Back in October, I was invited to attend a very special media preview and look behind the scenes of the Disney animated film Zootopia–slated to premiere in theaters March 4, 2016. We saw extended clips and scenes from the film and were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime look at the stages, work and development that goes into bringing a complex animated feature to life.

Zootopia is a modern mammal metropolis in a world sans humans. It has habitat neighborhoods like ritzy Sahara Square and frigid Tundratown, but at is city core is the melting pot where animals from every environment live together—from the biggest elephant to the smallest shrew. In Zootopia, “you can be anything,” but when rookie Officer Judy Hopps arrives in town, she discovers that being the first bunny on a police force of big, tough animals isn’t going to be easy. Judy is determined to prove herself, and she jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering a scam-artist fox named Nick Wilde to solve the mystery. The movie takes the unlikely pair on an exciting adventure and requires these two animals, who aren’t natural-born friends to get along and work together.

Even though I have only seen portions of the movie, I can tell you that it is really, really funny with outstanding music and some of the most beautiful and technologically advanced animation you’ve ever scene. The humor, music and incredible animation are attributed to the incredible talents who bring each of these elements to life. During my recent look behind the scenes, I was blown away by the number of people, time and processes that go into bringing a movie like Zootopia to life.

Below shows the process of how a scene at the DMV came together for the movie.

First, given a script, artists create storyboards as the first visual representation of a scene from the movie. My son who loves to draw was elated to learn upon my arrival home from this behind-the-scenes look that artists who draw are still a HUGE part of the animation process. For Zootopia, there were 197,136 story panels created. The boards are edited together with scratch dialogue (the voices of those work on the movie, not the voice actors), providing suggested pacing for a given scene. The timing of this scene was critical (as you will see in the end clip).

Next, based on the storyboards, the layout team assembles the scene in the CG environment (which is a fancy way of saying “in the computer”). A virtual camera is placed in the shot and the characters are staged to show how the scene might unfold. Character movement is roughly planned out during this phase and usually includes a blend of scratch and final dialogue.

Then, once the rough layout is approved and production dialogue has been recorded, the animation stage begins, and animators develop detailed movement of the characters. Animators are in many ways actors, giving each character his or her unique personality and maintaining consistency from scene to scene. For example, Nick’s sarcastic smirk involves a number of facial controls.

After a scene has been animated, it begins its final journey toward becoming the film and enters its “lighting” phase. It continues to a number of departments, including simulation, which takes care of clothing and fur, and lighting. This ensures that the scene is lit in a believable way with real-life characteristics. Lighters captured the no-frills, functional lighting often featured at places like the DMV to help give it some familiarity.

And speaking of the hair movement, animators have developed new software to create even more realistic hair and vegetation movement unlike you’ve ever seen in an animated film. Thought the hair movement in the movie Bolt looked good? Animators say that when they look at that animation today it makes them cringe. The advances in this movie are truly incredible.

The final product, I think you will agree, is really incredible. I love seeing the black and white drawings in the beginning become this incredibly funny scene.

In the coming months, I will be bringing you more behind-the-scenes looks at how Zootopia has been brought to life, so stay tuned!