Media A1:
Film (Media Industries):
The Jungle Book (1967)
The Jungle Book (1967) is comparable to The Jungle Book (2016). According to the OCR specification: The Jungle Book (2016) has taken over 1 billion US dollars already at the cinema box office alone (and will generate more income as a DVD/Blu-ray disc and online). The film has a clear pattern of production, distribution and circulation that can be easily distinguished and is a film production from a major studio.
The Jungle Book (1967) is a historically significant media product and film text. The 1967 film is currently one of the most successful films of all time (it has taken over 100 billion US dollars) and followed a traditional pattern of production, distribution and circulation, although it enjoyed a ‘second life’ on video and DVD.
The Jungle Book (1967):
Disney’s animation studio had been responsible for developing many of the techniques and ways of working that became standard practices of:
•traditional cel-animation,
•pioneering the art of story boarding
•developing the use of the multi-plane to create an early 3D-like effect
The Jungle Book (1967):
Historical context...
•The 1967 film is important to Disney Studios’ history – it is a magical landmark film that is among the best ever written for Disney and includes the Oscar-nominated songs ‘The Bare Necessities’ and ‘I Wanna Be Like You’.
•The original soundtrack for The Jungle Book was also the first to achieve gold disc status in the USA for an animated feature film.
•The Jungle Book (1967) itself is premised on an imaginative interpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and the film credits a notable cast and production team that had been in place and had worked together in the studio – at this time still a family-run business – for a number of years.
•The racialised representations of the 1967 film were not repeated in the 2016 version and perhaps reflect the institutionalised racism of America at the time where races were segregated
Economic Contexts:
By the time The Jungle Book was released Disney was already a successful film company, and the Disney Corporation was diversifying into theme parks (Disneyland), television series and merchandising deals. These were set up through its distribution arm, Buena Vista, in 1953. In part this was Disney’s reaction to the baby boom of the 1950s, and the expansion of its business interests in home entertainment focused on its television series.
•The Jungle Book was released in October 1967 and grossed nearly $24 million on its first worldwide release.
•The film was produced on a budget of $4 million and was the fourth highest grossing movie in 1967.
•The Jungle Book was re-released in cinemas in the USA in 1978, 1984 and 1990.
•It enjoyed European screenings throughout the 1980s, with a particularly strong German market.
•The film has been released on a number of occasions to home entertainment markets.
Media companies practise vertical integration in order to control and maximise efficiency of the supply and distribution of the product -not just as films, but also as television, soundtracks and merchandise and, in Disney’s case, theme parks as well.
This illustrates how media synergy can support the continuing presence of a film and so promote horizontal integration across media and business interests, for example Disney film characters being evident in its theme parks and Disney Stores.
The Jungle Book is an example of how important synergy and merchandising is to a media conglomerate as it commodifies a successful media text.
Vertical integration;
When a media company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution. Media synergy Using a single-sourced idea to create multiple selling points and products.
Horizontal integration:
When a media company creates a chain of goods or services across different divisions, often subsidiaries of the same company. Licensing deal A legal contract between two parties, which grants a deal over a brand or product.
Ownership, Distribution and Control:
Making money out of producing films to be shown at the cinema is very difficult. This is because there are so many other media platforms the film can be sold by, for example, through merchandising.
Media companies practise vertical integration in order to control and maximise efficiency of the supply and distribution of the product – not just as films, but also as television, soundtracks and merchandise and, in Disney’s case, theme parks as well.
•For example Disney film characters being evident in its theme parks and Disney Stores. The Jungle Book is an example of how important synergy and merchandising is to a media conglomerate as it commodifies a successful media text.
•Film producers take a percentage of merchandising revenue, often through licensing deals .
•Movie property owners like Disney probably receive at least ten per cent of the wholesale price as their share of the profits.
Hesmondalgh Cultural Industries Theory:
The idea that the radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-orientated set of cultural industries.
The Jungle Book (2016)
•The Jungle Book (2016) The Jungle Book was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and directed by Jon Favreau,
•Jon Favreau had previously produced Iron Man and Iron Man 2 under his production company.
• The Jungle Book (2016) is a fantasy adventure movie with a darker and more sinister interpretation of Kipling’s stories
•The 2016 version is a shift away from the light-hearted, toe-tapping and joyful original 1967 animation.
•Disney’s rationale for changing the narrative was to attract a wider audience through producing an immersive experience in which the characters were no longer playful/funny but believable.
•This was largely achieved through use of CGI animation
Production...
Given the estimated production budget of $175 million, above-the-line costs were high in relation to creative talent such as actors, directors, writers and producers. The casting and use of more than 30 stars for the voice overs, including film actors such as Scarlett Johansson and Ben Kingsley, was just as important as in the 1967 film.
The casting of established actors helped to attract a more adult audience who might want to watch the film because of “Celebrity Appeal”
The contemporary version is well thought out and was an expensive movie to produce.
•Disney was able to rely on a tried and tested formula with The Jungle Book, targeting a global market and family audiences with a successful brand.
•Disney chose to “reboot” a 50-year-old film in a CGI format, as it represented a product that people were familiar with.
•Previously Disney were unsuccessful in CGI blockbuster films such as John Carter (2012) and The Lone Ranger (2013). The selection of the Jungle Book made economic sense as it had an established audience and therefore reduced the risk of failure at the box office. (This links to Hesmondalgh’s theory)
•Disney wanted to create a visual spectacle that could easily translate across multiple territories or overseas/global markets (this is reflected in the global actors used)
•Note Disney has followed up on the use of archived films through CGI reboots of Beauty and The Beast, Dumbo and Cinderella.
The Jungle Book (2016) can be described as a live action/CGI film as it combines live action and animated animals interacting on screen.
The animals and landscapes were created on computer by the British digital effects house MPC.
The Jungle Book (2016) was: Planned by Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn as one of a series of remakes of their classic properties: ‘Hollywood makes lots of films for kids, but the Disney reboots may be one of the few safe bets. They revive classic characters for a new generation of kids, and their already smitten parents may be especially willing to shell out for related merchandise.’
Why CGI?
Within Hollywood there is the emphasis on spectacle, which tends to privilege some genres over others, for example action, sci-fi and fantasy. These types of films dominate studio budgets, marketing and distribution spends, and Disney is no different – especially when it has a history of being an early adopter of new media technologies.
Modern audiences increasingly enagage with CGI content which has made significant advancements in the past decade wrt to films such as Avengers, transformers and the Lord of the rings.
The time was right in development of this film property to combine the animation trademark qualities of Disney with the latest digital technology (photorealistic rendering, computer-generated technology and motion capture). The proliferation of digital technology in film has been driving film production in recent years.
The Moving Picture Company is a British visual effects and production company, headquartered in Soho, London with facilities located in Los Angeles, New York City, Montreal, Amsterdam, Bengaluru, Paris, and Shanghai. It is a subsidiary of Technicolor SA.
Greenlight: Preproduction (The work for any film starts with preproduction.)
Ready for the close-up: Production (Once the preproduction plan is in place, principal photography begins.)
And cut: Postproduction (Even while principal photography is happening on set, the army of animators back at MPC is building CG characters and environments, known as assets.)
Previsualisation
Green Screen
Face Happing
How many Disneyland Parks are there?
Twelve Parks
Where are All the Disneyland's and Theme Parks located? There are six Disney resorts in California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and China with a total of twelve parks. They are: Walt Disney World Resort (Florida) (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom)
What companies does Disney own?
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ABC.
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ESPN (80% stake)
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Touchstone Pictures.
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Marvel.
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Lucasfilm.
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A&E (50% equity holding with Hearst Corporation)
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The History Channel (50% equity holding with Hearst Corporation)
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Lifetime (50% equity holding with Hearst Corporation)
Synergies within the Walt Disney Company:
•By working alongside other media companies, the synergistic benefits of cross-promotion are effectively doubled.
• Disney is able to strike deals to make film and TV spinoffs, from which it gains a substantial share of profits.
•Disney chose to use its subsidiary companies to distribute the film, effectively meaning this was done at no cost as the money was flowing around inside the conglomerate rather than being paid out to another party.
• Disney granted licences to other companies to produce merchandise related to The Jungle Book (2016), including some companies that are also Disney subsidiaries , and in so doing created additional non-film revenues and tie-ins.
• As both a vertically integrated company (distributing as well as producing films) and a horizontally integrated company (promoting its products across different media and non-media interests including the theme parks)
Disney Subsidiaries:
Disney is a vertically integrated company (distributing as well as producing films) and a horizontally integrated company (promoting its products across different media and non-media interests including the theme parks), Disney is in a powerful position to engage with a global audience using the internet as a distribution platform for its goods.
Distributions:
•After three years in the making from concept to product, The Jungle Book (2016) was released from April to July 2016 across 70 different national territories.
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•The highly competitive business of launching and sustaining a film to the largest appropriate audience was timed by Disney for a summer film release, traditionally seen as coinciding with events for school-age children and family time.
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•The Jungle Book was released in North America in Disney Digital 3-D.
•The film was also released in RealD 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D, with a worldwide opening figure for IMAX of $20.4 million from 901 IMAX screens, remarkable for a PG-rated film.
•the film grossed a total of $39 million in IMAX screenings worldwide. The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing over $966 million.
Distribution and Revenue:
•Films usually open in cinemas first. This gives a product commercial value and creates further demand for viewing – especially in high-end technology formats.
•Following a big-screen run of approximately 16 weeks, films are released on a flexible timescale through other formats:
• home entertainment release, such as DVD, 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and digital HD
• PPV or subscription television, streaming and broadcast free-to-air TV
• as downloadable movies on Disney Anywhere, iTunes, Google Play and Amazon
Distribution and Marketing:
Marketing is a part of distribution, Disney used he following strategy to market the JB.
Different elements of film marketing that attract audience attention for the film include:
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word of mouth – social recommendation is the most effective trigger for cinema attendance and can give a film ‘legs’, so interest remains high for weeks after release
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posters – choosing and using an image to distil the essence of a film
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trailers – the most cost-effective form of promotion, normally shown prior to another film with a similar target audience
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social media messages – for example The Jungle Book 2016 Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts
Questions
1) Explain how films can be marketed to become global brands. Refer to the Jungle Book films in your answer:
Before the release of a film there is a lot of build up to prepare and excite the audience for the release date. This can include pieces of media like a trailer, which excites the audience as they view smaller clips of the film soon to be released. However, for some films, depending on the scale of the production they actually may host a preview or releasing night where there are a lot of press and large amounts of media.
However, there are also strategies that film marketers use after the release of the film such as merchandise and marketing in different landmarks. For example, there are a total of 12 different Disneyland Park landmarks which all produce advertisement for lots of different Disney films. In some of these landmarks, they enhance the brand of the films by selling different pieces of merchandise. Also tickets to ride on some of the rollercoasters and rides inspired by the variations of Disney films are sold in certain landmarks. Furthermore, these rides and rollercoasters being features for what the landmarks are famous and originally known for.
Another process that may be used is the creation of a set or series of films. For example, in some cases there have been case where there have been multiple films following a series; such as, The Twilight Saga, Fast and Furious, The Marvel Avengers and many more. This creates more of a global brand for certain films and the series of them all being released. As the excitement was originally created when the first of the films was released, larger amounts of excitement would have been built in the talk and rumours of a second, third and so on film being released in the future. Another technique that may allow more of a global brand to a film is the ideology of leaving the end of one film on a cliff-hanger to then create the audience crave and feel as though they need to know what happens next.
Furthermore, The Jungle Book was first released in 1967 and then remade and rereleased in 2016. This allowed people to get more excited for the new release as they relate back to the original one. The original Jungle Book was created in animation cartoon, whereas the new version has been used to present the different variations of special effects whilst still making it look unbelievably realistic. The essence of the characters are carried through the creation and re-enhancing the personalities that some films are known for. For example, in The Jungle Book 1967 Mowgli’s innocence, Baloo’s comedy, Bagheera’s sense of caring and Shere Khan’s evilness is represented strongly again in The Jungle Book version made in 2016.
Also, in some cases the series may include further information that was not given to the audience beforehand in the original of the sequence. For example, like The Jungle Book the 1967 animation didn’t reflect on Mowgli’s background, but the 2016 film does. We learn more about his family history. Therefore creating more excitement for the audience in the idea of finding out more about the characters and story line.
In conclusion, films and their series or sequels can be marketed to become global brands through a number of different techniques within the media and a prime example of this is The Jungle Book both version in 1967 and 2016.
2) Discuss the advances in technology within the film industry referring to The Jungle Book 1967 and 2016 in your answer. Explain how these advances are useful in attracting a wider audience:
Throughout the film media there is always a use of extreme technology to enhance the movie effect on the story line. For years we have experienced the different styles of animations and cartoons, evolving every day and attracting more and more of the audience. Modern audiences increasingly engage with CGI content which has made significant advancements in the past decade.
For example, in The Jungle Book that was produced and released in 1967 presented in cartoon animation. Whereas, The Jungle Book produced and released in 2016 used a wide variety of different technology techniques and special effects.
On the other hand, the casting of established actors helped to attract a more adult audience who might want to watch the film because of “Celebrity Appeal”. For example, the celebrities Ben Kingsely, Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba and Christopher Walken all have their own fan base and using them as the voices for the characters allows a wider audience to follow the film and its story line. The Jungle Book shows a great ability to equal or possibly a better voice cast than 1967. The main characters are left largely unaltered and as a result the choice of cast was always going to be successful.
The film received praise for its visual effects, vocal performances, direction, musical score, and its faithfulness to the original animated film. Some of the effects used were green screen effects, previsualisation and face happing. These techniques used highlights the evolution from the grainy older cartoon animation used in the 1967 version compared to the electronic improvements in the version produced and released in 2016.
The film seems to have grasped the technological scale of contemporary cinema while also being faithful to both Rudyard Kipling's original book and the 1967 animated film. What makes the 2016 film so successful is its balance of alterations and respect for nostalgia. The result is a film that feels fresh and exciting while simultaneously pulling at the viewers' heartstrings. It's the treatment of the animals in particular that sets the updated Jungle Book apart from the 1967 animation. By choosing a live-action route over animation, beloved characters like Baloo and Bagheera are rendered in a much more realistic light. Though the filmmakers used CGI technology to create the chatty, anthropomorphise animals, their naturalistic representation helps to capture the essence of how animals truly live in the jungle. The mannerisms and features of the CGI creatures are more, for lack of a better word, animalistic.
This sense of surrealism attracts audiences to the ideology of getting away from their everyday lives and escaping to an unrealistic but exciting new world. Along with wanting to watch a new exciting film, there is also the set idea that going to the cinema can be a nice family day out or a potential date night which creates an audience to want to have a break by going to a cinema theatre and watching a new exciting film with the loved ones.
In conclusion, the main reason for The Jungle Book in 2016 is due to the advances in technology within the film industry, whilst still staying faithful to the story line and meaning behind the original version of The Jungle Book in 1967.