How Disney Movie Backgrounds Evolved Over 17 years | Movies Insider | Insider

Tech advancements have allowed Disney to go from more static environments in its earliest computer-animated movies to a living, breathing landscape in “Strange World” (2022). This new setting has a level of movement, texture, dimension, and scale that would have been unthinkable 17 years ago, when Disney made its first foray into full computer animation with “Chicken Little” (2005). Since then, Disney has expanded its tool set with each successive film to create landscapes that feel just as alive as the characters.
For the storybook setting of “Tangled” (2010), the environment artists created new tree-modeling and growth tools to help them build art-directed forests at scale. For the even more highly stylized vegetation in “Frozen” (2013), Disney developed a full vegetation tool to create not just trees but bushes, foliage, and plants, all in very specific and artistically guided shapes.
Having mastered these organic environments, the studio took on the challenge of a densely packed, lights-filled urban setting in “Big Hero 6” (2014). To handle the hundreds of thousands of lights in the city of San Fransokyo, Disney’s engineers built a powerful new renderer that could work with several million rays of light at once.
The island environments of “Moana” (2016) drove Disney to find new ways to simulate water, lava, sand, mud, and foam, improvements that laid the groundwork for more ocean simulation in “Frozen II” (2019), while the Southeast Asian settings of “Raya and the Last Dragon” (2021) pushed Disney to revamp how it creates atmospheric elements like fog and mist.
With all these tools, the team on “Strange World” had to balance creating an interactive, dynamic environment with a life of its own and staying true to the story-first principle of the classic Disney movies. To strike this careful balance, the filmmakers used a new animation pipeline and tools like camera lenses, editing, and sound design to make sure their world always supported - never distracted from - the characters’ emotional journeys.
We spoke with “Strange World” VFX supervisor Steve Goldberg, head of environments Larry Wu, animated environments supervisor Ben Fiske, and editor Sarah Reimers to find out how they did it.
For more of “Strange World”:
movies.disney.com/strange-world
www.disneyplus.com/movies/str...
00:00-0:37: Intro
0:37-2:01: Tangled
2:01-2:26: Frozen
2:26-3:23: Big Hero 6
3:23-5:16: Moana
5:16-8:04: Frozen 2
8:04-9:09: Raya and the Last Dragon
9:09-9:47: Encanto
9:47-14:17: Strange World
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How Disney Movie Backgrounds Evolved Over 17 years | Movies Insider | Insider

[@KillerTacos54]

These animation videos are my favourite on the channel! Hope you guys look at more studios beyond Disney/Pixar as well though

[@maxleroux]

I second that. They should do a video on replacement animation and George Pal's Puppetoons. That could be fun.

[@shantelleschimpf1386]

Put in this perspective, gotta give disney so much respect for staying curious and challenging themselves

[@markmcdonald6039]

Animation has definitely come a long way in 17 years, 2040 is only 17 years away maybe it will be hard to tell real from animation 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@domantasrimeika548]

Have you seen screenshots of red dead redemption 2

[@naznimation]

Photorealistic animation already exists and is basically almost there (although some advancements could be made to make it easier) this isn’t what this is. The goal for animation isn’t to make it look as real as possible, but to push style and beauty, especially environmental and lighting, emphasises a romanticised atmosphere.

[@I1p]

It already IS….

[@okman9684]

I don't want ultra realistic animations but animation with diverse physics and effects to show us different world and story telling like anime or clay animation

[@Win090949]

@@okman9684 we’re already redirecting to more stylistic animations now. Sony, Pixar, DreamWorks.

[@vice.nor.virtue]

These Insider docs on how Disney has evolved their technology over the years to perform various creative tasks are absolutely mesmerizing. The one on Disney's hair was equally fascinating.

[@Nurpus]

I have nothing but utmost respect for the environment artist of Strange Worlds. It was gorgeously conceptualized and designed. A shame the writing team was terrible... *sigh*

[@leroiloup01aj58]

I don't think it was gorgeously conceptualized but it was really well rendered yes.. but the concepts .... rather look like the ideas of an art student

[@Bustermachine]

@@leroiloup01aj58 Visually the designs were fine and suited the theme of the story. The problem is more that this sort of visual style is now extremely established, expected, and almost 'stale'. It looks like a student project because it uses design language that Pixar/Disney have used for their CG movies for decades now. Edit : There were a few moments of visual greatness. In particular the idea of leaning into pulp adventure stories. But it's not a style they maintained throughout the movie.

[@badidea932]

these movies are mainly made to appeal to younger audiences. if this isn’t ur cup of tea then shut up ab it bc it’s not made for u overly critical assholes who find numerous ways to complain about every single thing

[@contprogramare1126]

Yaaa, but I didn't like the woke part.

[@icecreamhero2375]

The movie wasn't that bad. I thought it was fine, but I wish the ending was different. I wish they found an eco-friendly alternative power source. It ended with them not using pando anymore and they gloss over the repocutions. You could argue "Its a children's film don't think that deeply about it but why even have allegories about environmentalism if you don't want people to think deeply about it." Other than that it was fine.

[@SavedByGrace_CitizenEmperor]

What an interesting coincidence! Since a few weeks I am subscribed to Disney+ and I'm now watching both the old hand-drawn, the newish semi animated and the new completely animated Disney movies. I was mostly familiar with the old hand-drawn movies, so it's a new experience for me. And yesterday I read an article about the evolution from the old classic Disney style to the great animation movies we can enjoy today. It was a step by step process. Disney took surely took its time. Instead of releasing a fully animated movie directly after the release of "Toy Story" in 1995 (Pixar), they took things slowly. It's very interesting to see how animation changed over time. And I have become a fan of modern movies like Zootopia, Inside Out and Big Hero 6. Great looking animation, so much fun to watch. I also enjoy the classics like Robin Hood, the Fox and the Hound and AristoCats. These movies can be all great all in its own way.

[@thomasi.4981]

Why are you using the word "animation" to refer to 3D models and simulated physics, to the specific exclusion of hand-drawn work? Animation is the task of animating, of bringing life and movement to visual media. Even a simple flipbook is animation, and the word animation has always referred the full array of methods for adding movement to visual media. It was never a new term just for 3D and simulated stuff. You're the first person I've ever seen to make that confusion. 2D and hand-drawn moving pictures not even just technically, but *explicitly* (to the entire world) are animation.

[@anteeru]

They seem to have their own cutting-edge software-naming department, too: "Bonsai", "Matter-Horn", "Droplet" 👌

[@PavyMac]

While Up is my favorite animated feature ever and do truly miss the older hand drawn cartoons from the 70’s and 80’s.

[@gusmaiawork]

I don't miss those, honestly of course they bring nostalgia for those who grew up watching them but 3D animation is so more relatable to us as human being living in a 3D world

[@TheStOne1]

@@gusmaiawork No.

[@gusmaiawork]

@@TheStOne1 says the 3D person

[@karolinamikesova]

Disney: Ok, we can't animate this. Animators: (Start tapping furiously on the keyboard) This program solves everything.

[@lilac3266]

encantos backgrounds are actually breathtaking

[@maxleroux]

It's good to know that the animation and visuals in films are improving. Too bad the storytelling department isn't.

[@monishagowda8928]

I highly agree to this. While movies like turning red and encanto did take a great turn, it would be great for disney to up the storytelling with complex stories too💛

[@fanaticentity]

That's subjective

[@romella_karmey]

It’s because they made this mainly for kids and adults who are into animation.. not for very critical people who find ways to complain about everything.

[@kojisan1]

@@fanaticentity No, it's not.

[@canoxplay604]

@@romella_karmey yeah really? telling kids how being gay is a normal thing through movie is the sanest idea Disney ever made

[@mariasemen5359]

Tangled team really did everything, didn't they?

[@shmookins]

Insane work. Then think about the animation work which is a whole other crazy effort on its own. This is why I love these big budget animations: I come to appreciate the actual skill and tech behind it. The actual stories and what not are just icing on the cake. And I love seeing the progress in tech every couple of years or so. You can see the better rendering and simulation and even smoother animation getting better over time. I just wish there were more in-depth technical showcases of how things are done (this video is very light and general). You can find some videos about it but not nearly enough.

[@BlenderStudy]

Amazing 3D work. Thank you for the update, Insider..!!

[@PhamNikita]

Nice emoji mate. Where did you get it?

[@henryogan2017]

Thank you so much for giving Strange world the recognition and credit it deserves. It's tragic what became of the movie's reception

[@andrewwoan]

man I wish I could make a movie like disney's one day, but it's just soooooooo much work.

[@beyondtheodyssey]

By Disney, common people understand animation. Disney introduced people to the world of animation.

[@ABC-tt7qe]

I love that they are revolutionizing 3D animation for everyone!

[@rdx_jr.047]

I have grown up with all these movies and cartoons, so it feels so nostalgic

[@EyesOfByes]

4:21 If you wanna experiment with this yourself: Edit the config files of Crysis, and specifically the vegitation physics. You can make the palm trees wiggle like rubber band

[@MiMayonGo]

The water Animation in Moana is so very detailed, they used a separate Linux Distro to make it.

[@stuntfax9004]

Keep these vids coming, suggestion: maybe do one about anime or something like that but if it is this then I am also loving it.

[@akhorr7560]

Tangled is SO GOOD and so watchable. Still the best 3D Disney princess movie to date. Yes, even better than Frozen or Moana. ✌️

[@codyohara2027]

I agree to a certain extent...I loved moana but I loved that rapunzel still had the romance like the original princesses and wasn't just female impowerment I'm all for female empowerment but tangled managed to have that as well as love and romance...nowadays like frozen 2 the males were either dumb, desperate or evil... and it's kinda sad kids are gonna grow up thinking that's all that men are

[@oliver-rc8pw]

​@@codyohara2027 What's good is that kids aren't only going to watch Frozen II... there are so many new movies that show "masculine" characters who are not portrayed negatively, like in Strange World, Sea Beast, Pinocchio, Lightyear or so many of the popular new animated kids films. Also, I'd assume most kids know men in real life and definitely wouldn't base their entire comprehension of the gender off of movies. Stop creating problems where there aren't any.

[@codyohara2027]

@oliver we shall see how right you are in a few years I do hope you're right Otherwise this will be like how disney used to queen code all the villains

[@oliver-rc8pw]

@@codyohara2027 It shows an exceptional lack of understanding of the history of queer-coded villains to seriously try to compare these two situations. And ignoring the fact that children are not going to base their entire understanding of men off movies, even in Frozen II, Kristoff and the other men in the story are strong, brave, supportive, caring, and definitely not all "dumb, desperate or evil.' So in a few years I think we'll see that the same spectrum of male representation that exists in media today will continue to be shown as they always have.

[@codyohara2027]

@@oliver-rc8pw good on you

[@CMXCX]

You are an incredible animator🔥💜, and your editing skills are truly remarkable. Your ability to take a simple animation and transform it into something truly awe-inspiring is astonishing. Your attention to detail is remarkable, and you are able to take even the most basic of animations and turn them into captivating visual masterpieces💥. Your ability to use color, shading, and other visual elements to bring your work to life is unparalleled. You have an eye for the perfect aesthetic and your passion for the work is undeniable. Your animation editing is truly awesome and cool. Lots of love 💜💜💜💜.

[@skycreeper0173]

Super freaking awesome.

[@kovelamanas9905]

so to summarise, Disney creates new softwares for everything they couldn't do before and as audience I am a fan of it.

[@bpcgos]

Like it or not, more realistic isnt always the answer... Spider Verse shows us that style is important... Now we almost have the same visual style CGI movie that seems bland ...

[@aquapyro1]

Yeah and just like how Disney used realism, other studios will take the Spider Verse style and run it to the ground.

[@oscarzoraldo4505]

lolol the intro woke up and chose violence. I remember seeing chicken little in theaters 😂

[@disneyanddaysout]

Wow, such an interesting video!

[@BayuAH]

So, Pixar is now owned by Disney. Why nobody talk about how it affects their animation development? Or maybe they never joining their technology whatsoever?

[@aquapyro1]

Because most of the time, the engines are built on the culture of the company. A Pixar engine is going to work best for Pixar because they made it for themselves and vice versa. Very rarely do they really interact with each other. The only time they did recently was with the Good Dinosaur when Pixar couldn’t figure out how to tell the story

[@EM-cs7jw]

Steve Jobs made it very clear before he sold Pixar in like 2003 that he did not want Disney to interfere with Pixar’s unique structure where tech and artistry go hand in hand. Disney has learned a lot from Pixar for sure in animation and culture

[@ArtmorProduction]

What a great leap on Disney animation, i am wondering what is their Machine Specs

[@fadhlyshirazy]

Thank you for reminding me about Chicken Little

[@izaranet-gg]

Beautiful 🎉

[@aztronomy7457]

I still think the hand drawn Disney movies are the best ❤

[@mochammadkevinsudrajad8809]

Yeah u have a technology but still the story make wonderful to watch, this day dream works win because push n boots and yeah 2.5D for action scene thats really cool to watch

[@EstinReinsch]

8:40 libarry. thats cute.

[@velvetypotato711]

The fact that encanto is the shortest section is ludicrous

[@theworldisfat]

I really truly don’t understand why we like creating things to be as close to realistic as possible. It’s sad, artistry has almost if not already died😢. Definitely a cool experience you get watching the newer animated films but nothing like the feeling and experience you get from a character that was drawn by an artist. Not to mention being able to distinguish fake from reality, not gonna be very cool when you can’t tell in my opinion.

[@aquapyro1]

Walt Disney Animation Studios is a very overlooked film studio because for a long time after the 90s they were overshadowed by Pixar, DreamWorks, and Sony. Glad that people are starting to realize that their legacy is very unique and important

[@young_love_official]

realy dude?

[@pixyelph]

I remember seeing that overhead shot in frozen 2 where elsa is standing on the beach for the first time when the trailer first came out. I thought it was an IRL shot and got confused, I was like wait I thought this was the frozen 2 trailer?? then it switched to elsa and I was like HOLD UP I GOTTA REWIND THAT LOOKED SO REAL

[@HigherQualityUploads]

Puss in Boots 2, Spider-Verse, and most anime are far more interesting to look at. If we wanted to see realistic landscapes we'd watch a live action film.

[@nw827]

How are you gonna say strange World is realistic

[@Chris97ddxd]

❤

[@jefflloyd2803]

We're not crediting PIXAR for any of their work? cool cool cool

[@Seibafan006]

Hey, ever heard of Disney's Dinosaur, that was the actual first 3D animated movie by them.

[@zoaero]

The animations great but if only the new animations plot that good

[@Elfengarde.]

It's sad that animation has become soo good but the quality of the story keeps decreasing

[@romella_karmey]

It’s always the happily ever after cliche. We want something out of the box like animated Game of Thrones or Happy Tree Friends lmao

[@gusmaiawork]

since the artists appearing in the video are all label as people who worked in Strange World (Disney most recen movie to date) I assume that the artists who worked on all of the other movies shown here were all fired/left? 😨

[@JayJay-nv2fs]

They talk about a LOT of new things that came with Strange World...and yet Disney did zero marketing for it.

[@emanfey]

All credit goes to PIXAR

[@xanzuls]

Disney isn't the only studio in the world inventing tools anymore, make videos about other studios who are making ground breaking tools like Weta FX. Not to mention the tools they are developing now already exist in many commercially available software or have already been made by other studios, nothing special anymore.

[@astrorobinson3716]

Disney is tanking.

[@liamtoh6381]

I clicked this video and halfway the video I paused and watched a one hour movie (Strange World) then finished this video.

[@eyeofthepyramid2596]

Well people hate it because of the woke controversy.

[@jyotishmitakalita768]

Why do I have to do to get a job as a video anchor like her in Insider?

[@Sleeper____1472]

Strange Worlds had so much effort put into it, and then nobody watched it.

[@gmajorflatfive]

did you know moana is Hawaiian for ocean

[@jasonspurley492]

😁

[@arhamtarin5398]

No mention on NEMO 😢

[@mart5610]

Thats Pixar

[@breadchito]

While all the CGI work and effects are stunning and I commend their artists for their work. I can't help but feel a sense of artistry has been lost with Disney abandoning hand drawn animation. It feels like it's more about running software and engines to simulate rather than encapsulate a feeling.

[@gusmaiawork]

I feel like you haven't watched any recent Disney movies or are not familiar with how animation software and creative process works These simulation are just tools to help the artists express themselves and as a 3D animator I can tell you that Disney has the best pipeline to do so Take a look at how any 3d character from recent movies looks and how it's animated and think if they look simulated or if they lack expression

[@xanzuls]

3D animation is basically the same process as stop motion but inside the computer, and all the characters are made with sculpting like real clay but in computer. The softwares are just tools to get to the artist's vision, nothing is lost, the art is still there, can't say the same about the stories. I can understand your perspective because the general public think CGI is just made by computer and you just have to press some buttons and it's gonna spit out the result, that's never ever happens. All 3D animated movies take years of work and innovation and problem solving and artistry. CGI isn't made by computers.

[@kKevinGuzman]

Chicken little might not have the best animation but it's still a great movie

[@This_Guy-]

disney should have marketed strange world it would not have been a disaster caz its better than buzz light year .

[@greengiant5092]

I hope they don;t see the failure of Strange World as a sign that people don't want these incredible effects.

[@gaemlinsidoharthi]

“A new software”? That doesn’t parse. Software isn’t a single thing. A piece of software is. A software package or software application is. I hope you wouldn’t say, “I bought a hardware at the store”, or “I put a luggage on the scales”. You don’t learn “a mathematics” or “a physics”. “Software” is that type of word that refers to its many parts.

[@karanpandey9565]

Even Insiders do mistakes, can you find that

[@kaleikalei3495]

never heard of the strange world movie and this video made me think that it's one of disney's best, after looking up the imdb rating, well what can i say, they're wasting such skills..

[@Marcy53Volkswagen]

devolution writing team

[@markedis5902]

I still prefer the old hand drawns

[@minhazrahman7023]

They are getting better at animation but worse is plot and cinematography

[@cuffinosanjuan]

agree, their recent movie raya and the last dragon have top tier animation but the plot is mid

[@lilenwasnothere6867]

i feel like they're very hit or miss lately, especially in the last two to three years. soul, luca, encanto and turning red were all great (in my opinion), but raya, lightyear and strange world just feel... generic, i guess? i think it truly shows when people put their all into the movies they are making and when they just see it as something they have to do.

[@Ninja_4561]

goofy ahh red arrows pointing to nothing 💀

[@0riginal_panda_child249]

2D animation is still best

[@nathonso_edits]

I feel like Disney has gone too far into realistic animation, their animated films now look identical to their 'live action' remakes and it's all become very stale. Sony and dreamworks are embracing 2d mixed with 3d and more interesting styles instead of 'hyper realistic' and it's so refreshing compared to all the recent Disney stuff

[@lilac3266]

disagree the environments look realistic but they still have that bit of vibrant stylization to distinguish it. I don’t see why people want disney to try do the Sony style because that’s a different art style entirely and then ppl will complain it’s being over saturated just like how every other studio stole disneys art style and now ppl are annoyed w it

[@kakungcu]

Disney animations

[@thesamuraix881]

Cool landscape, but how about making the plot decent

[@natalieeis9284]

Yet, the old classics have more soul and are by far the better films. Give me the Jungle Book any day over this generic bore.

[@lazearound._6777]

the animation did get better, I hope the story didn’t get worse

[@eyeofthepyramid2596]

It git worse

[@itsalexvargas]

tea

[@marcuscarana9240]

Their storytelling hasn't improved much though. Dreamworks still surpasses them when it comes to storytelling and have good cgi of their own. You can have the best visuals in the world, but without a captivating story or a plot that brings something new to the table, it all just feels hollow.

[@guldenaydin9918]

🌈💝.

[@josuecastillo2278]

I would love for Inisder Spanish to have that video in Spanish so that I can understand it in Spanish, not in English 😶😭😐

[@johnnydied9563]

11 th

[@earthchabuu51]

Meanwhile Disney live action//

[@thean1896]

Animation evolving The story also evolving....backward

[@spookynutsack]

disney needs to rehire their writer

[@BenGrimm977]

the environments look good, but the characters all look boring

[@lilac3266]

me when I lie

[@amseducation2353]

Anime movies are always better

[@oaktadopbok665]

I'm not impressed.

[@CreeperBoyGamingyt]

Strange world is kind of a bad movie

[@davidthirugnanakumar7888]

Nah,i mean it's okay, kinda short but lot of creativity and the intergenerational story is good, just simple,needed more time

[@dracodracarys2339]

they traded animation quality for storytelling quality lmao. all they're churning out these days are polished turds

[@ubacow7109]

Yet Pixar can't go back to making 2D movies, honestly kinda tired of all the CG movies

[@kyreecarr]

But pixar never did 2D, it's been 3D since the beginning with a few exceptions

[@dedrox3d491]

its all bs

[@joshuagonzalez4183]

yeah… I’ll rather watched chicken little than seeing the awfulness of strange world…

[@Langkowski]

The effects serves the story, and the story serves Disney's woke ideology.

[@ericevangelista6568]

The WOKENESS has been giving Disney a lot to trouble. Please go back to your former un-woke status, Disney.

[@lyralei1223]

Strange world was visually ashtonishing.. but the story ruined it

[@meh7863]

Yeah, it looks visually amazing, and with an actual good story, It would have had some good potential☹️ its sad how the storytelling and writing isn't going well

[@TheCynicalOptimist88]

Strange world had great visuals but incredibly bad plot and writing... One of the worst written movies I've ever seen

[@shawnfoogle920]

Now Disneys Woke asf

[@monb3305]

0 correlation to the video

[@shawnfoogle920]

@@monb3305 facts are facts

[@davidthirugnanakumar7888]

@@shawnfoogle920 no facts

[@jik3905]

God bless!❤ Prayer here when wanted love! Jesus Christ saves! Repent and trust Him love! He wants a relationship with you!dont take that for granted, God wants a relationship with you❤

[@rodrigolefever2426]

I love satan

[@jik3905]

@@rodrigolefever2426 God still wants you tho❤️

[@MiracleMirror117]

I absolutely hated "strange world" , the setup was so boring with the inclusion of a black gay teen, felt very much forced.

[@celozzip]

it's all just programming now isn't it... shame...

[@davidthirugnanakumar7888]

???????

[@lilac3266]

it’s still people making it??

[@thedaily30]

I wonder which year did they decided to needlessly add LGBTQ propaganda into their programming 🤔

[@paperglu6640]

Propaganda is a funny word

[@davidthirugnanakumar7888]

Ok snowflake @A. Caine

[@kyreecarr]

They had straight relationships for 60 straight movies 1 LGBTQ relationship is not a big deal

[@lilenwasnothere6867]

i hope i live to see the day they have a gay couple as the main characters so i can see y'all kick and cry about it