Disney Era Analysis – Frozen
As mentioned in the first blog post in this series, I’ll be writing analysis content on all 60+ Disney animated feature films and their film making eras.
The seventh era is the Revival Era, which ran from 2009 to 2019 and started with The Princess and the Frog. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Revival Era is known for: its return to the “old formula” (storytelling similar to the Renaissance Era), improved and advanced computer-generated (CG) animation, evolution in its storytelling by adapting stories from sources other than old books, and well thought-out stories paired with improved animation.
So how well did Frozen measure up to these famous features, and was it the right film to mark the halfway point of the Era?
Return to the “old formula” (storytelling similar to the Renaissance Era):
This film returned to the “old formula” in the following ways:
- This film has a Broadway music style, and was eventually adapted into a Broadway musical, like many of the films from the Renaissance Era.
- This film revolves around a princess-turned-queen and a princess, although interestingly, neither Elsa nor Anna are considered official Disney Princesses.
Improved and advanced computer-generated (CG) animation:
According to the film’s Wikipedia page, Disney developed several new tools to generate realistic and believable shots, specifically the heavy and deep snow and its effect on the characters. These tools included, but were not limited to:
- A snowflake generator, which allowed the crew to randomly create 2,000 unique snowflake shapes.
- Matterhorn, a snow simulator software
- Spaces, which allowed for Olaf’s de-constructible parts to be moved around and re-built.
- Flourish, which allowed extra movement of natural elements to be art-directed.
- Snow Batcher, which helped preview the final look of the snow as characters walked through it.
- Tonic, which helped animate fur and hair.
As well as 3D effects, the crew used 2D artwork and drawings for elements and scenes which included Elsa’s magic and snow sculptures, and freezing fountains and floors.
This film also used advanced mathematics and physics during the animation process. This film’s predecessor also used advanced mathematics and physics during its animation process.
My favourite animation moments in the film were: Anna sliding down the staircase banister, the light from the lighthouse as Anna and Hans are dancing, and the animation during the “Let it Go” sequence.
Evolution in its storytelling by adapting stories from sources other than old books:
According to the film’s Wikipedia page, this film was loosely inspired by The Snow Queen, an 1844 fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. The key term is loosely inspired, as it was originally intended to be a direct adaptation, but was eventually changed into a more original story.
Well thought-out stories paired with improved animation:
According to the film’s IMDb page, the crew went to Norway on a two-week long trip and that the trip informed the film’s overall aesthetic, landscape, clothing, music, building design and names (both character and location). As well as this trip, another way realism was implemented during production was Disney bringing in a live reindeer into the animation studio for animators to study its movements and mannerisms for Sven’s character development.
My overall thoughts:
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s directors, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, stated that giving the film a timeless feel was important to them, and that they aimed to make the film relatable. The film’s main stars, Idina Menzel (Elsa) and Kristen Bell (Anna) echoed these sentiments, and even labelled the characters as more modern and contemporary, even though they were inspired by Disney films of the past.
I feel that the film met these goals – the design and animation of the film and its story reminded me very much of the Renaissance Era and could have even fit in that Era beautifully. I also felt that the film’s themes of love and sisterhood were timeless and relatable, and I appreciated the film crews’ choice to instead make the focus of true love on sisterhood instead of romantic love, which is a solid modern interpretation of the true love concept.
This film does the perfect job of emulating Disney’s past, being contemporary, and being timeless for those who will watch it many years from now. With this, combined with the film’s massive commercial and critical success, and even being labelled as Disney’s best animated feature film since the Renaissance Era, this is the perfect film to mark the halfway point of the Revival Era.
The next part of the Disney Era Analysis series will focus on Big Hero 6.
Fun Facts and Trivia (according to the film’s IMDb page):
- Rapunzel and Eugene from Tangled make a cameo appearance at the start of the film when the castle gates open.
- Hans, Kristoff, Anna and Sven are a reference to Hans Christian Andersen.
- In addition to being the first woman to direct a full-length Disney animated feature film, Jennifer Lee also became the first woman to solely write an entire screenplay for a Disney animated feature film since Linda Woolverton for Beauty and the Beast.
- According to Jennifer Lee, Anna is 18 years old, whilst both Elsa and Kristoff are 21 years old, and Hans is 23 years old.
- Elsa’s ice castle changes colour with her emotions – blue is happy, red is fear, and yellow is anger.
- Whenever a specific troll sings, his or her crystals light up.
- The male trolls wear blue or green crystals, while the female trolls wear pink or red crystals.
- Kristen Bell had to re-record a lot of her voicework for the film. She was pregnant when she originally did it and her voice had deepened when she was carrying her child.
- When Elsa is finally captured, her cell is equipped with shackles that cover her hands and limit her powers. Since the cell and shackles were clearly constructed in advance, it’s implied that the king and queen were expecting Elsa to lose control and prepared to restrain her.
- All of the songs in the film were written by the same people and on the same day. That is why the songs have a similar melody and have some of the same rhymes such as ‘door’ and ‘more’.
- Elsa’s castle needed at least 50 animators to create and it took nine months for it to be completed.
References:
Loveday Writing 