THE JUNGLE BOOK: LESSON 3+4 - PRODUCTION AND OWNERSHIP
JB16 - MAINSTREAM FILM:
//High production values including CGI and soundtrack
//Star Appeal - Scarlett Johansson voice over
//Wide/saturated distribution by one of the Big Six (not always)
//Synergy with other Disney blockbusters
//Commercial success - homage to 1967 film
//Safe genre, simplistic emotive narrative - focus on entertainment values e.g. IMAX, 3D availability
THE BIG SIX:
1//Disney
2//20th Century Fox
3//Warner Bros.
4//Universal Studios
5//Columbia Pictures/Sony
6//Paramount
CONGLOMERATE:
Apart from Disney who are the conglomerate, each studio is owned by a multinational organisation.
//Warner Bros is owned by Warner Media/AT&T
//Paramount Pictures is owned by VIACOM
//20th Century Fox is owned by the 21st Century Fox (formerly the News Corporation)
//Disney is it's own conglomerate. Ownership includes Lucasfilm, Pixar Animations, Marvel Entertainment, Theme Parks...
//Columbia Pictures/MGM are owned by Sony
//Universal Studios are owned by COMCAST
IMPACT OF DISNEY OWNERSHIP ON FILM PRODUCTION:
1//Big Six ownership provides significant funding for high production value films - Avengers: Infinity War (2018): 19th MCU film, also distributed by Disney - $320-400m budget.
2//Ability to attract star marketing.
3//More time spent on production.
4//Access to latest production technology - CGI.
5//More synergy e.g theme parks and plus platform convergence.
WALT DISNEY AND JB67:
Walt Disney was personally at the centre of most of the decision making in his company right from when he set up the studio. He was interested in all stages of production and distribution. The Sword in the Stone, the feature film before JB67, was far less successful than earlier features and Disney himself was worried about this comparative failure. His company had diversified in the previous decade, expanding into theme parks, TV series and live action films and Disney had become less hands-on with the animated feature production. But after the commercial failure of Sword, he became more personally involved with the production of JB67.
Disney's personally control over the whole studio affected all stages of production and distribution. Before production of JB67 started, Disney had streamlined the whole production system so that he had one supervising director, one art director, four master animators and one story-man. The story-man would write the screenplay, make the storyboards and record the voices. This was Bill Peat at the start, but then changed to Larry Clemmons.
Disney thought Peat’s version of the script was too dark for family audiences, that the audience wouldn't be able to identify with Mowgli, that the villain would be a cliché; so Disney himself took control and changed the production team with Larry Clemmons as the scriptwriter. He gave him a copy of Kipling’s book but told him “the first thing I want you to do is not to read it”. He wanted a film that was light, fun and entertaining with happy songs.
//High production values including CGI and soundtrack
//Star Appeal - Scarlett Johansson voice over
//Wide/saturated distribution by one of the Big Six (not always)
//Synergy with other Disney blockbusters
//Commercial success - homage to 1967 film
//Safe genre, simplistic emotive narrative - focus on entertainment values e.g. IMAX, 3D availability
THE BIG SIX:
1//Disney
2//20th Century Fox
3//Warner Bros.
4//Universal Studios
5//Columbia Pictures/Sony
6//Paramount
CONGLOMERATE:
Apart from Disney who are the conglomerate, each studio is owned by a multinational organisation.
//Warner Bros is owned by Warner Media/AT&T
//Paramount Pictures is owned by VIACOM
//20th Century Fox is owned by the 21st Century Fox (formerly the News Corporation)
//Disney is it's own conglomerate. Ownership includes Lucasfilm, Pixar Animations, Marvel Entertainment, Theme Parks...
//Columbia Pictures/MGM are owned by Sony
//Universal Studios are owned by COMCAST
IMPACT OF DISNEY OWNERSHIP ON FILM PRODUCTION:
1//Big Six ownership provides significant funding for high production value films - Avengers: Infinity War (2018): 19th MCU film, also distributed by Disney - $320-400m budget.
2//Ability to attract star marketing.
3//More time spent on production.
4//Access to latest production technology - CGI.
5//More synergy e.g theme parks and plus platform convergence.
WALT DISNEY AND JB67:
Walt Disney was personally at the centre of most of the decision making in his company right from when he set up the studio. He was interested in all stages of production and distribution. The Sword in the Stone, the feature film before JB67, was far less successful than earlier features and Disney himself was worried about this comparative failure. His company had diversified in the previous decade, expanding into theme parks, TV series and live action films and Disney had become less hands-on with the animated feature production. But after the commercial failure of Sword, he became more personally involved with the production of JB67.
Disney's personally control over the whole studio affected all stages of production and distribution. Before production of JB67 started, Disney had streamlined the whole production system so that he had one supervising director, one art director, four master animators and one story-man. The story-man would write the screenplay, make the storyboards and record the voices. This was Bill Peat at the start, but then changed to Larry Clemmons.
Disney thought Peat’s version of the script was too dark for family audiences, that the audience wouldn't be able to identify with Mowgli, that the villain would be a cliché; so Disney himself took control and changed the production team with Larry Clemmons as the scriptwriter. He gave him a copy of Kipling’s book but told him “the first thing I want you to do is not to read it”. He wanted a film that was light, fun and entertaining with happy songs.
The score features eight original songs: seven by the Sherman Brothers and one by Terry Gilkyson. Most of Gilkyson’s songs were dismissed as the production team changed but they left the Bare Necessities in.
JB16:
The Jungle book (2016), was produced by Walt Disney pictures, directed and co-produced by Jon Favreau, and written by Justin Marks. It was partly based on Disney's original version but also drew more on Kipling's original books, giving a rather dark tone. In some ways it is part of Disney's ongoing policy to create live-action versions of it's animated classics (such as Cinderella released the previous year and Beauty and the Beast the year after) but, although some of the film is live-action, by far the largest point of what is seen on screen was produced by CGI: 'The Jungle Book exists in a strange limbo-world between live-action and animation. Favreau admits he has no idea what category it falls into: 'I think it's considered live-action because people feel like they're watching a live-action film,' is a much as he'll commit to.'
1//WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN THE TIMELINE OF PRODUCTION FOR JB67 AND JB16?
With JB67, there was a lot of thought and re-evaluation going into the film, Disney restarting the project. The studio was on a lull, and wanted to create a happy, family film for multiple audiences to enjoy. Whereas in JB16, the story-line had already been successful, it was the adaptation of it to a modern audience that they needed to think about, in the end making it much darker and alike to the original idea that Disney scrapped all those years ago.
2//WHAT TECHNOLOGIES WERE USED IN JB67?
JB67 used a multi-plane camera in order to create depth in their imaging to expand the vastness of the Jungle setting, making it seem endless and inhumane. they used technicolor to give it a bright, happy Disney feel.
3//WHAT TECHNOLOGIES WERE USED IN JB16?
JB16 used CGI animation in order to construct most of the world around Mowgli. The film was shot entirely in a warehouse in LA in front of a blue-screen and the environmental visuals were added later using CGI.
4//HOW WAS JB67 RECEIVED BY CRITICS?
Critics love it's stand-out music along with stunning technicolor visuals for it's time. It is simple, uncluttered, straightforward fun.
5//HOW WAS JB16 RECEIVED BY CRITICS?
The density and detail within the CGI was a stand-out and stunning. you wouldn't know it never left the lot. A powerful exploration of the cruelty of nature in which the animals occasionally break into song.
JB67 PRODUCTION:
//The first script was too dark so Disney scrapped it and took control of production.
//He gave Larry Clemmons a copy of the book but told him not to read it.
//Backgrounds were hand-painted and filmed on a multi-plane camera to build depth.
//The movie was created on transparent cels and placed at different distances from the camera moving at different speeds to created depth and a 3D effect.
JB16 PRODUCTION:
//Part of Disney's policy to create live-action versions of animated classics.
//Most of it was produced using CGI.
//Favreau wanted to pay homage to the classic Disney films of the 30s and 40s.
//The opening shot, pulling back through the undergrowth that slowly fades from hand-drawn into CGI serves as a reminiscence to Bambi.
JB16:
The Jungle book (2016), was produced by Walt Disney pictures, directed and co-produced by Jon Favreau, and written by Justin Marks. It was partly based on Disney's original version but also drew more on Kipling's original books, giving a rather dark tone. In some ways it is part of Disney's ongoing policy to create live-action versions of it's animated classics (such as Cinderella released the previous year and Beauty and the Beast the year after) but, although some of the film is live-action, by far the largest point of what is seen on screen was produced by CGI: 'The Jungle Book exists in a strange limbo-world between live-action and animation. Favreau admits he has no idea what category it falls into: 'I think it's considered live-action because people feel like they're watching a live-action film,' is a much as he'll commit to.'
1//WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN THE TIMELINE OF PRODUCTION FOR JB67 AND JB16?
With JB67, there was a lot of thought and re-evaluation going into the film, Disney restarting the project. The studio was on a lull, and wanted to create a happy, family film for multiple audiences to enjoy. Whereas in JB16, the story-line had already been successful, it was the adaptation of it to a modern audience that they needed to think about, in the end making it much darker and alike to the original idea that Disney scrapped all those years ago.
2//WHAT TECHNOLOGIES WERE USED IN JB67?
JB67 used a multi-plane camera in order to create depth in their imaging to expand the vastness of the Jungle setting, making it seem endless and inhumane. they used technicolor to give it a bright, happy Disney feel.
3//WHAT TECHNOLOGIES WERE USED IN JB16?
JB16 used CGI animation in order to construct most of the world around Mowgli. The film was shot entirely in a warehouse in LA in front of a blue-screen and the environmental visuals were added later using CGI.
4//HOW WAS JB67 RECEIVED BY CRITICS?
Critics love it's stand-out music along with stunning technicolor visuals for it's time. It is simple, uncluttered, straightforward fun.
5//HOW WAS JB16 RECEIVED BY CRITICS?
The density and detail within the CGI was a stand-out and stunning. you wouldn't know it never left the lot. A powerful exploration of the cruelty of nature in which the animals occasionally break into song.
JB67 PRODUCTION:
//The first script was too dark so Disney scrapped it and took control of production.
//He gave Larry Clemmons a copy of the book but told him not to read it.
//Backgrounds were hand-painted and filmed on a multi-plane camera to build depth.
//The movie was created on transparent cels and placed at different distances from the camera moving at different speeds to created depth and a 3D effect.
JB16 PRODUCTION:
//Part of Disney's policy to create live-action versions of animated classics.
//Most of it was produced using CGI.
//Favreau wanted to pay homage to the classic Disney films of the 30s and 40s.
//The opening shot, pulling back through the undergrowth that slowly fades from hand-drawn into CGI serves as a reminiscence to Bambi.
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