As the release date for “Moana” rapidly approaches, we continue our look at the film’s development with presentations by the filmmakers. In “The Islands of Moana,” Jessica Julius (Sr. Creative Executive), Ian Gooding (Production Designer), Andy Harkness (Art Director, Environments & Color), and Adolph Lusinsky (Director of Cinematography, Lighting) spoke on the challenges of creating a suitably beautiful and unique setting for “Moana.”

[All unattributed photos courtesy of Disney.]

The road to creating the world of “Moana” started in multiple research trips to different islands of Oceana. While learning about Polynesian culture and people, the team collected a multidisciplinary group to use as a resource they nicknamed “The Oceanic Story Trust.”

Ian Gooding on constructing an authentic and distinctive island environment: “The kinds of geology they have in that area is very different from the Caribbean…We have, in the Caribbean, the kind of volcanoes that explode, kind of like Mount St. Helen’s exploded, whereas in the Pacific, they tend to have the ones that just sort of dribble…lava constantly, so you can walk right up to them and not get killed. That produces a very different island profile than one you will find elsewhere in the world. So you get very gradual falloff on the edges and wide edges where reefs will grow.”

Andy Harkness on developing the specifics of Moana’s home island Motonui: “Motonui is not historically a true, actual village, so everything built and designed is inspired by the things we were told….The four basic things are the Point, the Pass of course–the Pass is where they breach the reef–the Point is where they come into the inlet, to the village reef, the Place, which is the village itself, the River, which is their freshwater source, and a Peak, which to them, which I thought was really fascinating…it’s almost like an architectural element. So say a Chief from another village comes by and sees this, and you know immediately someone very very important lives here. It’s a very special place, and it’s all caused by erosion–it’s all natural erosion that causes all this.”

Adolph Lusinsky on the challenges of theatrically lighting water: “A photograph really doesn’t capture the color of water very well in the first place…it also doesn’t capture that memory for sure, of what you remember….We would kind of push the color to what we kind of remember it to be…We push the blue in front, the green water in back above Moana, so it gives a richer look to it, but also is also part of the theatricality, the cinematography of the image. It also gets your eye to where you want to look. So we’ll use those colors as theatrical devices.”

“Maui’s Mythology” saw panelists Hyrum Osmond* (Head of Animation), Mack Kablan (Animation Supervisor, Maui), Eric Goldberg (2D Animator), and Carlos Cabral (Head of Characters and Tech Anim) discuss the various influences that went into creating the look and persona of the demigod Maui.

–A figure of many legends throughout Polynesia, Maui was perceived by John Musker to be a superhero with trickster elements which he felt would play well into a epic and comedic adventure story.
–Everyone in the movie, men and women, has long curly hair which is a big part of the Oceanic culture. To depict it in the naturalistic way they wanted, they needed to create new technical tools to animate hair.
–Pro wrestlers and football players were used as model body types for Maui, whose physique is generally displayed with minimal clothing.

–His magical fishhook is used not only as a weapon, but also gives him the ability to transform into different creatures.
–The most prominent transformation form is that of a hawk. The challenge was to make him look like a hawk, but still have the personality of Maui.

–Maui’s tattoos are a unique blend of 2-D and CG animation.
–Famed Disney Animator Eric Goldberg was primarily responsible for developing “Mini Maui,” Maui’s interactive tattoo that functions both as his Greek chorus and conscience.

–Care was made to make the tattoos respectful in design and placement to their place of significance in Polynesian culture.

Next time, we’ll be recounting more presentations from filmmakers in charge of visual effects and story, and take a closer look at the heroine herself.

“Moana” will be opening November 23, 2016.

*Fun fact I learned at the “D23 Presents Aloha Aulani” event–Hyrum Osmand is an ACTUAL OSMOND. Like, he was in a TV special!

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