Venezuelan Made Magic Come To Life In Encanto, Disney’s Movie

Charm, Disney’s new Columbia-inspired movie about the Madrigal family, was a very special and personal project for Venezuelan artist Jorge Ruiz Cano. The 38-year-old animator was born in Maracay, the son of a Venezuelan and Colombian, and faced the challenge of resurrecting the film’s characters and achieving magic.

Since coming to Disney nine years ago, he’s faced many challenges, but none like this. After the film’s world premiere on November 24, Ruiz Kano proud of the result Superior. Charm It is available in state theaters.

Disney’s main inspiration for the development of Charm she was Colombian culture and magical realism. The film tells the story of the Madrigal family who live in the “Casita” in the mountains of Colombia, surrounded by magic and blessed. With its distinct charm, the house brings magical gifts to family members to help the villagers of the town. When the time is right, all members receive a gift; All but one, Mirabel.

A fifteen-year-old must face the struggle of being normal in an exceptional family, where seeing the future, controlling the weather, changing shape or talking to animals are common skills. However, everything changes Madrigal when The magic that protects “Little House” is in danger. It is then that Mirabel decides to find a way to save the witch and her family, also trying to understand her place in the world and her mission.

With a beautiful soundtrack, composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jermaine Franco, Disney has taken care of every detail in Charm. Even its directors, Byron Howard and Jared Bush, are in the company of several members of the company Travel to different regions of Colombia, such as Bogota, Cartagena, Santander or Quindio to conduct comprehensive research work on their culture. An effort involving Venezuelan painter Jorge Ruiz Cano.

culture guards

Bringing each member of the Madrigal family to life and moving according to their personality and abilities was no easy feat. Ruiz Kano comments that There were more than 100 artists Working remotely due to the pandemic to achieve this.

“As an animator in the animation department, I have to give the illusion of life to the characters. We give representation and specifications to characters who are the product of this mix of inspiration based on our world and our flavors. We had to do a lot of research to give the illusion of life. In addition to being Venezuelan with a Colombian father, I felt pressured to give him the honesty to the characters.

in a CharmMoreover, he had the privilege and fortune of being a part of the research project that was carried out for the production of the film for three years. “I can Arebas worked with Byron Howard and Jared Bush, tape managers. They were curious, smelled the dough, and asked where it came from. This gives us an idea of ​​where this story originated from,” he says.

He also had the opportunity to access the texts he translated to get an idea of ​​how the characters felt. “In the project I was part of what we call family group, We were the guardians of culture, so to speak. We shared all our experiences. It’s a movie inspired by our people, by us. “It was a privilege for me to be involved,” he said.

Charm It symbolizes a huge challenge for both Ruiz Kanu and the rest of the team as they had to be Do everything remotely. “We are very specific with personalities and there is a lot of diversity in the family. They are all inspired by different places, one of which is coastal, others are from Bogotá, thus, they look and feel different. The challenge was very big, each one moves differently,” he explains.

expertCurrent Animation and Storytelling teacher from California Institute of the Arts, notes that in the dance scenes they had to make each character move differently. “Everyone, due to their abilities and personality, has a different tumbao. We had to know the characters, know where they come from and where they go mentally to make that happen,” he reveals.

He adds: «The challenge was and I had a lot of pressure, But I celebrate the result a lot From this movie depends on us. This project was very personal to me. I had the privilege of learning about the history and culture of the film.

Disney job challenge

Charm It’s not the first Disney movie in which Jorge Ruiz Cano brings his characters to life. Graduated from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and the University of Art Academy, From a young age he was interested in animationSculpture and representation. He immigrated to the United States when he was 16 years old and dreamed of working as an animator at Disney. Finally, in 2012, he succeeded: he became an assistant animator in the film. frozenWinner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

From there work on Various ribbons recognized mouse house Big Heroes, Zootopia, Moana, Raya and the Last Dragon s Destroyer Ralph. In addition, he has worked for other recognized companies such as Industrial Luz & Magic, Blue Sky Studios, Electronic Arts, TellTale, Activision and Pixar.

« Work for Disney Always symbolizing a challenge. I am progressing as an artist and artist, and the challenge is always changing. Sometimes the challenge is how complex it is to achieve or the challenge is how special my first project was when I arrived; Or when I was in the middle of doing live-action animation, I was getting to know everything. They are different creative projects and deserts, but let’s see what happens now. We’ll see what the next big challenge is for me.”