A Tight Schedule And Ambitious Visuals Define Disney's Latest Try For The Oscars, "Frozen"
Today marks the wide release of Disney’s animated feature Frozen and, after months of promotion, the revamped version of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale is already generating Oscar buzz. Frozen tells Andersen’s story of the Snow Queen, only with a slight twist. In the original, a young girl, Greta has to use her optimism to save her friend Kai from the curse of the Snow Queen. This version tells the story of two princesses (this is Disney, we’re talking about after all), one of whom is born with the power to control weather. When Princess Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) is paralyzed with fear and unable to control her power, perpetual winter sets over the Norwegian kingdom of Arendelle. It is then up to her sister Anna (Kristen Bell) to help Elsa and save the kingdom.
Watch the Frozen trailer below.
The story itself is classic Disney fare, but it’s what the studio has done animation-wise that sets this film apart. The scenery of the film was inspired by Norwegian fjords, or "rock formations that seem to shoot up into the heavens"; stave churches, specifically their textured wood roofing; and rosemaling, a decorative Norwegian painting style, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Read more about the film's production on the next page.
To get acquainted with this type of scenery, the production team took research trips to Jackson Hill, Wyo. and to Norway in summer 2012. Thanks to the November 27 release date, a change, which was announced last year, the production schedule was much tighter than that of a typical Disney film – most of the company’s productions take three years, but this one was allotted only two. Despite this, thanks to the two co-directors – while Jennifer Lee focused on the story aspect, art director Michael Giamo worked on characters, scenery and the film’s overall look. Elsa’s look was particularly challenging for the team, because while she is the villain of the story, she isn’t a classic villain. Elsa is conflicted and redeems herself in the end, so she obviously had to be beautiful (if there’s one thing we’ve all learned from Disney, it’s that unattractive people are always evil.)****