Us Again was released earlier this year and played in theaters with Raya and the Last Dragon. Now, it's finally streaming on Disney+, and for many Disney fans across the globe, this will be the first time they've been able to check out a short film that is a rain-drenched, visually stunning delight.
Last week, we were lucky enough to catch up with composer Pinar Toprak (Captain Marvel) and producer Brad Simonsen (Ralph Breaks the Internet) to discuss the work that went into creating this story of an elderly man and his young-at-heart wife rekindling their youthful passion for life and each other over the course of one magical night.
A combination of Toprak's beautiful score and incredible movement on screen sees the years fade away as the joy of dancing propels them across the exciting cityscape of their youth and revives fond memories and ambitions.
In this exclusive video interview, both Pinar and Brad talk in detail about the work that went into crafting this short movie, delving into the challenges of combining music and dance in an animated feature, the pressure to get the movie right (it's the first theatrical Disney Animation short in five years), and much more. You can also see what Pinar said - or didn't! - about The Marvels here.
Watch the interview below or scroll down for a transcription of our chat with Pinar and Brad!
I wanted to start by asking you, Brad, as this was the first theatrical Disney Animation short in five years, did you feel a lot of pressure to make sure all the right pieces were in place to get this one right?
Brad: You know, there’s always that piece of it. You went straight to the heart there. I’ve been at Disney for about 10 years now, and I’ve had the privilege of working with several producers like Roy and Clark Spencer and I think that when you work at that level, there’s always pressure. The beautiful thing about Disney Animation is that we’re kinda like ducks. We may look like we’re just gracefully floating along, but sometimes, we’re paddling really, really hard [Laughs]. It’s a beautiful thing. The wonderful thing is that it’s an incredibly supportive environment, so even though that pressure is there, I consider Clark one of my mentors, and we would be working and hiring or working with Pinar and Keone and Mari...this was a special project because we kind of did it a little differently than we normally do our features. The pressure was there, but it was healthy and supportive.
Pinar, I’m a huge La La Land fan, and I thought your work in this film was terrific, but I was wondering whether that or maybe any other musicals inspired what you brought to the table here?
Pinar: A lot of things have inspired me. We’ve talked about Fantasia and Rhapsody In Blue in terms of how music dictated the dialogue. There’s a bit of a La La Land-ish moment in there as they’re running toward the pier. For me, it was more the genre and the time period that really influenced me more than anything else. I wanted to make sure that we paid homage to those styles, but also still made it today so it would still sound current. It doesn’t sound outdated and still pays homage to them.
So much of the story told in Us Again relies on the music reflecting the movements we see on screen and vice versa, so what would you both say were the biggest logistical challenges making sure that all synced up correctly?
Pinar: For me, the work process was very unique. I work on a lot of live-action films and you know what you’re scoring. With this one, it starts out as a concept and there’s a lot of faith that goes into making a film like this knowing that everybody is going to...you know, when I was writing the music, I started trying to figure out what was going on in Zach’s mind and Zach actually had this really cool emotional chart that I had never seen before. There was nothing animated at that point, it was just storyboards and ideas. He created this arc showing how he wanted a mood for this long, and then we were going to this and go there. It was figuring out those timings and emotions and how it was then going to be translated into dance and animated. It was a really unique way of working throughout and we influenced and inspired each other the whole way. Whatever they did would influence the next round of music I would write and it would keep piling on from there.
Brad: I agree with everything Pinar just said. From a production perspective, because it was a unique piece and everything Pinar just said, it was kind of that chicken and egg thing we talked about. The way we approached it was really...we needed to have certain things accomplished by certain dates to deliver ultimately, but allowing flexibility and experimentation along the way was really important to help tune and find the movie. In all of this, Keone and Mari had a baby, so we were working to the schedule, working with them, showing them cuts, and sharing them with Pinar so she could go on the journey, play with us, and give her opinion. Ultimately, once we felt like, ‘Okay, we’ve got the movie.’ Now, Pinar is going to score it as close to real as she can, but she uses this temp synthesizer. What are those called, Pinar? The mine tracks that sound real but aren’t quite?
Pinar: Samples!
Brad: Thank you! Sorry, I’m clearly a producer and not a musician! She would use her samples to try to get it to a place of pretty much exactly what it would be and then she’d say, ‘Then it’s going to sound better!’ [Laughs] and we already thought it sounded pretty amazing. What we wanted to do was give Keone and Mari as much musical detail as we could because of their style of dance. Like Pinar was saying, she studied their movement and it’s the details they really go after and finesse. We really wanted that back and forth to happen, and then we put the stakes in the ground and if this could happen by then or then, ultimately we could finish the movie. Also, COVID hit. It was the week we were finishing animation and we all went home. We had to quickly reset and finish the movie through Techanimeffects and lighting during the beginning of the lockdown.
Pinar, something I loved about your music here was the sense of urgency that builds throughout, especially as we get closer to the end of the film. For you as a composer, was it particularly challenging to make sure you can build that tension to the point we get to that fantastic finale?
Pinar: Thank you! Yeah, it needed to grow organically and speaking of every little detail that needed to be done, during those moments I would have this trumpet solo. In the normal world, that would probably be written as a solo and the player would do their thing. In something like this, everything had to be written out exactly to the millisecond and it had to be really accurate. Making sure it builds emotionally and as everything comes together, it was actually pretty organic. It grew organically and that fusion of the big band, and the strings swelling to that moment, before it just goes [...]. It was so powerful.
I can imagine it must have been incredibly challenging to put together such a lengthy piece of music for the film as well?
Pinar: Yeah, and it all needed to make sense as a piece of music in addition to what we see in the film. That’s always a tricky thing when you’re syncing everything, you don’t want it to sound choppy or like it wasn’t organically there. That’s the beautiful thing about this film. Everything feels like it’s exactly where it should be and how it should sound and how it should look and how it should feel.