Editing Song of the South (section)

=== Filming ===
Production started under the title ''Uncle Remus''.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=437}} The budget was originally $1.35 million.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety159-1945-09#page/n55/mode/1up|title=14 RKO Pictures to Exceed Million in Prod. Cost in Coming 'Year of Years'|magazine=Variety|date=September 12, 1945|page=12|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The animated segments of the film were directed by [[Wilfred Jackson]], while the live-action segments were directed by Harve Foster. Filming began in December 1944 in Phoenix, Arizona where the studio had constructed a plantation and cotton fields for outdoor scenes, and Disney left for the location to oversee what he called "atmospheric shots". Back in Hollywood, the live action scenes were filmed at the [[Samuel Goldwyn Studio]].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=436}}

On the final day of shooting, Jackson discovered that the scene in which Uncle Remus sings the film's signature song, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", had not been properly [[blocking (stage)|blocked]]. According to Jackson, "We all sat there in a circle with the dollars running out, and nobody came up with anything. Then Walt suggested that they shoot Baskett in close-up, cover the lights with cardboard save for a sliver of blue sky behind his head, and then remove the cardboard from the lights when he began singing so that he would seem to be entering a bright new world of animation. Like Walt's idea for [[Bambi#Production|Bambi on ice]], it made for one of the most memorable scenes in the film."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=437}}