Disney Behind the Scenes: The Teams Behind the Magic of Frozen #DisneyFrozenEvent

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Disclosure: This event and trip to LA will be an all expense paid journey sponsored by Disney. All thoughts, experiences and Disney character crushes are 100% my own!

Photo credit: Disney
As part of my behind the scenes experience in LA last week, we attended the Disney Animation Studios for a special press day where we were actually able to interact with all of the different people that work together to create amazing films like Frozen. This day kicked off with a site down interview with the talented filmmakers of FROZEN  (shown above and below): Disney veteran Director Chris Buck (“Tarzan”), first-time Director Jennifer Lee (co-writer, “Wreck-It Ralph”) and longtime Disney Producer Peter Del Vecho (“The Princess & the Frog”, “Winnie the Pooh”). What an amazing team they turned out to be, as this film is one of my all time favorites, for sure!

I loved how “real” that all three of them were…very down to earth, fun and very entertaining to speak with. You could tell that they put their heart and souls into this film. Their answers to our many questions seemed to come easy, and there was a lot of laughter. I especially enjoyed hearing about how they researched different things for the film…right down to bringing in a real life reindeer to help them to understand reindeer behavior.

I also loved their answer when they were asked how they came up with the name Olaf for the snowman: We went on the internet. Norwegian Baby Names. 

Next up, we headed to the Rigging Lab. This is where all of the magic happens as the animation comes to life. Creating the tools for both the most detailed and believable human expression and a snowman who can fall to pieces, was the task of FROZEN’s Rigging team. We had the chance to join them in the computer lab to test out our skills at bringing the characters to life!

And get this! They actually let us play with this equipment … which was a bit intimidating! But once I got over the fear of breaking their fancy computers, it was actually really fun! Check out what I was able to do using a few of the techniques that they taught us … I brought Olaf (or at least his mouth!) to life:

Our final stop was a meeting with the Animation team… and learning about acting through animation. We met with Frozen’s Head of Animation, Lino DiSalvo, and members of his talented team as they demonstrate how they brought the characters of FROZEN to life. I was so impressed with their passion and openness about how much time and energy they put into this film, and I loved hearing about how they would even act out the parts over and over again to get the correct emotion and expression for their characters. Wayne Unten was responsible for bringing Elsa to life, and Becky Bresee was the director for Anna. They told of moments when they actually spent time alone acting out the characters (even singing) just so that they could get a realistic grasp on the characters feelings and movements. You could actually hear the emotion and attachment in their voices to this movie. I could also see the pride that the have in the film that they helped to create, and rightly so… it’s amazing!!

Take my word for it …. RUN to see this movie!! Frozen hits theaters on November 27th!

I would love for you to read my recap of my experience on the red (errr white) carpet at the world premiere of Frozen, and check out my interview with Kristen Bell (the voice of Anna!) also make sure to follow all of the Frozen excitement:

“Like” FROZEN on Facebook
Follow FROZEN on Twitter and make sure to follow hashtag #DisneyFrozenEvent for live updates and excitement!
Visit the official website for even more FROZEN fun and excitement!

A a very, very special thank you to the folks at Disney for this wonderful and once in a life time opportunity that I will NEVER forget!