Animation Historical and Contemporary Practice: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs was the first animated feature developed by Walt Disney Animated studios. This film also features one of the most well known uses of rotoscoping in an animated movie by Disney anyway.

Referencing has always been used in animation. The characters in animated Disney films are always essentially cartoony but it is still important that they convey realistic movements so we can believe in them. But sometimes an animator might reference something to such an extent it might have just been more practical and time-saving to use the technique of rotoscoping.

In the case of Snow White, where Snow White is seen dancing the animators simply animated Snow White's face but the rest of her body and dress were rotoscoped over real footage of a woman dancing. Thus creating a realistic dancing motion.