7 things we learned during Disney’s Frozen 2 press event
Get ready for some new characters!
Because Anna and Elsa are entering the Enchanted Forest, there’s a host of new characters to interact with. If you’ll recall in the first feature, Elsa worked together with a snow giant. And here we’ll be seeing a take on those with earth giants. Earth giants are asymmetrical, heavy beasts who share some DNA with the troll characters.
Head animator Tony Smeed explained that the biggest challenge with the earth giants was giving off that illusion of life with something as simple as breathing. “When we inhale, our stomachs expand and the skin stretches,” he said. “But with these, we can’t stretch their ‘skin.’ If we stretch or bend or twist the rock material, it ceases to feel like stone.” The solution? To create natural creases where the characters could move without bending rock. Instead of a stretch, the rocks slide over each other, keeping the characters’ stone composition and liveliness at the same time.
It wouldn’t be a Disney movie without a character whose sole purpose is to be cute. That’s how the animators describe Bruni, the new salamander friend Elsa and Anna meet in the Enchanted Forest. Trent Correy, animation supervisor, says there wasn’t much research done on Bruni, but they did look at “all sorts of lizard, salamander [and] reptilians” for inspiration. At the end of the day, though, it was just about having fun with the little guy. (Seriously, he’s super cute!)
One of the more challenging characters to work with was Gale, a wind spirit who interacts with Elsa. From the get-go, Gale was a challenge because, as art director of characters Bill Schwab says, “How do you draw wind? How do you draw something that isn’t there?” They decided to define her through the foliage that Gale picks up as she moves through it. The character was highly collaborative, with the animators working with other departments like Tech Animation and Effects to design a rig that would let them see what Gale is doing at any moment. The Gale “rig” as they call it, is a tiny blue comet that Tech Anim would use as a driver for simulations. When the animation was ready to go they’d simply remove it and what would remain was Gale herself.
Frozen 2’s last new character is the Nokk, a water horse from Nordic mythology with the ability to shape-shift who Elsa encounters during a dive into the Dark Sea. Animation supervisor Svetla Radivoeva says the Nokk wasn’t going to be a funny character with serious expressions: “The direction was to be as realistic as possible.”
Radivoeva studied everything about horse anatomy and how they propel themselves. They decided the character would be the equivalent to an untamed wild stallion. Because the character is made out of water, they made sure to add in undulations so the audience knows water is flowing through it. Though there was fear that its expressions wouldn’t register. So, using their research on horses, they focused on other things horses do to show emotion, including how they move their ears in response to whether they respect their rider or not.
Next. 5 underrated D23 moments that will leave you with all the feels. dark
Audiences have a lot to look forward to when Frozen 2 hits theaters this November! The animation is superlative, the songs are just as catchy, and it’s going to be wonderful to return to Arendelle to see Anna and Elsa. Prep for a spectacular journey into the unknown!