The Creative Flowchart Used by Walt Disney

It’s not unusual for companies to issue organizational charts that illustrate how they function. Most follow a tree design, starting with the CEO at the top and working its way down to the lowest-ranking employees. This chart used by Walt Disney during the studio’s early years doesn’t focus on pecking order, though—instead, it paints a detailed picture of the company's filmmaking process.

Johnlaudunvia Flickr // CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Walt Disney distributed this creative flow chart, which shows how a feature comes together, in 1943. The chart sketches the creative process from story development to the final edit. At the center are the directors, with the sound, music, camera, cutting, animation, and ink and paint departments in the next inner most layer. Production and management make up the perimeter and are delegated into sections like budgets, art props, and transportation. Arrows trace out the chronological steps, starting with Walt at the very top and ending with the movie’s theater debut pictured at the bottom.

For aspiring filmmakers and old-school animation fans, this provides a fascinating look at how one of the greatest creative minds of our time brought his stories to life.

[h/t: @issue]