Today, I wanted to share with you a fascinating documentary short from the 1930s which details the exhausting process by which animations used to be produced. It’s really amazing how many people the animation industry employed. I wonder if anyone bothers to make animated films this way anymore. I can’t imagine it would be terribly cost effective, though you can’t fault the results.

Enjoy!

And if you’re still interested, here’s another vintage documentary short explaining Disney’s process for developing the look and style of an animated feature. It’s way longer than it needs to be, so if you’re in a hurry, I’d recommend you just watch the first six and a half minutes. The example used here is Disney’s iconic “Sleeping Beauty.” It’s such an interesting behind-the-scenes look, I am going to go back and rewatch the feature to see if I can spot the things they pointed out.

Finally, here’s an in-depth four-part series about Disney’s animation process.