BYU animation students learned firsthand from the director of the highest grossing animated movie of all time in a lecture on campus.
Chris Buck, the co-director of Frozen who also worked on Disney's Tarzan, Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid and co-directed Sony's Surf's Up, provided in-depth detail about the making of Frozen. He also spoke about the importance of inspiring others and providing hope to those who need it.
'Animated movies,' Buck said, 'as much fun as we all have making them, and they are for the most part fun, there is still depth to the best ones that people relate to and a depth that can help people and give them hope.'
The message aligned directly with the emphasis that the BYU Center for Animation puts on creating good, clean, positive content. That emphasis has been well documented as animation students win national awards for their work year after year. The animation program's unique culture was also featured in an in-depth piece from the New York Times last year.
Buck closed by talking about the future that lies ahead for BYU animation students.
'I'm handing the torch over to you guys,' Buck said. 'You guys are going to be doing it. Don’t take that responsibility lightly because what you do is very important. And especially families – especially young kids – watch these movies, as you know, as you all did, we all did, over and over and over and over and over, until you can memorize the whole movie. But whatever message you’re putting in there really sinks in, and hopefully it will always be a good message.'
