- “Go behind the scenes of the biggest animated film in history.”
- ―Tagline
Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II is a 2020 documentary series about the making of the 2019 film Frozen II, which was released on June 26, 2020 with six episodes following the production crew and voice actors in the film's final year of development. The six episodes discuss the story development and reworking of the song "Show Yourself", the variety of different roles in the animation process, the songwriting and orchestral arrangements, and the post-production process. It was directed by Megan Harding, who was previously involved with a 2014 documentary on the making of the 2013 film Frozen, and released on the streaming service Disney+ shortly after the platform's launch.
The documentary was produced by Lincoln Square Productions with Harding aiming to represent the production process honestly and the crew filming for 115 days. They frequently flew between New York City, where they worked, and Los Angeles, where the main Frozen II offices were, with some filming at individual staff member's houses. The series received positive critical reception.
Cast[]
Production crew[]
- Chris Buck (director)
- Jennifer Lee (screenwriter and director)
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez (songwriter)
- Robert Lopez (songwriter)
- Peter Del Vecho (producer)
- Michael Giaimo (production designer)
- Malerie Walters (animator)
Voice actors/actresses[]
- Kristen Bell (voice actress of Anna)
- Idina Menzel (voice actress of Elsa
- Josh Gad (voice actor of Olaf)
- Jonathan Groff (voice actor of Kristoff)
- Sterling K. Brown (voice actor of Lieutenant Mattias, an Arendelle soldier)
- Evan Rachel Wood (voice actress of Queen Iduna, the mother of Anna and Elsa)
Episodes[]
| No. in
season |
Title | Directed by | Original release date | Length
(minutes) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Year to Premiere" | Megan Harding | June 26, 2020 | 44 minutes | |
| At a three-monthly screening held to showcase the current work on Frozen II, the early animation, storyboards, and initial song drafts are played to professional filmmakers. Their feedback in a following panel informs the direction of the story. Currently, the songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez are working on "Some Things Never Change". The cast come in to record their parts for the song: Idina Menzel as Elsa, Kristen Bell as Anna, Josh Gad as Olaf, and Jonathan Groff as Kristoff.
Wayne Unten is an animation supervisor and Malerie Walters is an animator. A group of 90 character animators are directed by supervisors for each character, who ensure a consistent style throughout the film. At dailies, Walters shows her work to the directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. She is animating a scene at the end of "Into the Unknown" in which Elsa runs and leaps. Most of the vocals for "Into the Unknown" have been recorded. A 90-piece orchestra records the full score. Meanwhile, the Lopezes are working on a storyboard of "Show Yourself" and discussing whether it fits with Elsa's personality and motivations with other staff. | |||||
| 2 | "Back to the Drawing Board" | Megan Harding | June 26, 2020 | 42 minutes | |
| In February 2019, nine months before release, about 20% of the movie has been animated. The first trailer is about to be released. Meanwhile, Groff is recording the parts of Kristoff and Sven in the rock ballad "Lost in the Woods". He was originally to sing a song about Kristoff proposing to Anna, "Get This Right", but his storyline was adapted so that he would propose at the end of the film rather than the beginning.
Production designer Michael Giaimo discusses the narrative of "Show Yourself" with Lee. Lee has been working lengthy hours in a routine that involves her waking up at 4:45 a.m. on weekdays and working from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends. She converses with Walters, who is working on a segment of "Lost in the Woods" where reindeer run and sing. Meanwhile, the character technical director Iker de Los Mozos has been creating "rigging"—barebones animation—for reindeer, working on their facial expressions as they sing. "Show Yourself" has been rewritten to build up more gradually, but Bobby, Kristen, and Jennifer discuss whether the song should be kept or replaced altogether. | |||||
| 3 | "Journey to Ahtohallan" | Megan Harding | June 26, 2020 | 39 minutes | |
| The next screening introduces "See the Sky", where the Northuldra tribe and Arendelle soldier Mattias first appear. Producer Peter Del Vecho found that it was not received by the audience as hoped, so it is cut. However, "Show Yourself" is kept with some reworkings. The crew discuss who the voice calling Elsa is, settling on Elsa's mother, Queen Iduna. Sterling K. Brown comes in to record dialogue for Mattias, the first character of African descent in the Frozen franchise. Evan Rachel Wood records for Queen Iduna in "Show Yourself".
Giaimo explains the design of the glacier Ahtohallan. It was informed by a crew's research trip to Norway, Finland and Iceland in 2016. Art director of environments David Womersley and his team are building it around Elsa's movements in "Show Yourself". "The Next Right Thing" developed from a conversation between Bell and Lee about Bell's depression and anxiety. Lee relates to Anna based on her experiences of being bullied. Animation supervisor on Anna Hyun Min Lee works on animating Anna's sadder emotions. Another inspiration for the song was Buck's loss of his 23-year-old son Ryder, to whom a character of the same name was dedicated. | |||||
| 4 | "Big Changes" | Megan Harding | June 26, 2020 | 38 minutes | |
| Five months before the premiere, the film is first shown to a family audience. The animation is roughly half finished. Feedback to Olaf and the salamander is very positive. Adults received the storyline positively, but the children found it hard to understand. Lee rewrites the script to be simpler and more humorous. A new scene shows Olaf explain the storyline of Frozen to characters in the the Enchanted Forest. Shot coordinator Jonny Hylton collates a list of shots and scenes which will remain and which will need to be changed.
Meanwhile, Gad records "When I Am Older", a song in which Olaf is nervous, in contrast to his Frozen song "In Summer". Improvisation has informed some of Gad's dialogue in both movies. Layout artist Juan Hernandez works on the virtual "cameras" for animated scenes, which determine the angles at which the scene is shown. Effects supervisor Erin Ramos works on the large body of water which approaches Arendelle near the end of the movie. The simulations are large-scale and can take days for the technology to compute. | |||||
| 5 | "Race to the Finish" | Megan Harding | June 26, 2020 | 32 minutes | |
| By June 2019, five months to the premiere, much of the crew are working longer hours six days a week. The script is locked after a change to the movie's opening: to avoid confusing the audience, a young Anna and Elsa are shown earlier. A prologue involving an unknown narrator discussing the Northuldra tribe is replaced with Queen Iduna singing "All Is Found" in a lullaby.
Effects designer Dan Lund is working on Elsa's dress transformation in "Show Yourself", which must incorporate the snowflake motif. Simulations are run on the movement of Elsa's hair and clothing in the wind, involving tests with real-life fabric. The lighting department works on the brightness of the scene. In Burbank, California, singers are recording the joik "Forest Vuelie", an adaptation of the joik which opens Frozen. In Frozen II, it is sung by the Northuldra people. Christophe Beck writes the instrumental score of the film. Exclusive scenes from the movie are to be shown at the D23 Expo, a fan convention. Jennifer and Chris take photos and sign autographs before an animated "Into the Unknown" premieres onstage, followed by the main cast singing "Some Things Never Change" live. | |||||
| 6 | "The World Awaits" | Megan Harding | June 26, 2020 | 29 minutes | |
| Three months prior to the premiere, in August 2019, the studio is being decorated by Frozen II art, including character sculptures. Dave Metzger works on the 85-piece orchestral score for "Show Yourself", which is then recorded. A month later is the final day of animation. Editor Jeff Draheim has been working 14-hour days, beginning at 4 a.m. After animation finishes, foley artists work on recording additional sounds in synchronicity with the animation. Sound designer Odin Benitez is working on rock sounds for the rock giants.
A month to premiere, Lee and Buck give the final sign-off to the sound mix. The wrap party takes place five days before the film's release—it marks the first time most of the crew have seen the film from start to finish. In the days following, the main cast make television appearances. On the day of the world premiere, the crew arrive at an event where fans are lining up to watch the movie. The film is played across the world in 46 languages and becomes the highest-grossing anіmated fіlm of all tіme—according to Disney, who do not view the 2019 remake of The Lion King as animated. | |||||
Release[]
On April 11, 2019, it was announced that a companion documentary series would be launched on the Disney+ streaming service within its first year entitled Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II. The documentary's first trailer premiered in June 2020 and the series was released on June 26, 2020. Radio Times held a live discussion with Buck, Unten, and Walters at 5 p.m. BST on the day of its release. At the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which was held online, the first episode of the documentary was made available from June 26 to June 28. Frozen II was added to Disney+ shortly afterwards, on July 3.
Reception[]
Ed Potton of The Times rated it four stars out of five, who said that the challenges faced by the staff make the payoffs worth their while. Drew Taylor of Collider rated the documentary an A, comparing it favorably to Disney's previous behind-the-scenes releases. Joel Keller of Decider similarly found that it was "a very informative series that shows that even the best animated features run into issues". Ethan Anderton of Slashfilm reviewed it as "informative and fascinating". Anderton praised it for featuring "touching and crushingly honest moments", such as Bell's relation to "The Next Right Thing", and covering the "frustration" involved in adapting "Show Yourself". Nick Romano of Entertainment Weekly recommended it for demonstrating that "there's as much heart behind these films as there are on screen".
External links[]
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