When it comes to truly amazing animated movies, Disney is one of the best in the industry. Moana
was released back in 2016, and this adventurous and family friendly film is still one of the most
favorites for many kids and even adults. But do you know the most interesting behind the
scenes information about Moana? We bet you don’t, so in this episode, we are going to
reveal the fact you haven’t heard about the Moana movie even if you are the biggest fan.
Disney’s animated movie Moana is the story of a young girl who leaves the comfort of her home
island to travel the ocean, and, in doing so, meets a demi-god and saves her people. The movie
is very adventurous and it has so many messages that the filmmakers want their viewers to hear.
Even though the story sounds kind of simple and nothing but entertaining, the filmmakers, Ron
Clements and John Musker revealed that there was a huge amount of work behind the scenes done and it
took so much effort to create something incredible like Moana. From doing deep research to figuring
out how to create the most technically advanced animated film Disney has ever done, - we will
reveal every important detail you need to know. The very first thing we need to start with is
that the filmmakers had to do a really deep research to echo the South Pacific culture in the
Moana movie. The film takes place on a fictional group of islands in the South Pacific and it was
really important to create the right vibe of this special location. You won’t believe that but the
teams who worked on the Moana project took three trips to islands like Fiji, Bora Bora, Tahiti,
Samoa, and others to learn the culture and to feel the atmosphere. What is even more impressive,
the first general trip was made in 2011, then in 2014 it was the music and culture trip, and then
visuals were the focus of a third trip in November 2014. It is incredible that it took the entire
team over 5 years to work on the Moana film, as the movie dropped the theaters in 2016! “In order
to know where you’re going, you need to know where you come from.” It was a sentiment the people of
the South Pacific impressed upon the filmmakers and is also echoed in Disney culture itself.
But if you thought that the serious approach ended there, then you
were mistaken because the filmmakers even hired a council of experts to fact-check everything.
“In Tahiti, one of the elders said ‘We’ve been swallowed by your culture. One time,
can you be swallowed by our culture?’” explained Ron Clements. “We took that very seriously.” It
was extremely important for the filmmakers bound to history and culture, so they hired a team of
local experts nicknamed “The Oceanic Story Trust.” The task of this group was to help with cultural
references, advise on the story itself, help with the names and dialogues and also make sure Moana
was staying true to the ideals and customs of the South Pacific. “They know so much and we felt a
responsibility to them,” said John Musker. “We kept them involved so we can keep this right.”
Another really interesting thing is that the story of Moana wasn’t really made up. The
filmmakers were inspired by the historic mystery that happened almost 2000 years ago. Moana’s story
is set 2,000 years ago and if we take a look at actual history, we will figure out that the people
of the South Pacific were the greatest explorers on Earth. They knew how to read the stars,
they were exploring the sky and currents. However, their exploration stopped for 1000
years and no one really knew the reason why. The Moana’s filmmakers, Ron Clements and John Musker,
decided that it would be really a great idea to make a story and explain why the exploration
stopped. Well, they were absolutely right, as the fans all over the world
are in love with the movie and the story itself. Another great idea that the filmmakers brought to
life is the Ocean’s character. We can see how the ocean pays Moana, interacts with her, cradles her,
takes on familiar forms and helps her as she becomes a teenager and embarks on her journey.
Interestingly, in Maori language, Moana means ‘ocean’ and maybe that is why the girl and the
ocean are getting along together. Speaking of the technical side of ‘creating’ the ocean,
Disney animators knew what their number-one technical challenge would be:
how to animate all that water. As we have already mentioned, the crew did a really deep research on
the islands and a huge part of their research was about the ocean. They had field trips to a pool
in North Hollywood and studied footage shot during a research trip to Tahiti. “We had a
meeting for six months every day where we looked at this piece of shoreline,” said Marlon West,
head of effects animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios. “We called it ‘the shoreline meeting.’”
Even though the Disney team also drew inspiration from a custom animation program,
it wasn’t really enough to mimic the physics of water in different environments. The biggest
problem was that it wasn’t enough to be able to reproduce the physical properties of water.
“The biggest challenge was how to capture that and make you feel like how water exists in your
mind or in your heart,” said Marlon West. The animation process was very difficult because
the ocean was actually a character and it was really important to make it look ‘alive’. “When
the water was a character, we had a very rough rig, and it was similar to almost like a sock
puppet. And we would animate the water, and then we would work with the effects animators,
and they would make it actually look like water, with the bubbles and the water effects
part of it,” said Marlon West. “We would do a simulation of water over [the] top of the
animated character of the water,” he continued. “And also, if you can imagine a Ziploc bag full
of water — if you shook it, you have bubbles inside it. So we would add those as well.”
It is safe to say that Moana with all these difficult special effects things became the
most technically advanced animated film Disney has ever done. We all know that every Disney movie is
better than the previous one (we mean, they always improve their animation skills). As software and
hardware advances, the production is constantly pushing what’s available to its absolute
limit. For example, Moana is 80% visual effects shots and if you compare this movie to Big Hero 6,
which was less than 50%, you will see the difference. Most of those effects are water,
one of the hardest things there is to animate, and the effects team admitted this movie could
not have been processed five years ago. Technologically, it just couldn’t happen.
Let’s talk about music a little bit in Moana. Being a Disney animated movie, Moana couldn’t
include the moments of amazing singing, much like Little Mermaid or Aladdin. The filmmakers
definitely want Moana to be a musical, so they included the Opetaia Foa’i music, who is the
founder of the popular contemporary Pacific band Te Vaka. You can also hear Mark Mancina (Speed,
Bad Boys, Lion King), and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin-Manuel Miranda is actually the award-winning
creator and star of Hamilton! And if you have already watched Moana, you can definitely
say that the musical scenes are absolutely incredible. But here is one interesting thing.
Miranda’s music was included in Moana long before Hamilton became a cultural phenomenon.
Do you think Disney knew it would be a great idea to have a Hamilton connection
as they predicted its popularity? Realistic much. Disney movies are known for including so many
other references and eye-eagled fans have noticed a Mad Max-inspired chase in the film.
Remember the scene when Moana and Maui (her friend) encounter the creepy group of Kakamora,
who do really look like walking coconuts. The group of the creeps chase Moana and her friend
on really huge and massive boats and it reminded many fans of the iconic Mad-Max chase scene. Well,
maybe the fans are not wrong as you don’t have to be an animation guru to notice that the visual
effect of the characters hanging all over them, in a chase scene, was absolutely inspired by the
visuals and actions of Mad Max: Fury Road. Plus, Ron Clements and John Musker approved that this
moment was indeed inspired by the iconic film. Have you already watched Moana? What do you
like the most about this animated movie? Leave your thoughts in the
comments section down below and see you in the next episode! See you in the next one, bye bye!