Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II

Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II is a 2020 documentary series about the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Frozen II, which premiered in November 2019. Its six episodes follow the production crew and voice actors of Frozen II in the film's final year of development. This included the story development and reworking of the song "Show Yourself", the variety of different roles in the animation process, the songwriting and orchestral arrangements, and the post-production process. It was directed by Megan Harding, who was previously involved with a 2014 documentary on the making of the 2013 film Frozen, and released on the streaming service Disney+ shortly after the platform's launch.

Into the Unknown
GenreDocumentary
Directed byMegan Harding
Starring
    Country of originUnited States
    Original languageEnglish
    No. of series1
    No. of episodes6
    Production
    Executive producers
    • Amy Astley
    • Jeanmarie Condon
    Production locationUnited States
    Running time29 to 44 minutes
    Production companyThe Walt Disney Company
    DistributorWalt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International
    Release
    Original networkDisney+
    Original release26 June 2020 (2020-06-26)
    External links
    Official website

    The documentary was produced by Lincoln Square Productions. Harding aimed to represent the production process honestly and the crew filmed for 115 days. They frequently flew between New York City, where they worked, and Los Angeles, where the main Frozen II offices were, with some filming at individual staff member's houses. The series received positive critical reception.

    Cast

    Production crew

    Voice actors

    Production

    In 2014, Australian filmmaker Megan Harding met the main production crew of the 2013 Disney film Frozen while working on a television special for American Broadcasting Company (ABC) a year after the film's release.[1][2] Production on the sequel Frozen II began in 2014. In December 2018, working with Lincoln Square Productions, Harding began documenting its filmmaking process. She and most of the crew flew between New York City, where they worked, and Los Angeles for the majority of filming.[1][3] Covering the last year of production, the crew recorded 1,300 hours of footage across 115 days of shooting.[4] Local crew filmed the Lopezes from their New York City apartment, and footage of their meetings with other production crew was variously captured from one or both sides of the conversation or from the teleconferencing technology directly.[1][3]

    Harding aimed to represent the process honestly and detail "the personal investment and creative struggle", rather than making "a DVD extra". The crew had to select aspects of the production to focus on, such as the development of "Show Yourself".[1] Harding did not plan to include mention of Buck's loss of his son Ryder, but Buck brought it up himself, unexpectedly, and the filming crew were in tears by the end of the conversation.[5] Though there were meetings in which Buck suggested it was "not a good day for cameras", the camera crew only left the room once during the year, in a meeting following the film's first screening to a family audience.[1][5] Peter Del Vecho later said that the crew of Frozen II wanted to "show the world" the size of the crew and "the hard work it takes to put these films together", though he found it a "tough process" to have the documentary crew filming for a year. Josh Gad experienced self-consciousness, as Olaf's dialogue and singing was developed with "experiment and play". Lee found it enjoyable to show the crew how animation worked; she said of the "very intense" story room that it was harder to be filmed, but that the crew "were very patient with us".[3]

    The documentary features the song "See the Sky", which was cut from the final film but not released in the soundtrack.[4] Harding's favorite scene which was cut from the series was Giaimo discussing what he viewed as the crew's "passion, dedication, and specific OCD-like tendencies" while trimming his hedges to resemble the shape of trees in Frozen.[6] The documentary omits mention of John Lasseter, the chief creative officer before Lee who left the role after reports of him perpetrating sexual misconduct against employees in his position at Disney.[2][7][8] It also does not cover the production's consultations with the Sámi people over their representation in the film, which largely occurred prior to the final year of production.[9]

    Episodes
    No. in
    season    		TitleDirected byOriginal release dateLength
    (minutes)
    1"A Year to Premiere"Megan HardingJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)44 minutes
    2"Back to the Drawing Board"Megan HardingJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)42 minutes
    3"Journey to Ahtohallan"Megan HardingJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)39 minutes
    4"Big Changes"Megan HardingJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)38 minutes
    5"Race to the Finish"Megan HardingJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)32 minutes
    6"The World Awaits"Megan HardingJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)29 minutes

    Release
    External video
    "Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2"
    The series' trailer

    On April 11, 2019, it was announced that a companion documentary series would be launched on the Disney+ streaming service within its first year entitled Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2.[10] Frozen 2 was released in November 2019.[11] The documentary's first trailer premiered in June 2020 and the series was released on June 26, 2020.[11][4] Radio Times held a live discussion with Buck, Unten and Walters at 5 p.m. BST on the day of its release.[12] At the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which was held online, the first episode of the documentary was made available from June 26 to June 28.[13] Frozen 2 was added to Disney+ shortly afterwards, on July 3.[11]

    Reception

    Ed Potton of The Times rated it four stars out of five, who said that "such honesty is still rare in Hollywood" and that the challenges faced by the staff make the "cheesy payoffs hit home".[14] Drew Taylor of Collider rated the documentary an A, calling it "thoroughly riveting and surprisingly honest". Taylor compared it favorably to Disney's previous behind-the-scenes releases for "showing the filmmakers at their most vulnerable, both personally and artistically".[2] Joel Keller of Decider similarly found that it "doesn't suffer from the usual Disney self-promotional schtick" and was "a very informative series that shows that even the best animated features run into issues".[15] Ethan Anderton of Slashfilm reviewed it as "informative and fascinating". Anderton praised it for featuring "touching and crushingly honest moments" such as Bell's relation to "The Next Right Thing", and covering the "frustration" involved in adapting "Show Yourself".[16] Nick Romano of Entertainment Weekly recommended it for demonstrating that "there's as much heart behind these films as there are on screen".[17]

    References
    1. Taylor, Drew (June 26, 2020). "'Into the Unknown' Director Megan Harding on Documenting the Making of 'Frozen 2'". Collider. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
    2. Taylor, Drew (June 22, 2020). "Disney+'s 'Into the Unknown' Review: A Brilliantly Candid Look at the Making of 'Frozen 2'". Collider. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
    3. Anderton, Ethan (June 26, 2020). "'Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2' Added Even More Pressure to Creating a Hit Disney Sequel". Slashfilm. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
    4. Davis, Victoria (June 26, 2020). "'Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2' Documentary Arrives on Disney+". Animation World Network. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
    5. Manente, Kristina (July 27, 2020). "Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 Doc Might Make You Cry Harder Than the Movie". Syfy. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    6. Libbey, Dirk (July 14, 2020). "The Frozen 2 Documentary Director's Favorite Scene That Didn't Make The Final Cut". CinemaBlend. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    7. Chitwood, Adam (January 18, 2019). "'Toy Story 3', 'Coco' Director Lee Unkrich Is Leaving Pixar".
    8. Barnes, Brooks (2018-06-08). "Pixar co-founder to leave Disney after 'missteps'". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
    9. Mason, Jessica (July 10, 2020). "Documentary Director Megan Harding Talks Finding the Story Behind Frozen 2". The Mary Sue. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    10. "Welcome to Disney+" (PDF). The Walt Disney Company. April 11, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
    11. Cremona, Patrick (June 23, 2020). "Disney+ releases trailer for Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2". Radio Times. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    12. Bird, Emily (June 26, 2020). "Join us for Disney's Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 Live Q&A with the movie's director and animators". Radio Times. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    13. Hopewell, John; Lang, Jamie (June 4, 2020). "Annecy Film Festival Presentations Include 'Frozen 2' Doc, Lord & Miller, and 'Chicken Run' Reunion". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    14. Potton, Ed (June 25, 2020). "Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II review— the brutal machinery beneath the glossy surface". The Times. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
    15. Keller, Joel (June 26, 2020). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Into The Unknown: Making Frozen 2' On Disney+, A Docuseries About The Challenges Of Making The Sequel To 'Frozen'". Decider.
    16. Anderton, Ethan (June 22, 2020). "'Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2' Digs Deep into the Challenges of Making Disney Magic". Slashfilm. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
    17. Romano, Nick (June 26, 2020). "What to Watch this Weekend: Disney+ goes behind the scenes of Frozen 2 in new docuseries". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 9, 2020.

    Further reading
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