From Disney's perspective, "Dumbo" required none of the special effects that had slowed down production and grew the budgets of "Pinocchio", "Fantasia", and "Bambi". When the film went into production in early 1941, supervising director Ben Sharpsteen was given orders to keep the film simple and inexpensive. As a result, the character designs are simpler, background paintings are less detailed, and a number of held cels (or frames) were used in the character animation. Although the film is more "cartoony" than previous Disney films, the animators brought elephants and other animals into the studio to study their movement.