The Disney Method

Storyboard sketch and final scene

An enlarged sketch from Walt Disney’s continuity board illustrates both the concept and the finished scene from The Story of Robin Hood (1952), showing Richard Todd as Robin Hood and Joan Rice as Maid Marian reunited and openly expressing their love for one another.

Stephen Grimes with the Storyboard for Robin Hood

The recent article shared by Neil from The Cinema Show (1951) featured some fascinating behind-the-scenes shots from the making of Walt Disney’s The Story of Robin Hood (1952). One image showed Stephen Grimes with the film’s continuity sketches, which particularly reminded me of a passage in the book by Ken Annakin, So You Wanna Be a Director? (2001). In it, Annakin reflected that these storyboards often felt like a straitjacket, constraining his artistic creativity as a film director.

Ken Annakin with Perce Pearce

Page 52:

"The preparation for this production introduced me [Ken Annakin] to a completely new way of making movies. Actually, I never met Walt until a few weeks before shooting, but I was introduced to the Disney Method, which was to sketch out practically every move in the picture before designing the set or choosing the locations.

Walt Disney with a Storyboard

At Disney, we have found it's much more sensible and cost-efficient to invest the time and salaries of three or four artists at a drawing board-discussing, sketching and exploring the best ways of telling a story, rather than wasting time doing it on the set or location, said Perce Pearce. Key technicians and all the departments are supplied with a set of sketches, and everyone knows the director's requirements.

It sounded logical, but a little like factory-line production to me. How much room was it going to leave for ‘my’ creative input? I wondered.

When I came onto the Robin Hood production, practically all the camera angles and movements had been designed and storyboarded by Carmen Dillon and Guy Green, the cameraman!”

(So You Wanna Be A Director? by Ken Annakin (2001) Tomahawk Press