Disney’s Big Hero 6 is an upcoming animated superhero film influenced by the Marvel comic of the same name. Set in San Fransokyo, Hero and his sidekick Baymax, who is an inflatable robot, search for the masked man who is behind a criminal plot discovered by the duo. The pair assembles a team of young super-heros to help them solve the crime and to reveal the the villain’s identity.
Big Hero 6 is a super hero film that the entire family can enjoy. The storyline is unique, heart warming and the characters kick butt! The film is directed by Don Hall (The Emperor’s New Groove, The Princess and the Frog) and Chris Williams (Mulan, Bolt). This pair were supported by a massive creative team, many of whom worked on the mega-hit film, Frozen as well as Wreck-It Ralph to bring this glorious animation to life.
I was a part of an early media day to see footage from Big Hero 6 as well as receive some behind the scenes information about the film. Here is a list of 26 fun, quick facts about Big Hero 6:
1. Director Don Hall is a fan of animation and comic books so in the course of research he came across a lesser known comic series called Big Hero 6.
2. The only similarities between the film and the comic book is the title and many of the characters names. The new story is original and set in a unique world.
3. Baymax is a personal healthcare robot programmed with 10 thousand medical procedures.
4. Baymax was created by Taodashi, Hero’s older brother.
5. Baymax’s simple design added more gravity to design decisions. Adjustments were made to ensure that Baymax was a cute, cuddly robot.
6. Casting Baymax’s voice actor took awhile until they found Scott Adsit. Scott was able to relate Baymax’s emotions and sensitivity.
7. Penguins wound up being the reference on Baymax’s simple walking and movements plus they show a lot of emotion without facial expressions with head movements.
8. Baymax’s shape is based on the underside of a Japanese bell. Rice cookers were also looked at for the shape of Baymax.
9. Animators coined the term “unanimation” to describe Baymax’s limited movements and stripped down, simplistic look.
10. Original designs had a mouth on Baymax but he looked more robotic without one.
11. Jin Kim (Character Designer Supervsior) studied his daughter’s 14 year old Japanese American friend to achieve the look of Hero.
12. Hero is a 14-year-old genus who specializes in robotics.
13. The movie is set in the town of San Fransokyo, a mix of Tokyo and San Francisco, blending eastern and western culture.
14. Animators went to Tokyo and San Francisco for architectural inspiration.
15. Visual designers looked towards Japanese illustrator and animator Tadahiro Uesugi for architecture inspiration.
16. Clothing designers visited Tokyo to study traditional kimonos as well as Anna kimonos plus street clothes to incorporate into characters costumes.
17. Ants were used as inspiration of the Microbots.
18. 20 million Microbots are on the screen at once.
19. Jin Kim (Character Designer Supervsior) studied his daughter’s 14 year old Japanese American friend to achieve the look of Hero.
20. Six departments of animation made up of 85 animators worked on character motion for Big Hero 6.
21. Denzien is a software created by Disney to combine characters and morph characters. 171 unique characters came out of Denizen.
22. Film creators turned to social workers who deal with grief and depression in teenage kids. Their stories helped guide film creators in certain emotional aspects of the story.
23. Another Disney film without parents? Yes, Hero’s parents aren’t in the film and the explanation is made early on.
24. This film took 4-5 years to develop and the bulk of that time is spend on the story.
Big Hero 6 is rated PG and is in theaters on November 7!
* We attended a media event for editorial purposes.
