Descendants: The Rise of Red

Descendants: The Rise of Red is a prequel to the wildly successful Descendants trilogy of films I designed for Disney. We see our world both in the "present" and the past.

Here Red - the daughter of the wicked Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, the daughter of Cinderella and Prince (now King) Charming arrive at the prestigious Merlin Academy, 20 years in their past.

The study hall in the Merlin Academy

The heart of the Merlin Academy and the future Auradon Academy is the courtyard. We needed a large space that would serve several scenes and musical sequences in the "present" and past scenarios. So the courtyard had both a past and present setting.

A moment from "Life is Sweeter", one of many musical sequences in the courtyard.

Another moment from "Life is Sweeter" in the courtyard set.

This wide shot shows the scale of the courtyard, which is set up for a dance rehearsal.

Another shot of the courtyard during the "Fight of our Lives" musical number featuring Red (Kylie Cantrall), and Chloe (Malia Baker).

The dormitory hallway set in the Merlin Academy.

Bridget's dorm room set in the Merlin Academy.

Another view of Bridget's dorm room set in the Merlin Academy.

Bridget (Ruby Rose Turner) in her dorm room in the Merlin Academy.

Bridget (Ruby Rose Turner) in her dorm room set in the Merlin Academy.

The dormitory lobby in the Merlin Academy.

Red (Kylie Cantrall) and Chloe (Malia Baker) in the music room in the dormitory lobby at the Merlin Academy.

The lobby and waiting room outside of Principal Merlin's office in the Merlin Academy.

Flashing forward, after Principal Merlin retires, the office becomes that of the venerable Fairy Godmother, who sees the newly rechristened Auradon academy through the age of the V.K.s (the Villain Kids from D1-3). Here is her version of the office with everything in it's place and a place for everything, very much in keeping with her character.

Another view of Principle Fairy Godmother's office set in the Merlin Academy.

But in the bulk of our story, the office is that of the mighty Merlin. Based on the version of the beloved character from Disney's classic The Sword in the Stone, Merlin is a bumbling, absent-minded polymath and trans-dimensional genius. His office reflects his wild, intellectual eclecticism.

Principal Merlin (Jeremy Swift) at the legendary "Round Table" in his cluttered office at the Merlin Academy.

Principal Merlin's office is also used as a classroom for some of the more advanced, even dangerous courses that require his direct supervision. Alchemy is one of the many subjects he teaches here.

I provided this roll-away greenhouse for light and ease of crew/equipment access, but it served very well for the garden where Merlin cultivates some of the ingredients for his various potions and brews.

In a final action sequence, Red (Kylie Cantrall) battles the enchanted swords from the ancient Round Table in Principal Merlin's office.

Red (Kylie Cantrall) swings on the chandelier in a final action sequence in Principal Merlin's office.

Envisioned as a 2-movie storyline, all the drama leads up to the Queen of Hearts' villainous origin story that took place in the past at the Castlecoming dance. Red and Chloe are determined to make it to the dance to prevent that terrible timeline from occurring.

Here is delightful poster for the dance, complete with a spinning ferris wheel.

We built this safe, heatable fountain for Uliana (Dara Renee) to be toppled into during a humiliating sequence that incites her own vengeful storyline.

In Descendants: The Rise of Red, we meet several classic Disney villains and heroes as teenagers. One of which is Ella, who eventually becomes Cinderella. We meet here here, in her servile cinderhood, at her Evil Stepmother's house, fallen into wretched disrepair.

The musical sequence "Get Your Hands Dirty" takes place in this derelict garden, where Chloe helps her future mother Ella transform it from this...

...to this in a triumph of friendship and hard work. If only the gray Georgia weather had cooperated with sunshine to punctuate the transformation. Oh well.

Ella (Morgan Dudley) in her Evil Stepmother's house.

Red (Kylie Cantrall) tries to help Ella with her chores in the Evil Stepmother's house.

Descendants: The Rise of Red introduces the audience to an exciting new world: Wonderland. Here, the imperious Queen of Hearts rules over a cowed populace with an iron fist. Her twisted fantasy castle dominates the enchanted landscape.

The bullied proletariat of Wonderland lives in comically truncated Tudor shacks surrounding the plaza of The Queen's castle. They march home from their brutal workdays and enter their hovels moments before curfew is declared.

Here we see the workers marching home at the beginning of Red, the musical sequence that kicks of the movie.

A typical alley among the workers' homes in Wonderland, complete with heart-shaped street lamps.

An overhead shot of The Queen's soldiers in formation in the royal plaza.

The destruction and vandalism in the royal plaza observed by the captain of The Queen's guard and his men.

Red (Kylie Cantrall) in one of the heart-shaped topiary trees in the royal plaza during the musical sequence "Red".

Here's a typical example of where our "hard" set building fuses with VFX set extension. The Queen's portrait awaits Red's vandalism.

The song "Red" ends with Red cornered with no escape from the approaching soldiers. She is rescued by a retractable claw contraption (see sketchbook for my storyboarding of this sequence).

It turns out that the rescue claw was deployed by Red's friend and guardian angel, The Mad Hatter. Here Red (Kylie Cantrall) and Maddox Hatter (Leonardo Nam) conspire in his laboratory set deep in the castle.

Maddox Hatter's laboratory.

Another view of Maddox Hatter's laboratory.

Maddox Hatter's top-secret project, the time-traveling pocket watch. With this, Red can move back and forth in her attempt to prevent the awful now from happening.

A view down the hallway to Red's bedroom set deep within the castle.

The Queen of Hearts' castle and royal plaza the day after Red's wild night of vandalism.

The infuriated Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) being carried back into her castle on her throne after inspecting the destruction of her property.

Red (Kylie Cantrall) and her mother, The Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) in the dystopian, future throne room as seen through the Looking Glass.

The Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) subjugates Prince Charming (Paolo Montalban) in the dystopian future courtyard as seen through the Looking Glass.

In Descendants: Rise of Red, the villain of the moment is Uliana, niece of the mighty Sea Witch Ursula. This is her lair rising from the oily waters of the cursed Black Lagoon. I originally designed it to be a hybrid "hard" and VFX set, but it became more cost effective to do it all as a visual effect.

To help illustrate the scale and nature of the space, this is a shot of the steel frame and the foam ribs and spine starting to go up.

A few weeks later the Lair interior was nearly complete, with the coral central stage just getting installed.

In this shot from the film, a young Maleficent (Mars) joins the hybrid human/octopus villain Uliana (Dara Renee) for the musical sequence "Perfect Revenge" in Uliana's completed lair.

The gang gathers around Uliana (Dara Renee) at her cauldron during "Perfect Revenge."

The open cauldron reveals it's secrets to the gang of young villains in Uliana's Lair.