Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Songs in Sign Language, streaming exclusively on Disney+, extends the studio’s legacy of creativity and innovation by reimagining a selection of musical numbers from recent films in American Sign Language (ASL).
The musical Songs in Sign Language, debuting during National Deaf History Month, reimagines The Next Right Thing from Frozen II (2019), We Don’t Talk About Bruno from Encanto (2021), and Beyond from Moana 2 (2024). This unique project, created in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre and artistic director DJ Kurs, was envisioned by Hyrum Osmond, known for his work on Frozen (2013) and Olaf Presents (2021).
“The inspiration for this is my father, who is hard of hearing. Growing up, I never learned sign language. I have a lot of regrets about that, because I couldn’t connect with him. I wanted to take down barriers with this project. It’s really all about connection,” stated Osmond. “We’ve never done anything like this at Disney Animation before.”
The project was brought to life by a team of over 20 animators.
Osmond mentioned, “Many of them volunteered for it, because it was just such a special thing. They wanted to be a part of it. That made a difference, this is something unique that really resonated with a lot of people on the crew.”
“We watched the original films, and then we analysed the context of the songs within the larger story,” Kurz mentioned. “Then, we decided what each lyric meant and how it fit within the beat and the rhythm of the song. From there, we developed a general idea of what signs we would use, and then we presented them to the actors to see how it would look. Some of the signs are more on the hands, and others are more on the face or in the body.”
Osmond shared, “Sign language and English are not a direct translation. They’re very different. When we went in to reimagine these sequences, in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre, it was very important for us both to work with the deaf community to identify exactly how these signs should look, because we want them to be real and to be genuine.”
Additional care was taken to ensure authenticity. For Beyond, DJ Kurs cast a deaf actor of Pacific Islands heritage, while for We Don’t Talk About Bruno, deaf Colombian actors were selected to reflect cultural accuracy.
“We talked over the translation I developed, and then I made changes based on their feedback,” said sign language reference choreographer for the project Catalene Sacchetti. “For example, rat in American sign language is also the sign for other things, like fake or pretend. How do I make the meaning clear to avoid misunderstandings? I asked the Colombian consultants what their sign for rats is, and it’s different. It seemed to be a better fit for what’s happening in the actual scene, so we chose to use the Colombian sign for rats in We Don’t Talk About Bruno, because it really goes with the aesthetics of the scene.”
Osmond added “Hope that audiences, particularly those within the deaf community feel a deeper sense of connection when they stream Disney Animation’s Songs in Sign Language on Disney+.”
The process was more complex than simply adapting existing animation with new hand gestures. To ensure authenticity, the studio worked closely resulting in newly created animation for around 95 per cent of the shots.
