We’ve all heard of Disney and
have our own opinions on its films, history and practises, but regardless of
what we think of their output there’s little denying the quality work that goes
into their films. The Archive Series of
books is made to highlight this fact, and present a visual overview of its
entire catalogue. It’s no small task.
‘Story’ is the first of the
series and focuses on the storyboard process of depicting plotline ideas before
starting work on the animation process.
Aside from a brief introduction by John Lasseter the book is presented
entirely without commentary, allowing you to browse through at your own
pace. Works are presented
chronologically starting out with Steamboat Willy in 1928, and picks its way
through the Disney catalogue before ending with 2002’s Lilo and Stitch.
It would be impossible to
have all titles represented and so is an incomplete survey. There is, quite rightly in my opinion, an
emphasis on early shorts. About a
quarter of the book is dedicated to pre-Snow White works. Also the period between Jungle Book (Walt Disney’s
last film) and The Little Mermaid (the start of what some people terms as the
Disney Renaissance) is very under-represented, as over 20 years of output is
surmised with only a brief entry by Fox and the Hound. Maybe the material was simply unavailable,
but it does unfortunately encourage the general belief that this was a bad era
of Disney films.
This is a great book for
anyone interested in Disney and their story-building processes, or just wanting
to look at quality illustrations. It’s a
very large chunky hardback, and once you’ve made the space for it will sit
proudly on your shelves.
