Take A Closer Look at How Disney’s Incredible ‘Olaf’ Shorts Come To Life
Over the past few weeks here at MickeyBlog we have been going on about the sheer awesomeness of Disney’s Olaf at Home shorts any chance we get. These lovely little Vignettes are one of the many ways that Disney is trying to bring a bit of magic to us during social distancing.
Each of the shorts provides us with a wee glimpse into Olaf’s little life. Seemingly mundane tasks become endlessly entertaining. But what truly makes these films so impressive is that all of the components were ut together by artists working at home!
The creator of At Home With Olaf is created by Hyrum Osmond who was the animation supervisor on the first Frozen film. He was also co-head of animation on Moana and on a slightly unrelated note is the nephew of Donny Osmond who recently entertained us during the Disney family sing-along. Osmond originally pitched the series to Walt Disney Animation Studios Cheif Creative Officer Jennifer Lee and Presiden Clark Spencer several months ago.
Osmond said, in a recent piece in D23 that he wanted to create a collection of vignettes that centered solely on Olaf. “I wanted to focus just on him” said Osmond.” He’s so full of wonder. Let’s see him experience the world with that wonder.”
Osmond was in the early stages of the series when the COVID-19 outbreak happened and everyone could use a bit of extra Disney magic. When Disney decided to release the films, it was an all-hands-on-deck project despite the obstacles of working from home. Osmond says, “So many people are putting in the hours and really putting in the love to make these as sweet and fun as possible.”
This includes contributions from the Disney Animation Technology team who made working remotely a possibility, the lighting team who help illuminate each shot and Disney’s post-production team who delivered equipment to actor Josh Gad so that he could voice Olaf from home!
These elements combine to allow Osmand and his team to collaborate with Gad to bring everyone’s favorite snowman to life! Osmond had this to say of the process, “We get on a conference call with him and he’s hooked up with his own microphone in his house,” He added, “He’ll read some lines and then we’ll give him notes. We don’t really know exactly what we have until he emails us the audio clips that he’s recorded, which makes it interesting—but it works!”
And works it does! Fans can delight in the fact that there will be 20 vignettes in total. Each are inspired by a day in the life of Olaf presenting him with new scenarios like brushing his teeth, getting ready for bed or going fishing.
In terms of episodes to look forward to, Osmond says be on the lookout for one featuring hand-drawn animation. “I like the use of different media and I’m excited to show the world that one. It’s going to be beautiful. I just wanted to see some different variations of styles and see what we could do with it,” Osmond says.
So how do they come up with ideas for the 20 shorts. According to Osmond, “A lot of these little stories don’t have any particular story structure to them. Some of them are just moments and I really love that,” Osmond says. He told D23 that he’s found nspiration for the vignettes in “little ideas I’ve had over the years,” as well as his own children.
One such example he gives is that “Alone in the Forest” was actually inspired by Osmond’s 8-year old daughter. He says, “She will dance everywhere and anywhere and she doesn’t care who’s watching.” He adds,”Olaf would totally do that.” He adds that one of the things that makes Olaf such a delight is that he is the embodiment of unconditional love. That makes him perfectly suited to these endearing shorts designed to put a smile on our faces while at home. Osmand adds, “He makes us laugh but you can also connect with Olaf emotionally, which I think sets him apart from a lot of characters.”
Keep following along with MickeyBlog and follow Disney online so that you can keep up to speed on the new shorts being released each week. We’ve compiled a list of the shorts to date which you can check out here. Readers are also encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for even more ways to stay entertained while at home.
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