Walt Disney Research Paper

The Man Behind the Magic Walt Disney once said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” (JustDisney.com). Walt Disney made the world smile, and he created lovable cartoon characters. Walt made movies with happy endings, and built amusement parks that thrilled millions. Making people smile was no easy job. It took many hours of hard work. Time, after time, Walt failed. He lost money and sleep, but he never lost his determination. In the end, all those smiles made Walt Disney one of the most famous names in the world. Walt Disney was a legend and leader of the twentieth century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination, creativity, and self-made success. Walter Elias Disney

Walt and his brother, Ub studied the books very carefully. Everything they learned from reading they applied it to their work. Of course, Walt took it a step further and rewrote some of his scripts, improved story elements, and added jokes. The quality of the finished cartoon got better and better.

Animation continued to be his focus. Walt convinced the owner of Film Ad to allow him to take the animation camera home on the weekends. “Working in the garage, Walt experimented with lighting exposures times, and animation techniques late into the night. He was always pushing for improvements” (Scollon 28).

It did not take long before Walt started drawing his own animated shorts. He sold them to a local theatre owner. Walt called the cartoons Laugh-O-Grams, and audiences loved them. Walt’s films gave him a small amount of fame and his confidence grew. He suggested to the owners of Film Ad that they move into producing regular cartoons, but they weren’t interested. So, in 1922, Walt raised money from friends, family, and local businesses and started his own company, calling it Laugh-O-Grams. Walt convinced Ubbe Eert Iwwerks (Ub) to join him, and then hired five more animators and office

One by one the staff had no choice but to leave. Occasionally a small project would come in, but the jobs weren’t enough to pull the company out of its slump. Walt felt he needed to come up with something new to rekindle interest in his business. He had the idea of putting a live child actress in an animated cartoon and having characters interact with her. Walt set off enthusiastic letters to distributors in New York announcing, “We have just discovered something new and clever in animated cartoons!” One distributor, M. J. Winkler, said he would be interested and Walt started production on Alice in Wonderland. “But Walt didn’t have the money he needed to make the film. He did as much as he could, then wrote the distributor and told her there would be a slight delay. He then faced the fact that Laugh-O-Grams were headed for bankruptcy. “It was the blackest time of my life,” he would later say” (Scollon