Just over half a year after the release of the film, the magic of Frozen 2 keep living on Disney + thanks to the docuseries in 6 episodes (of which the first 3 are the subject of this preview) Frozen 2: Behind the Scenes (Making Frozen 2: Into The Unknown in the original language, in tribute to the iconic Oscar-nominated song), which will lead us to discover the background of the production of the animated feature film in the wake of serial documentaries such as Props and The Imagineering Story. Produced by Lincoln Square Productions and Walt Disney Animation Studios, the series tells in depth all the steps behind the creation of the Disney movie, from the character design of the characters to the animation, through the writing of the musical pieces to the dubbing, ending with the highly anticipated international premiere of the film.
A fight against time
Frozen 2: Behind the Scenes opens a year after the premiere: the entire cast is in full swing, the sense of pressure and the very high expectations of the international audience for the sequel to Frozen are felt and everyone wants to give their all to guarantee to the fans an unforgettable film. But what are the challenges with which they will have to deal?
To the emotional pressure, we add the difficulty of faithfully recreating the Nordic settings, the constant changes to the script during dubbing e the management of criticisms and feedback, often very punctual, during the recurring test screenings dedicated to an audience of selected testers within the film industry.
Episode after episode, despite the enormous amount of work, let's see how the people of Walt Disney Animation Studios is able to manage and overcome these small, big production problems with a smile on his face, often in a way extremely imaginative.
The minds (and voices!) Behind Elsa and Anna
Irremediably, i protagonists of the docuseries are all those who took part in the making of the film, including the director, screenwriter and creative director J, director Chris Buck, the producer and composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez e Robert Lopez. Obviously there is no shortage of voice actors and singers of all the characters of the US version of the film, including I (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna) J (Kristoff) and Josh Gad (Olaf), and all the insiders behind the scenes: animators, character designers, musicians, sound engineers, producers.
hilt, Anna, Kristoff and all the other Frozen 2 characters are gods constant attendance, but mediated by them voice actors, who tell about their relationship with their character during the recording sessions. Or again, from the PC screens of the animators, character designer and to the storyboard artist, who model their creatures inspired by the features and movements of the original voice actors.
In short, if you are looking for one compilation of curiosities about the world of Elsa and Anna, Frozen 2: Behind the Scenes is not the docuseries for you. If you want to know the people behind the film, and see the latter unfold piece by piece in front of your eyes, sit back and enjoy this magical experience!
The exciting storytelling of Frozen 2: Behind the scenes
A strong point of Frozen 2: Behind the scenes is right the production experience told directly by the film's creators, which we get to know both in their professional role and in their private life. In fact, let's discover the strengths and the fragility of staff members talking on camera: director Jennifer Lee talks about her single mother experience, Chris Buck about the painful loss of a child in a car accident, while Kristen Bell talks about how you deal with stress and depression on a daily basis.
The docuseries emphasizes emozioni, as much of the insiders as of the fans. Thus the second Frozen feature film becomes a way to discover something more about all those who for years have worked hard to give us the pleasure of an animated film or, on the other hand, about how fans perceive and make their own the images and meanings of the movie.
The storytelling of the docuseries was also promoted: Frozen 2: Behind the scenes does not just collect fragments of the film's production completed by a few interviews, but is structured as a countdown, month after month, which helps us feel both the deadline pressure and the fans' joy at the release. For this reason, although each episode can be understood as self-contained and representative of a certain moment of the film's production, the episodes form a organic and complete puzzle of a journey inside the magnificent Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California.
I Walt Disney Animation Studios are to all intents and purposes counted among protagonists of the docuseries: it is the first serial product shot in-house, allowing us to peek through meeting rooms, recording studios, corridors lined with fan art and letters, or messy entertainers' stations.
Compared to feature films, it is necessary to point out that the target reference of Frozen 2: Behind the scenes it is less heterogeneous and more sectorial. If the films have involved adults and children alike, the docuseries speaks to a more mature audience, treating delicate topics like the loss of loved ones, the stress and depression caused by the world of show biz, and suicidal tendencies, from the testimony of a fan who confesses that she found solace in the songs of the first film.
Nonetheless, the docuseries is also usable by those who are not really fans of Frozen films and want to get closer to the world of audiovisual production, to discover the processing phases of a cinematographic idea in the last year before its release, from animations to directing, from dubbing to composing and recording the songs.
In conclusion, Frozen 2: Behind the Scenes is to be understood as a serial and in-depth version of the extra content that narrate the production notes that we have often seen on DVDs and Blu-rays (or for the more nostalgic, videotapes entirely dedicated to the cast of Disney and Pixar feature films), a must for all die-hard Frozen fans and film industry enthusiasts.
