Jeff Gipson’s immersive cinematic exploration of the ‘Frozen 2’ world weaves together music and visuals to take viewers on a magical Arendelle forest experience.
Walt Disney Animation Studios has just released their VR short, Myth: A Frozen Tale on Facebook’s Oculus Quest all-in-one VR headset.
Directed by Jeff Gipson, who also helmed Cycles, Disney’s first ever VR short, Myth: A Frozen Tale, is the first VR short from Disney Animation to be inspired by one of its feature films; it debuted at the Frozen 2 world premiere in Hollywood last November. Nominated for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project by the Visual Effects Society, Myth: A Frozen Tale is an immersive cinematic exploration of the Frozen 2 world, integrating the latest advances in virtual reality technology, an original music score, and stylized art direction to deliver a unique virtual and visceral experience.
Nicholas Russell, the short’s producer, commented, “The entire filmmaking team behind Myth: A Frozen Tale is excited to be able to bring our film to the Oculus Quest. Being able to immerse our audiences directly into this unique cinematic experience, to truly feel the power and presence of the elemental spirits from in Frozen 2 from the comfort of their home, is an incredible reward for a lot of hard work. We hope it shows you that storytelling in VR had a very bright future.”
The partnership between Facebook’s Oculus and Walt Disney Animation Studios was facilitated by The Walt Disney Studios StudioLAB, which assists studio creatives as they push the limits on advanced technology.
Discussing Myth: A Frozen Tale when it premiered, Gipson noted, “The idea for Myth: A Frozen Tale came from a personal place for me, and was inspired by my family’s tradition of telling bedtime stories. This led me to start thinking about what the world of Frozen and some of the film’s new elemental characters would look like in VR. Myth: A Frozen Tale is set in a forest outside of Arendelle as a family sits down for a bedtime story. As the mother reads, the audience is transported to a mystical and enchanted forest where the elemental spirits come to life and the myths of their past and future is revealed. With breathtaking production design by Brittney Lee, and a brilliant musical score by Joseph Trapanese, this film follows in the Fantasia legacy of using imagery and music together in an experimental way, using the latest advances in virtual reality to achieve that.”
Source: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
