Day 520: A Real Masterpiece

Now, I mentioned that while I'm watching all the Disney animated movies in order, the chances of me blogging about every single one are pretty bad. And that's very true. As much as I love all the Disney films, blogging about every last one seems like a ton of work, especially since when I watched I'm generally also working on something else at the same time, whether that be writing on another project I'm working on or tagging pictures or editing video. Whatever it may be, I sort of half watch the movie and half work on whatever it is I'm doing. Of course, I still am paying attention, and this is all really beside the point other than the fact that I'm saying I'm generally not blogging while actually watching the movie. If I did that, honestly the whole blog post would just end up being really jumbled and such anyway.

However, when I come across a film that gives me a fair topic for a blog post, I can't help but share with you. Tonight's film, the first one in several days because I've been so busy, was Fantasia. To be honest, most of my friends don't really like the movie, and after a little while it can be a bit of a bore to watch. It's not quite like the action movies we see today where everything is one thing onto the next. It runs at a much slower pace, and you have to sit and stop to appreciate the beauty that is in it. Which is kind of what I half did. For a while in the middle I wasn't paying the closest attention, but towards the very end I really got thinking about the film.

You, first of all, have to remember that Fantasia was made in the year 1940. That was a LONG time ago. Second, look at the length of the film, just over two hours. Compare that to Snow White or Dumbo, both clocking in at around an hour, and compare that to other films of the time as well. A full film with synchronized sound that was over two hours wasn't the most popular thing at the time, and when you compare that to the animated movies of today, many of those don't even beat that length, falling at least several minutes short of that two hour time span. So, while not everything in the film is actually animated, one could still point out the fact that for an animated movie, it's actually quite long. In addition, we must remember that everything is in color, also a newer basis at the time. Granted, films had been in color for several years, but each frame of that movie had to be hand painted at the time, while many of the animated films we see today are created with a computer. Now, I'm not saying that these computer animated films are any worse or took less time, because I very well know that computer animated movies can take years to create. Just look at Cars, which took four years alone! But hand painting is a daunting task. If you make a mistake on a computer you can just erase it. But a mistake in real life on a real board? That's not quite as easy to reverse.

Add all of this to the spectacular soundtrack that backs it, and maybe that's just the music major in me, and you have a true masterpiece. Maybe it is partly because of when it was made, but even today an undertaking like that would be crazy, and I honestly can't wait to watch Fantasia 2000 to see how it compares. I don't think I've ever watched them both within a close amount of time, so it shall be interesting to say the least.

But for now, I'll continue all my work, whether that be blogging or writing or video editing or just sitting down to enjoy one of these classic Disney films.

Have a magical day!

(This blog post was published on July 23, 2014).