumbo and Pinocchio soon followed, which
launched Disney to superstardom.
2. Development
on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” began in June
of 1934. According to the New York Times
Disney always wanted to bring the fable to the big screen and the film was
going “to be released under Walt Disney Productions”; in addition, the
projected cost of production was going to cost $250,000, which was ten times
the budget of Disney’s previous cartoon creations. Disney had animators from
all across the country come to California to help him with the film and mostly
everyone attached had a say regarding film ideas. They used any source of
inspiration they could find whether it was films that came out prior, real life
sequences or animations from the past. In addition, Disney not only wanted the
film to look great but for the music to be an intricate part of the film as
well. The score was composed by Frank
Churchill and Larry Morey and from it came the classics “Whistle While You
Work”, “Heigh-Ho” and “Some Day My Prince Will Come.” After the films’ release
it was nominated at the Academy Awards for best musical score and Disney was
given an honorary Oscar. In addition, it was a huge success garnering
$8,000,000 at the box office and was re-released years later after World War
II. Furthermore, it hailed “the greatest film of all time title by Russian
Filmmaker Sergey Eisenstein.”
3. The
article praised the film heavily and it did not change my perception of the
film in any way. It discussed the difficulties Disney faced making the film,
the different personalities he had to manage and why he was willing to push the
world animation to another level. It praised the film’s witty comedy, the score
and the deep emotion it evoked from the audience.
4. Overall
I can see why the film was praised as much as it was and why it is regarded as
not only one of the great-animated films of all time but also one of the great
films of all time. Although there were a lot of clever lines used, the dialogue
was a little tawdry. Snow White came off as a little girl rather than a young
woman and I felt as though she could have been a little more mature. However,
the dwarfs were the best part of the film in my opinion. There was never a
boring minute when they were on screen and kept the audience excited with the
next bumbling thing they had up their sleeve. The Queen was a very good villain
and you could feel the hate she had towards Snow White. Outside of the beauty
concept I would have liked to have seen why she harbored such venom towards
Snow White. Even though the film did not delve into her character more, she was
very entertaining yet wicked which are two qualities I believe all villains
should have in a film. The music was great and it gave the film a great depth.
Whatever character was singing you could feel the emotion that they felt which
made the film even more enjoyable.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
1) (X) I have not handed in this
assignment for any other class.
2) (X) If I reused any information from other
papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3) (X) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those
words, or used indentation and citation within the text.
4) (X) I have not
padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in
the text of the paper.
5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages
I personally read.
6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where
it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and
in the bibliography.
7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the
paper lacks interpretation or originality.
8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7
and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in
my paper.
Name: Wayne Clark Date:
3/2/14
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