A group of LDS filmmakers has embarked on a fledgling flight into the world of feature-length animation with a $30 million motion picture, "The Swan Princess."
Released in November in time for the Christmas season, the film is the result of a 41/2-year effort in which half a dozen Church members played an integral part:- Richard Rich, who opened Rich Animation Studios in Burbank Calif., in 1986, is the director/producer. A former bishop and the father of six children, he is the choir director in the Newhall 2nd Ward, Valencia California Stake.
- Brian Nissen, script and screen writer, is the ward mission leader, also in the Newhall 2nd Ward.
- Seldon O. Young, executive producer, lives in the Farmington 20th Ward, Farmington Utah North Stake.
- Jared F. Brown, producer/executive producer, teaches the 17-year-old age group in the Sunday School of the Oak Forest 1st Ward, Layton Utah North Stake.
- Lex de Azevedo, who many Church members will recognize as the composer for the musical play "Saturday's Warrior," is the musical director of the film. He teaches the gospel doctrine class in the Little Cottonwood Ward, Sandy Utah Granite View Stake.
- James Arrington, the voice of Chamberlain, a bumbling servant of the queen in the story, is teaching classes in film and beginning acting for a year at Ricks College. His home ward is the Sunset Heights 5th Ward in Orem, Utah.
Brother Rich and his colleagues have exhibited fairy-tale-like idealism even to dare that a small studio like Rich could produce a movie that some critics would compare favorably with such recent Disney successes as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King."
In fact, he worked for 14 years as an animator and director of animated films at Disney Studios, where his credits included "The Fox and the Hound."
In 1986, he left to open his own animation studio. As Brother Rich and his colleagues began to work on "Swan Princess," they were able to attract an army of skilled animators and artists, many of them former Disney employees.
"We wanted to make a film that parents would feel very comfortable in bringing their entire family to," Brother Rich reflected.
"I wanted to make a film, too, in which there was nothing that would offend the Spirit."
Perhaps an indication that he succeeded is in a comment by New York Post critic Michael Medved that the film has a G rating "as in a Great time for even the youngest moviegoers."
But an even better indication for Brother Rich was a telephone call he received from his daughter, Camille, a student at BYU. She thanked him for making a movie to which she could take her friends and would not be embarrassed by its content.
"I thought that was a great compliment," he said.
"Swan Princess" is based on the classic German fairy tale from which the ballet "Swan Lake" is drawn.
"We searched around for a fairy tale, one that had not already been done, and we wanted to do a love story, too," Brother Rich said. "We stumbled onto this one. It had the elements of animation - a princess that would be transformed into a swan, and it would take great love to break that spell.
"Early on, we decided we had to keep the cast of characters relatively small. In coming up with animals who could be with the swan, one of the very first images I had was a turtle with a frog sitting on its back. And that stuck throughout the whole show."
The turtle is Speed, a kindly tortoise with a dry wit, and the frog is Jean-Bob, who fancies himself an enchanted prince. Together with Puffin, a web-footed bird, they help the princess Odette to be freed from a spell cast upon her by an evil sorcerer, Rothbart. The spell can only be broken by a pledge of undying love from prince Derek. She has refused to marry Derek, mistakenly believing he loves her only for her physical beauty, and in leaving the prince's castle, has fallen into the hands of Rothbart, who casts the spell on her. The adventures of the animals in bringing Derek and Odette together form the conflict in the film.
Veteran actor Jack Palance is the voice of Rothbart, with Sandy Duncan, John Cleese and Steven Wright providing the voices of other characters.
Brother Rich and Brother Nissen worked on the script for two years. Finally, after the 12th draft, they began to form the "story board," a process preliminary to putting the story on the screen.
For Brother Nissen, an aspiring actor, working with Brother Rich, his former bishop, has reinforced his desire to stay true to the gospel while working in show business.
Converted to the Church in Mesa, Ariz., at the age of 20, he moved into the Newhall 2nd Ward, when Brother Rich was bishop. With a master's degree from the California Institute of the Arts, he began doing some writing. His play, "Oscar," was selected in a competition for new plays to be peformed at the Kennedy Center of the Arts in Washington, D.C.
He ended up being the full-time writer for Rich Animation Studios, working on scripture and Church history videos.
"Writing for Rick Rich has been such a blessing," he said, "because I am not only doing something that I can feel safe about, but something that is of true gospel worth." He said in the Hollywood environment there are many temptations to make artistic choices that are incompatible with gospel values.
"The longer I've lived the gospel, the more I've found it's not something I struggle with," he commented. "I'm now more naturally making the artistic choices that are gospel-compatible, just because the other choices aren't an option for me."
Time will tell whether "Swan Princess" succeeds commercially.
"I think we will find our niche market," commented Brother Rich, who uses principles and techniques he learned as a bishop in running his company. "There are a lot of good people who have the same desires for wholesome family entertainment as we do. Maybe we won't be a smash hit at the box office, but I think it will be the type of film that families will want to have as a videocassette in their libraries that they can enjoy over and over, and that will be the successs of it."
Rich Animation is already at work on its next feature-length project, "Feathertop," based on a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne about a scarecrow who becomes human through self-sacrifice.