The genius of Walt Disney was not in the paint brush or styling pen, but in his ability to constantly look to the future. He bent technology to his will, adapting each new visual medium to improve and expand the influence of his small studio. Technicolor brightened his cartoons, stereophonic sound gave Fantasia a live-orchestral quality and the multi-plane camera provided Pinocchio’s animation a depth never before seen. Today, decades after Disney's death, his studio continues to thrive across an ever-changing video and new media landscape.
Artistry and merchandising have always been the twin pillars of the Disney organization. And between Walt Disney and his brother Roy, they mastered both, creating some of the most stunning films to come out of Hollywood while jealously guarding the value of their creations for secondary markets. Eventually though, Disney plunged into television making his characters familiar faces in all corners of the globe.
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