My Final Paper For My Film Class

FANTASIA

Here we will be examining the movie Fantasia. As we read in our film textbook, under the chapter of animation the authors stated that Disney is the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate. This immediately sparked an interest and curiosity on the topic. Now given a chance to researching a topic of my choosing, I decided to examine the movie Fantasia. After screening this movie, it became clear how much time, money, and effort went into the making of this film and how it even came into existence.
There was even special technology made to hear the film better. I have broken down the segments individually for those who have not seen the movie at all or it has been a while since you last saw it, for me it has been at least a decade since last viewed it.

THE MAKING OF THE FILM

RKO radio pictures released Fantasia, the world premiered it on November.13.1940, at the Broadway Theater in New York. Leopold Stokowski & the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted the entire musical masterpiece. (Maltin, 1973)

The idea came from plans to make a Mickey Mouse short of “The Sorcerers Apprentice” in 1938. Disney met the infamous conductor Leopold Stokowski at a party where he had mentioned the idea. Stokowski was excited about the idea and agreed to conduct the score, which he did in L.A. Stokowski later suggested that Disney should create a whole series of visualizations of musical themes.

FANTASOUND & RECORDING

Fantasia accomplished a completely new conception in animation not only in appearance but also in content. Show casing visual fantasy that would never manifest itself again.

Stokowski convinced Disney that Fantasia warranted something more than the usual sound system. They met with chief engineer Bill Garity and looked into the concept of a broader recording & playback method for the film. The finished product was Fantasound it predated many of the stereophonic sound systems of the decade. The whole idea behind Fantasound was to give the illusion of the orchestra being there in the actual theater. Fantasound was innovative in the way of simultaneous multi-track recording, overdubbing, and noise reduction.

The film score recorded over a two-month period in 1938 at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. There were nine sound cameras, one recording the entire orchestra, and each of the other eight focusing on one specific section. There were also 33 microphones. There was 420,000 feet of film used during the marathon recording sessions, of which 18,000 ended up in the final cut.

There is a different feel to this particular film, though it was released in theaters, Disney originally wanted to be released as a ongoing concert, where they would add on new material, unfortunately that never happened due to the fact that it was to expensive to install the new Fantasound systems. RCA built the first operational one for $100,000 with additional ones at the cost of $30,000. (Maltin, 1973)

THE PROGRAM

The movie begins with a curtain opening to reveal a blue cyclorama, silhouetted musicians talk amongst themselves. As they tune their instruments, yellow light emanates from the instruments. Deems Taylor appears and talks about how there are three types of music: Music that tells a story, music that paints a picture an absolute music, or music for the sake of music. Lastly, we will look over the eight individual segments, in brief as I do not want to overload you with information. (Maltin, 1973)

TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR BY: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.

In this first segment, you see live actin shots of the orchestra illuminating in blue and gold. Backed by superimposed shadows, fade into abstract patterns. You also see animated lines, shapes, and cloud formations reflect the sound and rhythms of the music.   

THE NUTCRACKER SUITE BY: PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY Tchaikovsky’s ballet suite underscore scenes depict the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter. Six dances occur within this on segment:

“The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” Dew droplet creatures spread throughout the forest waking up other fairies who cascade around the forest for a most ethereal celebration of nature.

“Chinese Dance” Performed by mushrooms that assume oriental appearance with their crowns becoming hats for there wide, round heads.

“Dance of the Reed Flutes” Petals cascade in the breeze mingling with the lily pads floating on the water. This segues in an underwater setting for the next scene.

“Arabian Dance” Highlighting a group of fish with magnificent flowing, tails. A flurry of bubbles, which introduce the scene, also provides transition above ground for the next sequence.

“Russian Dance” Energetically performed by thistles, whose long lean shape resembles that of a Cossack, and orchids, whose petals are made to appear as peasant dresses. 

“Waltz of the flowers” Swirling leaves form a ballet troupe, followed by milkweeds, all of whom are laid to rest by the forest fairies who come and spread the setting of yet another season. Snowflakes complete the change, and end the ballet with a lovely snow patter. (Maltin, 1973)

THE SORCERERS APPRENTICE BY: PAUL DUKAS Mickey Mouse, the young apprentice, attempts some of his master’s magic tricks but does not know how to control them lead alone stop it. After this segment has concluded, Mickeys silhouette appears and congratulates Stokowski then runs off.

THE RITE OF SPRINGS BY: IGOR STRAVINSKY A visual history of Earth shows select sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the planet’s formations to the first living creatures, followed by the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs.

INTERMISSION: Meet the Sound Track Deems Taylor introduces a major unsung star of the concert: The Sound Track. Showing how it reproduces various sounds from the orchestra. (Harp, violin, flute, trumpet, bassoon) It is a visual representation of the sound itself.  

PASTORIAL SYMPHONY BY: LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN The Disney artist freely interpreted this segment; it contains many characters from Greek mythology such as unicorns, centaurs, nymphs, cupids, Bacchus, Zeus, and a few others, ends with them going to bed.

DANCE OF THE HOURS BY: AMILCARE PONCHIELLI A comic ballet in four sections: Madame Upanova & her ostriches (Morning); Hyacinth Hippo and her servants (Afternoon); Elephanchine and her bubble-blowing elephant troupe (Evening); and Ben Ali Gator and his troop of alligators (Night). The finale finds all of the characters dancing together until their palace collapses

NIGHT AT BALD MOUNTAIN BY: MODEST MUSSORGSKY & AVA MARIA BY: FRANZ SCHUBERT At midnight, the devil tchernobog summons evil spirits and restless souls from their graves. The spirits dance and fly through the air until driven back by the sound of church chimes as night fades into dawn. A chorus is herd singing Ave Maria as a line of robed monks are depicted walking with lighted torches through a forest and into the ruins of a cathedral. (Wikipedia )   

Well I hope this has given you an informed and descriptive account of this amazing movie, I strongly encourage you to check out this movie. It has sparked a newfound appreciation for animated films. Compiling this information has been thoroughly enjoyable. How amazing is it that I get to watch this movie and then write about it.

Works Cited

(n.d.). Retrieved 11 20-25, 2012, from Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_(films)

Maltin, L. (1973). The Disney Films (Third edition ed.). New York, U.S.A: Hyperion .