Production Lilo & Stitch

1 production

1.1 development
1.2 writing
1.3 design , animation
1.4 marketing
1.5 deleted scenes

production
development

a 1985 concept sketch of stitch creator chris sanders

production of lilo & stitch began then-disney ceo michael eisner deciding that, in wake of number of high-profile , large-budget disney animated features during mid-1990s, studio might try hand @ smaller , less expensive film. idea inspired production of dumbo, economically-made 1941 walt disney film produced in wake of more expensive pinocchio , fantasia. chris sanders, head storyboard artist @ disney feature animation, approached pitch idea. sanders had created character of stitch in 1985 unsuccessful children s book pitch, , developed treatment animated feature featuring character. story line required remote, non-urban location, movie intended take place in kansas. sanders s decision change film s setting hawaiian island of kauaʻi important choice in defining plot more clearly. no other animated feature had ever taken place on of hawaiian islands before. in sanders s words:

animation has been set in ancient, medieval europe — many fairy tales find roots there, place in hawaiʻi kind of big leap. choice went color entire movie, , rewrite story us.

writing

dean deblois, had co-written mulan (1998) sanders, brought on co-write , co-direct lilo & stitch, while disney executive clark spencer assigned produce. unlike several previous , concurrent disney feature animation productions, lilo & stitch pre-production team remained relatively small , isolated upper management until film went full production. character , set designs based upon chris sanders s personal artistic style.

while animation team visited kauaʻi research locale, tour guide explained meaning of ʻohana applies extended families. concept of ʻohana became important part of movie. deblois recalls:

no matter went, our tour guide seemed know somebody. 1 explained hawaiian concept of ʻohana, sense of family extends far beyond immediate relatives. idea influenced story became foundation theme, thing causes stitch evolve despite created do, destroy.

the island of kauaʻi had been featured in such films raiders of lost ark , jurassic park trilogy. disney animators faced daunting task of meshing film s plot, showed impoverished , dysfunctional life many hawaiians lived during then-recent economic downturn, island s serene beauty. actors voicing film s young adults nani , david, tia carrere, native of honolulu, , jason scott lee, raised in hawaii, assisted rewriting hawaiian characters dialogue in proper colloquial dialect , adding hawaiian slang.

one innovative , unique aspect of film strong focus on relationship between 2 sisters, lilo , nani. making relationship between sisters major plot element rare in american animated films.

design , animation

in deviation several decades worth of disney features, sanders , deblois chose use watercolor painted backgrounds lilo & stitch, opposed traditional gouache technique. while watercolors had been used disney animated shorts, disney features snow white , 7 dwarfs (1937), pinocchio (1940), , dumbo (1941), technique had been largely abandoned mid-1940s in favor of less complicated media such gouache. sanders preferred watercolors used lilo & stitch evoke both bright of storybook , art direction of dumbo, requiring background artists trained in working medium. character designs based around sanders s personal drawing style, eschewing traditional disney house style. film s extraterrestrial elements, such spaceships, designed resemble marine life, such whales , crabs.

marketing

teaser trailers film parody trailers other disney films (three of sanders worked on) disney renaissance: beauty , beast, aladdin, little mermaid , lion king. these called inter-stitch-als , featured on disney s official site on film s respective dvd release. original actors brought reprise roles , shocked when asked act negatively towards stitch. trailers include ac/dc song track in black. in united kingdom, lilo & stitch trailers , tv ads featured cover of elvis song suspicious minds , performed gareth gates, became famous on uk tv program pop idol. marketing campaign presented stitch sort of disney family black sheep . promotional campaign, comics of lilo & stitch run in disney adventures prior film s release. comics detailed events leading film both title characters, including creation , escape of stitch. these events later contradicted sequel lilo & stitch 2: stitch has glitch rendering comics non-canonical, notable series introducing experiment 625, reuben, made main character in subsequent movies , tv series. comic series has been released collective volume titled comic zone volume 1: lilo & stitch.

deleted scenes

several major elements of film changed during production. originally, stitch leader of intergalactic gang, , jumba 1 of former cronies summoned intergalactic council capture stitch. test audience response versions of film resulted in change of stitch , jumba s relationship of creation , creator, respectively. biggest change came film s third act, had stitch, nani, jumba , pleakley hijacking boeing 747 jet lihue airport , flying through downtown honolulu save lilo. following september 11, 2001 attacks on world trade center, sequence revised stitch instead flew spaceship through mountains of kauaʻi. revision done replacing cgi model of 747 of jumba s spaceship, few shots in sequence re-animated. scene deleted 1 of lilo s attempts make stitch model citizen notifying tourists on beach tsunami warning sirens, knows being tested day. original version of jumba attacking stitch in lilo s home found violent test audiences, , revised make more comedic. there scene in lilo introduces stitch pudge fish, leads fish s death. lilo takes pudge s body same graveyard parents buried, , stitch learns consequences of actions , gains better understanding of mortality. scene removed nani brings lilo pizza , lilo tells herself bedtime story friendly , stinky bear named toaster. replaced scene lilo , nani talk being family because test audiences had mistaken nani lilo s mother. trial scene had stitch defendant, , jumba not present. changed because of film directors thought intergalactic council had blame him creating stitch.