Frozen 2 “VR Short” To Be Shown At Sundance Film Festival
Despite its Oscar snub, many fans will attest to the power of Frozen 2. And now Disney is using its major animated franchise to push the limits of traditional “cartoons.”
Myth Goes To Sundance
Walt Disney Animation Studios will show off its second virtual-reality project — a VR short film based on Frozen 2 — on the sidelines of the the Sundance Film Festival later this month in Park City, Utah. Titled Myth: A Frozen Tale, it’s only the second time Disney Animation has ventured into VR storytelling, and it’s the first time Disney Animation has moved one of its blockbuster franchises into a VR short film.
Myth debuted in November at the world premiere of Frozen 2 in Los Angeles but hasn’t been released widely. At Sundance, movie-industry insiders and press will get a chance to experience it.
Last year, Disney exhibited its first-ever virtual-reality short film, Cycles, at Sundance, where director Jeff Gipson revealed Disney Animation had green-lighted another “top secret” VR short also directed by himself. Joining Gipson on Myth from the Cycles team is Nicholas Russell, who said last year that Disney’s quick green light for a second VR short “is proof that they might not know exactly what tomorrow looks like for Disney and VR, but we’re going to keep exploring.”
A Winter Night’s Bedtime Story
The story of Myth sounds heartwarming.
AnimationMagazine.net’s Tom McLean posted:
Myth is a seven-minute VR short film that takes the viewer to a cozy Arendelle cabin just in time for a winter night’s bedtime story. As the children listen to the story, the world around the viewer transforms into a nighttime forest setting that reveals each of the spirits — air, water, earth and fire — and their roles in the world. Viewers get up close and personal with spirit characters from Frozen II: the wind spirit, Gale; Bruni, the fire spirit salamander; Elsa’s water spirit horse, Nokk; and the Earth Giants.
Myth follows Cycles, which was Disney’s first VR short film, and Jeff Gipson directed both projects. Myth began with the success at festivals of Cycles, Gipson says, which led to writer-director Jennifer Lee — also chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios — asking him to create a project tying into Frozen II.
Gipson says at first he was nervous, but warmed up to the idea. “That world is so special,” he says of Frozen. “I wanted to do something that was really true to that world, to those characters, but also was very much VR.”
Can’t wait to see Myth!