A magical tribute! Disneyland Paris invites curious visitors and heritage enthusiasts to discover a brand new ephemeral show as part of the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral from December 5 to 14, 2024. A show combining projections, lighting effects, fireworks and drones.
And on the occasion of a visit to preview this new show, during the dress rehearsal, we went to meet the director of this nocturnal show, Arnaud Feredj. Speaking to Sortiraparis, he tells us about the stages in the creation of this show, the importance of French heritage for Disney, and the inspirations for this show, around the Hunchback of Notre-Dame and the cathedral itself.
See our full interview below:
Sortiraparis: Can you introduce yourself?
Arnaud Feredj: "I'm Arnaud Feredj, I've been a director at Disneyland Paris since 2017, and I'm the director of Disney ❤ Notre-Dame de Paris".
Sortiraparis: How did the idea of a show for the reopening of Notre-Dame come about? Why this show?
Arnaud Feredj: "For us, this show is a tribute to French heritage. And it's a way of celebrating the Parisian landscape and this beautiful monument, as well as making the link with our film The Hunchback of Notre-Dame".
Sortiraparis: Is heritage also important for Disneyland Paris in relation to Notre-Dame?
Arnaud Feredj: "It's very important! Disney in general, and Disneyland Paris in particular, have a very special bond with France and with Paris. We have a lot of films based on France or Paris. I'm thinking of iconic princesses like Belle(La Belle et la Bête, NDLR), who is French-speaking, and the film Ratatouille from our Pixar franchise. So yes, of course. The Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is featured in a scene in Cars 2... In Ratatouille too, by the way... So yes, we have a permanent and perpetual link".
Sortiraparis: Is there a particular link between Disney and Notre-Dame?
Arnaud Feredj: "Well, yes, there's a special link between Disney and Notre-Dame, through the film The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, of course, which is a rewriting of and homage to a timeless work by Victor Hugo. Besides, it's part of France's heritage, and we're attached to it.
Sortiraparis: What were the stages in the creation of this show?
Arnaud Feredj: "Well, first of all, my job was to do some artistic research and figure out what medium we were going to use for the show. The idea of a night-time show came very quickly and matured very quickly. And then it was a matter of federating the different trades through this show, so presenting my artistic intention to the video teams, the music teams, the music producer of course, in collaboration with the show's production team and Ben Spalding, in this case, who is the show's producer. And then with the teams, the designers - lighting designer, video designer and special effects designer - the presentation of this show to the Dronisos teams who are our drone partner, for the whole drone choreography part".
Sortiraparis: How long did it take you to create this show?
Arnaud Feredj: "The show started exactly one year ago. The idea germinated a year ago, and then we kept working on it all the way through, in stages. One of the most emblematic moments was when we went to re-record the music. We went to Abbey Road, in London, to this legendary studio, to record the music with over 80 musicians. Then we went to Disneyland Paris, in our own studio, to record all the hearts that are omnipresent on the soundtrack in French and English, right up to the final stages, i.e. tonight at the dress rehearsal".
Sortiraparis: Apart from Le Bossu de Notre-Dame, what were your inspirations for this show? Were there any other inspirations?
Arnaud Feredj: "The cathedral itself was obviously a source of inspiration. Especially the luminosity of the building's rose window, and Alan Menken's music for the cartoon. It was very important for me to try and represent Alan Menken's work and the music from the film The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in this way. I don't know if you're aware of this(we saw the dress rehearsal just beforehand, NDLR), but we start with a first tableau which is, all in all, quite classical, which is the same music as the opening tableau of the film, and then we move into a kind of mashup, The novelty in this "new arrangements" aspect was to mix French and English permanently in the lyrics to virtually recreate a new song, so that the languages become one".
Sortiraparis: The show features drones operated by Dronisos. How did you go about working with Dronisos?
Arnaud Feredj: "Dronisos has been our partner for several years now, so we're used to working together. For me, the basic idea was to create this show, to create the idea, to create the intention, and then to go and see them and work together to find the best solutions to make it possible. Drones are choreography. It's seen in the sky as being choreographed, and choreography is timed, so once I had the music, we started looking at the staging that was going to be all around it, knowing how and in what way the drones were going to evolve, and then the last part was the choreography and visual dressing for the particular figures right up to the last moment. This is really the final stage, the fine-tuning, the last layer I'd say, where we adjust the intensity of the light to match the castle as closely as possible, the fountains around it, the lights and the pyrotechnic effects".
Sortiraparis: How many drones were used for this show?
Arnaud Feredj: "We're using 500 drones, there are up to 500 drones in the sky".
