Rapunzel (2010 film)
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This article or section contains information about one or more scheduled or expected films. The content will change as the film's release approaches and more information becomes available. |
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 Concept art of Rapunzel |
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| Directed by | Glen Keane Dean Wellins[1] |
| Produced by | Roy Conli[2] |
| Written by | Josann McGibbon Sara Parriott |
| Starring | Kevin Linehan Kristin Chenoweth |
| Music by | Jeanine Tesori Amir Khalifa (Songs) |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | Christmas, 2010 |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Rapunzel is an upcoming American computer-animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures and to be distributed by Buena Vista Pictures in the United States. The story is based on the fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. The film—49th in the official Disney canon—will premiere during the 2010 Christmas season. [1]
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[edit] Plot
Originally, the film's plot revolved around two 'romantically challenged', real-world teenagers who are transformed into Rapunzel and her Prince by a disgruntled witch who can no longer stand happy fairy-tale endings. However, since production was halted in 2004 for major retooling, Glen Keane, whos projects include the critically acclaimed movie Tarzan, has "promised" that the film will revert back to the fairy tale's "literary origins." Thus, it is likely that the previously-mentioned plot of two 'romantically challenged, real-world teenagers' will be discarded.
"Keane also promises that he’s going back to Rapunzel’s literary origins to do a traditional, character-driven fairy tale that speaks to a modern audience. “It’s a story of the need for each person to become who they are supposed to be and for a parent to set them free so they can become that. It will be a musical and a comedy and have a lot of heart and sincerity. I think that’s what Disney needs to do right now. No one else can do it. We should not be embarrassed or making excuses for doing a fairy tale."
[edit] Cast
Rapunzel- Kristin Chenoweth
[edit] Technical details
The movie's visual style will be based on the painting "The Swing", by the French Rococo artist Jean-Honore Fragonard[3]. Because director Glen Keane wanted this to be an animated movie that looked and felt like a traditional hand-drawn Disney Classic in 3D, he first had a seminar called "The Best of Both Worlds", where he, with 50 Disney animators (CGI artists and traditional artists), focused on the pluses and minuses of each style[4]. Because of advancements in computer technology, many basic principles of animation used in traditional animated movies but which have been absent in CGI films due to technical limitations are now becoming possible also in this field of animation, where they will be used together with the potential offered by CGI. Keane has stated numerous times that he is trying to make the computer "bend its knee to the artist" instead of having the computer dictate the artistic style and look of the film. By making the computer become as "pliable as the pencil," Keane's vision of a "three dimensional drawing" seems within reach, with the artist controlling the technology. Because many of the techniques and tools that were required to give the film the quality Keane demanded of it didn't exist when the project was started, WDFA had to make them on their own[3]. Among the new tools that are being used is a graphics tablet, first used in Chicken Little, allowing artists to draw silhouettes and sketches of the animated characters (in the same manner and freedom as a computer 3-D animated Disney film) directly onto the computer screen. These hand-created character silhouettes will then be "filled in" with a computer-generated 3-D image, for instance by superimposing the handdrawn image over the 3D model. To create the impression of a drawing, Non-photorealistic rendering is going to be used, making the surface look like it is painted but still containing depth and dimensions. A short test footage of the film was shown at the Siggraph 2005, where it gained a lot of attention.
[edit] Animation
The film will be made in CGI, though Rapunzel will resemble traditional oil paintings on canvas: "There’s no photoreal hair. I want luscious hair, and we are inventing new ways of doing that. I want to bring the warmth and intuitive feel of hand-drawn to CGI. [5]
"For inspiration, Keane and his animators are referencing a painting by French Rococo artist Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing, applying a certain richness that they have never attained in animation before.
"A fairy tale world has to feel romantic and lush. So we were able to duplicate the shot with the girl on the swing in 3D, to do a dimensional tree where the leaves turn, but it still feels like it has calories if you look at it too long. Very painterly.
"The next step was to do an animated human character: to get a softness, a feel of blood in the veins. I want skin moving across bone and tendon and there’s a subtlety to this. The thing is, I don’t want realism.
"Kyle Strawitz really helped me start to believe that the things I wanted to see were possible… that you could move in a Disney painterly world. He took the house from Snow White and built it and painted it so that it looked like a flat painting that suddenly started to move, and it had dimension and kept all of the soft, round curves of the brushstrokes of watercolor. Kyle helped us get that Fragonard look of that girl on the swing… We are using subsurface scattering and global illumination and all of the latest techniques to pull off convincing human characters and rich environments." [6]
One of the main ambitions of the makers of Rapunzel is to create movements that are just as soft and fluid as of that in the old Disney Classics.
[edit] Schedule
On April 12, 2007 it was revealed that Annie-nominated animator and story artist Dean Wellins will be co-directing the film alongside Glen Keane.[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ LaughingPlace.com: Rhett Wickham: Rapunzel Gets Second Director - Apr 12, 2007 (The #1 Site for Disney)
- ^ CanMag.Com. Walt Disney Pictures Offers 10 Releases by 2012. Retrieved on April 8, 2008.
- ^ a b Desowitz, Bill (2005-11-04). Chicken Little & Beyond: Disney Rediscovers its Legacy Through 3D Animation. Animation World Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
- ^ Holson, Laura M. (2005-09-18). Disney Moves Away From Hand-Drawn Animation. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
- ^ AWN Headline News
- ^ Animation World Magazine
- ^ LaughingPlace.com: Rhett Wickham: Rapunzel Gets Second Director - Apr 12, 2007 (The #1 Site for Disney)
