I Am Moana

Moana conveys emotion and access to character through 3D movement towards and away from the audience, and dynamic lateral movement across the screen.

One scene that demonstrates the spectrum of emotion possible with 3D is the “I Am Moana” sequence. The beginning of the sequence is defined by a movement away from the audience, either through the use of positive parallax or a total lack of 3D. After failing to return the heart of Te Fiti, Moana stands alone on her raft, defeated and dejected. She looks upwards at a still wave: the ocean which chose her for this mission. Moana begs the ocean to choose another hero, and the wave takes back the ‘heart’ and drops it into the depths. The previous ‘dialogues’ in the film between Moana and the ocean

For instance, when the ocean first chooses Moana, the audience looks up at the mystical ocean parting itself for baby Moana to enter. In this later scene, Moana and the wave are both placed flat against the background, and the audience sees them from the side. This character placement means that there is no negative parallax; Moana and the wave do not seem to ‘come out’ to the audience whatsoever. Rather, Moana and the ocean are both still, mirroring her indifference. When the ocean takes back the heart, it recedes quickly away from us using positive parallax. A similar-looking example from earlier in the film is when Moana’s Dad fails to save his friend from drowning in the storm. Even though her dad swims downwards he moves quickly backwards. In both of these scenes, through the use of positive parallax, this movement away from the audience is felt in addition to being seen. We feel as though something is missing, and there’s no use of negative parallax in this moment to counteract this loss. In addition, the beginning of this scene is dominated by darkness, and there’s nothing to distract the audience

If the first part of the scene is a loss of identity for Moana, than Tala’s song serves to reaffirm everything Moana knows about herself. As her grandma begins to sing, Moana moves closer to her and is soon bathed in Tala’s light. Emboldened by the song, she turns away to face the dark open ocean. Through reiterating her identity, Moana summons the spirit of her ancestors from the far away blackness. A massive raft emerges from the background, coming directly towards the audience. Through the use of negative parallax, the audience is astonished by the boat’s arrival, and the movement injects the scene with a much-needed momentum. The boats complete the color transformation of the scene, filling every frame with bright blue light, and Moana no longer seems alone in a sea of black. A chief rides a humongous raft directly next to her boat, sideswiping the screen and forcing the audience to follow the trajectory of the boats. In this instance, 3D guides Moana’s literal direction as her ancestors sail towards Te Fiti. As the boats head away, the positive parallax does not leave the audience feeling as empty, primarily because it now acts in balance to the negative parallax, rather than starting from a flat screen. As Moana’s ancestors join the scene, they round out every formal element that previously felt empty, creating a burst of energy and