Live-Action Reference Footage

     During Fall Break, one of the first things that I did was I went to Best Buy with my dad to pick up the Diamond Edition of The Little Mermaid. My dad was just as excited as I was to watch the hours of special features that were part of this addition as well as to see the movie in 3D for the first time! As much as I loved watching my favorite movie with an added dimension, my favorite part of this new edition of The Little Mermaid was getting a behind-the-scenes look at the live-action reference footage that was used in The Little Mermaid as well as in Disney films across the decades.
     For those of you who don't know, live-action reference footage is what Disney animators use to ensure that their animations of both people and animals are realistic. For The Little Mermaid, the company hired actors to play Ariel, Prince Eric, and the remainder of the human cast. These actors would then go through every scene that involved these characters and act them out in front of gridlines and from various angles. This gave the Disney animators footage of realistic human movement that they could reference while drawing the movie. According to the special features, this live-action reference footage came in handy the most when the animators were attempting to draw one of the final moments in "Part of Your World" when Ariel reaches through the opening in the top of her grotto. Without this footage, the animators wouldn't have known where to draw Ariel's hand in relation to the opening as well as how much larger Ariel's hand should get as the frames progressed.
     I enjoyed seeing this aspect of Disney animation as I had never thought about how the animated movies were blocked (how the characters' movements were decided on) before. This special feature showed me once again the enormous amount of effort that goes into creating the animated movies that I love so dearly.