Her Gone Life

After enjoying my walk on the BIG HERO 6 red carpet, I couldn't wait to enjoy the rest of the activities during my Disney/ ABCTV L.A. Trip including press day!

Note: Thanks to Disney and ABC TV, who invited me on this all expense paid trip to Los Angeles for the Big Hero 6 Event and ABC TV Event. While I share different events and activities during this trip, any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.


The BIG HERO 6 Press Day took place at Disney Animation Studio, which is an amazing space. The building is huge and is currently decorated with a giant Hiro and Baymax in front.

Our group had fun taking photos in front of the building. We couldn't help but jump for joy that BIG HERO 6 was opening nationwide later that week. Yes we're all in Baymax hoodies. We look like a line of marshmallows. Ha!

But outside wasn't the only area decorated. Inside the Disney Animation Studio also had some very cool BIG HERO 6 displays I took photos in front of. After our photo fun it was time to get to work. I received my official press badge and was ready for the next activity.


I join in a group interview with filmmakers of BIG HERO 6 – Directors Don Hall & Chris Williams. Both Don and Chris were excited to share with the group the behind the scenes info about BIG HERO 6.

Since I had attended the premiere screening for BIG HERO 6, I saw how technology was viewed in the world of San Fransokyo. Being a nerd using science and technology was something to be celebrated. Plus they had so many cool gadget. So of course I really wanted to know about the technology shown in the film. So I had to ask.....

The technology in the film is both futuristic and ultra-modern. Is that based on anything?

Chris Williams (Director): Yes, and yes. If you watch the credits, you'll see, "Thank you, science." So many people we brought in, because we do all extensive research. There were scores of roboticists that consulted on the movie, and that research trip, that gave us Baymax, but then there was Dr. Tom Wagner, from I, Robot, I met on that research trip. And he became a kind of a consultant on the film early on.

And we kind of ran not just the robot stuff, but technology through him, too. Like, okay, plasma blades. We want Wasabi to have plasma blades. Can that happen?

And he's like, "Well, yes, if you do this, and you did that," and some of it, we'd use, and some of it we pulled back just for design reasons. But everything in the movie is researched and grounded, because we tried to keep it as real as possible. And even like, telekinesis, which we thought we were really bending the rules there, we come to find out that people are actually working on that.

Don Hall (Director): Yeah. It's a hard thing to do, to make a movie where you're trying to deal with the latest cutting-edge technology. One of the challenges is, the actual stuff is moving so quickly, we have to make sure we get our movie out ahead of it. I think we managed it.

The directors also answered other questions including:

What attracted you to the story of Big Hero 6

Don Hall (Director): What originally attracted me to Big Hero 6 was just the title. It just sounded interesting. And then I researched it a little bit more. I saw the Japanese superhero theme, thought that was super cool, and then read the books. I was really struck by the characters.

They were fun and appealing characters. They had goofy names, like Honey Lemon. And you could tell that the creators loved Japanese pop culture, and that's why they did the book. They wanted to take their sort of love and anime, and all things Japanese, and infuse that with a sort of Marvel superhero story. So, I love that. And most of all, we could see amidst all of that that there was en emotional story, about a 14-year old super genius who loses his big brother.

And his robot that becomes a surrogate big brother and heals him. And I think it was that emotional hook that got everybody.

Chris Williams (Director): I remember pretty vividly, about three, three and a half years ago. Don and I did a pitch in this room of Big Hero 6, and it was real skeletal, like a broad-strokes summary of what it could be. And everyone was really taken with the idea of a kid who was going to lose his brother and who would be left with his brother's robot, a surrogate big brother, to help him move on. That just struck a chord with everybody. And so it was my favorite.

We could have talked with the directors all day but we had to more interviews including one with Jamie Chung (voice of “Go Go Tomago”) and Genesis Rodriguez (voice of “Honey Lemon”) and another with Director Patrick Osborne & Producer Kristina Reed of FEAST, the animated film shown just before BIG HERO 6. I'll post those interviews later this week so stayed tuned!


After the interview I had to go to drawing class. That's right. I receive a drawing demonstration from Jin Kim, the Character Design Supervisor on BIG HERO 6.

Our lesson was how to draw Baymax. During the step by step lesson, Jin explained the lines and details that go into drawing Baymax. At first glance you think he's simple lines but drawing Baymax isn't as easy as it seems. To be honest I thought I didn't do to bad. What do you think?


After our lesson, I asked Jin what advice he's give to anyone interested in drawing animation. He said "To keep drawing. Always draw so you can get better and better". Seems I need to take some of his advice and work on my Baymax.

Thankfully voicing Baymax was a bit easy then drawing him. Can't wait to share the video from my recording session later this week.

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