As the release date for “Moana” rapidly approaches, we continue our look at the film’s development with presentations by the filmmakers. Jared Bush (Screenwriter), Dave Pimentel (Head of Story), David Derrick (Story Artist), and Sunmee Joh (Story Artist) came together to talk about developing the story of “Moana,” in “Building a Legend.”

[All unattributed photos courtesy of Disney.]

Jared Bush on writing a scene vs. storyboarding a scene: “‘This is in a cavern of the ancestors, water rushing down to the boats. Walking amongst the huge canoes in awe, she spots a smaller canoe near the pool of water leading through a waterfall. Water jumps out of the hull from the nearest lagoon, and as the sails swell, it reveals a massive double-hulled canoe.’ So something like that took me about three minutes to write, but then I hand it over to Dave…and it becomes a lifetime.”

David Derrick, who has Samoan ancestry, noted that he was able to reconnect with it on various research trips, and put the pattern of his own family’s tapa print throughout the film.

Sunmee Joh on Saving Heihei: “He was a character we had from the very beginning and he was in many versions of the story, but as the story progressed, we suddenly found Heihei on the chopping block. The directors really wanted to keep him, but we were having a hard time fitting him in…Then, I thought…what if we added him to the Kakamora scene?”

“Tell them what happened in this panel, when John Lasseter saw it.”
“He got up with a big clap and said ‘YES, HEIHEI IS SAVED!'”

Hank Driskill (Technical Supervisor), Kyle Odermatt (Visual Effects Supervisor), Marlon West (Head of Effects), and Dale Mayeda (Head of Effects) then presented some of the amazing special effects in “Moana.”

–Water is an important and central figure both in the movie and in Polynesian culture.
–Conversations with colleagues at Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic helped to define what “state of the art” water rendering was, so that they could then determine how to then push the boundaries.
–80% of the shots in this movie have effects in them.
–In addition to making the water look believable, they also had to make the water a believable and interactable character.
–The general process was that the character animators would come up with a silhouette they wanted, the directors would make decisions on timing and performance, and then Effects would add fluid simulations along the surface, interior bubbles, and surrounding splashes.

Finally, animators Bill Schwab (Art Director, Characters), Amy Smeed (Head of Animation), Malcon Pierce (Animation Supervisor, Moana), and Neysa Bové (Vis Dev Artist) came together to introduce us to the film’s heroine.

Neysa Bové on costume design: “Costume design is such an important part of filmmaking–you’re not only trying to tell the story of the character, but you’re trying to also put the personality, what they’re about in it…For Moana, one challenge that I had was to come up with something that was…relevant to 2000 years ago in the Pacific Islands. We were lucky enough to have the Oceanic Trust and they were able to share with us that at that time they were working with two different fabrics–tapa and pandanus–and tapa is what she’s wearing in her bodice, that’s actually made from the mulberry tree, and the skirt is pandanus, (which is) sort of woven.”

–Her Taualuga costume is for Moana’s coming-of-age ceremony.
–Moana’s costumes figure in red primarily, because it is a sign of royalty in the Pacific Islands.
–The red feather is a sign of currency.
–Construction of the costumes is taken into account during the design. Without sewing machines, the clasp on her back is a boar’s tusk.

–A concerted effort was made from all departments to push the anatomy and clarify details like the interaction between eyelids and brows, folds in the hand while making a fist, and patterns of teeth and gums.
–180 different controls exist to pose just Moana’s face.
–Even the eyelashes are posed separately to sell the eye motions.

“Moana” will be opening November 23, 2016.