Before Aladdin was released theaters earlier this year to the tune of $1 billion worldwide, it seemed odd to pair director Guy Ritchie with the remake of the Middle Eastern-set Disney animated classic. But once the star Mena Massoud started crooning the lines to “One Jump Ahead,” it all immediately became clear. The stylish filmmaker, best known for his rapid-fire dialogue and editing combined with artful slow and fast-motion, put all of his techniques on display in the sequence for “One Jump Ahead,” which follows the titular street rat as he and an undercover Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) evade capture through the streets of Agrabah.
/Film has an exclusive Aladdin clip showcasing the techniques in this sequence, ahead of the film’s upcoming Digital and Blu-ray release. Watch the Aladdin clip below.
Exclusive Aladdin Clip
It’s hard enough to lip sync to a song while doing parkour around the streets of Agrabah, but Mena Massoud had to do it while being filmed in both 36 frames per second and 18 frames per second. That’s how Ritchie achieved those slow-motion and fast-motion effects that make up his lively, kinetic take on “One Jump Ahead,” one of the most beloved sequences from the 1992 Aladdin. In the original film, Aladdin shows off his street-smart wiles by escaping guards through clever tricks and lots of — you guessed it — jumping. Ritchie takes it up a notch in the remake by ramping up the stunts and constantly changing the frame rate of the sequence, resulting in the sped up and slowed down effects. But that made things much more difficult for Massoud, who had to slow down or speed up is lip syncing, depending on which frame-rate they were filming in.
“‘One Jump [Ahead]’ is a challenge because 24 frames per second, which is what we normally shoot at which is real time,” Ritchie said in the behind-the-scenes clip. “In order to give it a creative or new idea, everything is either fast or slow but he has to remain in sync. So it’s all shot in 36 frames per second, which is slow-motion, which means he has to sing very quickly to keep up.”
This clip comes ahead of Aladdin‘s release on Digital August 27, 2019 before hitting Blu-ray September 10, 2019. The animated classic Aladdin also joins the Walt Disney Signature Collection on 4K and Blu-ray September 10.
Aladdin is a lovable street urchin who meets Princess Jasmine, the beautiful daughter of the sultan of Agrabah. While visiting her exotic palace, Aladdin stumbles upon a magic oil lamp that unleashes a powerful, wisecracking, larger-than-life genie. As Aladdin and the genie start to become friends, they must soon embark on a dangerous mission to stop the evil sorcerer Jafar from overthrowing young Jasmine’s kingdom.
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