The Schultheis Notebook

Throughout the development of the animated masterpiece Fantasia, a member of Disney’s camera effects department—Herman Schultheis—kept a meticulous record of the effects he and others pioneered in meticulous detail. His notebook was filled with drawings, behind-the-scenes photographs, film snippets, charts and written descriptions that reveal many of the techniques that were used to create this and other films also in production. The materials in the book describe the technical engineering, the preliminary art and motion inspiration, and the materials and processes that made many effects possible. The magical yet minimal interface in this interactive touch screen lets visitors page through the entire book, jump from one part to the next, and zoom into every detail. In the interface alongside many of the spreads in the notebook are inviting stills from Fantasia, Bambi and Dumbo that correspond to the material Schultheis documented on that page; as a visitor explores the book they can touch the still to play a clip from the movie that shows the final result.