WE GOT THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM JOSIE TRINIDAD, HEAD OF STORY ON RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: WRECK-IT RALPH 2

By Candice Chua

Ever wondered how an epic animated movie goes from script to screen?

It goes without saying that Disney’s new movie Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 is unlike anything we’ve ever seen on the big screen. A sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, we follow Ralph and Vanellope as they as they dive into the internet – literally speaking! – to retrieve a replacement part for Vanellope’s game, Sugar Rush. For the first time ever, thanks to the brains at Walt Disney Animation Studios, we get to see how the world of the internet could possibly look like – and it looks absolutely amazing!

To understand just a little more about how Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 came to life, we spoke to Head of Story, Josie Trinidad while she was on her “Hometown Heroes” visit to the Philippines. She and her team are the link between the script and the movie’s very first visual form! Isn’t that cool?

What are your feelings now that Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 has finally been released?

Josie: I’m so excited! We showed it here in the Philippines at an animation festival and the reaction was huge! It just renewed my love of the movie, you know? Having worked on it for the past two and a half years, it’s just great to see the reaction to it, especially here in Southeast Asia. I’m very grateful. I’m very satisfied. I’m just happy.

What is the process of going from script to the final storyboard? I’ve heard that for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, over 200,000 storyboards were created.

Josie: That’s right! The story starts very early on in the production process and thankfully with this being the sequel, we knew our characters. But, we didn’t know what the Internet was going to look like! We didn’t know how [the characters] were going to get around, or what they were going to do. All of that had to be worked out. Before any sort of storyboarding, you have to have the foundation of the film with a proper script.

When we feel like “Okay! It’s ready to go!”, we divide it into different sequences and start to storyboard it. We make an animatic reel with temporary sounds effects, voice recordings and music, and then we screen the whole movie in storyboard form at Walt Disney Animation Studios. We get opinions on what’s working and what’s not, and ideas on how to make it better. We often have nine of these internal screenings before things start to stick and we move into production.

The process at Walt Disney Animation Studios is very collaborative. One of the great things I love about Disney Animation is that our ideas can come from anywhere – from animators, layout artists, story artists and story trusts [individuals who are not directly involved in the project]! We embrace the idea of people sending in their notes and thoughts, and at the end of the day, finding the best ideas with them. If something’s not working, we throw it out. We strive to make the film the best movie we can possibly make.

What was your biggest challenge while working on the movie?

Josie: With the world of the internet, this new and exciting place, we almost had trouble focusing, you know? There were so many amazing places that we could go to and we wanted to explore all of these fun ideas, but we had to really hone it down.

We then also realised that it was going to be a story about friendship. These two kids who go on an epic quest to find a steering wheel for Vanellope’s game. For her, a whole new exciting world is opening up, but for Ralph, who has a great fear of change, he just wants to go back home. He’s feeling his best friend slipping away from him. That was the core of our story, this emotional core – will their friendship survive the journey to this new and unknown world of the internet? Will their friendship get stronger, or be destroyed?

My heart! I don’t know if I can take it! I have to ask – if you had to pick, who is your favourite character in the Wreck-It Ralph universe?

Josie: I can’t choose just one, I’m very sorry! [Laughs] I’m going to have to do my top five. Ralph, Vanellope, Felix... I love Yesss!

YASSSS!

Josie: I’ve been a huge fan of Taraji P. Henson for a very long time! I also like KnowsMore. He is just so charming, so cute and endearing.

Now, Josie, if you could break into the internet for a day, what would you do?

Josie: Oh, that’s a good one. I’d love to see Instagram. [Laughs] We have this gag where Ralph and Vanellope would go into the internet and get sucked into the “internet hole”. It’s like how you start off saying, “I’m going to find shoes”. Then, you start to research shoes. Then, all of a sudden, you’re looking at the history of the Roman Empire for some reason. Then, wait! Now, you’re watching a video on American football. Then, suddenly, you’re buying a backpack!

We thought it’d be hilarious for Ralph and Vanellope to go down this rabbit hole and forget why they’re in the internet in the first place – as we often do when we go online. I would want to see a visualisation of going down that rabbit hole. It’s something that is so familiar to us as users of the internet.

That would be really cool actually! Before I let you go, can you describe Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 in exactly five words. No spoilers!

Josie: Hilarious, heartfelt, surprising, familiar and unique!