EXCLUSIVE: Restoring the Magic – an insiders look at what it takes to restore vintage Disney animated films

With the celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company, a particular focus has been put on the beginnings of it and finding opportunities to bring relevancy to it today. Both Kevin Schaeffer and Karen Weissman’s teams as part of the Walt Disney Archives had a particular assignment for the occasion was given: restore Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella.

“And what an assignment it was!,” said Schaeffer during a video conference with DisneyExaminer. “But what an honor, too,” added Weissman. The historic nature of restoring these films was indeed an honor.

“Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs” was the first-ever animated feature-length film and “Cinderella” only cemented the legacy of Walt Disney as a storyteller and his studio as a magic kingdom to the world. When these films came out back in 1937 and 1950 respectively, they were animated on plastic sheets called cells that were then shot using a real camera that used nitrate film.

It was a tedious process back in the day to create animated films because it wasn’t just technical, but the materials used were very fragile and in the case of the film itself, highly flammable. To then be tasked with recovering and then restoring these aged physical objects involved a particular process. First- recovering the film itself.

A part of the Walt Disney Archives includes holding libraries and warehouses full of Disney history including artifacts like Walt Disney’s office desk to prints of his first animated films. “These ‘Disney vaults’ are hidden in plain sight, but we have archives all over the United States with these artifacts,” said Schaeffer, adding that “the films we restored were indeed real but needed extra care.”

For instance, the print of “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs” that was retrieved from the Archive for the restoration was already “disintegrating,” said Schaeffer, even with it being held in a temperature-controlled, humidity-regulated environment. “Unspooling the film from the reel required a few days to do so without compromising the fragile film itself,” added Schaeffer.

Once that part was completed, the film was then fed through a high-resolution camera that acted as a high-definition scanner. That’s where Weissman and her team came in to begin analyzing and restoring the film itself digitally.

“Regardless of what happens to that original film spool now, at the very least we have a digital copy that can last way long and for future generations,” said Weissman, who began describing the process of restoring to us.

The film footage of “Cinderella” was fed through this high-definition scanner/camera, yet while the digital footage taken was of the complete film strip, there were inconsistencies in the original color and frames that were completely missing in them. “Even after feeding the film through the camera multiple times, there were things like color and missing footage that could only be restored using our modern technology,” Weissman added.

Once the team had a digital film strip of the original film, Weissman and her team began the tedious process of using software to do things like correct color, fill in missing frames or items in frames, and improve lighting. “The process mimicked a lot of what is done in post-production for feature films today,” though Weissman argued that the stresses in their case were unique.

Weissman shared that using modern technology on vintage film has its benefits (like seeing the originally intended color of Cinderella’s dress that the animators and ink & paint chose when they made it), but drawbacks as well (like including elements in those missing frames that may take that vintage look out of the films). That’s why many people were involved in giving feedback and approving the final shots in the restored films.

“There were many people involved in the restoration process, but the approvals of the restorations as well, and that made for quite the challenge,” Weissman said, adding that everyone really cared about this work and knew the gravity of it “so the extra time with approvals was worth it.”

And that sentiment flooded through the close to year’s long process to restore each of the two films, that are now available to purchase and stream on Disney+. When asked if Schaeffer and Weissman are going to be tasked and are eager to restore the other classic Disney films like “Peter Pan” and “Dumbo,” they could only hope. “I’d love to help restore those films and all of them at some point,” said Weissman. “Who wants to help?,” added Schaeffer.

Both restored high-definition versions of “Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs” and “Cinderella” are now available to buy and stream exclusively on Disney+.

Our special thanks to Kevin Schaeffer, Karen Weissman, and The Walt Disney Archives team for contributing to this story!