Find Out More About “Myth: A Frozen Tale” a Brand New VR Experience from Disney
Have you heard about Disney’s new visually stunning virtual reality short film themed after Frozen? “Myth: A Frozen Tale” directed by Jeff Gipson offers an original story about the frozen land of Arendelle using VR technology to seamlessly tell a magical story.
The 8-minute film takes viewers on a largely wordless fantasy trip centering around the four elements introduced in Frozen 2: wind, fire, water and Earth.
“Myth” is garnering a lot of attention just now as it is showing as a VR Short in the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The film also actually has its origins at the last year’s Fest. According to a recent piece in Variety, during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Jennifer Lee, writer-director of the two “Frozen” films (alongside director Chris Buck) asked Gipson about exploring the world of “Frozen” for his next VR project. Gipson already had one VR project under his belt having directed Disney Animation’s first VR film, the award-winning “Cycles.”
“I was very nervous because ‘Frozen’ is one of our most iconic franchises,” Gipson told Variety. “It was really our curiosity about what ‘Frozen’ would look like in VR.”
The film takes the viewer into the center of a forest with an artistic design reminiscent of a pop-up-book. The film uses visual elements to gently draw the viewers attention to the four spirits represented by stone circle monoliths each with a distinct icon. They each show themselves in turn with scenes illuminating streaks of light where eyes are meant to look. The characters are Gale, the wind spirit, the fire salamander Bruni, the water spirit Nokk and the scary Earth Giants. The main plot centers around a destabilizing 5th element- humans.
It’s not surprising that another Disney classic Fantasia was a source of inspiration for “Myth.” According to Gipson, “Like in ‘Fantasia,’ each character has its own score, color palette and language,” he said. “I wanted to bring that element of Disney heritage into the medium of VR.”
However, viewers will notice that “Myth” isn’t as interactive as some other VR experiences. According to Gipson, this was deliberate, “Making a choice takes you out of the film.” However, using the gaze-based storyline guests still feel like they’re a part of the action. This is further heightened in the way that “Myth” is set up as a bedtime story. The action begins in the family room of a cabin in Arendelle where a mother starts reading this tale aloud before you enter the story itself. This is designed to give a feeling of interaction and shared storytelling.
We personally can’t wait to experience the wonderful magical world of “Myth.” How about you!? In the meantime, keep following along with MickeyBlog for the latest Disney movie news and updates!