The toughest time of production is a year out
when all the balls are up in the air, and the balls start falling.
I was confused.
I felt like I had to take notes to understand what was going on.
Maybe we have one song left to write, or maybe we have five.
It's still a question of whether this movie works.
[Buck] "Show Yourself" still needs a lot of work.
We'd been playing with this voice, and we all have different opinions.
I feel like this whole thing is falling apart.
[Buck] The next screening keeps getting closer
but we still have yet to figure out "Show Yourself."
You know, we can't stop the production train. We have to keep going.
So there's a lot of other work that needs to be done.
Other songs that need some attention.
We need to get things into production.
A lot of times, getting songs in production
will feed the beast, as we call it, the beast of production.
We have only about 20% of the movie animated.
So this is an exciting time, but it's also scary because you're running out of time.
[Anderson-Lopez] In the first movie,
we did not get to write a song for Kristoff,
and it's going to be our great shame that we carry with us
for the rest of our lives, but we've tried to make it right with Frozen II
by giving Kristoff an epic song.
The first song we wrote for Kristoff was the proposal.
[Kristoff] And I guess I--
-I wanted to ask you something. -[Anna] Uh-huh.
[Anna] Yes! I mean, uh, okay.
We wrote this frenetic number for him called "Get This Right."
[Kristoff] ♪ I wanna get this right, baby ♪
♪ I wanna thrill you In the way you deserve ♪
♪ I wanna blow your mind, darling ♪
♪ I'm just having trouble Gettin' up the nerve ♪
♪ I wanna give you what you want I wanna be the man you choose ♪
♪ I wanna sweep you off your feet Without puking on your shoes ♪
♪ Maybe I'll do better in the candlelight I gotta get this right ♪
No, no, no, stay right where you are. I'll put out the fire, my love.
[Lopez] Eventually, the song fell to the floor.
I was like, "Oh, that's such a bummer" because it was such a fun song.
And they're like, "But don't worry. We're gonna write you an emotional rock ballad."
[Anderson-Lopez] ♪ Again you're gone-- ♪
Right, that's not on here. This is just--
That was just like, "Okay, when I forget what that is,
-I have this here, and I go back to it." -Well, that definitely triggered
the spark point where I-- a whole lyric sort of poured out.
Then Kristen went into that room over there and just came back out
-with this whole thing. -The first line of...
♪ Again you're gone ♪
[chuckles]
♪ Off on a distant path than mine ♪
♪ Or a different path than mine ♪
...and suddenly because of that riff, I was able to hear the whole thing,
and we thought this was our moment to write the '80s power ballad
we've always wanted to write.
You know, the kind that you sing alone at three in the morning
-after you've had a breakup kind of song. -Or in seventh grade,
you dance with the girl with your arms fully extended on her shoulders like that.
This one was complicated
because every different section of it is in a different key,
which is a technique from the '80s that we wanted to use
because it makes him feel like he's kind of--
He keeps going deeper and deeper, feeling things more and more.
I'm so excited, and I can't wait to give them a glimpse of where we're going.
[line ringing]
-Hello. -Hi.
-[Del Vecho] Hello. -[Lee] Hi.
We were just getting into some stuff about "Show Yourself", but I wondered--
So if we just wanna start with Kristoff and then we can--
Because that's the easier one.
So, where are you guys this morning on that?
[Anderson-Lopez] We started writing a Kristoff song,
which may or may not be in the right direction,
but we started listening to
all of our favorite male, big feelings kind of songs.
And we were like, "Oh, wouldn't it be so fun
to take this guy who's basically like a Nick Offerman character
and have him have these big feelings, and do we go into '80s video?"
We showed him "Eternal Flame"
where, like, heads are floating in the sky and blurring into somebody else's head.
[Lee] I think we go for it.
I think the key, though, is that it has to be sincere.
We're not laughing at him, but we all know that feeling.
-You're in your car going... [sobbing] -[team laughing]
We should play you the song, and you have to tell us if we've gone too campy.
Okay. [laughs]
[melody playing on piano]
♪ Again you're gone ♪
♪ Off on a different path than mine ♪
♪ I'm left behind ♪
♪ Wondering if I should follow ♪
♪ You had to go ♪
♪ And of course it's always fine ♪
♪ I probably could catch up With you tomorrow ♪
♪ But is this what it feels like To be growing apart? ♪
♪ When did I become the one ♪
♪ Who's always chasing your heart? ♪
♪ Something... ♪
-I'm not sure exactly the rest of it. -Yeah and then we're--
[cheering, applause]
[laughing]
-It's like... -[Del Vecho] But I kinda liked it.
-It didn't hit me as too campy at all. -[Lee] No.
It hit me as, like, "We all know those songs!"
Nothing gets you like those.
[Del Vecho] Because I can feel what he's singing about.
Yes. Thank you. It's like a dream.
-[Del Vecho] Great. Yay! -[Buck] Fantastic.
[Lee] Thanks.
[Buck] I love the, sort of, '80s power ballad.
Feels right for Kristoff.
Our challenge now is to board something
that is as funny as their lyrics are, but also sincere.
[Lee] Once we have a demo that we're all happy with, it's time to get the actor in.
I cannot wait for Jonathan to come in.
I think we have Kristen coming in, and Josh first,
but they're coming for dialogue, so that will be fun.
[Bell] In animation, you write a script, and then you record it,
and then they go back to the drawing board,
and it changes dramatically.
-I'm gonna start at 14, okay? -[Lee] Yeah. Let's do that.
And you've been running, running, and finally stop.
[woman] Sequence 270, slate 2019, take one.
Lieutenant Mattias, let me through.
[Buck] We cannot let you break the dam.
It's the only way to free the forest.
The changes are necessary but it is difficult to keep up with.
Over the course of three and a half years, I'll go in every six weeks, I guess.
Sometimes I'll record for eight hours, sometimes for two.
[Buck] But we have sworn to protect Arendelle at all costs.
Even if it costs Arendelle its future?
-I love it. Yeah. -Good. I love it.
-Now this party comes to life. -[Del Vecho] Chris and Jenn,
we're gonna switch over to Josh dialogue.
[Lee] Oh, wait. We're doing Josh dialogue.
-[woman] How long do we have to get? -[Lee] Two lines.
-Jenn. -[Bell] Thanks, guys.
-Bye. -[Del Vecho] Thank you. Bye, Kristen.
-[woman] Bye. -I'll walk out with you just
-to make sure your car is still there. -[Bell] Okay, good. Thanks.
Wait, wait, wait. Before--
She has not seen the trailer.
-So can we show her the trailer? -[Lee] You haven't seen the--
-[Gad] 'Cause I want to see her reaction. -[woman] You need to see the trailer.
-[Lee] What? It's so good. -[Gad] Come here. Come here.
-Come here. -And we're...
[Del Vecho] This will go out with Captain Marvel.
It'll be this trailer?
-[Del Vecho] Yes. -Yes.
[Del Vecho] It's also going to be dropped online,
I think starting next week. So just--
-Hot drop online next week? -[Del Vecho] Yeah.
[rumbling]
[waves crashing]
-That's animation? -Yep.
[sighs]
[Elsa] Okay.
[grunts]
[Elsa] Whoa!
[angelic voice singing]
[angelic singing continues]
[Anna grunts]
Feels so adult. Like it should be rated R or something.
-[all laughing] -Doesn't it?
-Game of Froze. Isn't that incredible? -Froze. Oh, my gosh.
[all laughing]
When we first saw the trailer, it was exciting but also daunting to us
because we hadn't actually animated anything on the movie yet
other than some test scenes.
We still have a whole movie to make.
Right now, we're probably a month from our next screening.
Our screening's the end of March, and we're trying out new songs.
We have a Kristoff song that we're recording on Monday with Jonathan Groff.
It's a great song but it's untried.
It'll be the first time this song is in the screening.
-[whistling] What's up? -[woman] What's up?
I have many beverages as you can see.
-You just take it, and I'll follow you. -[Groff] You feel what you feel.
-Okay. -Okay, ready?
[Groff clears throat]
-You guys ready? -[man] Yeah, okay.
[sighs]
♪ Reindeers are better than people ♪
♪ Sven, why is love so hard? ♪
♪ You feel what you feel ♪
♪ And those feelings are real ♪
♪ Come on, Kristoff ♪
♪ Let down your guard ♪
Everyone always came up to me and said that they were surprised
that I didn't have a song in the first Frozen movie.
I always felt like "Reindeers Are Better Than People"
was a song, and I was very proud of that song.
-All right, we're gonna do one more. -Let's do one more.
Actually, for this one, can we make "Come on, Kristoff"
and "Let down your guard" two different ideas?
-"Come on, Kristoff." -[Groff] Sure.
[both] ♪ Let down your guard ♪
Sure. [clears throat]
The '80s ballad makes perfect sense to me.
It's the genius of Bobby and Kristen and Jenn and Chris
for thinking up the whole thing.
♪ Who am I ♪
♪ If I'm not your guy? ♪
♪ Where am I if we're not together? ♪
♪ Forever ♪
♪ Now I know you're my true North ♪
♪ 'Cause I am lost in the woods ♪
[Groff] You know, in the first movie, "Let It Go" gave permission
to all the girls to shoot icicles from their wrists,
but where was that moment for the little boys out there?
♪ So I'm lost in the woods ♪
♪ Wondering if you still care ♪
♪ But I'll wait ♪
[Anderson-Lopez] Okay, great.
I think we're good. So good.
-[Anderson-Lopez] Great job. -[Lopez] So good.
"Lost in the Woods" is a big '80s ballad with huge amounts of stacked harmonies.
Yeah, it's got like 18 stacked reindeer harmonies.
Okay, so now we're gonna comp together the choruses
that you're gonna be harmonizing to.
-Okay. -[Anderson-Lopez] So take a break.
-Come on in if you want. -[Lopez] You're gonna take--
Basically, what happens is, I come in to sing the song
and then Bobby and Kristen go back through all of the takes
and they pick the best lines, the best notes, the best words,
the most emotional interpretation, the best sounding interpretation,
and, sort of, cut the whole song together
to make it the best version it can possibly be.
I like "I don't know what path you're on."
-I feel like he could sing to that. -The only thing-- He flips "home".
-Flips? -He flips...
♪ Home ♪
-[Lopez] Oh. -[Buck] We put 24 up there.
Sorry we're talking about you like you're not here.
-[laughs] -I don't mind. It's so educational.
[Anderson-Lopez laughs]
All right. Ready?
-Let's do it. [clears throat] -[Buck] Take four.
[Groff on speakers] ♪ Right is left When you're gone ♪
♪ I'm the one who sees you home ♪
♪ But now I'm lost in the woods ♪
♪ And I don't know what-- ♪
[Buck] Keyword-- We got it. So...
I think we got it. So now we can go...
♪ And I don't know what path you are on ♪
-Okay. Great. -[Lopez] Right.
-Roll your shoulders back. -Do my squat.
-[Anderson-Lopez] Do your squat. -[man] Which is a good squat.
[Anderson-Lopez laughs]
♪ And I don't know ♪
-Really nice. That's good tone. -[Lopez] Hit it.
♪ But now I'm lost in the woods ♪
♪ And I don't know what path you are on ♪
That was great. Really good take.
-[Lopez] Yeah. -[man] Yeah.
[Anderson-Lopez] Should we call it?
-Should we call the session? -[Groff] Let's call it!
-Yes, Jonathan Groff! Whoo-hoo! -[man] Whoo-hoo!
-Yay! -[man] Whoo-hoo!
[Smith] So this is a quick check-in.
You had that pitch. I roughed it out. I went back to some old drawings.
Did it make sense?
-Let's watch it. Let's watch it. -[Lee] Okay.
I showed a pass of "Show Yourself" based on some of the notes.
The art department was in the room along with Chris and Jenn.
I'm the production designer of Frozen II
and I was also the production designer on Frozen I.
A production designer is responsible for everything visual
that you see on the screen.
That would mean costuming, color palette, lighting. All these things.
[Elsa] ♪ I'll always feel alone ♪
♪ Until I accept you ♪
-[angelic voice] ♪ Ah ♪ -[Elsa] ♪ Ah ♪
[Smith] It was really interesting to see the reactions of people
who haven't seen it from the beginning and get fresh eyes on it.
I have to say I'm a little confused. It's so dense.
I'm just trying to find something really linear that--
Like, I keep going back to "Let It Go."
-Yep. -So linear.
Right. So then that's probably where you could...
Sometimes meetings like that can get a little intense.
-Every time I see the reflection... -Yeah.
To me, I see when she sees that, that's her complete self.
-No. That's the-- -Yeah, but-- You know what I mean?
She's seeing the reflection of the woman she's gonna be.
My only concern of that is the audience reading that.
We've been following this voice,
and then we get here, and we see that it's an actual person.
And then we have to communicate that not only is it a person,
-but it's actually... herself. -It's her.
And trying to do that all in the confines of a song and all, it's...
I think it's a lot simpler than we're making it.
[Smith] Artistically, it can feel a little bit like I screwed it up,
or I'm not the right person for it.
This is the culmination of Elsa's whole arc.
It spans both movies.
And so, I think we'll be tweaking it for a long time to come.
[female security]
[Lee]
-Happy Tuesday. [laughs] -[laughs]
I didn't think about that.
[both laughing]
[security] I'll see ya.
[Lee] One of the hardest roles here is being the writer.
You have to fit the writing in on top of everything else.
So I found my routine became getting up at quarter to five,
getting the coffee going, and then writing from five to seven.
Getting my daughter to school. Going through the day.
Going home. Dinner. Go back to it at night.
And then doing marathons
from about 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 on Saturday and Sunday,
and just doing that for months.
[Buck] I call this the "Groundhog Day" of production.
Every day is the same.
And it is just going from one place to the next,
and one department to the next.
You work with all the story artists,
editorial, layout, character animation...
technical animation...
effects...
and then that's lighting.
We usually eat lunch while we're working.
'Cause you try to be fresh for everyone,
and make sure that you're making the right notes at the right time.
-We're gonna do-- -Yes.
Can we do it where it's not on their faces so there's no dialogue?
So then-- 'Cause I don't know what the dialogue would be.
-[Del Vecho] Oh. -[Lee] You know what I mean?
I'm still writing.
Every scene requires almost the same amount of intense work.
Everything becomes clearer and clearer every day,
but there's no shortcut.
-Thank you, Jeff. -I loved it. Thanks, guys.
[chattering]
I am headed-- Excuse us. I'm headed to issuing.
Issuing is when you get assigned a shot.
We all go in the room and sit,
and we watch the sequence as a whole together with the directors.
That's your chance to ask any questions that you have about the shot.
-[woman] We have a shot from Malerie. -[Lee] Hey, Malerie.
-Hello. -You get this shot.
Woo.
[Lee] All right. So let's watch it. Here we go.
[Kristoff] ♪ ...path 'Cause you are mine ♪
♪ You are mine ♪
♪ Until then ♪
-♪ I'm lost in the woods ♪ -♪ Lost in the woods ♪
♪ In the woods Lost in the woods ♪
[Lee] Well, that's why.
[Kristoff] ♪ I'm lost in the woods ♪
Oh, my God.
[Kristoff] ♪ Lost in the woods ♪
-Well. -[Sklar] Is that...
I hope you get another shot after this. No.
-[Buck laughs] -We'll see.
[Sklar] It's the number of reindeer.
-It's also the transition out of this. -No. Yeah.
So it's figuring out what that choreography is going to be
and how we get in and out of it.
Is it okay if I throw a thought out there?
-Maybe he could be walking? -That was awkward.
Um, only because then it'll make the transition
-into him riding more natural. -Yeah.
[Walters] So it's almost like he's doing, like, a--
Just like a walk in place, like...
Like, I'm just gonna keep going until I find her.
You know, like, that kind of a walk.
I kind of really like that 'cause I think it helps
to give this sense of a power and an energy
-that can lead into the riding. -[Sklar] So he's--
[Lee] Because part of me feels like,
do you wanna do something abstract where you feel he's gotta move?
And then you just, almost like, feel the rein-- the antlers come in.
-Almost like a prop, -Yeah.
but then he's riding-- Do you know what I mean?
It's almost like Sven comes and picks him up
-and takes him away. Like-- -[Lee] Yeah.
I would love to see you try to do this. Keep with this pace, with him singing.
♪ Lost in the woods ♪
-[Walters] Yeah. Yeah. -You've got an energy.
-[Buck] Yeah. Awesome. -Awesome.
-Thanks, Malerie. -All right. Thanks, you guys.
-Okay. -Okay.
[woman] Thank you. All right. I think we're good.
-Thank you. -[man] Cool.
-That worked out. -Yeah.
[chattering]
This is me printing out my daughter's math homework. [laughs]
She's 15. She's a sophomore in high school,
and our printer broke at home,
and she has a huge math exam, and we have--
and so, I got sent the link to print out all the homework so she would--
So I have to fit that in [chuckles] during the day.
[laughs]
I am all a champion of single mothers
'cause they are the hardest workers in the world.
And so for me with my daughter, I am honest and prioritize,
and she's in the dialogue with me.
I have an incredible partner who's a part of it.
I have great support. So, I can't act like I'm carrying it alone.
But it's just, I think, um...
women can do that, but they have a right to prioritize
and to ask for help and to not have to be Superwoman.
-You walking out? -She's walking out with you.
-Yeah. You're my peaches. -Always.
-I'll stay here and work hard. Bye, guys. -[laughs]
-[Lee sighs] -[Hudson] Should we just go have martinis?
[Lee] You don't have to tell me twice.
We're really working hard.
These are the 14-hour days, six days a week.
They'll go to seven for a couple of weeks at the end.
We try not to, but we always end up there. Always.
[Lee]
[Hudson]
I am a character technical director.
I've been in charge of creating all the rigs for the reindeers on Frozen II.
And we create all these bones and muscles and stuff,
so we can make the character articulate
and perform, not only on the body, but also on the face.
This is what we call the skeleton of a character.
As you can see, this is Elsa. This is Sven.
So the structure is very similar.
The only difference, for example,
Elsa has five fingers and Sven has three hooves.
On Frozen I Sven didn't talk at all.
But the reindeers are singing a song on Frozen II.
So we have to just take a pass
to make sure that all the reindeers not only can express themselves,
but also, like, sing and stuff.
So that was quite a challenge. That was quite a challenge.
So we work very closely with the animation team.
It's like F1 racing.
They are the ones driving the car, but they have a team of mechanics,
and we are in charge of making sure that the driver,
or the animators in this case, they have everything they need
to make the characters sing and dance and cry and jump.
-Have a good one. -You too.
[Walters] This is really embarrassing.
[laughs]
It's easier to animate, at least for me, once I can get in front of a camera
and just act out what Kristoff is feeling in the moment
and then just see how that translates.
Um... Are you ready? [laughs]
-[Kristoff] ♪ 'Cause you are mine ♪ -♪ You are mine ♪
♪ Until then ♪
-♪ I'm lost in the woods ♪ -♪ Lost in the woods ♪
♪ In the woods Lost in the woods ♪
♪ I'm lost in the woods ♪
[laughs] These are kinda placeholders to make sure that,
if I had a different performance on each one, that it was gonna read.
And I'm finding right now that some of these head movements
are just a little bit too subtle to read because the reindeer are running.
I'm having to change it a little bit.
These guys are each singing individual parts.
So the reindeer on the right have this audio.
[Groff as reindeer] ♪ La La Lost in the woods ♪
So they're, like, high-pitched,
and then the left reindeer are the lower... "la's."
[Groff as reindeer] ♪ La La Lost in the woods ♪
And then Sven...
[Sven] ♪ Lost in the woods In the woods ♪
Jonathan Groff is amazing,
and it's cool knowing that all these really high-pitched, silly tracks,
when they're all put together sound like...
[Kristoff] ♪ In the woods Lost in the woods ♪
♪ In the woods Lost in the woods ♪
♪ I'm lost in the woo-- ♪
Like that. It's cool.
It's really cool.
Can't believe I just showed that to you guys. [chuckles]
[Del Vecho] We're only two weeks away from our March screening.
It's important, leading up to a screening, that we get really organized
so we recognize the work that's left to do.
There's a lot riding on this screening
um, as every screening, but I think we're feeling it a lot in this one.
What's really crucial to us is staying on time.
Time is the big brick wall, and that's the pressure leading into the screening.
[Latham] I added a really scary red line on our schedule.
The new sketches we're gonna say we need by the 22nd, which is next Friday.
So we have a week and a half to get everything done.
So we're doing well and getting things to Jeff for Friday.
"Some things Never Change" is going to be pitched tomorrow
and I think we all feel pretty good about that.
That brings us to "Show Yourself,"
which we all know where we stand on that song.
[Del Vecho chuckles] Marc's smiling. Look at that smile.
-[all laughing] -No pressure, Marc.
But you're-- You're trying to-- What are you trying to do?
[all laughing]
I feel like "Show Yourself" is hanging by a thread, I think.
-We'll see how it looks tomorrow. -Okay.
I haven't seen it yet all together, so...
So I would anticipate there's some things that are gonna change. So that'll put--
-Some things never change. -Yeah, this bunch, everything changes.
-Some things always change. -[Buck] Too true.
-Yeah. -[Latham] Yeah.
-[Groff] Well, hello there. -Well, hello there.
How's it going?
-Good, man. How you been? -I've been good.
We should get him saying the whole "Will you marry me" to...
-[Buck] We have it. -[Del Vecho] Yeah.
Leading up for the screening, we tend to bring in the cast a lot.
We're getting all the dialogue recorded and cut in.
The actors will do every line, you know, 10, 20 times.
Because until you hear their voices, you don't know if the dialogue is right.
I don't know if he can see us. Can he see us?
-Hello. -[Buck] Hello, Mr. Groff.
How is it going?
We're running on fumes.
[Groff] Are you? Bless.
We won't take too much of your time. This is more just like pickups.
We just had a joke brainstorming session right before this,
and we wrote down a lot of stuff we haven't even decided if we want to do yet,
but if there's anything that we can hit with you,
I just want to make sure we get a chance.
[woman] It's Jonathan Groff as Kristoff. Sequence 160, slate 2543, take one.
Tell me what's going on.
I've been hearing this voice.
You're hearing voices?
Not voices. A voice.
Is that better? Oh, I get it. Okay.
Not voices, a voice.
Is that better?
[laughing]
-That's it. So-- -[Buck laughs]
-Those are awesome. We got it. -Okay. Great.
[Groff] The fun of being in the booth with Chris and Jenn,
who have written the movie,
is that you get to kind of explore in the moment.
Because I feel so comfortable with this team,
it's so easy to just kind of roll and let it fly and see what comes up.
Will you marry me?
-[Lee] That's the energy. Exactly. -[Groff] Okay.
Princess Anna of Arendelle, my feisty, fearless, ginger-sweet love.
Will you marry me?
-[Lee] We got it. -Okay.
-Awesome. -[laughs]
-[Lee] Grazie mille. -[Buck laughs]
[Lee] And then we just have one more line.
Sven walks up and just patronizingly says,
in that voice, "That went well," and then you tell him not to patronize you.
[Groff] Jumping from Kristoff to Sven feels insane when I do it,
and I have to really, um, believe in it while I'm doing it
or else I just start laughing.
I think a lot of people with their pets do weird voices alone at home,
but you would never do that publicly.
[Groff as Sven] That went well.
[Groff as Kristoff] Don't patronize me.
Don't patronize me. Don't patronize me.
-[Groff as Sven] That went well. -[laughs]
Don't patronize me.
That went well.
Try a couple more where you actually say Sven's name.
Well, that went well.
Sven, don't patronize me.
-Well, that went we-- -[Buck] Got it.
-Okay. -[Lee] Awesome. Okay. [laughs]
[Lee] Thank you.
-[Buck] Thank you, Jonathan. -All right, thanks, guys.
-See you later. Bye. -[Lee] Thank you. See you.
-Okay. -[Lee] Love you, bye.
In a couple weeks we have our fifth screening out of six.
We are about 22% animated.
But this is the most precarious place to me,
because a lot of songs have come in since December, which is incredible,
but we're still struggling with "Show Yourself."
[Anderson-Lopez] So "Show Yourself" is in flux.
We've spent the last 24 hours trying to get the front right
by bringing it to a softer place.
Because she's just come from this high adrenaline moment,
we have to use the song to bring us to a new energy,
um, which is what we were trying to respond to, is--
Rather than have her come in with--
-Aggressively. -Aggressively with both guns blazing,
that it's more of a deep recognition and arrival at--
Feeling like she's finally where she belongs.
So there's like a moment of awakening, almost,
when the song starts, and...
-I mean, I can even play-- -Yeah. I think we should play it.
Why don't you play it on there? That's even-- Get the live version.
[Lopez] The original started off--
[Anderson-Lopez] ♪ Show Yourself It's your turn ♪
♪ You are the one I've been looking for All of my life ♪
♪ So show yourself I'm ready to learn ♪
-[Lopez] Whatever. -So, anyway, it felt a little like,
-"Elsa's really coming in hot there." -[Lopez laughs]
Elsa's going in really aggressive, and it's not justified.
So we went back to the drawing board
and tried to build the song organically, so this is what we did.
[melody playing on piano]
[Anderson-Lopez] ♪ Show yourself ♪
So she's going in gentle.
♪ I'm dying to meet you Show yourself ♪
To the voice.
♪ It's your turn ♪
Asking it as a question.
♪ Are you the one I've been looking for All of my life? ♪
♪ Show yourself I'm ready to learn ♪
So anyway, that's where we are.
We're about to show it to Jenn and Chris. I hope they like it.
I hope that this helps us solve where we're going.
For me, it's also musically clunky.
I don't want to second-guess Bobby, because he's brilliant at that stuff.
Don't think we've found a reason to keep it in.
Maybe we'll come up with some brilliant visual that just sells it.
-Yeah, Marc. -[laughs]
Yeah, you say "we," but none of us can draw.
-Yeah. -Well, ask Kristen.
-Hi, Chris. -Hi.
-Can we talk? [laughs] -[Lee laughs]
It's not a good day for cameras.
[Lee sighs]
So Chris and I sat with the song all night and morning.
[Buck] Ah, yes. It took all night.
To me, it wasn't adding up.
-I liked all the separate elements... -No, and it's confusing.
-It's too confusing. -...but it's not adding up.
It's not emotionally adding up. I'm not feeling anything.
And then I turn on "Let It Go", and I'm like [whooshes] I feel it. I'm into it.
I turn this on again, I go... [groans]
And something hit us both at the same moment.
What if this song is "I'm Home," not "Show Yourself"?
I just feel like the hook is wrong.
-Oh, 'cause it-- -That's the wrong hook.
To me, it wasn't that.
The hook is the essence of the song.
You almost have to change the song, if you're going to change the hook.
I mean, the last thing we want to do is change a song this late,
but it can be done, if that's what the story needs.
[Buck] Is it a reprise of "Into the Unknown"?
-[Lee] That's an option too. -With different lyrics.
-[Lee] "Now I understand." -Different lyrics.
I think we also don't have to decide that now.
I think for today, for Bobby and Kristen,
it just helps them transition to this new idea a little more smoothly.
Who's gonna do this?
Uh, I don't know what the right thing to do is.
No, I don't-- We've never had this situation before.
They can get mad at me.
Yeah, I don't know. Um... Uh...
[siren blares]
[Lopez] They're particularly late today. They must be discussing the song.
All right. Let's see how this all unfolds
and not try to read the future right now.
-[Lopez] Yeah. -Um...
[line ringing]
-Hello. -Hi.
[Lee] Hi.
Now one of the things that came up with Chris and I this morning
that we both said at the same time,
what would the song be if she heard the call,
and she broke through the mist, and there was the glacier, and she goes,
"Oh, I'm being called home. I--" That's the moment she understands this--
-This is a different idea. Yeah. -[Lee] It's a different idea.
I was exactly where you guys are two weeks ago
when I was like, "I want to try writing another song."
The problem is, anything that's like, "I'm home. I'm arriving,"
really feels like "Let It Go."
I'm not saying it should be "Let It Go," I'm just saying "Let It Go" is her theme.
What I'm emotionally missing is the evolution.
Obviously there's-- there's a piece of us
that just worked on this song really hard for the last 24 hours.
-[Lee] Of course. Believe me. -We don't want to be precious about it.
And we could see the screening and be like,
-"It's not the right song, and it's out." -[Del Vecho] Right.
If we know it needs to be "I am home,"
-We'll write, "I am home." -[Lee] Yeah. We'll know.
Right, right. You'll know. You'll know.
But if it doesn't, and we just write a boring song like,
-"I am home," then it won't-- -[both laughing]
That's a way to say it.
-How do you really feel? -[laughing]
-How do you really feel? -[all laughing]
[Lee] Bobby and Kristen and I, we're not afraid of hard truths.
There's an unwritten thing of,
"It's okay that you have to say this to me, and I will listen."
-All right. Bye. -Great. Thank you, guys.
-Bye, guys. -Bye.
[both chuckle]
-Oh, well. -[groans] It's all right.
[Lopez] We don't feel like it's gonna be solved for the screening.
We never thought it was 100% solved,
but we thought we would stick with it until the song worked.
But now it seems like they're agreeing with us two weeks ago,
saying like, "Maybe this isn't the song."
If we can get some wins from this,
we can rewrite a new-- we can write a new song using some of what we have
-and create a new hook. -Yeah.
I don't know if that pitch of, like...
she gets there, she sees a glacier, and she suddenly realizes,
-"There's no person. This is a glacier." -She's like, "It wasn't a person,
-It's a glacier that's been calling me." -"It's a singing glacier."
I don't think that's gonna make any sense at all.
-Oh, a singing glacier! -[laughs]
-Who doesn't have that problem? [laughs] -[laughs]
I think the conversation went as well as it could possibly go.
Where did Marc go?
[Smith] Now we've got a screening in two weeks,
but the decision's been made to go forward to try to get it ready for the screening.
Feels a little bit like the patient is on the operating table,
but we got one last shot at bringing it back.
[Lee] Whether "Show Yourself" is the right song and can make it,
there's a lot of debate going on right now on that one.
[Smith] There's a chance it's gonna get thrown away.
Almost all of our work gets thrown away, and then we do it again.
[Buck] So tomorrow's the screening.
There is so much in production already. We're 25% animated.
But, for me, I think the song "Show Yourself" is still a problem area.
I don't know if it works yet in this movie.
Ask me after the screening how I feel. Ask me after the notes session how I feel.