Walt Disney was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. Walt had very early interests in art, he would often sell drawings to neighbours to make extra money. Though Walt's father could be quite stern, he was encouraged by his mother and older brother to pursue his talents. Walt joined the Red Cross where he was sent overseas to France and spent a year driving an ambulance for Red Cross officials. Once Walt returned from France, he pursued a career in commercial art. He started a small company called Laugh-O-Grams, which eventually fell bankrupt. With his suitcase and 20 dollars, Walt headed to Hollywood to start anew. After making a success of his "Alice comedies", Walt became a recognized Hollywood figure. In 1932, the production entitled, Flowers and Trees, won Walt the first of his studio academy awards and since then he has gone on to win 26 Academy Awards out of 59 nominations, and seven Emmy Awards.
In Fantasia, Disney's animators combine their drawings with Western classical music that is conducted by Leopold Stowkowski, with the instruments being played by the Philadelphia Orchestra. The film is made up of eight animation sequences played to different musical compositions. I've seen Fantasia many times before as a child but it seems that i must have skipped to my favourite sequences, ie. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Dance of the Hours" because i didn't remember the other sequences so well. However, The Sorcerer's Aprentice is one of, if not, my favourite animated sequences in any film. I love the magical and fantastical elements to the animation and it is masterclass of how to create visually stunning drawings and animation, and combine them with well composed musical scores. Each of the sequences that we watched were no exception to this, i just like the Sorcerer's Apprentice because i'm a big fan of Mickey Mouse and i have that hat somewhere back at home. The other sequence which i particularly fell in love with was the end sequence with the monster on the mountain. Again, i think this is a masterclass example of "old school" hand-drawn animation that creates a visually pleasing effect. Everything about Fantasia is magical from the beautiful drawings, to it's animation with clear examples of the 12 principles, to its amazing musical score. For me, Fantasia is one of the most visually pleasing animations ever made, it evokes an emotional response in each and every sequence.
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