Prod.2001-Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs(XVI)
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- Witch by Norm Ferguson, Effects animators not named.
One animator for the whole sequence, the great Norm Ferguson...
Prod. CM8 - The Picnic
Directed by Burt Gillett. Released 10/23/30, this FINAL draft dated 9/13/30. Animation by Dave Hand, Jack King, Charlie Byrne, Norm Ferguson, Dick Lundy, Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Ben Sharpsteen, Tom Palmer, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Cutting and Frenchy de Trémaudan. Found on the Treasures DVD Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Vol. 2 Disk 1 or on YouTube, though in very low quality here . A cute little film, this is actually a landmark in animation history. "Can I bring Rover?" Little Rover is, of course, none other than Pluto! Fergy's scene 27 is often "quoted" when discussing the origins of this the most famous of cartoon canines. It is very interesting to see the difference in drawing styles. Fergy tries to draw a dog and mostly does a very nice job. Compare this with e.g. Palmer's attempt in the final scene. It is a "funny cartoon balloon animal," a much more simplistic and symbolic way of drawing. Palmer, Cannon and Lundy seem not to be quite up to...
This sequence starts at 2 in the film so all the scene 1 parts are cut out. I remember reading that this sequence had its first parts cut out and this draft proves it. The draft's date is before the release, so I wonder if they appeared in the official release, maybe not. Disney may have thought the movie had enough horror scenes and decide to remove this.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that Ferguson had to do the whole sequence by himself but when the witch speaks to the camera, it feels over the top. It makes her look insane. Of course, that was probably the point.
An interesting fact, that in foreign versions, the book's writing is changed to the appropriate language (the same is true with the Dwarf's beds).
Fergy does a fine job...I quite like the witch.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the wicked queen has so little character in contrast to the witch really bugs me, though....They don't seem like the dame person!
I remember reading somewhere (maybe the sadly vanished Disney Ever Notice site) that one deleted scene involved the Queen having the Huntsman "dragged away by Nubian torturers", presumably as punishment for disobeying her orders. What I'd be interested to know is 1) in what way were they "Nubian", 2) in what way were they identifiable as "torturers" rather than executioners or mere thugs, and 3) if they *were* clearly identifiable as torturers, did they ever seriously consider including the scene? Given that they kept in the skeleton of the prisoner grasping for the water jug, I do wonder just how disturbing they were and were not prepared to go.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paul and Hans, I had been trying for a long time to reah the EverNotice site with web.archive, but I just got told that "robots" were preventing me from reaching it. You'll also notice the post, by "PolarBear", which says that Sleepy was a late replacement for a different character. For what it's worth, I was "The Sorceror's [sic] Padawan".
ReplyDeleteThe scene when the witch says "Buried Alive" before she walking to the dungeon was actually animated by Fergy's assistant John Lounsbery. They probably take his name out of the draft because it was a mistake or for a reason.
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