Once Upon a Snowman‘s team discussed what it was like to revisit the original Frozen. D23 sat down with storyboard artist Dan Abraham and head of animation Becky Bresee to talk about everyone’s favorite snowman. Fans absolutely loved Frozen and hitting up Arendelle before the events of Frozen 2 sounded like a no-brainer. Also of note is the fact that Disney+ is just ready and raring for new content. Once Upon a Snowman is here and fans have been enjoying it as the year winds down. With the success of the first two films, it doesn’t seem like the Frozen train will be stopping any time soon. As it progresses, maybe someone will get the chance to explore the space between the second film and the third too.
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“We know who animated the first moments, and then seeing those moments from a totally different angle is just so interesting,” Bresee admits. “Because I have it in my head who animated the shot, the movements they did, the acting they did. And we have insight into what’s happening next and before and all that—it’s just really fun to see it all connect. And y’know, Anna and Olaf narrowly miss each other [in the first film]… it’s just neat to see these moments play out.”
“We didn’t want to force it in any way,” adds Abraham. “So the story of what Olaf was trying to accomplish and [to] discover who he was and all that—it sort of led us to these different locations. And then we thought, ‘Oh, you know what’s happening at Oaken’s right now?!’ It all guided us. When we knew the story that we wanted to tell, it took us to these places. It worked naturally, really.”
Comicbook.com had the chance to attend a digital press event for the short film, and the crew talked about really figuring out Olaf.
“This idea came from… I started as a crowd animator during the first Frozen and my very first character to animate was Olaf,” co-director and co-writer Trent Correy told reporters during a recent virtual press conference for Once Upon a Snowman. “I was very lucky to get to animate Olaf for the rest of the show. I very clearly remember seeing Chad Sellers animator shot during “Let It Go”, while I was a trainee. Elsa makes Olaf, and it’s beautiful, and then she just walks away. She creates life and she walks away and I was like, ‘There’s got to be a story there.’”
Have you seen Once Upon a Snowman yet? Let us know in the comments below!
