Exploring the Art of Pinocchio at the Walt Disney Family Museum

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When I was in San Francisco for the #RogueOneEvent we had the opportunity to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum and WISH UPON A STAR: THE ART OF PINOCCHIO a limited time exhibition that allowed visitors to discover the artistic process and step behind-the-scenes to explore how Walt Disney’s Pinocchio was created! Here’s a little peek at what was inside.

Inside the exhibition (which was housed in a separate building that the main museum) was more than 300 objects—including original hand-drawn artwork, character model sheets, cels, maquette, paintings, conceptual artwork, artifacts, flip books, and film clips. It was incredible to see the intricate, labor-intensive processes of traditional hand-made animation as developed at the Studios. No computer enhancing here 😉 

The story of Pinocchio’s creation was presented in six sections: story, design, production, art direction, character development, and animation.

My favorite was seeing a model of a horizontal Multiplane Camera, a tool developed and perfected by The Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s. This camera setup allows various planes in a scene—each painted on separate panes of glass—to be filmed simultaneously, creating a perception of depth previously unattainable in conventional 2D animation. It’s incredible to look at this invention and imagine how they came up with it and how much of an impact it had on animated filmmaking!

There was lots of art and cool information to read about the settings, color, mood, character relationships, and style of this film.

This exhibit closed on January 9th but there is SO much to see in the Walt Disney Family Museum every day. My boys weren’t with me but I know they would have LOVED the miniature Disneyland.

You could spend A LOT of  time just reading all the interesting facts and seeing details from Walt Disney’s life. I definitely recommend a visit when you’re in the area. 

Plus, while you’re on the gorgeous campus you can even walk over to the Lucasfilm headquarters and snap a photo with the Yoda fountain!

Speaking of Pinocchio – do you have it in your collection? You can get the Pinocchio Signature Collection on Digital HD starting TODAY and on Blu-ray 1/31! The digital copy includes

• The Pinocchio Project: When You Wish Upon A Star
• Walt’s Story Meetings: Pleasure Island
• In Walt’s Words – Pinocchio
• Women In Animation

I attended the #RogueOneEvent #StarWarsRebelsEvent #MickeyRacersEvent #PinocchioBluray as press. Opinions expressed are my own.