Behind the Scenes of Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3
Page 4 of 7

Step 2: Cut Along The Dotted Lines

So the creative team is in place and the idea for our toy begins to take shape. For Stewart, that starts with the basics.

�I�m a very old fashioned designer, but I have to say I use every tool at my disposal.�, he explains. �When I start a project, it begins in the most basic way, with pencil and paper, and I draw and draw and draw. And then after that - sometimes just on my own or with an assistant- I begin to make a little bit of a little model that nobody really sees, it�s just for me to understand the proportions in things that I�m doing. After that, I make a more formalized model, that kind of begins to be - where I think we�re headed - and then I begin doing work with the working drawings and turning them into renderings, computer renderings, so that we begin to imagine lighting effects upon the pieces of scenery.�

The �Toy Story� characters, like so much of Disney, are so dearly and deeply impressed into the minds and hearts of children and adults alike, how does a costume designer like Scott Lane balance that while adding their own style and flair to the design process?

��Toy Story 3� is so well laid out for you - the design is there for the majority of the characters. I try to layer as much texture and interest into the clothing as I can and really bring out some of the detail that Pixar films, in particular, have in them because they�re very - you know, computer animation - very detail oriented- so I try to give it as much depth and flavor that I possibly can bring to it because it�s so iconic to the American kids.� said Lane. �They know these characters as well as anything - probably better than a lot of stuff than we did when we were little, because the placement is so strong and, you know, the product that�s out there for it is so wonderful - I mean, every kid has a Woody and a Jesse and a Slinky - they�ve just got it all. They know exactly what it looks like so you have to try really, really hard to bring as much accuracy and clarity to the characters as you can.�

As if bringing a movie to life on the ice isn�t enough of a creative challenge, leave it to Disney and Feld to give their designers even more room to stretch their creative legs. For Lane, it came in the form of some of the big chorus numbers, such as the Barbie number and the �Woody�s Roundup� production number, where he got to create from scratch.

While Lane never was allowed one of his own, his favorite childhood toys were the Barbie Dolls owned by his next door neighbor, Cathy. (I�m sensing a favorite toy to career path trend, here.) So it was a joy to get to costume her life-sized. �Bringing Barbie to life was a lot of fun - trying to keep her true on model and trying to make 26 girls look like Barbie.� Lane said of the Act II opening number, where Barbie is doing her workout in order to be in shape for the toys� move after they are donated. �Not every woman wants to be compared to Barbie, let alone have to play her.�

The skaters each rise to the challenge filling the iconic doll�s high heels with considerable aplomb. The fun he had translates to the ice, where Barbie herself, costumed in stretch velvet, is joined by a host of 25 or 26 more Barbie dolls �exercising, in heels no less, to �We�ve Got The Beat�. So how does one make ice skates look like high heels? Or cowboy boots for that matter? Turns out there is no big secret, just a lot of hard work and no small amount of talent.

�You just spend a lot of time making sure that cowboy boot doesn�t look like an ice skate.� said Lane. �You make it look like a cowboy boot. And my friend, Eric Winterling, did the Barbie costumes for me in New York - he thought I was crazy when I told him that shoe had to look like a high heel. But it managed - it came out pretty good I think.�

The �Woody�s Roundup� segment was another place that Lane got to go a little crazy with designing costumes from the ground up - including the characters themselves.

�I got to literally attack it like we were doing Woody�s Roundup, the tv show.� he said. �And I approached it from the episodic level, thinking every week on Woody�s Roundup we probably have a different storyline, a different scenario happening, and what characters would be involved that week. So, for the 26 or 27 characters that we did for the number, I created names and complete looks for each character in the vein of Woody and Jesse, what the roundup gang would be like. So we did 26 individual characters and just treated them all just like Woody and Jesse.�

That section closes the first act as a big hit with the audience, and a favorite of Performance Director, Gig Siruno.

Gig Siruno and Cindy Stewart

�Woody, Jesse and Bullseye and their Roundup Gang go out and skate 2 segments of �These Boots are made for Walkin��, and a familiar song for a lot of kids is a song by Miley Cyrus called �The Hoedown Throwdown�.� Siruno explained. �And what I like about that is we try to incorporate the audience to participate in joining us performing during that segment.�

It�s a dynamic, foot-stompin�, knee-slappin� segment that the crowd really gets into, and Siruno revels in every second of their enjoyment.

�Opening night, there was a family sitting behind me and they knew every song for the Roundup segment- and it�s broken down into 4 parts - and I thought it was so cool, and the kids were doing Hoedown Throwdown.� he said. �It�s great to see the reaction that the audience gives to the performance�.