Discuss 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
One of the reasons the 2016 version of the jungle book was
so popular was because it already had an existing audience. Technological
advancements over the past 50 years have allowed Disney to reboot the story
that was already popular and generate more money.
The 1967 version of the film has taken over $300 million in
sales and was also the fourth best performing film in the 1960s box office.
Although the 1967 version had a second life due to rerelease on DVD it is still
evidently one of the best performing animated films of all time. This is why
the rise in technological advances gave Disney an opportunity to reboot the film
using modern technology. This allowed them to target the pre-existing audience
as well as create an entirely new audience of younger viewers. As the story is
for children the film will appeal to them due to its use of humour as well as
realistic animal characters, which as made through the use of CGI technology.
The entire experience is made immersive and lifelike with CGI as it makes the
audience feel as though this universe really exists and makes it easier to
connect to the characters of the story. The entire 2016 film was shot in front of a blue screen which allowed editors to use special effects to make the film look as though it is all in the jungle. There were small bits of set and certain props that allowed the actor to interact with them and make the performance more immersive and realistic. The use of pre-visualisation also helped the production team to create an interactive space for the actors to be interactive. This all contributes to making a fully immersive story telling of the much loved family film. The latest technology in the 1960s was
the use of cel animation, which allowed animators to create layers and
therefore allow the characters to interact with each other and the backgrounds.
This technology made the animation flow better however it is not as immersive
as the CGI technology that makes all the characters a lot more lifelike. The
company MPC that has worked on many different films by large companies
engineered the special effects in the 2016 film. The project took 800 different
artists. It also won a BAFTA for its animation in the Jungle Book. The 1967
version used the technique of multiplane camera in order to create a basic 3D
effect. It created an artificial depth of field, which allowed the animators to
make the background a lot less static. It also allowed for the characters to
more towards and away from the camera rather than simply moving on a 2D axis.
In the 2016 version of the film they used the new blue screen technology,
which, with he help of a few props allowed the editors to put the characters
into a completely new, realistic, animated world. This, once again, creates the
feeling of immersion that draws in different audiences for different reasons.
Children are attracted to the storyline and the aspect of an entirely
different, realistic universe. Adults that are fans on the previous version of
the story are attracted by the idea of bringing the childish animation that
they grew up with to life. They would want to see how the story is evolved
using the modern technology.
Both films were distributed similarly as they were both
produced by the Walt Disney Company and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The reason this distribution process has stayed the same is because it allows disney to make maximum profits, rather that hiring another company to distribute the film for them. In terms of maintaining audiences, Disney use many different techniques especially with the use of modern technology and convergence. Disney played an action packed trailer during the Super Bowl in order to appeal to men who are the Super Bowl's main demographic. However they would have different trailers in order to appeal to their demographic of children and families as well. The creators of the film attended a Disney fan convention in a 7800 seat arena to show sneak peak footage as well as talk about the film with three of the biggest actors in the film.They also handed out thousands of posters. Even though the people that attended the convention were very likely to watch the film anyway, this appearance just boosted the hype around the film and was a big factor in maintaining their core audience. The Disney theme parks had many themed events around the film which would help to create a larger audience for the film due to the popularity of the parks. They also would have shown exclusive clips that create hype around the film. Jungle book toys are a reoccurring thing at McDonalds and this helps the advertising of both the 1967 version and the 2016 version. Disney uses the idea of vertical integration because they produced, distribute and advertise their films. Being involved in all of these production stages means that they are keeping the maximum amount of profits.
Disney are releasing a streaming service in 2019 which will compete with sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime. This is an advancement they have to make in order to maintain audiences. Sites like Netflix make it easier for people to access films from their devices and therefore less people want to go out and buy dvd versions of films which disney usually makes a lot of money from. Due to the rise of the streaming sites, disney had to retaliate somehow because they would soon start to lose profits and everyone starts to use these services.
