Internet is a huge concept that the majority of us is very much familiar with. We don’t think twice what we need to do when we speak about Facebook, Google, eMail, Amazon or eBay. We exactly know what to do and how to do it. When it comes to incorporating a concept of Internet into the animation movie and make this concept clear and entertaining, it takes a magnanimous work of the Disney production design magic crew.
In Wreck-It Ralph 2, it took quite an effort to design a look and feel of the Internet and populate it with habitats and characters. I met with several teams at Disney who are responsible for the production design magic.
Head of Animation Renato dos Anjos, Production Designer Cory Loftis, Crowds Supervisor Moe El-Ali and Production Designer Dave Komorowski as seen at the Long Lead Press Day for RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET at Walt Disney Animation Studios on July 31, 2018.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
How Do You Portray the Internet in An Animation Movie
like Ralph Breaks The Internet?
The team who were heading an effort of designing the environments in Ralph Breaks The Internet are: Matthias Lechner, Art Director; Larry Wu, Head of Environments; Ernie Petti, Technical Supervisor.
The Disney creative team shared with us a daunting task of turning the abstract concept of the Internet into a complex, thriving metropolis.
Production Design and Development for Internet Environments in Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2
Inside the Internet – Each website has several layers and its own design language. The thought for Wreck-It Ralph 2 was to build something similar to reflect the uniqueness of the online experiences. The signs are International as Internet is worldwide. Traffic lights had to be designed in a way that everybody understands what they are. “Under Construction” sign populates those sides of the Internet where usage is limited.
Transportation – Internet USERS travel via their avatars, while the NETIZENS who live inside the Internet can travel via their digital ability to move from A to B.
It took 283,839 STORYBOARDS to make Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet A Reality!
Design elements – You will see how creative the production team of the environments had to be to find a physical representation in the movie for a junk email box, spam, dangerous phishing, signage for different companies and entities, holograms and so much more!
Bad & Dark Sides of the Internet – one of the amazing parts of the movie is the Internet Deep Web where there are a lot of anonymous signs, danger signs, disguised figures walking around, where Ralph shouldn’t even be. The brilliant idea of introducing it into the movie stems from the developer team’s perspective that children need to be aware not only of how much fun and useful Internet can be. Internet is a very complex world where the good, the bad and the ugly coexist.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – Internet deep web environment visual development by Ryan Lang (Visual Development Artist)
©Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Unique Design Elements of the Online Environments – Using the signs recognizable in real life, the Environments Design Team used these building bricks to make the elements familiar in the online, Internet, world where Ralph and Vanellope found themselves.
The buildings in this animation used elements from other Disney animations, as well as duplicated elements specifically designed for Wreck-It Ralph 2.
• Amazon building is designed with mailing boxes
• Snapchat is made of quickly disappearing messages and videos
• YouTube as BuzzzTube
• eBay and auction booth as its identifier
“Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2” leaves Litwak’s video arcade behind, venturing into the uncharted, expansive and thrilling world of the internet.
Buckle Up for RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET! You are the USER here. Plan to be surprised with WOWs and OUCH’s along the way!
The “Most Nuts” Place In Ralph Breaks The Internet
Wreck It Ralph 2
Want to see HOW Disney found a unique way to portray INTERNET in this magical animation? Mark your calendars November 21, 2018 to go see RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET!
This official trailer for Wreck It Ralph 2 is my favorite. First, it gives you a quick sneak-peak into an exciting way of the Internet as if you were right inside of it. Second, this trailer brings to you one of the most EPIC and History-making events ever. What is it? ALL Disney Princesses have found their way to be in one place at one time. That has never been done in a way you are going to experience it! And this is going to be a most hilarious part in the movie. Mark my words!
Watch Out for the details in RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET! The Magic is in the Million of Details floating around!
The Disney Production Designer Team for
Populating the Internet with Characters
The Disney Production Designer team had to come up with a concept of HOW-TO populate a new animation Wreck-It Ralph 2 with characters. The characters who are human beings and characters who are the moving, living and breathing citizens of the online environment. Here’s a team who was heading this tremendously important task during the production.
Please keep in mind that there are hundreds of animators and team members who made this task possible. These are the key people who were leading the effort.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – (Pictured) Cory Loftis.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – (Pictured) Dave Komorowski.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – (Pictured) Moe El-Ali.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 – (Pictured) Renato dos Anjos.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Simplified Version of Us, Internet Users
The process of creating the animation is to come up with the rules and ranges within which animators can work and create a wide range of emotions, movements and certain impact for each scene.
Head of Animation Renato dos Anjos, Production Designer Cory Loftis, Crowds Supervisor Moe El-Ali and Production Designer Dave Komorowski as seen at the Long Lead Press Day for RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET at Walt Disney Animation Studios on July 31, 2018.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
FUN FACTS About Character Development In
Ralph Breaks The Internet
Magnitude of Characters – There are 434 characters in Wreck-It Ralph 2, 6,752 character variations plus color swings. With these numbers, it makes 500,000+ options of usage during animation process. There was a ton of production design magic infused into this version of Wreck-It Ralph.
Internet Citizens – You will meet two kinds of characters in this Disney animation of Wreck-It Ralph 2. One group is NETIZENS, the workers of the Internet. And the other group is USERS, a simplified version of humans when they use the internet. The variations for Netizens had to follow certain rules: what facial features that can be shared among them, skin colors, clothes, body and face shapes. Having the rules for all of that is a must for the production design magic to take place onscreen.
The facial expressions of the USERS are simplified and a range of emotions is limited on purpose. It gives us a notion that these characters are not human beings, they are a reflection of who we become when we use Internet.
To reflect a duality of the Internet in the movie, NETIZENS and USERS have been designed with their unique characteristics, for us to make it an easier and more clear way to navigate through the story development.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – Netizens character visual development lineup by Cory Loftis (Production Designer)
©Disney. All Rights Reserved.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – User character visual development lineup by Cory Loftis (Production Designer)
©Disney. All Rights Reserved.
KnowsMore character is so much fun! Watch the movie trailer at the top of this post to see what I mean! KnowsMore is a search engine (think Google!) The voice behind KnowsMore is Alan Tudyk who lends his gift to so many of our beloved characters! He was the voice behind King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph first movie for which he received the Annie Award. And in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Alan voices K-2SO. Zootopia was graced by Alan’s voice for Duke Weaselton, and Moana for Hei Hei Villager #3. If you watch Big Hero 6: The Series, Alan Tudyk voices Alistair Krei.
Watch this new Disney animation of Ralph Breaks The Internet where different types of Netizens will have their stories unveiled in a unique, magical way.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – KnowsMore character visual development model sheet by Cory Loftis (Production Designer)
©Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Head of Animation Renato dos Anjos, Production Designer Cory Loftis, Crowds Supervisor Moe El-Ali and Production Designer Dave Komorowski as seen at the Long Lead Press Day for RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET at Walt Disney Animation Studios on July 31, 2018.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Yesss – You see it right! Three letters “s” in the name of a very important character inside the Ralph Breaks The Internet. Yesss RUNS THE INTERNET inside this Disney animation!
• Yesss incorporates design with fresh and current look, the same trend that reflects a speed of how quickly Internet changes.
• As Yesss runs a business, she constantly monitors what is THE LATEST TREND.
• FUN FACT about Yesss is that her entire looks are changing frequently, too. Her coat consists of fiber optics.
• The data is flowing through her amazingly modern hair do’s. She was actually modeled after Cruella Deville in 101 Dalmatians.
• Pay attention to Yesss’ accessories! Her earrings and bracelets are not attached to her body – they float. They are constantly moving and data floats through them!
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET – Yesss character visual development by (L-R):
Cory Loftis (production designer)
Ami Thompson (art director, characters)
©Disney. All Rights Reserved
Head of Animation Renato dos Anjos, Production Designer Cory Loftis, Crowds Supervisor Moe El-Ali and Production Designer Dave Komorowski as seen at the Long Lead Press Day for RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET at Walt Disney Animation Studios on July 31, 2018.
Photo by Alex Kang/Disney. ©2018 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Like any other trip to Disney Studios or Pixar, I am totally overwhelmed, both emotionally and mentally, how much it takes to make a movie like RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET!
“There’s no law that says the best friends must have the same dreams.”
Watch this RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET Trailer
for some MAGIC DETAILS
Rushing Into Our Lives NOVEMBER 21, 2018
You gotta watch this Wreck-It Ralph 2 trailer to get a slightest idea what you are going to get on a Big screen of a movie theater! The concepts and art become one in the immaculately composed and implemented DISNEY animation movie. It is a steal, really, to enjoy all the latest technologies unfolding in front of our eyes.
