How ‘Vivo’ Managed an Animated Oner With the Help of Roger Deakins

thewrap.com:

A version of this story about “Vivo” first appeared in the special animation section of Awards Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.There is so much vying for your attention these days, especially in terms of animation, that it’s important to grip the attention and imagination of the audience as quickly as possible.

For “Vivo,” the animated musical conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda and co-written by his “In the Heights” collaborator Quiara Alegría Hudes, the approach was simple: envelop the viewer in the world of a singing kinkajou named Vivo (Miranda) who travels from Cuba to America to fulfill his master Andrés’ (Juan de Marcos González) last wish, with a big, brassy, cannot-look-away musical number.Easy enough, right?

But what if the same number covered a huge amount of storytelling ground and emotional real estate? Oh, and it was captured in a single fluid take?As director and co-writer Kirk DeMicco tells it, the sequence wasn’t initially staged as a showstopping single take.

That idea came later, from choreographer Calvit Hodge. “At first, it was really just an idea of figuring out the dance reference,” he said. “It was more about the authenticity, the cultural representation of the background dancers — so when the tourists and other folks in the plaza were dancing along, there would also be locals there and we could see how each one would dance.