Forgotten Disney

Princess Academy

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN JULY 2015

Princess Academy
Lost Disney Short

Princess Academy was to be an animated short that would've featured all the female characters that debuted from the films that came after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs all the way up to Tangled, including Pixar films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

It was to be a musical on par with the segments seen in the Fantasia films. The premise was that all the key animated female characters of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar interact with each other, singing, dancing and enjoying each other's company in a royal boarding school. The music was to be composed by Alan Menken.

"Princess Academy was going to be written and directed by Olivier Ciappa, with artwork by artist David Kawena. The duo spent months working on it, creating hundreds of storyboards and beautiful concept art. The results were not only a wonderful idea for an animated short, but also a tribute to the art form of hand-drawn animation.

"According to Oliver, 'We wanted to create a very artistic, classy, but also very funny hand-drawn short... I believe this image shows very well the mixture of artistic, high standard, and humor of the project.'

"The close-up on the boat shows not only classic Disney princesses, but also minor and obscure characters, like the Golden Harp from Mickey and the Beanstalk and a centaurette from the The Pastoral Symphony in Fantasia.

"A statue of Megara from Hercules, imagined for what would be the Princess Academy Building. According to David: 'At the Academy building, not only the 'princess' would have a place, but all of Disney's leading female characters. The building itself was to be a gigantic complex, with a feeling of an ancient palace with fountains, gardens, paintings and statues.

"'In Disney's Princess Academy, director/writer Olivier Ciappa and I wanted to create something that would bring back the somewhat lost respect for hand-drawn animation as an art form. By doing so, we decided that the entire look and feel of the short movie will be inspired by the world's greatest works of art.'

"David describes, 'It was a pleasure drawing Madame Adelaide — a character usually forgotten by Disney and its fans. Even though it is only a storyboard frame, it was my goal to try and keep the characters on model and as recognizable as possible out of respect to their original designers and animators.'

Concept art of Tiana with Maid Marian as she plays the Golden Harp while Cinderella listens. Rapunzel listens to Alice's sister tell a story, along with Wendy, and Aurora. Dinah watches as Alice drops flower petals into the water while steering the boat. A Centaurette also listens in to the story, while Violet rests on her back. Last we see Snow White and Sally at the end of the boat.