San Fransokyo 

In love with too many fandoms to count and I spend way to much time writing fanfiction. Disney is my love, first, last and alway. Animation, an additiction. Writing, the reason I live. Reading, the reason I get up every day. 

I have long come to terms with the fact that I have panromantic tendencies for animation. So Big Hero 6 and the beautiful San Fransokyo is going to be the death of me. 

Let’s take a look at some shots of the city

This feels like a city twenty/thirty years in the future, but it also feels like a city you could life in right now. Someone not given any context might very easily look at these pictures and think it’s an eastern country, with the kanji writing and Japanese oriental design. But someone familiar with tradtional oriental buildings will notice something different with the building in the bottom picture. Or a San Franciscan will see something familiar.

Not only has Disney created a stunning hybrid of two diverse, colorful and rich cultures, but they have once again pushed the boundaries of animation. Environmental animation has always been a marker of outstanding animation, weather it be traditional, CGI or stop motion. Especially in the last few years there has been a huge leap in the quality of environments in animation, not only in Disney and Pixar movies, but DreamWorks, Ghibili and other names in animation. In terms of environment, animation has surpassed live action in the sense it can be used to create a space that looks, and feels real, but then in that space things that could never be achieved in the real world can be brought to life (tell me, where in the real world are you going to see a an ice palace or dragons flying?)

With San Fransokyo they have achieved new heights with environmental and setting animation, literally and figuratively.

In this shot can you tell me what the weather was like earlier in the day? Did you say rainy? Well, you’re right!…and wrong…it’s an animated movie, weather doesn’t actually exist, but yet looking at this picture you can tell the ground is wet and that hazy look to the lights is reminiscent of the air after a shower. This is just one example of Disney’s newest toy - Hyperion, a program created specifically to light an animated scene, and as you can see, it’s working quiet well.   

But that’s not the only thing, for all you San Franciscans you’re in for a treat. San Fransokyo is geographically where San Francisco is, meaning if it were real it would be on the US’s western sea board, troubled by earthquakes and with stunning views of the pacific. Also, if one were to look down on San Fransokyo as if looking at a Google maps shot the layout would be almost identical to San Francisco. Only thing is the hills are much higher and steeper, and skyscrapers are 

much much higher than the average in the real Cisco. 

There are roughly 83,000 buildings in San Fransokyo. Anyone want to take a guess as to how many buildings there are in San Francisco? Did you say 83,000 average. Look at you, being a geography nerd, that’s right.  

The neighborhoods and suburbs are more based on the Victorian style found in the painted ladies.

The wind turbines (those things hovering over the city) are a main source of energy for the city

Also were are an average of 750,000 people living in the city. Yep, that’s right. 750,000. Do you want to guess which major city on the US western coast also has a population of 750,000?

Good question. It is the second new program used in the production of Big Hero 6 and it’s purpose is to create a wide variety of character in short time. Thanks to this San Fransokyo is not only healthy populated, but it’s populated with diverse and individual characters. Not to spoil anything but very early on in the movie we’re going to see one of the most impressive feats of Denizin. Also, keep your eyes peeled for any random bypasser that has a striking Don Hall, Chris William and other members of the crew. You should keep your eyes peeled in general. Big Hero 6 is supposed to have more easter eggs than any other Disney movie. 

San Fransokyo is beautiful, and complex, and alive. It is a stunning illustration of how far animation has come, and how far it can go. I know this city is just one of the many reasons I’m excited to see Big Hero 6, and I hope I’ve gotten you excited too. Hope to see you in San Fransokyo. 

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