If you've ever taken the
self guided walkthrough tour of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle you know that it's full of wonderful special effects, a brilliant array of colors, and impressive theatrical elements that totally immerse the guest in the story from the animated film. What's wonderful about this attraction is that while it may not be as verbose as some of it's neighbors within the Park in terms of thrill or shear size (
think Matterhorn and Space Mountain), it makes up through various theatrical tricks which envelope you as you pass by each vignette window and peer in to the dioramas. It really is the jewel of the entire Park.
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| Actual diorama from the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough |
Eyvind Earle, who was responsible for the styling, colors, and backgrounds for the animated film
Sleeping Beauty, was brought on by Walt Disney to design the dioramas for the actual castle walk through, and you can easily see why. Earle had a distinctive knack for color styling that placed bold color schemes mixed right in with each other.
As I continue to work on my
paper model of the castle I wanted to somehow reference the walk through tour because it's such an integral part of the castle itself. An element that is important to me in referencing the castle and Disneyland itself is the invitation. When you go to the Park you are
invited into the story. You suspend your disbelief and allow yourself into a world of adventure, and fantasy. I'm creating my model desiring some of those cues to happen as well.
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| Narrative book produced by some of the original artists from the animated film. |
I decided to reference the walk through in the castle through the title plate for the model. Each diorama in the walk through has a book that tells what is happening in the scene, and is treated with the same aesthetic as in the animated film; these books were made by many of the same artists who worked on the actual film. I am constructing a similar scale model display box that will contain a book/title piece that uses the artwork below that I have created. You'll notice the spinning wheel woven in to the vine pattern under the title (and several hidden Mickey's if you have microscopic eyesight ha ha). The numbers under the shields are the latitude and longitude of the castle itself in Anaheim, California. I'm having a blast with this project and to those whom I've shared it with already seem to get a sense of delight and joy from it so of course I'm happy with it.
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| The Backyard Imagineer © 2012 |
Stay tuned for more updates on this project and others I've got cooking!
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