An adventurous unseasoned miss fix out with a demi - god to solve the mystery of her people in Moana , the upcoming picture show from Disney Animation . It sounds like a round-eyed narrative , but as film director Ron Clements and John Musker can tell you , couch it on - screenland is anything but simple .
Earlier this summer , we chit-chat Disney and talk to Clements and Musker about the history of Moana , the incredibly complex process of making it , and the challenges of bringing the culture and the folklore of the South Pacific to life — along with the mute Disney character ever .
1) The team logged tens of thousands of miles in research
“ so as to be intimate where you ’re going , you take to know where you come from . ” It was a sentiment the people of the South Pacific strike upon the filmmakers and is also echo in Disney polish itself . Research and preparation are everything . So , various team who ’d be working on the film take up three trips to island like Fiji , Bora Bora , Tahiti , Samoa , and others to soak up as much as possible . The first stumble was a general one in October 2011 . euphony and civilisation were the nidus of a March 2014 trip , and then visuals were the focal point of a third trip in November 2014 .
2) Filmmakers hired a council of experts to fact-check everything
“ In Tahiti , one of the elders said ‘ We ’ve been swallowed by your culture . One time , can you be unsay by our cultivation ? ’ ” explain Clements . “ We take that very seriously . ” To verify their movie was bound to history and acculturation , the filmmakers inscribe a team of local experts nicknamed “ The Oceanic Story Trust . ” The chemical group advised on the account , names , dialog , and cultural cite , and made certain Moana was stay true to the ideals and customs of the South Pacific . “ They bed so much and we felt a province to them , ” said Musker . “ [ We keep ] them involved so we can keep this right . ”
3) Moana’s story was born out of a historic mystery
Moana is countersink 2,000 years ago . At that time in actual story , the people of the South Pacific were the greatest explorers on Earth . Using only stars and currents , they accomplished some of the bang-up feat of exploration and migration in account . Then , one daytime , it stop for 1,000 years . No one have it away why . Clements and Musker thought get along up with a floor to explicate why the geographic expedition stopped would be fertile , and the thought of finding your path mirrored the journeying of the young girlfriend at the center of their story .
4) The ocean is its own character in the film
The hero of the story is Moana , a young girl voiced by newcomer Auli’i Cravalho . We meet Moana as a new minor , where her sense of dangerous undertaking right away make her an ally and friend of the ocean , which is literally a graphic symbol in the film . It play with her , interacts with her , cradles her , becomes familiar anatomy and help her as she grows into a teen and set off on her journeying . It ’s much like the water alien in The Abyss , but a bit more heart - warming . By the way , Moana actually mean “ sea ” in Maori .
5) Maui the god is based on actual Polynesian mythology
The second hint of the film is Maui , a demigod voice by Dwayne Johnson . Like Cravalho and all the leads of the celluloid , Johnson has Pacific Island root word . As for Maui , he ’s an actual legend of a hefty god who carry a wizard fish hook that helped raise the island of the South Pacific from the ocean . Clements and Musker took a bunch of the ancient mythology about who Maui was , and created the Disney merger .
6) Moana’s music has a Hamilton connection
Much like Little Mermaid and Aladdin before it , Ron Clements and John Musker wanted Moana to be a melodic . And so it is , with music by Opetaia Foa’i , the founder of the popular contemporaneous Pacific dance band Te Vaka , Mark Mancina ( Speed , Bad Boys , Lion King ) , and Lin - Manuel Miranda , the latter being the laurels - deliver the goods creator and star topology of Hamilton . What ’s interesting about Miranda ’s inclusion , though , is he came on very early in the process , long before Hamilton became a cultural phenomenon . But by the time it did , he would Skype into Disney from backstage on Broadway , sometimes in full costume .
7) Moana also has a connection to a certain Marvel god (sort of)
Disney Animated films go through dozens and tons of versions before you see them on concealment . But they have to take off somewhere , and for Moana , the filmmakers turn to New Zealand film maker Taika Waititi for the first draught . Waititi is best love for starring in and directing What We Do in the Shadows and he ’s currently direct Thor : Ragnarok . While much of his duologue is no longer in the film , the music director admitted some of his major beats and idea were kept in .
8) The dumbest character in Disney history almost didn’t happen
The film producer expect Hei Hei , a sidekick rooster character , to be one of the breakouts from the film . But he was almost cut out . After several story meetings , the producers and directors did n’t think Hei Hei added to the story . So John Lasseter give the writers 48 hours to figure out how to deliver him , or he was out . The result was taking a character that was kind of butch and dropping his I.Q. exponentially . They now surmise Hei Hei is literally the dim character in Disney history , and because of that , he ’s not just a acquaintance of Moana , he ’s a complication . And that kept him in the moving picture .
9) Maui’s living tattoo “Mini Maui” is an instant star
Another sure to be breakout character in the motion-picture show is dubbed Mini Maui . It ’s one of Maui ’s tattoos , of himself , and the quality serve as the literal Maui ’s conscience . He runs around Maui ’s body , communicates with him non - verbally , and was created with traditional 2D animation . He was hand - drawn , then imported into the computer so he ’d fit into the world but have a standout smell .
10) Tattoos are important to the story but damn hard to animate
Besides just Mini Maui , all of Maui ’s tattoos are an important part of the story and graphic symbol . They immortalize his exploits , as each tattoo order a part of Maui ’s backstory , with Mini Maui at the center . Visually , this looks very cool but technically , the animators found it super difficult because they were vivify on tegument , which itself is also a moving , pass off surface .
11) Maui’s abilities are incredible (and also damn hard to animate)
Besides the magic fish hook and moving tattoo , Maui has another power . He transform . He becomes a hawk , a shark , a hemipteron , and more , making him quite a unnerving ally for Moana on her quest to fix the whodunit of her people . Again , though , animate a man who seamlessly morphs into an animal was a challenge for Disney Animation , as it ’s not something they commonly do .
12) The villain of Moana is an ancient rival of Maui’s
Looking like a blend of Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy and the Balrog from Lord of the Rings , the lava guardian Teka is one of the villains of Moana . He ’s an ancient being who is after the Heart of the Ocean , a essential piece of the chronicle which Maui steal centuries ago and Moana must find again . Each time Teka is in a shot , there are about 10 layers of animation chance at the same time : flack , dope , water splashes , and more .
13) The production gap for a Disney animated movie can be astonishingly small
When you ’re making a Disney Animation movie , the process set off tiresome but then gets very , very tight . The tale team said that at time later in the production , they found themselves only a few hour ahead of vitality . Meaning , they were finishing dialogue and story that would then immediately go to vivification . The unforesightful windowpane they could recall was five hours between the departments .
14) There’s a Mad Max-inspired chase in the film
At one point in the film , Moana and Maui encounter the Kakamora , a creepy-crawly radical of fibre who are kind of like walking coconuts . They journey on massive , monumental boats and chase Maui and Moana . The optic effect of the characters hanging all over them , in a chase scene , was perfectly inspired by the visuals and action of Mad Max : Fury Road , according to Clements and Musker .
15) As usual, Moana is the most technically advanced animated film Disney has ever done
One of the most telling things about Disney Animation is how every flick they make could n’t have been made a few old age before . As software and hardware advance , the yield is perpetually pushing what ’s available to its sheer limit . For lesson , Moana is 80 percent visual effects shots . Compare that to the late Big Hero 6 , which was less than 50 percent . Most of those outcome are water , one of the hardest things there is to animate , and the effects team admit this movie could not have been processed five geezerhood ago . Technologically , it just could n’t happen .
Moana will premier on November 23 .
disneyDisney AnimationDwayne JohnsonMovies
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