One Hundred and One Dalmatians (also known as 101 Dalmatians) is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Adapted from Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel of the same name, the film was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wolfgang Reitherman from a script by Bill Peet.
After Sleeping Beauty (1959) disappointed at the box office, Disney was losing money and there were discussions about closing down the animation department. During the film’s production, Disney told animator Eric Larson: “I don’t think we can continue; it’s too expensive.” Despite this, he still had deep feelings towards animation because he had built the company upon it.
Ub Iwerks, in charge of special processes at the studio, had been experimenting with Xerox photography to aid in animation. By 1959, he used a Xerox camera to transfer drawings by animators directly to animation cels, eliminating the inking process, thus saving time and money while preserving the spontaneity of the penciled elements. However, because of its limitations, the camera was unable to deviate from a black scratchy outline and lacked the fine lavish quality of hand inking. Disney would first use the Xerox process for a thorn forest in Sleeping Beauty, and the first production to make full use of the process was Goliath II (1960). For One Hundred and One Dalmatians, one of the benefits of the process was that it was a great help towards animating the spotted dogs. According to Chuck Jones, Disney was able to complete the film for about half of what it would have cost if they had had to animate all the dogs and spots.
Meanwhile, Ken Anderson, the studio’s art director, learned a television production studio—Hurrell Productions—was using Xerography to produce television commercials featuring Disney characters. Inspired by the aesthetic, Anderson experimented with a Xerox copier to directly transfer the animators’ drawings onto transparent cels, thereby eliminating the inking process. Anderson screened an animation test to Disney and the animators; although Disney expressed concern at the graphic style, he gave his approval stating: “Ah, yeah, yeah, you can fool around all you want to.” For the stylized art direction, Anderson took inspiration from British cartoonist Ronald Searle, who once advised him to use a Mont Blanc pen and India ink for his artwork.
In addition to the character animation, Anderson also sought to use Xerography on “the background painting because I was going to apply the same technique to the whole picture.” Along with color stylist Walt Peregoy, the two had the line drawings be printed on a separate animation cel before being laid over the background, which gave the appearance similar to the Xeroxed animation. Disney disliked the artistic look of the film and felt he was losing the “fantasy” element of his animated films. In a meeting with the animation staff concerning future films, Disney angrily said, “We’re never gonna have one of those goddamned things,” referring to the film’s art direction; he also stated, “Ken’s never going to be an art director again.”
Anderson took this to heart, but Disney eventually forgave him on his final trip to the studio in late 1966. As Anderson recalled in an interview: “He looked very sick. I said, ‘Gee, it’s great to see you, Walt,’ and he said, ‘You know that thing you did on Dalmatians.’ He didn’t say anything else, but he just gave me this look, and I knew that all was forgiven and in his opinion, maybe what I did on Dalmatians wasn’t so bad. That was the last time I ever saw him. Then, a few weeks later, I learned he was gone.”
As with the previous Disney films, the actors provided live-action reference as an aid to the animators before the animation process begun. By January 1959, Mary Wickes, who had played the maid Katie in The Mickey Mouse Club serial Annette, was hired as a model for Cruella De Vil. The live-action reference for Nanny was provided by both Don Barclay and Barbara Luddy, who had voiced Lady in Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty (1959).[17] Helene Stanley – who had been a model for the titular character in Cinderella (1950) and Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (1959) – performed the live-action reference for Anita.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians was released in theaters on January 25, 1961, to critical acclaim and was a box-office success, grossing $14 million domestically in its original theatrical run. It became the first animated feature to earn over $10 million during its initial release, and became the eighth-highest-grossing film of the year in the North American box office and the highest-grossing animated film when reissues of films are not counted.
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