Jungle Book - Economic Factors

The significance of economic factors, including commercial and not-for-profit public funding, to media industries and their products.

• Compare the production costs of the 1967 and 2016 versions.
• Discuss how the BIG 6 film studios are increasingly pouring more resources into fewer films offering SPECTACLE but limiting choice 
• See the following page to help support your argument.

Power of Media Industry:  In considering media industry and the consolidation into larger companies please  write a response to the following statements. 

The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by logic of profit and power.

90 % of the media in the world are controlled by 5-6 media giants. They make reboots that they know will create profit, buys large movie franchises such as Marvel and Star Wars. 

Creativity, variety and quality in the media is limited by the amount of companies and products.

Films start becoming more common to maintain the normal audience. This suggests that there is a less of a variety within the industry. A lot of the market is becoming more saturated and mainstream. Creativity has improved massively with the advancements of technology. With the use of SFX and CGI. 

More socially diverse ownership will result in more varied media productions.

Targets more of an audience, allows more creativity within production.

It allows a wider range of audience as it appeals to different ethnicities.  Examples such as Get Out and Black Panther are examples of having a diverse cast and crew to crete§§

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How media organisations maintain, including through marketing, varieties of audiences nationally and globally

Disney's ability to maintain a market and a variety of audience has been mainly due to the family friendly content Disney has produced over the years. By having family friendly content it appeals to a wider range of audience. 

Walt Disney Studios used marketing sleight of hand to fill seats on opening weekend. “The Jungle Book” took in an astounding $103.6 million in North America, according to Disney.

In August, Mr. Favreau bounded onto a 7,800-seat arena at a Disney fan convention in Anaheim, Calif., and showed sneak-peek footage from his film. He hobnobbed with three “Jungle Book” stars on stage, including Neel Sethi, who plays the man-cub Mowgli. Thousands of movie posters were handed out.

Studio marketers have learned that Hispanic moviegoers tend to buy tickets in particularly large groups; if you hook one family member, you can get an exponential result. To achieve that goal, Disney teamed with Univision for a five-week stunt that brought “Jungle Book” characters and clips to telenovelas, talk shows and sports coverage. Disney even built a tool to allow Univision personalities to appear in scenes

Various corners of the Disney empire pitched in to promote “The Jungle Book.” A New Year’s Day stunt on the Disney Channel, for instance, was used to portray the film as one of the year’s first blockbuster offerings for families and children.

But the synergistic heavy lifting was done by Disney theme parks. During the jam-packed spring break weeks, park theaters in Florida and California offered sneak-peek footage of the movie, with Mr. Favreau providing introductions

If moviegoers believe that, they are more likely to spend $3 to $5 more a ticket to see “The Jungle Book” in 3-D, which can lift opening-weekend sales considerably. To emphasize the scope and scale of this movie, Disney introduced a mazelike Law of the Jungle website in partnership with the female-leaning Tumblr; ran special promos at IMAX theaters focusing on the snake Kaa; and created a touring virtual-reality experience and 360-degree Facebook video emphasizing the “Avatar”-like world of its jungle.

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Film content can be consumed by audiences in a variety of ways and locations 

cinema, 

home entertainment

On the move (in flight entertainment, etc.)

Institutions need to provide films increasingly in digital format

• Because film consumption is moving away from cinema towards Home entertainment via Blu-ray, streaming
• Increases the risk of Piracy - easier to download online as technology improves. 
• Large institutions (Big 6) offering cinematic experience in large screen (iMax) format, followed by digital release as DVD, Blu-ray, streaming- This increase the profits for the big 6 and allows them to produce a higher budget films and to keep the flow going. 
• Disney actively trying to make its own streaming service through the acquisition of FOX review the following link and summarise why it is a smart move for Disney to grow:  why would disney buy fox? - Main reasons Disney would buy Fox as it would increase Disney's market share. As well it will enable Disney to compete with streaming services such as Netflix as thee is a clear decrease in cinema goers so it will allow Disney to increase their profits. 

Increased profit margins

Increase in market share 

allows more control within the market 

Jungle Book- Essay 1

Task

•       Create an essay, which discusses the impact of technology on the production, distribution and circulation of the Jungle book versions (1967 and 2016) version.

•       Discuss the importance of technological developments in maintaining audiences

The vast advancements of technology has given a considerably impact on the production, distribution and circulation of the Jungle Books movies in both 1967 and 2016. In this essay I will explore these impacts in depth to accentuate how far technology has come, comparing the two movies of the Jungle Book in 1967 and 2016.

The Jungle Book 2016 (JB16) was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed and co-produced by Jon Favreau. The latest version is loosely based on Disney’s original version. But also was more linked to Kipling’s original books, thus giving it a darker tone throughout the movie. JB16 already had an audience to begin with as many fans of the original Jungle Book would want to see the latest one. Almost giving the Jungle Book a ‘second life’.

The technology used in the JB16 was one of the most technologically advanced movies ever made. It used cutting edge CGI and the animals within the film was created post-production which was all digitally. One actor in the film (Mowgli) was seen acted acting against a blue screen.  The actor filmed all his scenes against Blue screens. The production crew used small pieces of the set, which offered interaction with the actor. This provokes a more realistic emotion from the actor to portray in the film.  Filmmakers such as George Lucas pioneered this. This shows the impacts of technology and how advanced it has become. Despite the actual story being set in the Jungles of India, the actual film was filmed in a Los Angeles warehouse. This shows the continuous journey technology is making as now because of technology producers have the ability to stay in a warehouse and manufacture a whole setting around the actors to produce their story. The JB16 used ‘pre-visualisation’ techniques’ used y movies such as Avatar and Gravity. Pre-visualisation is when the film looks including the camera moves, motion-captured performances, and set designs- were sketched out before hand and created before even any filming began. All the animals and landscapes were created on computers by British digital effects house MPC. This helped actors when reading scripts to visualise what the setting is and how to portray their characters. These technological developments aided in maintaining audiences as they were able to see a more modern remake to fit modern standards of animations. This was further proved as the VFX won both the BAFTA and Academy Awards.

The production of the Jungle Book 1967 is an immense difference to JB16. The original Jungle Book amassed over $300 million in sales and was the forth best performing film in the 1960s and for its time was quite technologically advanced. It was released in1967 by Walt Disney Productions and created at Walt Disney Studios. Disney’s animation studio had been responsible for developing may of the techniques and practises that created a new standard when working with traditional cel animation. For the original Jungle book it pioneered the Multi-plane camera to create an early 3D like effect.  Cel animation is the process of first drawing each frame of animation onto paper, then transferring these to transparent acetate sheets (cels short Celluloid). Colour is then added on the reverse of the cel. Layers are built up to create dimension. The Disney production team also used multiplane camera, which was used to create an early 3d effect. It allowed the animators to make the background less static and to make the character move more fluidly. During production for the original there were more emphasis on the character and there was one person producing the screenplay. The fluidity in characters played a major role in drawing audiences in, it gave them a sense of realism in these characters to become relatable. As well the Disney production team created the character king Louis who isn’t in the original book but plays a significant part in the movie.

The budget for JB16 was estimated to be $175million. After the release of the JB16 it made over $1 Billion. Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures distributed the film. This is so Walt Disney could have total control and so they can retain more profits. Disney marketed the film very strategically, however they knew already that fans of the first Jungle Book would return to watch the newer one as it is a lot darker and could be targeting a more grown up audience as well with the new darker mood of the film. The JB16 trailer received positive reception. This was proved as in their opening weekend domestically JB16 earned over $130,000,000.  A key driver for Disney on the remake was to engage a new generation of audiences using VFX. The Disney organisation needed to create new content, which could be made available for streaming. Disney uses vertical integration, this is when Walt Disney plans, produces, advertises and distributes all of its products. This is beneficial in maintaining high profitability. Disney also created their own streaming services to be released in 2019; to battle
Netflix’s in online streaming. As well due to technologically advancements, Disney is able to market and advertise their films to a whole new type of audience through social media. This has taken large amount of traffic towards the movie to boost sales. In the 2016 remake, Disney used popular celebrity endorsements to further boost the film. Actors such as Idris Elba and Scarlett Johansen brought in huge amount of audiences due to their persona and popularity.  The two films JB16 and Jungle Book 1967 were marketed and advertised in different ways. With the advancements of technology JB16 was able to market and advertise to wide range of audiences. Disney's ability to maintain a market and a variety of audience has been mainly due to the family friendly content Disney has produced over the years. By having family friendly content it appeals to a wider range of audience. Walt Disney Studios used marketing sleight of hand to fill seats on opening weekend. “The Jungle Book” took in an astounding $103.6 million in North America, according to Disney. Mr. Favreau the director of JB16 bounded onto a 7,800-seat arena at a Disney fan convention in Anaheim, Calif., and showed sneak-peek footage from his film. He hobnobbed with three “Jungle Book” stars on stage, including Neel Sethi, who plays the man-cub Mowgli. Thousands of movie posters were handed out. Studio marketers have learned that Hispanic moviegoers tend to buy tickets in particularly large groups; if you hook one family member, you can get an exponential result. To achieve that goal, Disney teamed with Univision for a five-week stunt that brought “Jungle Book” characters and clips to telenovelas, talk shows and sports coverage. Disney even built a tool to allow Univision personalities to appear in scenes. As well Disney used their own theme park for advertisement by allowing people to have a sneak peak of the movie to boost hype. Also to attract a teenage audience, Disney decided that the first trailer will include darker scenes rather than the singing to entice the older audience.

Circulation is basically the total number of copies of magazines, newsletters, newspapers, film etc. Disney sell their films in digital format to exhibitors, they can also sell the film in the form of Blu Ray and DVD sales. A key driver for Disney on the remake of the Jungle book was to engage with a new generation of audience using VFX.The Disney organisation needed to create new content which could be made available for streaming  as well as the traditional channels of Video (DVD+Blu Ray and viewing on large screens – i-Max). DVD and Blu ray offers a second life for both the Jungle Books this can c side an increase in revenue for the company. Worldwide box office for 2016 - $963,819,542.

Evolving Media- Jungle Book

Task

•Create an essay which discusses the impact of technology on the production, distribution and circulation of the Jungle Book versions (1967 and 2016) version.

•Discuss the importance of technological developments in maintaining audiences