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Disney’s “At Home With Olaf” is the virtual warm hug we all need right now. For the past several weeks, we’ve been seeing what Olaf has been up to while all of us stay at home. We have all of the adorable installations of this series in one place for you! Grab some carrots, sit back, and relax! Have a look at this incredible series which gives us a glimpse into the life of our favorite snowman, Olaf.
Disney Animation has still managed to provide us with the most wonderful bit of Disney magic while we stay at home during this uncertain time: “At Home With Olaf.”
This series of shorts gives us a glimpse into a day in the life of Olaf, the lovable snowman from Frozen and Frozen 2.
What a treat! We have all twenty one of these adorable shorts in one place for you! Ready?
“At Home With Olaf” is one of the many Disney Magic Moments being shared to give us a “warm hug” and help us bring some of the Disney magic into our days at home.
Perhaps the most intriguing thing about this series is that it was created completely from home! A team of artists and imagineers have been busy animating the shorts from their own homes.
Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, even recorded the dialogue separately from his home. The result: a production team pieces it all together for a series of amazing shorts that are sure to make you smile.
Gad shared that he was approached by Frozen director Jennifer Lee and Osmond to record some dialogue for the shorts from his home. The staff behind the project even safely delivered and helped him set up the appropriate sound equipment to get the best-quality sound while recording.
“My friends Jennifer Lee & Hyrum Osmond called me up one day & asked me if I would be able 2 record some dialogue & sounds as Olaf from home,” Gad said on Twitter.
“These little shorts done from home by Hyrum & the Disney Animation team are so charming & hopefully provide a smile during these scary times.”
Disney animation director Hyrum Osmond, who worked as the original supervising animator of Olaf for Frozen and was head of animation on Disney’s Moana, took the lead on the project.
Osmond first pitched the series to Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee and Walt Disney Animation Studios President Clark Spencer several months ago.
In an interview with D23, Osmond said “I really wanted to focus on just him. He’s so full of wonder. Let’s see him experience the world with that wonder.”
Osmond was in the early stages of developing the series when the coronavirus pandemic hit and the United States began to shut down. Osmond realized that Disney fans needed Olaf “now more than ever!”
He couldn’t have been more right!
“It really is something that an entire team is involved with, giving it their all,” Osmond emphasizes. “So many people are putting in the hours and really putting in the love to make these as sweet and fun as possible.”
Teams from across Disney Animation came together (while apart) to make it possible for At Home With Olaf to be created safely from the each of their homes.
The Disney Animation Technology team made it possible for the artists to animate from home. A lighting team lended their expertise to each and every shot.
Josh Gad voiced each short from his home.
This set-up allows the production team to replicate with Gad the recording process which would normally happen in a studio. Of the process, Osmond stated:
“We get on a conference call with him and he’s hooked up with his own microphone in his house. He’ll read some lines and then we’ll give him notes. We don’t really know exactly what we have until he emails us the audio clips that he’s recorded, which makes it interesting—but it works!”
There are twenty one different installations of the “At Home With Olaf” series, and each is more adorable than the last!
It is a lot of fun to see what Olaf is up to when he is not saving Arendelle with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven.
As many of us are adjusting to working from home, the Disney Animators have also had to adjust to producing these films at home, and were not exempt from encountering some of the same problems we have!
In order to create the series, Osmond used two small laptops with screens together. These screens are much smaller than what he was used to using in the studio.
They also experienced the frustrating problem of internet connectivity and losing that connection at the most inopportune times!
Perhaps one of the most heartwarming things to come out of Osmond’s working at home was the ability to involve his own family in the process.
His wife and four children were able to provide encouragement, feedback, and even suggestions for improvement.
“It’s a pretty fun back-and-forth with them,” Osmond says of working with his family. “Getting their reactions has just been golden.”
This hasn’t been Josh Gad’s only at home project during the coronavirus pandemic either! He has also been busy reading children’s books on Twitter.
All good things, all good things! I loved each and every one of these shorts. It is so hard to choose just one! I absolutely loved “Pink Lemonade,” “Hide and Seek,” and “Fun with Snow.”
However, my favorite was “Birthday.” Watching Olaf search for his present and then deciding the box was just right had me giggling for days!
What a beautiful gift Josh Gad and Disney animation have given us with these shorts. It was exactly the warm hug we all needed to help us during this uncertain time.
Which animated short in “At Home With Olaf” is your favorite? Let us know on Kenny the Pirate’s Facebook Page, or join our crew and continue the discussion.
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