Fantasia

Fantasia grew out of a short designed to reintroduce audiences to Mickey Mouse. The flagship character had fallen out of fashion, and the studio started work on a Silly Symphony featuring the mouse set to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” With the budget growing quickly, Disney decided to produce a feature film with animation set to eight pieces including music from Bach, Tchaikovsky and Stravinksy. The animation used in Fantasia ranges from abstract images to more typical hand-drawn storytelling used by Disney. The final sequence of “Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria” employed glass panels to create additional depth in the animation process. Disney also developed Fantasound, which was a precursor to surround sound that audiences now come to expect. Since its original release, Fantasia has been reissued and restored several times. In 1990, Fantasia was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. — Erin Ritter