The making of Frozen 2 docuseries on Disney+ has haunted me all week. The animators were so young. How did they get there? There are so many computer animation programs out there. Animation sounds cool but has to be extremely tedious. I was blown away by the size of the crew. The animators and other creatives seem so eager to please the directors. I never really thought of directors as big corporate bosses, but that's exactly what they are. What happens in the Disney Animation Studio has definite parallels to what I work on everyday, but people don't dress up like tubes of Chapstick or a bottle of Advil to meet me at a huge convention.
The centrality of emotions and relationships in crafting the movie was something I guess I knew but never really thought about. I didn't really think about this until I was trying to come up with ways to apply the emotional resonance of story to leading my team. Every person who touches Frozen 2 knows they are working on something that could become a critical part of their audience's life. Emotion is at the core of the story. Emotion gives people a way into Anna and Elsa's story. Every element of the movie is directed towards creating the emotional tone of the story. The colors, the performances, and the music. The movie is really built around the songs. (The big premiere of Hamilton on the same streaming service tomorrow is nothing but music creating a very deep emotional bond between the story and the audience.) The big soaring moments of Into the Unknown and Show Yourself meld with the stunning visuals and we feel it. We don't just watch it or hear it. It makes us feel. I guess that's why we go to the movies in the first place. We're just chasing that moment of feeling something bigger than what we get in our everyday life. (Probably why we listen to music too.) Emotions are the key component of the human operating system. Just look at the crazy things people have been willing to do because they are afraid of COVID 19! The emotion of the Nats run to the World Series was the heart of the thrill of that magical run. Some of the strongest emotions I've experienced are in big crowds simultaneously experiencing the high of intense musical moments (although the giant disco ball being lit up at the Pink Floyd concert undoubtedly had help from the contact high).
That emotional resonance is missing from my professional life. Things would feel more meaningful and important if a few of those emotional moments could be found amidst all the details and endless bureaucracy. I really have no idea how to make that happen, but if I can find a few of those moments for my team and I, that would make life so much better for all of us. And it would help my family to clip into a few of those emotional moments as well. Definitely something to stay aware of...
