SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARVES (PRODUCTION)

Question 1

Key Producers- Snow White (1947)?

Answer 1

Walt Disney (Visionary/ creative producer)

Ben Sharpsteen (Associate producer who handled logistics)

Question 2

Key production company which produced Snow White (1947)?

Answer 2

Walt Disney Production (later becoming Walt Disnet Company)

Question 3

When was Walt Disney Productions founded?

Answer 3

1923

Question 4

Name 2 of the early sucesses of Walt Disney Production?

Answer 4

Disney built popularity via:
Mickey Mouse
Silly Symphonies

Question 5

Name 3 innovations pioneered by Disney?

Answer 5

• Multiplane camera
• Rotoscoping
• Technicolor

Question 6

How was Snow White funded?

Answer 6

Funded by the profits from Disney sucessful Silly Symphonies shorts.

Question 7

Summarise the production challenges raised during production?

Answer 7

1. Risky investment
2. Balooning of the budget.
3. Technological & artistic struggles

Question 8

Why was Snow White a risky investment?

Answer 8

Disney reinvested most profits from successful projects into Snow White; risking bankruptcy.

Question 9

Why was the balloning budget such a problem?

Answer 9

The intial budget was 250,000, however the final cost of the film rose to 1.5 million dollars (6x over the intial budget).

Question 10

What were the technological & artistic problems asssociated with the production of Snow White?

Answer 10

• There were no digital tools
• Character designs were constantly revised to balance realism and caricture (e.g the Queens transformation scene was especially difficult)

These factors resulted in 1.5 million individual drawings that had to be coloured and composed into thousands and framem and a 3 year production process.

Question 11

Describe 1 of Disney’s technological innovation? (Multiplane camera)

Answer 11

Disney’s team developed the multiplane camera.

The camera creates an illusion of depth, which creates a 3D-like quality.

Question 12

Describe another of Disney’s technological innovation? (Rotoscoping)

Answer 12

Involves tracing over real actors movements to make the character movement more realistic.

Question 13

Describe another of Disney’s technological innovation? (Technicolor)

Answer 13

Snow White was the first full-length animated films to use the 3 strip Technicolor process giving the film a vibrant and consistent color
pallet.

Question 14

Describe another of Disney’s technological innovation? (First full length animated feature)

Answer 14

Snow White was the first full-length animated movie, proving that cartoons could tell longer, serious stories.

Question 15

David Hesmondhalgh – The Cultural Industries (Risk Management & Creative Standardization)

Applied to Snow-White?

Answer 15

Disney gambled on untested technology (multiplane camera) and feature-length animation.

However, Disney hedged risk through the use of:
1) Familiar source material (Brothers Grimm fairytale)
2) Musical numbers (their success had been proven in Disney’s short)
3) Merchandising (toys, books) diversified revenue beyond box office.
4) Established Disney’s “princess formula” (innocent heroine, evil stepmother, comic sidekicks).

Central argument: Cultural production is high-risk, so companies rely on formulas, stars, and franchises to minimize uncertainty.