Strange World Early Press Day At Walt Disney Animation Studio

Last week, The Movie Couple was invited to the Walt Disney Animation Studios to take part in an early press day for “Strange World”. It was such a treat to visit the Disney Animation Studio, where all the classic animated films as well as recent films like Encanto are made. We got to sit in on special presentations with Don Hall (Director), Qui Nguyen (Co-Director and Writer), Roy Conli (Producer) as well as with Mehrdad Isvandi (Production Designer) and Sean Jenkins (Head of Environments) and Heads of Animation Amy Smeed and Justin Sklar. Later on, we visited the legendary recording booth to try our hand (voice?) at voiceover. Strange World hits theaters on November 23.

There was a photo-op area on the ground floor where we can take a photo with Splat, an adorable and mysterious blue blob from the upcoming film. Splat sits a top of a display of various plant life seen in Strange World. This photo-op was also present at this year’s D23 Expo. As we climbed the spiral staircase to the second floor (into Mickey’s hat) for the presentation with the directors and the team of animators, we were treated to themed drinks like a “Splat-te”. While we were waiting, we got a chance to see all the artwork on display from previous projects like Moana, Encanto, Frozen, and more.
Next, we headed into the screen room for a presentation with directors Don Hall, Qui Nguyen, and producer Roy Conli.

We were treated to multiple scenes, first looks, and concept art for the film.

The original animated feature “Strange World” introduces a legendary family of explorers, the Clades, as they attempt to navigate an uncharted, treacherous land alongside a motley crew. The cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal as Searcher Clade, Dennis Quaid as Jaeger Clade, Jaboukie Young-White as Ethan Clade, Gabrielle Union as Meridian Clade, and Lucy Liu as Callisto Mal. When it came to what inspired the story, director Don Hall tributes that to his family. “What started everything was just thinking about my sons and the world they’re going to inherit,” he says. “How is it different from what I inherited from my dad?”. Leaning into the idea of fathers and sons and how they don’t always see the world the way. “My dad and I have a great relationship,” he says. “He is a farmer and I grew up helping out. But when I was 14 years old, it all changed. Suddenly, I was planting and doing more high-level stuff that I just didn’t want to do. It wasn’t me. It all turned out fine, but I always remembered that and thought it would be interesting to explore father/son relationships and the kind of expectations we put on our kids—intentionally or unintentionally.”

Family Is At The Heart Of Strange World

“Strange World” is a story about family, specifically three generations who each are seeking their place in the world. Searcher Clade is a brilliant family man—who, as a teenager, discovered a plant-based power source that changed the world. He built a successful enterprise growing, harvesting, and distributing the crop alongside his wife and son. Searcher’s dad, Jaeger, set out at a young age to be the kind of explorer legends are made of. A statue in town confirms he achieved his goal but lost during an expedition,
nobody’s heard from him in decades. Searcher’s son, Ethan, is a happy 16-year-old with a great sense of humor and a decent work ethic (for a teenager). Ethan helps on the farm, but he’s not sure he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. The three Clades have huge differences that prove divisive—and at the same time, they have more in common than any of them is willing to admit.
Co-director and writer Qui Nguyen recalls early conversations with Hall about the story. “The thing that got me was when he said it’s about fathers and sons,” says Nguyen. “I am also a dad of two kids and I felt like that was exactly what I wanted to be doing. This is a story I needed and wanted to tell.
“We could relate to Jaeger and Searcher when it comes to our kids,” continued Nguyen.
“There’s a push and pull between ambition and just being a dad. It’s something almost every
artist here at Disney—anyone who’s chasing a big dream—would understand. A big reason
why we do it is for them—and, man, we don’t want to lose focus of that. This is the story that
I’m going through, the story that Don is going through and the story our characters are going
through.”

“What started everything was just thinking about my sons and the world they’re going to inherit. How is it different from what I inherited from my dad?”

Director Don Hall

Building Strange World

During the presentation, we got to hear from Heads of Animation Amy Steed and Justin Sklar, Production Designer Mehrdad Isvandi, and Head of Environments Sean Jenkins about creating the world and creatures of “Strange World”. As shown in the teaser trailer, Strange World dives into unexplored territory. Not just for the characters but for the animators as well. The visuals for Strange World is striking and beautiful. Filled with never-before-seen lifeforms, plants, and more. We got to see a lot of concept art support characters like Splat and Legend the three-legged dog, who are bound to steal every scene they are in.

The team actually crafted three distinctive looks and color palettes: the city of Avalonia, the
Clade’s family farm and the strange world. 
• For Avalonia, artists play up warm colors, such as white, orange, and red. “We wanted to
create a kind of utopia—a warm, nostalgic feeling to emphasize that this is a wonderful
culture that everybody enjoys,” says Cram. Avalonia is featured in both pre-pando and
post-pando times. Adds production designer Merhrdad Isvandi, “We show how the city
went from single-story buildings to 100-story buildings.” 
• On the Clade family farm, cool colors—such as lush greens and blues—dominate the
landscape. “I was looking at old Kodachrome images from the ’30s and ’40s and trying to
connect emotionally because it’s really about the close relationship between Searcher,
Ethan and Meridian,” says production designer Justin Cram. “We wanted to make it feel timeless and make it really about the idea of hearth and home.” 
• In the strange world, those cool colors from Searcher’s farm are used sparingly, says Isvandi. “When we get to the strange world, we don’t have any greens except pando,” he says. “We reserved green for pando, and we got away from blue in the sky. Our brain is adjusted to seeing blue skies. Removing that option and thinking of something else to make the image beautiful was an exciting challenge
throughout production.”

Stepping Into The Recording Booth

As a fan of Disney animation, I’ve always imagined what it would be like to be inside the legendary recording booth. At the press day, I got a chance to try my hand at voiceover. I still can’t believe I got to step inside the same recording booth where they recorded movies like Frozen, Moana, Big Hero 6, and more! First, we were shown the scene we’d be working on, where Search is trying to convince his dad Jaeger that he is really there inside the strange world. I got to pick a line that resonated with me the most, and into the recording studio I go. To match your voice to the character’s animation, the session director talked us through how to find the beat. There’s a screen inside the booth so you can watch the animation and try to match your dialogue to the character’s mouth movement. A green bar goes across the screen to signal when you can start recording. The recording session was brief but it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ll never forget.

Strange World is going a very visually unique movie with some of the most creative creature and environment animation to date. The family dynamic between Searcher, Jaeger, and Ethan is definitely something to watch for. A lot of hard work went into this project and listening to the directors and animators speak about the creation process, it’s easy to tell that the whole team has poured their entire heart and soul into it. Strange World opens in theaters November 23.