Rise Up Animation has been hosting some amazing webinars to help jumpstart various animation lovers into the industry. A recent talk hosted Wayne Unten, a character animator at Disney Animation - most people these days know him as the character lead on Elsa from the Frozen movies.

You could catch glimpses of Wayne’s passion on the “Making of Frozen II” series on Disney+. As I watched the first episode begin to unravel the depths of animated feature film development, the tone of the show came to a gentle stand still, mid-breath suspension as Wayne described the particular hall in the studios that housed framed letters from some of their viewers. He wiped a tear from his eye as he read one from a young girl, challenged and inspired to live another day and endure through depression, when she heard the lyrics of “Let It Go.”

He’s so passionate about what he does because it impacts and empowers people through the storytelling. For some, one of the only things they can enjoy is to go watch an animated film. It is an insane privilege to be able to bring that kind of joy to people, and deliver hope.

Wayne clarifies to me why I love this field. Animated films create a medium that allows for the invocation of empathy and inspiration for perhaps the widest range of audiences. It also reminds me why even as adults, we are pulled into Disney narratives - we resonate with the deep underlying moral questions and inner conflicts that the characters face, and aided by the exaggerated nature of facial expressions which is in the nature of animation, we get a transparent, vulnerable, and intense view of the characters’ emotional responses. Remembering Anton Ego’s childhood flashback in Ratatouille (accompanied by the underlying transformation into a believer of equality), Andy’s passing on of Woody as an action of love in Toy Story 3, the death of Bing Bong in Inside Out, and so many more moments, we find ourselves understood in the most personal of spaces; spaces we haven’t even shared with our closest loved ones. This give us permission to not only feel what they feel, but also feel vulnerable ourselves.

Thank you again Rise Up Animation for hosting such golden webinars that make animation so accessible. They have given me the opportunity to learn so much, almost as if I have direct connections within the industry. (And I’ve made real connections as well!) They have also given me the permission to finally pursue this field - animation always felt elusive and far. And most importantly, their talks continue to fan the passion I have in this industry. My dreams grow by the day, and for the first time in a long while, I’m excited to wake up every morning because I know that there is so much to be learned, seen, and done in the world of animation.