Exploring the Disney Animation Research Library

I received an all expenses paid trip to from Disney to Los Angeles, CA to attend the Planes Red Carpet Premiere, an event for The Little Mermaid diamond edition DVD release and to meet Disney’s Super Buddies.  I was also provided a sample of the film to review. All opinions expressed are my own.  

Last month I had the amazing chance to get whisked away by Disney to attend a wonderful Little Mermaid Event as well as the Disney Planes movie premiere! While out in LA another surprise we received was being able to visit the highly secret, Disney Animation Research Library.

Ever wonder what happens to all those thousands of drawings, stills and images from Disney films and shorts? Well they end up photographed, logged and tucked safely away for future generations at the Animation Research Library! Formally coined The Studio Morgue by Walt Disney, the library started housing work from Disney projects back in the 20’s in a warehouse without any real rhyme or reason. Since then, they’ve grown into a massive database that houses over 65 million pieces of original artwork and designs! 

 

The Library is SO secret, it doesn’t have an official address. Once there, we were shown to an unmarked building somewhere near Burbank, CA. I never would have thought that what awaited us inside, was an entire Disney treasure trove of artwork and ideas! We were taken in groups around the entire complex and given a tour of  the facility. I felt like I was taking a peek into what it was like to be a Disney animator!

In the restoration area we were given the chance to see stills from Disney’s The Little Mermaid come to life on a computer. It was jaw dropping to hear that there were around 25-30 images in every second of film! That’s an insane amount of drawings per movie! It was amazing to watch one of my favorite Little Mermaid scenes, the Part Of Your World song, come to life on the computer screen.

We then got to see the vaults where all the artwork from past Disney films is kept so that it can be referenced later on. We got to see original background art from Sleeping Beauty, the original Pinocchio Puppet that Walt Disney himself used for the film, original drawings from movies such as Lady and the Tramp and The Lion King and we even saw the hand made replica of Notre Dame that was used when animating The Hunchback of Notre Dame!

After seeing the vaults, the Disney crew had laid out a spread of original pieces from my all time favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid! I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was being able to see those items up close and to be totally honest, I was trying not to cry! That film has been such an inspiration to me my whole life, that to be able to be this close to it was just awe inspiring. We got to see original concept art of Ariel and Ursula as well as original backgrounds and scenes from the film!

Did you know Ariel was originally going to have blonde hair? Can you imagine Ariel without that trademark red hair!?  We were also told and shown that Ursula was the hardest character to complete. She went through so many looks before settling on the final one in the film and she originally was meant to look much scarier. In the drawings of her early design, she had a lanky top body and a pointy mermaid’s tale that looked as if it had spikes on it. She had long, thin fingers with claw like nails and her face was very sunken in.  Eventually the film makers decided she was TOO scary and ended up going with what you see in the final film.

Take a look inside the ARL!

Seeing all the amazing art at the Animation Research Library really struck a cord with me. I’ve been a MASSIVE Disney buff since I was little and grew up in Orlando, FL. Disney has been such a big part of my life and being able to visit the ARL was such a wonderful experience. It was great being able to talk with the staff about all the art, you can really see how passionate they are about their jobs and helping to preserve all the Disney masterpieces in the library for future generations and films. It really was inspiring learning the process the filmmakers go through to create a Disney classic like The Little Mermaid and all the hard work they put in.

Follow the Disney Animation Research Library on facebook and twitter to stay up to date on the latest happenings!

I received an all expenses paid trip to from Disney to Los Angeles, CA to attend the Planes Red Carpet Premiere, an event for The Little Mermaid diamond edition DVD release and to meet Disney’s Super Buddies.  I was also provided a sample of the film to review. All opinions expressed are my own.