The Collaboration Between Art and Technology: Making Disney Animation’s ”Myth: A Frozen Tale”

”Myth: A Frozen Tale” is a VR short film created at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Inspired by the folklore of ”Frozen”, the film is a fairy tale within a fairy tale which explores the past, present, and future of the elemental spirits of ”Frozen 2”. The result is a visual poem which combines Disney Animation’s heritage of 2D animation, music, and real-time technology in novel ways. To create an engaging, emotional experience on par with the initial designs, our team was presented with a number of technical and procedural challenges. This is the studio’s first use of Unreal Engine, so a significant amount of experimentation was necessary to find the workflow and VR integration techniques needed to achieve the high level of production quality we strive for. In this talk, the team will explore many of these aspects of the production process. Using two case studies, we will discuss the design, challenges, collaborative workflows, and technological execution needed to bring ”Myth: A Frozen Tale” to life.