From the Disney Newsreel
'Lilo & Stitch' Surf into Theaters June 21
There’s trouble in paradise when a lonely Hawaiian girl named Lilo wishes upon a star for someone to be her friend. The galaxy’s most mischievous alien answers her call in Walt Disney Pictures’ Lilo & Stitch, in theaters June 21. These new characters, the imaginative and offbeat story and the colorful artistry are combined in this feature produced at Walt Disney Feature Animation’s Florida facility.
Guiding this project from the start was the writing/directing team of Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who previously worked together on Mulan.
“We are as proud of Lilo & Stitch as any movie we have ever made,” said Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation and Theatrical Productions. “It is a completely original story that is enormous fun, emotionally involving and consistently gorgeous to watch. Chris and Dean have crafted a wonderfully entertaining movie and conveyed their enthusiasm and vision to the entire team at our Florida studio.”
Typically in creating a Disney animated feature, a story is selected, a first-draft screenplay is written and a team of story artists begin adapting the script for the visual medium as rewrites continue. Meanwhile, another team of visual development artists design the characters and set pieces and a wide variety of other artistic decisions are made concerning the production.
One of the things that makes Lilo & Stitch special is the shared vision of Chris and Dean. Not only did Chris come up with the original idea for the film, but he worked in close collaboration with Dean to write the screenplay, storyboard virtually all the scenes and dialogue and direct the film.
“We wanted to make a film that focused on the simplicity and warmth of relationships,” said Dean. “Dumbo and Bambi were our two biggest influences because of the focused story and simplistic art direction. They have a purity and nostalgia that we loved.”
“We also wanted to break some of the storytelling conventions,” added Chris. “One of the things we set out to do from the very beginning was to let go of the idea of good and evil. That’s great if you’re doing a fairy tale, but we wanted this film to have a different feel. Our characters have more shades of gray — they aren’t black and white.”
As the second feature film to be produced at the Florida facility, Lilo & Stitch was created by a team of 300 artists, animators and technicians. Helping the directors realize their artistic vision on screen were Production Designer Paul Felix, Art Director Ric Sluiter and Background Supervisor Bob Stanton. Chris’ original drawings suggested a watercolor approach and Ric quickly realized that the loose style of this medium would best capture the lush organic, overgrown and luminous feeling of the island. The watercolor medium — not used for six decades — was commonly used in the early days at Disney on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi.
“When I need to color something, I grab my watercolors and do it exactly like I did when I was in third grade,” said Chris. “Ric saw my illustrations and said, ‘why don’t we do watercolor backgrounds for the film.’ After suggesting it, he tried to retreat a bit, because he realized that it hadn’t been done since the 1940s. But once we saw the sample he produced, we knew the direction we wanted to go. Through extraordinary dedication, Ric and his team revived the whole art form. It definitely lends the film a great atmosphere and makes you feel very refreshed just watching it.”
Among the film’s other key artistic supervisors were: Arden Chan, Layout; Joe Gilland, Visual Effects; Eric Guaglione, Computer Animation; and Phillip Boyd and Christine Lawrence-Finney overseeing Clean-Up. Joe and Eric found ways to seamlessly incorporate a wide range of state-of-the-art, computer-generated elements and effects into the hand-painted, watercolor world of Lilo & Stitch. The Digital Production and Effects team modeled and animated such diverse objects as space cruisers, ray guns, surfboards, sugarcane trucks and the imposing mothership seen in the film’s opening sequence. The effects team also came up with some amazing underwater effects and even managed to show moviegoers something that no live-action film could — the inside view from the tube of a wave. Other effects in the film include lava flows, explosions and the imagery of Stitch’s stolen space cruiser going into hyper-drive and punching through the time/space continuum.
To get a feel for island life, Chris, Dean, Ric, Rob, Animator Andreas Deja and many others packed cameras, paintbrushes and sketchbooks and headed to Hawaii for a two-week study session. Days were spent at the beach and at national parks observing foliage and vegetation, lava rocks, orange sand, turquoise seascapes, vermillion mountains and island sunsets. One particular aspect they experienced in Hawaii was the concept of ’ohana — the sense of family and unity shared by the native population.
“Before we went to Hawaii, we knew about ’ohana, but we didn’t really experience the depth of it until we went there,” said Chris. “Wherever we went, there was a sense of community and family that extends far beyond the immediate family. Everyone was super friendly and that seemed to be a part of the native mentality. We needed a reason in our story for Stitch’s transformation from bad to good, and we began to think that he would be affected by ’ohana.”
“One of the great things I love about Lilo & Stitch is the notion that no matter who you are — a genetic experiment from another galaxy or a little girl who’s been left all alone in the world — you can find your place and make a family,” said Thomas. “I love the idea that you can go to this movie and have a really fun time, but at the same time, come away with a fantastic message like that.”
Lilo & Stitch is rated ‘PG.’
From Inset Text Box
“One of the central themes inside all of our animated movies is truth. And when our films are at their best, they have certain truths inside them that can come from many places.”—
Thomas Schumacher
President, Walt Disney Feature Animation and Theatrical Productions
----------------------------------------------
A Soundtrack Fit for a King
Adding a unique and entertaining element to Lilo & Stitch is a rocking soundtrack fit for a "King" — Elvis Presley, that is. Included in the film are six of Elvis' biggest hits, sung by Elvis himself, as well as new recordings of "Burning Love" performed by Wynonna and "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" performed by Swedish vocal group A*Teens.
The Lilo & Stitch soundtrack from Walt Disney Records includes all these songs plus a score by acclaimed composer Alan Silvestri. Adding to the fun and fantasy of the film, the original score is based on traditional Hawaiian hula chants. Silvestri also collaborated with renowned hula master/performer Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu on two Hawaiian themed songs.
Walt Disney Records has also released the Lilo & Stitch CD Read-Along, a 24-page multimedia storyteller that can be enjoyed on both stereos and computers. A bonus storyteller cassette featuring the original character voices is also included.
'Lilo & Stitch' Surf into Theaters June 21
There’s trouble in paradise when a lonely Hawaiian girl named Lilo wishes upon a star for someone to be her friend. The galaxy’s most mischievous alien answers her call in Walt Disney Pictures’ Lilo & Stitch, in theaters June 21. These new characters, the imaginative and offbeat story and the colorful artistry are combined in this feature produced at Walt Disney Feature Animation’s Florida facility.
Guiding this project from the start was the writing/directing team of Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who previously worked together on Mulan.
“We are as proud of Lilo & Stitch as any movie we have ever made,” said Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation and Theatrical Productions. “It is a completely original story that is enormous fun, emotionally involving and consistently gorgeous to watch. Chris and Dean have crafted a wonderfully entertaining movie and conveyed their enthusiasm and vision to the entire team at our Florida studio.”
Typically in creating a Disney animated feature, a story is selected, a first-draft screenplay is written and a team of story artists begin adapting the script for the visual medium as rewrites continue. Meanwhile, another team of visual development artists design the characters and set pieces and a wide variety of other artistic decisions are made concerning the production.
One of the things that makes Lilo & Stitch special is the shared vision of Chris and Dean. Not only did Chris come up with the original idea for the film, but he worked in close collaboration with Dean to write the screenplay, storyboard virtually all the scenes and dialogue and direct the film.
“We wanted to make a film that focused on the simplicity and warmth of relationships,” said Dean. “Dumbo and Bambi were our two biggest influences because of the focused story and simplistic art direction. They have a purity and nostalgia that we loved.”
“We also wanted to break some of the storytelling conventions,” added Chris. “One of the things we set out to do from the very beginning was to let go of the idea of good and evil. That’s great if you’re doing a fairy tale, but we wanted this film to have a different feel. Our characters have more shades of gray — they aren’t black and white.”
As the second feature film to be produced at the Florida facility, Lilo & Stitch was created by a team of 300 artists, animators and technicians. Helping the directors realize their artistic vision on screen were Production Designer Paul Felix, Art Director Ric Sluiter and Background Supervisor Bob Stanton. Chris’ original drawings suggested a watercolor approach and Ric quickly realized that the loose style of this medium would best capture the lush organic, overgrown and luminous feeling of the island. The watercolor medium — not used for six decades — was commonly used in the early days at Disney on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi.
“When I need to color something, I grab my watercolors and do it exactly like I did when I was in third grade,” said Chris. “Ric saw my illustrations and said, ‘why don’t we do watercolor backgrounds for the film.’ After suggesting it, he tried to retreat a bit, because he realized that it hadn’t been done since the 1940s. But once we saw the sample he produced, we knew the direction we wanted to go. Through extraordinary dedication, Ric and his team revived the whole art form. It definitely lends the film a great atmosphere and makes you feel very refreshed just watching it.”
Among the film’s other key artistic supervisors were: Arden Chan, Layout; Joe Gilland, Visual Effects; Eric Guaglione, Computer Animation; and Phillip Boyd and Christine Lawrence-Finney overseeing Clean-Up. Joe and Eric found ways to seamlessly incorporate a wide range of state-of-the-art, computer-generated elements and effects into the hand-painted, watercolor world of Lilo & Stitch. The Digital Production and Effects team modeled and animated such diverse objects as space cruisers, ray guns, surfboards, sugarcane trucks and the imposing mothership seen in the film’s opening sequence. The effects team also came up with some amazing underwater effects and even managed to show moviegoers something that no live-action film could — the inside view from the tube of a wave. Other effects in the film include lava flows, explosions and the imagery of Stitch’s stolen space cruiser going into hyper-drive and punching through the time/space continuum.
To get a feel for island life, Chris, Dean, Ric, Rob, Animator Andreas Deja and many others packed cameras, paintbrushes and sketchbooks and headed to Hawaii for a two-week study session. Days were spent at the beach and at national parks observing foliage and vegetation, lava rocks, orange sand, turquoise seascapes, vermillion mountains and island sunsets. One particular aspect they experienced in Hawaii was the concept of ’ohana — the sense of family and unity shared by the native population.
“Before we went to Hawaii, we knew about ’ohana, but we didn’t really experience the depth of it until we went there,” said Chris. “Wherever we went, there was a sense of community and family that extends far beyond the immediate family. Everyone was super friendly and that seemed to be a part of the native mentality. We needed a reason in our story for Stitch’s transformation from bad to good, and we began to think that he would be affected by ’ohana.”
“One of the great things I love about Lilo & Stitch is the notion that no matter who you are — a genetic experiment from another galaxy or a little girl who’s been left all alone in the world — you can find your place and make a family,” said Thomas. “I love the idea that you can go to this movie and have a really fun time, but at the same time, come away with a fantastic message like that.”
Lilo & Stitch is rated ‘PG.’
From Inset Text Box
“One of the central themes inside all of our animated movies is truth. And when our films are at their best, they have certain truths inside them that can come from many places.”—
Thomas Schumacher
President, Walt Disney Feature Animation and Theatrical Productions
----------------------------------------------
A Soundtrack Fit for a King
Adding a unique and entertaining element to Lilo & Stitch is a rocking soundtrack fit for a "King" — Elvis Presley, that is. Included in the film are six of Elvis' biggest hits, sung by Elvis himself, as well as new recordings of "Burning Love" performed by Wynonna and "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" performed by Swedish vocal group A*Teens.
The Lilo & Stitch soundtrack from Walt Disney Records includes all these songs plus a score by acclaimed composer Alan Silvestri. Adding to the fun and fantasy of the film, the original score is based on traditional Hawaiian hula chants. Silvestri also collaborated with renowned hula master/performer Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu on two Hawaiian themed songs.
Walt Disney Records has also released the Lilo & Stitch CD Read-Along, a 24-page multimedia storyteller that can be enjoyed on both stereos and computers. A bonus storyteller cassette featuring the original character voices is also included.
