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www.postmagazine.com 26 POST JAN/FEB 2022 says Howard. "Friends from Colombia told us that magic occurs in these places, in these Encantos — always has." However, it isn't European magic they were speaking of. It didn't involve wizards and wands, but rather magic that's tied to emotion and part of a tradition of "magical realism," a concept well known to Castro Smith, who came aboard as Bush's co-writer and co-director. "So we got to work with magical realism top of mind. And when we infused that magical realism into our story of family and thought about those Encantos, every- thing came alive and lined up," Howard says. A more extensive research trip was cancelled due to the pandemic, leaving the artists without the all-important photos they typically use as ref- erence, making it even more important to lean on their consultants for information. In addition to the Colombian visit by the handful of key filmma ers, the group also relied on the so-called Colombian Cultural Trust, which from the start acted as ad- visers, reviewing early scripts and participating in weekly meetings to help ensure that the look and feel of the creative design appeared authentic. This included experts in music, anthropology, culture, architecture, botany and more. Others from inside WDAS, called the Familia group, also assisted in that endeavor. Familia Madrigal The film ollows three generations of the Madrigal family. Abuela Alma is the matriarch, whose unwaivering hope led her to the Encanto, where she raised her three triplets. Her determination to protect her family has not diminished in the 50 years since she lost her husband. Her three chil- dren include Julieta (husband Agustín, daughters Mirabel, Isabela and Luisa), Pepa (husband Félix, and children Dolores, Camilo and Antonio), and the mysterious albeit estranged third child, Bruno (see the family tree graphic). "I have been at Disney for 14 years and this is hands down the hardest movie that we have ever worked on," says Kira Lehtomaki, head of anima- tion. "That was in large part from an innovation perspective because we had essentially 12 main characters with the Madrigal family, who were all heavily featured in full character exploration. We've worked on movies with big asks before, like Ralph Breaks the Internet and Zootopia, but when you boil it down, Zootopia is about two charac- ters, Nick and Hopps. Here, the whole family was integral and crucial to the telling of the story, with Mirabel at the center." Miranda wrote a song designed to introduce Mirabel and the rest of the Madrigal family mem- bers. "The fun was finding a song th t could hold all of that information across three generations," says Miranda. "Then it becomes a puzzle to put together, as (the late) Stephen Sondheim might say. We start with Abuela and work through each generation." Insofar as each character has his or her own magical powers, animators were tasked with moving them in such a way as to emphasize their special abilities. Mirabel, in fact, was the most complicated char- acter to animate, as it took the longest to find loco- motion befitting he . She is sometimes awkward and tentative in her movement, a little bit clumsy but very capable, just not perfect. "She needed to have her own cadence, her own personality," says Renato dos Anjos, head of animation. And when she sang, she could not look like a professional songstress; rather, she had to perform and move in a way that reflec ed her inner self — a 15-year-old trying to find a pla e in her home. In fact, with Mirabel, no single walk style fits he every moment. For instance, when she is speak- ing to Abuela Alma, she exhibits one posture, and while she interacts with sister Luisa, she has another that differs from that used when she is with her sister Isabela. "The three-dimensionality of her personality really became a major puzzle that ended up being resolved as we fed her into each of the scenes," says dos Anjos. The magical gifts served as the foundation for the extended family's character movements, as well. For instance, Luisa is very strong, and all her poses have a strong line of action that feels superhero-esque. As such, the animators refer- enced people with similar physicality — Olympians and female shot-putters — and observed how they performed typical day-to-day tasks, such as walking or working in the kitchen, to see how those motions were impacted. Isabela, meanwhile, is perfect and wants to be perfect in everything she does, so all her actions have to appear effortless. To this end, she doesn't simply walk across a room, she glides across it. As reference, the animators "stole" some secrets of the trade from beauty pag- eants (they are very popular in Colombian culture) pertaining to how Isabela should walk and wave.. To help organize the family tree for the audi- ence, associate production designer Lorelay Bové created distinct color palettes for the members; for example, Julieta and Agustín's family has cooler colors, while Pepa and Félix's side has a warmer The WDAS crew included approximately 100 animators. The house's decor was inspired by local geography.