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FROZEN 2 www.postmagazine.com 22 POST SEPT/OCT 2019 Writer/director/chief creative officer Jennifer Lee and director Chris Buck we can build this one thing." West points to the "Into the Unknown" se- quence as one of his personal highlights. "Elsa's magic is being used to create something she's not in control of for the first time, so it has to look like her magic, and be beautiful and wonderful, and yet hint towards things that will happen later without giving away too much," he explains. "For me, that's a nice sweet spot." "I really like the dark sea segment, especially since it was the first scene we put out there to the world and it was something that was a big chal- lenge, in terms of, how do we have a character running on a moving ocean?" says Mayeda. "We were working with the other teams, but added the design of Elsa freezing the ocean and creating this kind of barrier that she runs across. We were able to add this style and design against all these threaten- ing aspects. It really was very challenging but it was also really fun. And I love how it all turned out." "Especially since it was such a collaboration between so many departments," adds Ramos. "To get that sequence together, working so closely with animation, and just having that sense of team and getting it done and having it look amazing. I'm so proud of how that sequence came out — especially after seeing the boards and thinking, 'Wow, this is ambitious' (laughs). We started it almost a year ago and to be at this point now, is great." EDITING For editor Jeff Draheim, a 25-year Disney veteran who worked on some of the studio's biggest films, including Moana, Frozen and The Princess and the Frog, it took a little convincing at first to realize the vision of making a Frozen sequel. "Oh my God, I was like, 'Why do we need it?,'" laughs Draheim. "The first one was so great, how can we possibly top it? But I tell you, what changed my mind was, I had a conversation with Peter, and spoke more with Chris and Jen, and they started talking about what the story ideas were, and saying, 'You know, there are a lot of unanswered questions from the first movie.' And the more they talked about it, I was like, 'You're right! We have to make this movie.' At that point, I was completely onboard." Draheim, whose been cutting Disney films on an Avid editing system, says he worked just as closely with the filmmakers on the Frozen sequel as he did on the first film. "We got into that same groove and rhythm again, but this film, I feel like is a little more mature…The characters are older, and I think we were all trying to make sure that we were making a movie worthy of a sequel. I think it's so easy in a movie like this, to say, 'Let's just make it an Olaf fun fest.' But we didn't want to do that…We wanted to make sure we're really layering in and that these characters have a rich texture to them and a rich background. Really become a good story." For Draheim, he says he did feel the pressure of trying to equal the success of the first film. "The biggest challenge for me was just knowing that we had to follow Frozen I," he says. "We were just con- stantly, from Day 1, making sure that we had a solid story that was engaging and entertaining. I felt like the world was watching us." The hard work, challenges and true team effort appears to have paid off with a sequel of grand proportions...Bigger than anything…Well, maybe that's a little dramatic, but as Buck sums it up, "Frozen 2 is even bigger and more epic than the first film. But most importantly, in the end, Frozen and Frozen 2 need to work together to form one complete story." Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of Frozen 2's animation and VFX in our Nov./Dec. issue. Queen Iduna, now voiced by Evan Rachel Wood, reappears as Anna & Elsa's mother. Editor Jeff Draheim Producer Peter Del Vecho