BOOK REVIEW - #Frozen: The Poster Collection

About a year ago, I was given the opportunity to go to Los Angeles to go behind the scenes of the blockbuster Disney animated film Frozen. I got to meet the directors, play in the rigging lab, even voice Olaf! It was an experience I'll never forget, and it forever made Frozen hold a very special place in my heart.

When Insight Editions contacted me to check our their new book Frozen: The Poster Collection, I couldn't resist.

The book is large and absolutely gorgeous. Each poster is double sided and printed on thick, high quality paper. The images included feature memorable scenes from the film, popular characters, and--my favorite part--foreign market versions of the film posters.

The images are stunningly high quality and show details you may have missed in the theatre or at home on your television. My camera couldn't do them justice, but I was most impressed by the fact that you can see the woolen texture of Anna's skirt! Just incredible!

 The book retails for $24.99 and is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon, linked below!





Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book for review purposes. For more information, please see my Disclosure tab.

REVIEW: Frozen on Blu-Ray Combo Pack

If you haven't figured it out by now in the game here at TheTVMom.com, Frozen has quickly become my favorite Disney movie. Sorry Emperor's New Groove, scootch over! I think this is due in part to the new connection I have with the movie, having had all the neat experiences at Disney Animation Studios in February. It's my first major blogger junket, so it'll definitely have a special place in my heart always.

Some of my pictures from Disney Animation Studios!

It's funny thinking back to last December when I pretty literally dragged TV Boy to the movie theatre to see it with me. About fifteen seconds into the actual movie itself, he looked at me with his big brown eyes and said "They're singing. I don't like it." He proceeded to pick THE MOST inconvenient time in the movie to use the bathroom, which at four and a half he can't quite do alone, and I missed the "Let It Go"sequence entirely. That's right... as the mountain came up on the screen and by the first notes of the song, we were running down the aisle to the bathroom. We walked back in only to see Anna on her horse trudging through the snow. Yeah. Thanks, kiddo. (I have made up for it and then some thanks to an inexplicable need to belt out "Let It Go" at the top of my lungs, Broadway style, at least once a day since I got back from L.A. That'll teach the kid to have to pee!) But I digress.

"Hey mommy, I have to go potty!" (Image ©Disney Animation)

Indeed, even TV Boy has warmed up to Frozen (irony!) having the Blu-ray around in the house. Plus, seeing Olaf with Mommy's voice has made him love that adorable snowman even more than hearing him say "watch out for my butt!", a line that has earned high honors by my discernable little critic.

Image © Disney Animation Studios.

The Blu-ray doesn't have nearly as many special features as I was hoping it would. A handful of deleted scenes (which were definitely deleted for a reason), four versions of the "Let It Go" music video (in several languages), a quick featurette with Directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck as they talk about the long lead up to making Frozen (Walt Disney wanted to make the Snow Queen version during his lifetime and there are several concepts in the archives from his exploration of the possibility), and the adorable musical number featuring Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff along with much of the production company about "The Making of Frozen" (preview below).


Also included is the the theatrical short "Get A Horse!", which I wish I had gotten to see in 3D!

Cool movie poster we got as swag!

The Blu-ray Combo Pack includes the movie and features on a Blu-ray disc, a DVD, and a code to download a digital copy of the film, as well as add it to your Disney Movies Anywhere© app on your mobile device of choice. The film is rated PG (which I find odd for an animated film) and is available to purchase TODAY, March 18th.

Image ©Disney Home Entertainment

You can register to win a copy of Frozen on Blu-ray combo pack! Click here to enter! 

Disclosure: I was provided a free copy of the Blu-ray for review purposes as well as a trip to L.A. to cover the release of the Blu-ray. Please see my Disclosure tab for more information. 

#FrozenBluray - "Do you want to BE a snowman?" with GIVEAWAY!

I'm elated! I finally got the video of Olaf with my voice! Like I said before in the post about my experience in the voiceover studio, this was one of my favorite things on this trip (aside from the lovely L.A. weather, of course). I'm so glad I finally get to share it with everyone!

Hey, we've got about the same build:
short and round! LOL!

So, without any further ado, here is ME, Tori The TV Mom as Olaf the snowman in Frozen!

And, for fun, here's what it looked like while I actually did the voice:
Finally, I received confirmation that I get to do a GIVEAWAY of a Frozen Blu-ray Combo Pack, thanks to my friends at Disney Home Entertainment! Check out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter and don't forget to share! The giveaway will run until Midnight Eastern on the 28th! Lots of ways to enter too! (And check out the linky tool at the bottom for even MORE chances to win!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BEHIND THE SCENES with Frozen's Recording Studio!

More about my trip to L.A. last month! WOO! (When can I go back? Ohio weather is schizophrenic this week! I want palm trees again! Wahh!)

Today I'm going to share my experience in the Frozen Recording Studio with Audio Mixer Gabe Guy!

From my Instagram @TheTVMom

Yes, this was the only person who worked on the film who I had enough sense to ask for a picture with during the whole trip. He obviously happily obliged. (Side note, is EVERYONE who works at Disney good looking like this? I swear I didn't meet someone who wasn't model-level-decent looking while there! I'm thinking I don't have a chance of ever seeking employment there if that's the case! HA!)

Gabe Guy giving his presentation

This was my bread and butter, being that in high school and college, I was a huge sound geek. I did all the sound design and mixing for all our high school productions and events. In college, I was actually an Assistant Producer for a local morning radio show. This is my jam. Also... now you know why during the Oscars, my Twitter account was filled with me whining about sound issues. It's a thing with me. Seeing the huge mixing board really brought back some memories for me!

After we learned a little bit about how voiceover recording works, we were each invited into the booth to do our own recording of a snippet of Olaf's performance. Our group through was the first of the day, and no one wanted to be "that person" who volunteered to go first... so Matt Forbeck (of GeekDad.com, who kindly keeps giving me shout-outs, so hi Matt!) and I took the dive and volunteered as tributes to step up to the mic.

My voiceover buddy Matt Forbeck of GeekDad.com

When you step into the studio, you're greeted with a mic with a breath screen and a monitor displaying your characters and your lines. The lines are synched to the characters, and you're given a convenient  countdown to the cue when you begin to speak. Our experience was a little different than that of the actors, because we had the voices of the other characters already recorded for us. Most of the actors either recorded on their own or with some of their other castmates.

On the other side of the glass

By the way, the breath screen does very little once you put the headphones on. You seriously can hear every breath you take when you put on your headphones thanks to the super sensitive recording equipment. The screen just prevents those breaths from being recorded as fuzz over the actual speaking. I could hear my heart beating too. Being the first to step up to the mic is nerve wrecking!

Image courtesy Matt Forbeck. Remind me to stand up straight!

We were given the choice of recording a few lines of Olaf introducing himself to Anna and Kristoff or the opening lines to "In Summer". Being first to the mic, I did NOT want to subject a whole bunch of people to my caterwauling, so I chose Olaf's introduction. "I like warm hugs!"  Unfortunately, our videos of Olaf with our voices were delayed, so you'll just have to use your imagination for that part right now. My friend Meredith at SuburbanCouponMom.com got to do it when she went last fall for the premiere, so click the link to hear and see her talents!

For fun, I whipped up this little slideshow of some of my other blogger buddies doing their voiceover recordings (all images courtesy Disney) because the photographer was with a different group than mine for the morning, and of course I set it to "In Summer" for effect (music and lyrics copyright Disney). I know I am right there with Olaf wishing for summer weather, only I won't melt, I'll thaw.

Frozen Recording Session 2014 by Slidely Slideshow

Disclosure: I received a trip to Los Angeles in exchange for my coverage of the Frozen Blu-ray release. Please see my Disclosure tab for more information.

Behind the Scenes with FROZEN Animation Rigging

Time for another episode of "What the Heck TV Mom Was Doing in L.A. Last Month" and more coverage of Disney's Oscar winning animated film, Frozen! This time, we head to the Animation Rigging Lab under Animation TD Supervisor Greg Smith.

Welcome to Disney Animation Studios Rigging Lab!

First we sat down and were treated to a neat presentation about the way the CG animation worked and how the team for Frozen had some challenges that they actually created new software to overcome. For instance, Elsa's hair, and to a lesser extent Anna's, was rigged with individual clumps of hairs, totalling more than 400,000 individual hairs--which is about four times what a normal human being has on their heads and at least double what Rapunzel had in Tangled! This gave the animators a chance to actually "style" the characters' hair in much a similar manner as real hair. And speaking of hair, Olaf too had some "hair" issues that the animators had to deal with... he only had sticks for hair remember, but they had to be bouncy and full of life. You'll find out more about that by watching the video below (which, I promise, is only around seven minutes long).

Presentation on Anna's clothing from patterns!

Other obstacles included clothing--each female character wears full undergarments and petticoats, and they're all animated separately based on the type of fabric they are supposedly made from! Since fabric moves differently based on what type it is, that posed yet another challenge for the animators, which they touch on in the video below.

An animation rig! Dual screens, yo.

Being the geek that I am, when given the opportunity, I asked what operating systems they used for their various animation programs. Our Olaf hands-on demonstration (at the end of the video you can see a minute of my "animation" work!) was given to us on PC, and they used a Mac for their presentation (as well as I noticed on our tour that they were omnipresent on desks throughout the department)... and they responded just as I thought they might... Linux! He couldn't remember what breed of Linux system they used, but it was Linux-based. To those of you whose eyes glazed over or skipped this last paragraph entirely, I apologize, but I thought it was super interesting. It's why I asked... and immediately texted TV Dad to let him know, being that he's a Linux guy.

You can see in the picture above just how many different controls there were to move Olaf around, and how detailed his face animation can get. It was fascinating and I likely could have spent far longer in that room than anyone would have been comfortable with being that I'm not a Disney employee... but I digress.

So, here's the moment you've all been waiting for... the VIDEO! It's super short, and of course I didn't think to start taping until after the comment about Elsa's hair, but there is lots of interesting information to be gleaned from a mere seven minutes! Again, sorry for the video quality (iPad!), and your sound needs to be all the way up to hear it, but since we were in a smaller room, it's more clear than the Director/Producer interview video. Enjoy!




Finally, a funny story! So, as we were walking out after our session, one of the other bloggers asked for a photo of the three guys who gave the presentation. They giggled and asked if she needed them to pose a certain way, and she asked them to stand nicely or something, which they gladly obliged. I, being the not-too-swift-on-the-uptake gal that I am, also tried to grab them for a photo (one walked away), and jokingly, I told the two guys who remained they didn't have to pose any particular way for me. So, this is what I got:

This is why you should ALWAYS have them pose!

Yep. One smiled like a goof (what computer guy ISN'T a goof?) and one hid from me entirely. I couldn't help but crack up and told them that it was absolutely perfect for my needs. And it is. So, thank you awesome computer animator guys for indulging the silly side of my blog!

Stay tuned for more Behind the Scenes looks at Frozen here at TheTVMom.com, including (hopefully!) video of ME voicing Olaf in the recording studio! Plus, continuing coverage of my L.A. trip: The Pirate Fairy, Saving Mr. Banks, Disney Studios Lot, and the Animation Research Library and Archives!



Disclosure: I received a trip to LA in exchange for my unbiased coverage of the Frozen Blu-ray release. Please see my Disclosure tab for more information.

Q&A With Directors and Producer of FROZEN!

By now you've already heard about the Oscar wins for Frozen. And, if you're like me, you know the words to "Let It Go" by heart, and maybe you even sing them in the shower..... no? Just me? Surrrrre. Wink wink.

Image courtesy Disney.

During my trip to LA last month, one of the things we were fortunate enough to experience during our tour of Disney Animation Studios was an amazing roundtable session with Frozen's Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and Producer Peter Del Vecho. We were given the opportunity to ask them questions about Frozen and their experiences during the making of the film.

Image courtesy Disney. Do you see me setting up my TARDIS iPad to film?

Image courtesy Disney. Peter, Jennifer, and Chris.

Some of my fellow bloggers asked some great questions, like what got the movie green-lit? Were there any favorite scenes cut from the film? Did anyone get to go to Norway for research? Was it always a musical? Why didn't Kristoff get a backstory? Is there any chance of seeing Kristoff's story? Why does Oaken have an accent? My question, which comes at 10:26 in the video below, was "why was it not 'The Snow Queen', why the shift to 'Frozen'?" Also, does Chris Buck perhaps give us confirmation of Frozen on Broadway???

From my point of view on the couch!

It's a long video (nearly twenty minutes), but if you're a fan of the film, I highly suggest listening to the whole interview. Sorry about the sound quality, an iPad doesn't make for great film equipment! But, if you turn your speakers up all the way, you should be able to hear everyone pretty clearly. They are such storytellers, and their talent shines through in their thoughtful answers to our questions.




(I also apologize for the "Vertical Video Syndrome", which I attempted to fix a little bit with the title across the bottom.) 
This was an incredible, life-changing opportunity, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it! It was definitely very cool sitting at home with one of my best friends and getting to shout "I totally got to meet those people!" as these three accepted their Oscar. Once again, a huge congratulations to all my new friends at Disney Animation Studios on their phenomenal recognition! Stay tuned for more coverage of the Frozen Blu-ray, DVD, and On-Demand Release, coming everywhere March 18th! Or, if you just can't wait, you can download it now in Digital HD!
More coverage of the trip from fellow bloggers:

• Geek Mom
• Moscato Mom
• Adventures By Daddy
• Nicki's Random Musings
• Geek Dad
• Susan's Disney Family
• Our Kids Mom
• Sassy Mama in LA
• The Rock Father
• Mom's Review4U
• Mama Noticas (Spanish)
• Akron Ohio Moms
• Mama Latina Tips
• Sippy Cup Mom
• What U Talking 'Bout Willis
• MiscFinds4U
• Daily Leisure
• DAD - Dad All Day

Disclosure: I received a trip to Los Angeles in exchange for promotion of the home release of Frozen. For more information, please see my Disclosure tab.

Celebrate Frozen's Oscar Wins!

This week will be HUGE here at TheTVMom.com! In case you are living under a rock and weren't either watching TV or on the interwebs last night, Frozen won the Oscar for Best Original Song and Best Animated Feature! Here's why I find that exciting...

Do those three look familiar? They ought to... they even stood in the same order on stage at the awards!


Yes, I got to sit down for a roundtable chat with those very three people! I have the entire thing on video and that is coming later this week! I couldn't wait to share it with you before, and now with all the Oscar winning fun, I am even more excited! Check out their heartwarming Thank You Cam moment!

Here's a fun clip of the cast singing "Love is An Open Door" from the new Disney Movies Anywhere app to tide you over in the meantime until I get my video up and live!


Love Is An Open Door by Kristen Bell and Santino Fontana from Frozen - Disney Movies Anywhere - Disney Video

A very huge congratulations to all my new friends at Disney Animation Studios!!! Be sure to stay tuned for more on the Frozen Blu-ray!

Disclosure: I received a trip to Disney Animation Studios in return for blog coverage of the Frozen Blu-ray release. See Disclosure tab for more information!