Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1544997
10 KEYFRAME S H O R T S T O R Y this page: Artists and animators reimagined classic movie songs into American Sign Language for Disney characters Moana, Princess Anna, and Mirabel. opposite page: (from top) Osmond (from lef t) with Producer Heather Blodget, Interpreter James Foster, Producer Christina Chen, Kurs, Reid, and Sacchetti; Actor Leilani Silva-Ewan provides reference for Moana's grandmother; Actor Deanne Bray provides reference for Princess Anna. Every language has its own nuances, and to view a movie in a language not your own can mean missing out on a layer of meaning. For hearing impaired viewers of animation, Director Hyrum Osmond wanted to change that. Growing up with a father who was deaf, he never learned sign language. He says he regrets that he couldn't connect with his dad, and "with this project, I wanted to do something that could take down barriers." That "something" evolved into Songs in Sign Language, a Disney project in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre. It is a trilogy that takes animated musical sequences—"The Next Right Thing" from Frozen 2, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto, and "Beyond" from Moana 2—and translates them into American Sign Language. Focused on keeping the intention of the original songs, the team approached the process certain of one thing. "We didn't want it to feel like the [sign language] animation was just slapped on," says Animation Lead Joel Reid. This required a unique degree of prep, beginning with Sign Language Reference Choreographer Catalene Sacchetti. Watching the existing animation, she says that she would "pay attention to [the character's] thought processes and their emotions." Then she examined the moods depicted in the words of the lyrics. Finally, she asked herself: "How would a deaf person express this based on that input from those two sources?" In collaboration with the theater's Artistic Director DJ Kurs, Sacchetti worked with eight performers, developing her translations until they were compatible with their movements. Osmond, in turn, ensured that the results remained true to the original character performances. The resulting reference videos were given to 20-plus Character Animators working on the project. "It was up to each individual animator how they wanted to approach it," says Reid, who notes that everyone was working with a starting point they wouldn't normally have—a finished animated shot. An animator could look at the original animation, and if they found something that worked, they could keep it. "Otherwise, they were allowed to start from scratch," Reid says. "It was case by case," just as long as the new version captured the spirit of the old. For example, "Beyond" starts out quietly, and Osmond says: "We had to be conscious of how subtle and soft [we were] with the signing. We had to make sure it wasn't feeling too big for that moment." With sign language, a single sign can convey an entire idea or concept, and the animators had to keep this in mind as they worked with hands, which are notably complex to animate. Accurate finger placement was essential. TAG MEMBER HYRUM OSMOND INSPIRED DISNEY TO REIMAGINE BELOVED SONGS IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE. MUSIC IN MOTION