The Disney Insider blog delves into the story behind the story for Frozen, directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee.
The Disney Insider blog delves into the story behind the story for Frozen, the studio’s forthcoming animated feature.
“Every once in a while, a movie comes along where it starts to tell you what it needs to be,” says Frozen Producer Peter Del Vecho of his recent project. “And this is one of those movies.”
The film is loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen,” which was first published in 1845. While the Disney version pulls from elements of the original fairy tale, the finished product is a largely original story.
“In the versions we looked at that had been attempted prior to this,” says Del Vecho, “it was hard to understand or feel for that character. The key became tying it to a sibling relationship. There was more at stake. And now I think there’s more reasons that you can feel for her.” Peter says the sibling storyline unlocked potential for depth of story and emotion that was lacking in initial stages.
Rather than a story simply of one woman, the sisterly relationship in Frozen made for far better story fodder. “You may not always like what Elsa does in the movie, you may not always agree with what Anna does in the movie, but you should be able to understand each of their points of view in the movie,” Del Vecho says.
Disney sent animators to Wyoming so they could get familiar with walking through snow, while the lighting and art teams went to the Ice Hotel in Quebec to do some observations of how light reflects and refracts on snow and ice, and the production team even went to Norway to get inspiration for the look of the film.
Check out the photos, and read the full story, at Disney Insider.
Frozen is directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan, Surf's Up) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, Wreck-It Ralph), and produced by Peter Del Vecho (Winnie the Pooh, The Princess and the Frog). Featuring music from Tony winner Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In Transit), Frozen comes to U.S. theaters in 3D on November 27, 2013.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
