Roy Disney0:03
Hello, I'm Roy Disney. It was over 60 years ago that I first heard my uncle, Walt Disney, talk about his vision for a concert film. It was to be unlike anything the world had ever seen, breaking new ground in animation, sound, and technology. At the suggestion of conductor Leopold Stokowski, it was called Fantasia, and it would be one of the crowning achievements of Walt's career. But it wasn't the first time he would startle audiences with breathtaking innovations. Walt was the first to introduce synchronized sound in an animated film with Steamboat Willie.
Flowers and Trees was the first color cartoon. In the mid-30s, Walt's team developed a multiplane camera that gave startling new depth to animation. It was put to wonderful use on the first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And in 1940, with Fantasia, Walt elevated the art of animation once again when he developed the first use of multi-track stereophonic sound to approximate a concert-going experience.
At Walt Disney Feature Animation, we've continued this tradition of innovation. And when the computer first became available as an animation tool, we saw it as a great opportunity. In The Great Mouse Detective, the gears of Big Ben were computer-generated and combined with hand-drawn cells of the characters.
In Beauty and the Beast, sweeping camera moves through three-dimensional scenes heightened the reality and the entertainment experience. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 took computer animation to infinity and beyond by creating completely digital universes and characters.
Dinosaur advances the technology even further, becoming our first full-length feature to combine naturalistic digital animation with real-life backgrounds. These days, we continue to push the envelope, helping to pioneer the development of digital projection systems for theaters that will let us present animation with heightened clarity. And with DVD, we're now able to deliver our films right out of our computer and into your home with digital perfection.
The story of animation is in many ways the story of the dynamic interrelationship between heart and technology. The result is a dramatic and constantly growing creative legacy. Fantasia remains an important piece of that legacy. Walt's original concept was for it to be a continually evolving showpiece of the wonders of animation. 60 years later, Fantasia 2000 is the realization of his visionary dream. Now, on behalf of the whole family of Disney animators, past and present, we're proud to present Fantasia 2000.
