Ron Clements and John Musker have just about seen it all in their 30-some years at Disney. They are largely credited — as the creative powers behind 1989’s “The Little Mermaid” — with launching Disney’s animation renaissance following a period of less-than-successful films for the studio. Today, their seventh animated collaboration, “Moana,” is the writer-directors’ first CG-animated project; Jared Bush wrote the screenplay.
“Moana” tells the tale of a head-strong teen who defies her village’s ban on sailing the ocean in order to save them from destruction. The movie has been a learning experience for the seasoned veterans.
“We had to learn a whole new pipeline,” Musker says. “The way to get from script to storyboard is the same, but once you get into the production process, it is a different thing. It’s less linear.”
In hand-drawn animation, artists go from storyboards to drawing the sets and figuring out