WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- Behind-the-Scenes Footage of live actors performing the "Zero to Hero" musical number from the Disney film Hercules was released in honor of the film's 19th anniversary.
Disney enthusiast site Oh My Disney shared side-by-side video of the scene from the film and the live action performance that was used as the inspiration for the animation.
In addition to sharing the footage, which included storyboard illustrations along with the live-action performance, Oh My Disney also spoke with co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker about the process of creating the scene.
"This one was cut shot for shot to give animators a better sense of the music video vibe we were trying to get," Musker said. "It was really a lot of fun to do."
Musker explained that the concept for the musical number was inspired by their desire to emulate MTV including videos such as C+C Music Factory's "Things That Make You Go Hmmm" and is desire to show of Hercules's heroic feats.
"When we were trying to visualize this I was on a plane, and I was listening to the track and I was watching an NBA highlight reel and hearing the song in my headset and thought, 'oh we should really do a video where we intercut the great sports exploits of Hercules intercut with a dance number,'" he said.
Clements said that while using live-action sequences as reference was common place, the work done for this scene was a bit more extreme.
"It was the most elaborate video shoot we've ever done and I think has ever been done for animation," Clements said. "We do shoot live-action reference, that's not all that uncommon on all the films we've done. But this went beyond."
