Descendants

Disney’s Descendants is a story that finds a fairy tale world divided, with all of the Disney heritage villains having been captured and banished to a dismal, overcrowded prison Island, while the Disney heritage princesses and heroes live in royal splendor in the overly-perfected and villain-free Kingdom of Auradon across the bay. Dove Cameron as Mal (daughter of the mighty Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty) in front of her Maleficent-inspired street art on the Isle of the Lost.

(Disney Publicity photo)

Mal (Dove Cameron) conspires with her mother Maleficent (Kristin Chenoweth) on the Isle of the Lost. The Isle is a combination of Alcatraz, a Turkish Bazaar, and John Water's Baltimore. With the entirety of Disney's stable of villains imprisoned here, the color palette had to reflect their very particular taste. After a careful study of classic Disney villainy, I took all their purples, blacks, burgundies, and acid greens, and drenched them with 20 years of soot, rust, grime, and grit. I called the resulting palette "Dirty Candy".

(Disney Publicity photo)

A view over the slum of the Isle of the Lost looking toward beautiful Auradon across the bay.

(Disney Publicity photo)

The main street on the Isle of the Lost.

© (DISNEY CHANNEL/Jeff Weddell)

Another view of the main street of the Isle of the Lost. 

A view of the Fortune Tellers shacks from the covered Thieve's Market.

View down the main street of the Isle of the Lost.

Another view of the main street of the Isle of the Lost.

Life on the Isle of the Lost is miserable for its once-powerful residents. Upon being banished here, all their magic and witchcraft were disabled by a magical shield. So they mostly just steal and sell and re-steal and resell the same old junk and useless trinkets to and from each other. This shows the hairdresser's shack on the main street of the Isle of the Lost.

Street detail on the Isle of the Lost.

The rickety rooftop where Jay- son of Jafar - (Booboo Stewart) is introduced.

Detail of the Fortune Teller's shacks on the Isle of the Lost.

Street detail on the Isle of the Lost.

Street detail of vendor's shacks on the Isle of the Lost. The vendor on the right of the frame specializes in broken ladders.

This is a detail of the cheerful and largely hopeless propaganda campaign the good people of Auradon paste-up on the streets of the Isle in hopes of rehabilitating the fallen villains. In no time at all the people of the Isle make their feelings known.

 © (DISNEY CHANNEL/Jeff Weddell)

The vendor on the left sells the highest quality, slightly bruised produce from Auradon. The one on the right sells the more typical Isle fare, toadstools, nightshade, assorted rot, and all varieties of curdle.

Another vendor in the Thieve's Market.

Jay (Booboo Stewart) shows off his acrobatic thieving skills in the crowded bazaar on the Isle of the Lost.

(Disney Publicity photo)

One of the many shanties/booths in the market where the once-powerful residents of the Isle of the Lost sell, steal, resell and re-steal the same tired old trinkets and goods to each other.

© (DISNEY CHANNEL/Jeff Weddell)

Another booth in the market on the Isle of the Lost full of busted-up junk.

© (DISNEY CHANNEL/Jeff Weddell)

Someone's bed jammed between two rickety towers in the Bazaar on the Isle of the Lost.

Another of the earnest propaganda graphics the good people of Auradon plaster around the wretched Isle in the futile hope of rehabilitating its imprisoned inhabitants. 

We imagined the once-mighty Maleficent humiliated and furious in defeat. Even in her fallen state, she would still require the most befitting accommodation on the Isle of the Lost. The "Bargain Castle", while hokey and ramshackle, most resembles her former keep in the Forbidden Mountains. And its balcony gives her an unobstructed view across the bay to the hated Auradon. This is the exterior of the second floor, interior set. This was digitally added to a practical ground floor at the end of the main street of the Isle of the Lost. 

A broad view of Maleficent's cavernous, leaky, drafty cold-water walk-up in the Bargain Castle on the Isle of the Lost.

Maleficent's sunken living room with her unreliable Predicta TV. It is her only link to the outside world.

The mismatched sofa in Maleficent's sunken living room. 

A view of Maleficent's dressing area and her elevated throne. Domesticity is not among her considerable powers.

We wanted to give Maleficent one artifact from her former, magnificent life. The director suggested maybe her throne. Unfortunately, the throne from the original animation was a 12 foot wide, 6 ton stone bat. Not a practical thing to carry into exile. So I tried to evoke the idea of that throne with a ridiculous green and purple wingback chair she might have confiscated from the Isle's Bazaar.

The job of the production designer is to conceive and execute the broad look of a show. But the big picture is built out of thousands of details. I spent my weekends in Vancouver having a ball cooking up little details like Maleficent's childlike "REVENGE", "FOOLS!", and spinning wheel magnets, and her shopping and to-do lists, all stuck to her "WICKEDAIRE" refrigerator. 

A detail of Maleficent's poorly tuned piano.

Maleficent's scratchy Victrola. Notice the double helix of the custom wallpaper. It evokes both Maleficent's classic thorn vine's from Sleeping Beauty and the idea of the DNA of evil. Does it pass from one generation to the next, or can one change their destiny?

A detail of one of Maleficent's many broken, drafty windows. 

Carlos (Cameron Boyce), Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson), and Jay (Booboo Stewart) conspire in Maleficent's ratty apartment on the Isle of the Lost.

(Disney Publicity photo)

Mal (Dove Cameron) broods below her imperious mother Maleficent (Kristin Chenoweth) in her ratty apartment on the Isle of the Lost.

(Disney Publicity photo)

The four children from the Isle of the Lost leave the slummy island of their youth and arrive at the impossibly stately and regal Auradon prep school. Here we augmented the already gorgeous Hatley Castle.

Having been transplanted from their prison on the Isle of the Lost to the gorgeous mainland of Auradon, the Villain Kids struggle to fit in. From left to right: Evie (Sofia Carson), Jay (Booboo Stewart), Mal (Dove Cameron), and Carlos (Cameron Boyce).

(Disney Publicity photo)

The pink, pretty girl's dorm room is horrifying to the girls from the Isle of the Lost. 

Another view of the girl's dorm room in Auradon prep.

The boy's dorm room in Auradon prep.

Another view of the boy's dorm room in Auradon prep.

The exterior of the classroom building at Auradon prep. We added banks of lockers.

The "Remedial Goodness" classroom at Auradon prep.

The gorgeous setting for Family Day at Auradon prep.

Detail of the Family Day celebration

Detail of the Family Day garden party and celebration.

The backside of the Auradon prep dormitory is ready to host the big celebration following young King Ben's (Mitchell Hope) coronation. The stage is actually a precarious build over a delicate, 100-year-old fountain.

Ready to shoot the post-coronation party.

Young Prince Ben's (Mitchell Hope) royal bedroom. 

A detail of the Tourney (the official sport of Auradon) achievements of Prince Ben (Mitchell Hope) in his royal bedroom.

All the heritage artifacts of mighty Auradon, good and bad are collected at the Museum of Cultural History. Here is the sign by the front entrance.

The grand lobby of the Museum of Cultural History. The famed spinning wheel from Sleeping Beauty resides under the armor of Arthurian knights.

A detail shot of the famed spinning wheel from Sleeping Beauty in the Museum of Cultural History.

The wand gallery in the Museum of Cultural History, wherein resides the greatest magical object in all Auradon, Fairy Godmother's wand.

A detail of the plinth for Maleficent's wax figure in the Museum of Cultural History, a character piece based on her former haunt in the Forbidden Mountains.

A screenshot of the finished VFX Gallery of the Villains set featuring the (about to spring to life) wax figure of Maleficent (Kristin Chenoweth) on her plinth in the Museum of Cultural History.

We were tasked with creating a sport for the boys of Auradon prep and the transplanted boys from the Isle of the Lost to compete in. Because the students of the school are the sons of dragon slayers, kings, and princes, we came up with a game that would be evocative of their father's heroism in feats of combat, yet still have a modern field-sports vibe that would reflect the kind of games modern high school students would recognize. We call it "Tourney", French for “tournament”.

The goal, or "keep" is reminiscent of the gate to a castle. 

Three points are scored hitting the ball into the net of the "keep", one point is scored by hitting the ball between the uprights under the castellations.

Since the center of any playing field is often where play slows down, we created the "kill zone" to make the center field much more active. The zone is guarded by two "Dragoniers", one from each team. The Dragoniers evoke the idea of dragon-fire that the previous generation faced. Red and yellow, high-velocity bean bags fire from the "dragon's" mouth, a direct hit is a game-ending event for a player. 

A detail of one of the Dragoniers. They are rapid-fire air cannons that shoot painful but non-injuring bean bags to simulate the dragon fire the player’s father's once faced. The black flex-track creates the reptile's throat and feeds the bean bags to the gun. The silhouette is a reductive portrait of a dragon with which the people of Auradon are uncomfortably familiar (it's Maleficent).

The Knights and the Falcons face off in the Kill Zone. The uniforms and gear of the players evoke their father's days of glory.

The royal carriage ready to transport Ben and Mal to the coronation.

The royal carriage arrives for the coronation. The royal palette of Auradon comes from Belle and the Beast's costumes from the dance scene in Beauty and the Beast.

The court of Auradon awaits the arrival of the Prince.

The throne dais for the royal coronation. The design for the coronation cathedral was completed in VFX.

A shot of the thrones of the King and Queen of Auradon. Note that the shape of the backrest is also that of all of Auradon's federal signage. The structure of the back and sides of the thrones are "A's". 

Fairy Godmother's all-powerful wand awaits the ceremony under its enchanted glass bell.

A very famous dragon appears at the coronation (it’s Maleficent).

(Disney Publicity photo)

Eden is an especially enchanted place in the enchanted kingdom of Auradon. Young Prince Ben brings Mal here for their first date. I wanted to create a gorgeous ruin from the age of Auradon's heroism to set the stage for their budding romance. We humped this Greek-style temple into the beauty of Lynn Canyon outside Vancouver.

Another view of the temple ruin in beautiful Eden.

A still from our creative presentation of the art and design of Descendants to executives from all departments of Disney. From left to right: Kenny Ortega, director: Dove Cameron, lead actor; Kara Saun, costume designer; Mark Hofeling, production designer.

(Disney Publicity photo)