Collab project- visual essay

Visual essay

no characters in full design; but abstracted ones are allowed. No horizon lines, requires a visual motif. must be an visual essay based on an animated film.

My group has chosen the animated feature film 'Brave' -2012- Us- Disney- PIXAR to write our visual essay on. 

We would like to write about the preproduction (ideas, concepts and research) to production (new technology formed, techniques ect.)

Research into the production of 'Brave';

'There has been some controversy surrounding Brave, due to the fact that Brenda Chapman was replaced as director, despite writing the film and originating the concept. Andrews explained that this was part of the way Pixar does things; the story is the most important thing, and sometimes a new perspective is needed.'- 

https://www.wired.com/2012/06/brave-director/

'Animators had to personally learn the choreography for the film’s fight scenes. They practiced with each other until they became experts in how people move during fights.' https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2014/09/13/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-brave/

'Merida is five feet four inches tall, and Bear-Elinor is nine feet tall when standing. Their height difference created such a challenge for animators that sometimes they sunk Elinor into the floor a bit in order to fit both characters in the same shot.' - https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2014/09/13/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-brave/

'Early versions of Brave called for most of the movie to take place in the snow, due to the witch’s spell affecting the whole land of DunBroch. Filmmakers scrapped this idea in order to show the colors of the beautiful Scottish landscape.'https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2014/09/13/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-brave/

'Filmmakers recorded children whispering to create the distinct sound of the Will O’ the Wisps. They wanted something that sounded both cute and mysterious'

'now for the first time in its 17-year history, Pixar has a female lead. The studio spent more than five years bringing Merida, the empowered girl at the center of “Brave” (opening Friday), to life. It took a number of designs and two directors to do it.' -https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/movies/pixars-brave-how-the-character-merida-was-developed.html

'The character and story were first developed by Brenda Chapman, the film’s initial director. She spoke by phone about what interested her in having Pixar’s first female-driven narrative be about a princess.' (-https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/movies/pixars-brave-how-the-character-merida-was-developed.html)

'“I wanted a real girl,” she said, “not one that very few could live up to with tiny, skinny arms, waist and legs. I wanted an athletic girl. I wanted a wildness about her, so that’s where the hair came in, to underscore that free spirit. But mainly I wanted to give girls something to look at and not feel inadequate.” '(-https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/movies/pixars-brave-how-the-character-merida-was-developed.html)

'The team, Mr. Andrews said, showed him a “wedge” of Merida’s hair. The individual hairs were laser-straight. Lined up in a row, they would go in a curl, but Mr. Andrews said he thought they were too lined up and uniform. There was a parameter in the computer settings called “scraggle.” “It takes the straight lines of these curl points and jumbles them up and crisscrosses them, like real hair does.” Mr. Andrews was taken by this look and requested that the animators “turn up the scraggle,” and that solidified the final style.' (-https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/movies/pixars-brave-how-the-character-merida-was-developed.html) 

'The film’s setting in lush, wild Scotland was an essential source of inspiration. Recalls Director Mark Andrews, “We went to the highest part of Scotland and the lowest part of Scotland—and everything had a story.” ' (-https://www.pixar.com/feature-films/brave)

'Production designer Steve Pilcher says that the notoriously variable Highland weather was one of the most important elements to capture in order to convey the right sense of place. “Mist, rock, ruggedness, skies that are changing all the time with the rain, snow, big patches of sunlight moving over large landscapes…That’s what has to come across.”' -(-https://www.pixar.com/feature-films/brave)

'Brave's creative team made multiple trips to Scotland, determined to get the details just right.  They returned with notebooks full of drawings and memories, and cameras filled with pictures—everything from majestic panoramas to careful studies of lichens and mosses.

Merida’s fate changes when will-o’-the-wisps lead her to a mysterious ring of ancient stones.  The Standing Stones, which became the film’s visual anchor, were inspired by the real-life Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. '