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Friday 6 September 2024
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D23 Expo Part One: Arrival, Frozen, and the ‘Animation’ App

The excitement surrounding the Anaheim Convention Center is palpable as I pull into the parking structure across the street at seven thirty in the morning. People of all ages don their favorite Disney swag as they happily make their way to the Convention Center. Walking through the structure I see that I am in the midst of the TRUE Disney fans– Bumper stickers, antennae toppers, even wheel hub covers, are all sporting mouse ears, and I suddenly feel little out of place, wearing a simple non-Disney tee shirt driving my naked, non-Disney-fied Honda Civic. Immediately wishing I had brought along my trusty mouse ears, I bring my caffeinated self over to Will Call to pick up my ticket. Along the way, I see hundreds and hundreds of people waiting in line to get into the Convention Center. The people towards the front of the various lines even have sleeping bags and pillows with them. I find my respective line at about eight, and manage to get into the Expo by about nine thirty.

Upon entering the Expo itself, I am overwhelmed by the visual stimulation. There are many large displays and flashy decorations everywhere, accompanied by hugely ecstatic Disney cast members. I end up spending quite a bit of time at the “Frozen” booth due to its amazing displays and demonstrations. The new iPad application, “Animated,” is demonstrated by a passionate developer who explains the ins and outs of the app to a few of the interested attendees.

The app is essentially a book about animation, detailing the ins and outs of various animation principals and “rules”. Examples of each principal are given on each page of the “book” through actual clips of Disney movies. In addition to this, the application offers a timeline of all the animated Disney movies ever made, and information about each movie. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this app is the “color map” feature. Here is an example of a color map:

The colored vertical lines are actually the color that is the “average frame color” for every single frame in a given movie. The enlarged strip you see above is the color map for the entire Aladdin movie. “Animated” boasts a full color map for every single animated Disney movie ever made, from Sleeping Beauty to Wreck-it-Ralph. The screen you see above is actually all the color maps put together on one page. The user is capable of scrolling through every single frame of every single movie on this page of color maps. When you look at the screen above and see every color map of every movie, you are looking at over one million hours of work from various animators. 
Various Disney Animation Studios projects were also on display at the Frozen booth, like art from the “Paper Man” short, and various drawings of favorite characters like Wreck-it-Ralph, Vanellope Von Schweet, and even Olaf, the snowman from Frozen. 
The Frozen booth was an amazing part of the Expo, but definitely not the biggest highlight. Be sure to check out the rest of my D23 Expo mini series to learn more about the Expo!

~Grace

Want more D23 Expo news? Check out the other articles in Grace’s D23 Expo Mini-Series:
Part One: Arrival, Frozen, and the ‘Animation’ App
Part Two: “The Art of Frozen” Panel
Part Three: “Crash Course on the Force” Panel
Part Four: “Working With Walt” Panel

Part Five: “To Infinity and Beyond” Panel
Part Six: Coming Soon…