4. Scenery and Clothing Design Were Inspired By Norwegian Folk Elements
Frozen developers took a trip to Norway to get inspired in the way of scenery, clothing, and even architectural design. The Frozen art and design team visited the Norwegian fjords, which eventually became the principle landscape for Arendelle, nestling the kingdom within the giant ice cliffs for which Norway is well known. For Arendelles castle, the rustic, medieval stave churches and their shingled roofs were an important inspiration from the trip. A castle in Oslo, according to art director Mike Giaimo, inspired the walls of the royal castle, with its beautiful, hand-painted pattern in the main room. Traditional Sami culture also inspired aspects of the music, architecture, and costumes, especially for the ice-cutters and Kristoff. A final, important touch that was gained from the Norway research was a ubiquitous, traditional Norwegian folk art technique called rosemaling, which involves flowing, geometric patterns and floral ornamentation. Rosemaling was highly prevalent in the design of Frozen, including the clothing of characters, the architecture, the tapestries in the castle, and more. Each character was even given their own style of rosemaling: floral and effervescent for the bubbly Anna, flowing and crystal-like for pre-transformation Elsa (after which her rosemaling turned to snowflakes), and geometric for Kristoff. In the picture above, rosemaling is visible on Anna's dress, wardrobe and chest.