Qualification

Accredited

AS and A LEVEL

Teacher guide

MEDIA STUDIES
H009, H409
For first teaching in 2017

The Jungle Book 1967 and 2016:

Industries and audience
Version 1

www.ocr.org.uk/alevelmediastudies
AS and A Level Media Studies Teacher Guide: The Jungle Book 1967 and 2016:
Industries and audience

Contents
The Jungle Book (1967) 3

Production and technology 3

Ownership, distribution and economics 5

Regulation 7

Maintaining audiences 7

The Jungle Book (2016) 8

Production 8

Ownership, marketing and distribution 9

Regulation 11

Technology 11

Economics/Funding 12

Maintaining audiences 12

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2 © OCR 2017
THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967)
Production and technology
The Jungle Book (hereafter JB) was released in 1967 by Walt
Disney Productions. It was created at the Walt Disney Studios
in California. 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 storyboarding and developing the use of
the multiplane to create an early 3-D like effect.

Disney’s personal control of the whole studio affected all

stages of production and distribution. Before production of JB
started, Disney had streamlined the whole production system
so that he had one supervising director, one art director, four
master animators and one storyman. The storyman would
write the screenplay, make the storyboards and record the
voices. At the start of production JB’s storyman was Bill Peet, JB was the final film Walt Disney worked on before his death
who complained, noting that ‘more than forty men had once in 1966. As the previous feature The Sword in the Stone had
been assigned to these tasks.’ 1 disappointed at the box office, Disney became more personally
involved in the production process of the new film. His

nephew noted that Disney ‘influenced everything about it ...
(he) got hooked on the jungle and the characters that lived
there’.

Disney thought the first version of the script was too dark
for family audiences, that the audience wouldn’t be able to
identify with the boy, Mowgli, and that the villain, the tiger
Shere Khan, would be a cliché; so Disney himself took control
and changed the production team. ‘What Walt wanted was
a film that was light, fun, and entertaining with happy songs
- good stuff, fun stuff. He didn’t want to go anywhere near
darkness’, according to animator Floyd Norman https://d23.
com/floyd-normans-9-wild-stories-from-the-making-of-the-
jungle-book-1967/

He gave Larry Clemmons, the new scriptwriter, a copy of

Rudyard Kipling’s novel but told him that ‘The first thing I want
you to do is not to read it’. To turn the book into a successful
film many of the original characters and situations were cut
out, creating a clear storyline.

Before, the standard procedure was to have the animators

draw the characters first and then to cast the actors, making
sure they were suitable voices. JB turned the process on its
head; the drawings were now based on the actors, their voices
and their vocal personalities. Disney wanted the characters to
carry the film and was creative in vocal casting: for example,
Disney heard the band leader-singer Phil Harris perform and
decided to cast him as Baloo - ‘Harris didn’t think he could do
it and neither did we but Walt said he could. After Harris put
the lines of dialogue into his own vernacular, why, it just came
to life’, said Ollie Johnston, one of Disney’s main animators. The
director, Wolfgang Reitherman, said that, ‘In The Jungle Book
we tried to incorporate the personalities of the actors that do
the voices into the cartoon characters, and we came up with
something totally different. When Phil Harris did the voice of
Baloo, he gave it a bubble of life. We didn’t coach him, just let
it happen’. The bear, who had been intended as a minor figure,
became the film’s co-star, converting the picture from a series
of disconnected adventures into the story of a boy and his
hedonistic mentor – a jungle Hal and Falstaff.’ 2
1 and 2 Gabler, N. (2006) Walt Disney: The Biography, Aurum Press.
p620 and p621.
AS and A Level Media Studies Teacher Guide: The Jungle Book 1967 and 2016:
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Disney always had the songs developing early on in the

creation process. Most of the songs for JB were written by the
Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins): ‘Their compositions had a
key core strength: they locked the action, and the viewers, into
the characters.’ (Craig McLean).

Some characters were cut out during the development

process: Rocky the short-sighted rhinoceros, for example -
Walt Disney made the executive call that he was a character
(and story incident) too many. While many of the later Disney
feature films had animators being responsible for single
characters, in The Jungle Book the animators were in charge of
whole sequences, since many have characters interacting with
one another. The Jungle Book was created on transparent ‘cels’, a
technique patented by Earl Hurd in 1914. The cels were
Shere Khan was designed to resemble his voice actor, originally fixed onto register pegs and this way various
George Sanders, renowned in Hollywood for playing elegant layers of image could be shot at once and backgrounds
villains, but his movements were based on live action big didn’t need to be repainted each time. However, Disney
cats: the animator Milt Kahl based both Bagheera and Shere developed this idea by using a multiplane camera which
Khan’s movements on animals which he saw in two Disney photographed a much larger number of layers of frames
productions, A Tiger Walks and the ‘Jungle Cat’ episode of True- at once (sometimes as many as seven layers) of artwork,
Life Adventures. Baloo was also based on footage of bears, even each at different distances from the camera and moving
incorporating the animal’s penchant for scratching. The wolf at different speeds which created the illusion of depth and
cubs were based on dogs from 101 Dalmatians. The monkeys’ almost a 3D effect and allowed for tracking figures. It also
dance during ‘I Wan’na Be Like You’ was partially inspired enabled special effects to be created, such as moving water or
by a performance Louis Prima did with his band at Disney’s flickering stars.(http://www.waltdisney.org/sites/default/files/
soundstage to convince Walt Disney to cast him. MultiplaneGuideCurriculumPacket_Final.pdf )
Backgrounds were hand-painted – with the exception of JB also used xerography (rather like photocopying), copying
the waterfall, mostly consisting of footage of the Angel Falls the animator’s drawings onto a light-sensitive aluminium plate
in Venezuela - and sometimes scenery was used in both and then onto cels, unlike the old, painstaking hand-inking
foreground and bottom and filmed with the multiplane process, tracing them from paper drawings. The animators
camera to create a notion of depth. had to draw using thick black lines, as delicate ones couldn’t
be picked up by the copier, and it affected the final art style
The ending of film was not initially fully planned: Floyd
by creating rougher, sharper lines but generally the animators
Norman, one of the animators says, ‘We knew Mowgli was
were pleased. As Marc Davis, one of Disney’s core animators,
going to go back to the Man Village in the third act, but we
said: ‘It was the first time we ever saw our drawings on the
didn’t know how we were going to get him back there. Why
screen, literally… before they’d always been watered down.’ 3
does he give up on his dream of staying in the jungle and go
to the Man Village? Well, one day Walt says, ‘He sees a little girl.’ Other useful links:
So naturally, all of us say, ‘Give me a break! He’s not even 11
years old, he doesn’t have any interests in girls.’ And Walt said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhAZEDiKSsM&t=78s
‘Do it. It will work.’ And he was right. It works. You never think http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/18/the-jungle-
of Mowgli being a kid. He sees the girl. The girl is enticing. And book-the-making-of-disneys-most-troubled-film/
he follows her. Maybe it’s just curiosity. He had never seen a girl
before. It’s charming. It’s cute, and it’s our ending.’ (https://d23.
com/floyd-normans-9-wild-stories-from-the-making-of-the-
jungle-book-1967/)
3 Gabler, N. (2006) Walt Disney: The Biography, Aurum Press. p620.

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AS and A Level Media Studies Teacher Guide: The Jungle Book 1967 and 2016:
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According to the Disney animator Floyd Norman, ‘We never

thought in terms of making The Jungle Book a box office
smash. Today everyone thinks about the opening weekend
box number. We just wanted to finish the movie. We were just
thinking about making Walt happy. If the picture was a flop
and Walt was happy, then we were happy. Walt knew that if
he had a good picture, it would eventually earn its money. He
just moved forward.’ (https://d23.com/floyd-normans-9-wild-
stories-from-the-making-of-the-jungle-book-1967/)

Yet it certainly was a box office smash and easily recouped

the original investment by Disney: the budget was $4 million
but JB has now made $141 million gross in the US (the 29th
highest grossing film of all time in the US) and $205 million
worldwide. An estimated $6.8 million (out of around $60
million foreign gross) came from Germany alone, making it
Germany’s highest grossing film of all time (and the most
successful film of all time in terms of ticket admissions in the
country with 27.3 million tickets sold) – your can read more on
this at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/germany-
original-jungle-book-biggest-885953
Ownership, distribution and Walt Disney Home Entertainment released it on VHS in 1991
economics (and the UK in 1993) and on DVD in 2007. It was re-released
several times on DVD and on BluRay – with extras or different
Walt Disney was personally at the centre of most of the packaging in order to pick up new buyers (e.g. the Limited
decision making in his company right from the time he set up Edition DVD released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in
the studios. He was interested in all stages of production and 1999 or the Diamond line combination of Blu Ray and DVD in
distribution. The Sword in the Stone , the feature film before JB 2014). Occasionally Disney films are ‘vaulted’ meaning they are
was far less successful than earlier features and Disney himself not available for purchase, which pushes up the demand – the
was worried about this comparative failure. His company had Diamond edition of JB disappeared to the vault in January
diversified in the previous decade, developing theme parks, 2017, for example. However, the classic edition of the DVD
television series and live action films and Disney had become and merchandise relating to JB are still available in Disney
less hands-on with the animated feature production. But after Stores and on the Disney website, which is marking the 50th
the commercial failure of Sword he became more personally anniversary.
involved in the production of JB. The original vinyl soundtrack for JB was also the first record to
Disney’s own politics were rather conservative, right-wing and achieve gold status in the USA from an animated feature film.
undoubtedly this affected the representations constructed JB has also been released by Disney as digital downloads via
within the film. (An interesting article on how Disney’s iTunes, Disney Movies Anywhere, Disney Life, Amazon Video,
personal, political views shaped the characterisation and Movies Anywhere, Google Play etc.
narrative is found in “It’s A Jungle Book Out There, Kid!”: The
Sixties in Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’, Greg Metcalf, Studies
in Popular Culture, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1991), pp. 85-97.)

JB seemed to ignore the black civil rights movements

of the 1960s, as seen in the equating of black jazz music
with the apish behaviour of the orang-utan, King Louis,
thereby reinforcing racial stereotypes. (http://theweek.com/
articles/617441/how-disneys-new-jungle-book-corrects-
years-troubling-racial-undertones). This was something the
makers of the 2016 version were keen to avoid (https://www.
theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/03/jungle-book-disney-
remake-racism-worries)

JB was released in the US in October 1967 (occasionally shown

in a double bill with Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar) and was
re-released in the US in 1978, 1984 and 1990 and in Europe
throughout the 1980s; this maximised box office takings, as the
film had already been produced.

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Disney produced a live-action version in 1994 and an animated

sequel, The Jungle Book 2, in 2003, which Disney had intended
to release direct to video (under Michael Eisner a number
of straight to video sequels were produced, which in turn
promoted the original films).

As a company Disney was already vertically integrated at the

time JB was originally released. Disney produced films at its
own studios and distributed them via its own wholly owned
Buena Vista Distribution Company. It was distributed in the US
by the Buena Vista Distribution Company and internationally
by Buena Vista International, which were owned by Walt
Disney Studios . It handled theatrical distribution, marketing
and promotion for films produced and released by Walt Disney.
The company had diversified into theme parks, creating
Disneyland, and television, and Disney had been aware of the
value of merchandising from the very beginning (a visit to a
famous online auction site will often show examples of early JB
merchandise, for example).

Disney’s influence on the animated film industry is

immeasurable: Walt Disney even helped found the California After Walt Disney’s death the company began a decline for
Institute of the Arts (CalArts, which included a Disney- couple of decades, strongly indicating his personal influence
developed animation program of study among its degree and personal successes in running the company.
offerings. Many of the animators who worked at Disney and
other animation studios from the 1970s to the present studied
there).

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Regulation interest in their products, not only through re-releasing on DVD

but through tie ins with other companies – MacDonalds had
The main regulatory issues relating to JB are Copyright and Jungle Book 2 Happy Meals in the 1990s, for example, which
Classification or Certification. in turn promoted the first film. ‘Disney offers an immense
potential for both cross-promotional campaigns in cooperation
The film, music, script, character design, performance, Disney with other companies and in-house cross-promotion
logo, DVD cover design etc are all affected by the copyright marketing strategies…Cross promotion – marketing activities
in one way or another. The US Copyright Amendment Act of carried out in cooperation by two different companies
1998 gave protection for works published before January 1, using the popularity of their brand names to promote one
1978, increasing coverage works of ‘Corporate authorship’ by another’s – is today a major profit source for Disney’.5 Disney
20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date. This also licensed the characters for use by other companies, such
amendment to the copyright law had been actively lobbied as Virgin who developed a Jungle Book video game for Sega,
for by Walt Disney Company since 1990 and this extension Gameboy and PC in the early 1990s: https://www.ebay.co.uk/
of copyright delayed the entry into the public domain of the itm/1967-ADVERT-Walt-Disney-Jungle-Book-Movie-Character-
earliest Mickey Mouse movies, hence the Act’s nickname, ‘The Merchandising-Division-/311401752525
Mickey Mouse Protection Act’.

For the US regulations around copyright see https://www.

copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf and https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act .
In the UK copyright is covered by the Copyright, Design and
Patents Act 1988. A useful fact sheet is to be found at: https://
www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law

Certification and classification varies around the world

according to differing regulation and cultural sensibilities. IMDB
gives a list of current classifications: http://www.imdb.com/
title/tt0061852/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg#certification

The Motion Picture Association of America only established its

ratings system in 1968, the year after JB was released https://
www.mpaa.org/film-ratings; before that films were covered by
the Production Code but, by the late 1960s, enforcement had
become impossible and the Production Code was abandoned
entirely.

In the UK the BBFC website is useful http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

education-resources/student-guide

Maintaining audiences
Disney was highly aware of how to build and maintain
audiences nationally and globally, from the shaping of
the original product to appeal more to a family audience,
the marketing and distribution by its own company,
merchandising etc. Disney was an early master of synergy,
persuading companies to tie in with their film’s release,
running a character merchandising department. ‘In addition to
pioneering synergy, branding and merchandising beginning
in the 1930s, Walt Disney also developed the idea of synergy
between media consumption and theme park visits in the
1950s. The producer of animated films used the popularity
of his famous cartoon characters for a weekly show on ABC
that served as an advertisement for his theme park. In turn,
visiting Disneyland helped secure customers’ brand loyalty
to the Disney trademark for the future. This strategy of
cross-promotion… has become a basis for the Walt Disney
Company’s rapid growth.’ 4 Thus Disney constantly renewed

4 and 5 Frank Roost in Budd. M (Ed) & Kirsch, M. (Ed). (2005)

Rethinking Disney: Private Control, Public Dimensions, Wesleyan
University Press, p263 and p263-4.

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THE JUNGLE BOOK (2016)

Production
The Jungle Book (2016), hereafter JB16, 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 darker tone. In some ways it is part of Disney’s on-going
policy to create live action versions of its earlier animated
classics (such as Cinderella released the previous year and
Beauty and the Beast released the year after) but, although the
film has some live action, by far the largest part of what is seen
on screen was produced using CGI: ‘The Jungle Book exists
in a strange limbo-world between live action and animation.
Favreau admits he has no idea which category it falls into: ‘I
think it’s considered live action because people feel like they’re
watching a live action film,’ is as much as he’ll commit to’:
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/14/jon-favreau-
interview-i-want-my-jungle-book-to-remind-people-how/)

Favreau wanted the film to be part homage to the classic

Disney films of the 1930s and 1940s: Snow White, Pinocchio,
Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi: ‘I tell Favreau that his opening
shot – a dreamy pull-back through undergrowth that slowly
fades from hand-drawn into CG – reminded me of the slow
pans through the forest at the start of Bambi, which Disney
created on a then-groundbreaking ‘multiplane camera’ that
brought the illusion of depth to 2D artwork. …‘You found it.
That was the shot’ he glows, before talking about scouring
Bambi for ‘tonal clues’ as to how to balance danger, humour
and emotion without scarring his younger audience for life.’
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/14/jon-favreau-
interview-i-want-my-jungle-book-to-remind-people-how/)

All the animals and landscapes etc were created on computers,

mostly by the British digital effects house MPC. http://www.
moving-picture.com/film/filmography/the-jungle-book/ ‘The
animal characters were deliberately created with a realistic
look, and not in a cute and cuddly cartoon-style as with the
original animated Jungle Book film, in order to target older
movie-goers.’ (https://www.inquisitr.com/3011048/jungle-
books-clever-marketing-tactics-that-caused-it-to-be-the-
second-highest-weekend-grosser-ever/) ‘In Jungle Book, if
we just took everything that was in the ’67 film, that humour
would have been too broad for a live action, and also you
have to take into account that these look like real animals,
so the intensity of it gets really notched up.’ (http://collider.
com/lion-king-jungle-book-2-jon-favreau-interview/#disney)
However, apparently Disney were quite open to Favreau’s
new approach in handling their characters (https://www.awn.
com/animationworld/jon-favreau-looks-back-jungle-book) In
this article the film makers talk about the thinking behind the
approach and the difficulties in following through with their
ideas: http://beta.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-en-
mn-0105-jungle-book-20170105-story.html

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In terms of structuring the narrative, Favreau said, ‘We went new packaging, says Robert Levin, a former Disney marketing
back to the structure of it and saw what Kipling did because executive: ‘There used to be a re-release of a classic film every
he offered a lot. We kind of picked between the two. The story seven years..Now re-imagining them is what’s hot.’ (https://
structure of the 1967 film was good and offered a lot; so I stuck www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-05/disney-
to it as much as I could. What I have tried to do is to focus remakes-cinderella-other-classics-as-live-action-films)
on the images that I remember from it before going back to
look at it again.‘ (http://www.business-standard.com/article/ ‘[Sean] Bailey credited the division’s escalating success rate to
news-ians/jon-favreau-breathes-new-life-to-kipling-classic-the- the silo system instituted by Disney chairman Bob Iger and
jungle-book-116022400306_1.html) managed by Alan Horn… It is a program where each division
stays in its own lane and isn’t pressured to make more movies
This extra has some useful material on the production: https:// than its marketing machine can handle, while maintaining
youtu.be/aZOUWQ6ioxc quality controls. This differs from some studios that seem to
be bent on filling a high number of films on a slate. Disney’s
These videos cover how the animals and environments were annual collective output usually doesn’t exceed a dozen. But
created: https://youtu.be/yBpRQU6avHM and https://youtu. eight of those Disney films are global blockbusters that suck
be/-0MD1g_5dV4 all the oxygen out of the box office when they are released.’
http://deadline.com/2017/03/beauty-and-the-beast-sean-
JB16 included some of the original music from the 1967
bailey-disney-emma-watson-1202047710/
version partly in order to compete with the Warner version that
was simultaneously in production: ‘When Warners raced us In terms of Disney being a conglomerate, diversified etc see
on Jungle Book, we thought, Well, we’re putting ‘Bare Necessities’ JB above. However, the production process of JB16 was highly
in the movie because they can’t’ [Sean] Bailey said. ‘We have dependent on other companies, such as MPC, and so was not
certain characters and certain depictions of characters and fully made in-house, as JB had been. The 2016 was distributed
we’re going lean into that. It’s an advantage to us.’ (http://www. by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
vulture.com/2017/03/beauty-and-the-beast-disneys-remake-
machine.html)

Sean Bailey (the head of Production at the Studios) said that

the team were able to call on Disney’s huge archives: ‘While
developing projects, creative teams look at ‘every screenplay
page that didn’t make it, every deleted scene, every conceptual
drawing.’ There are still people at the company who worked
on older films who can help inform the production, too. (When
Favreau wanted additional lyrics for ‘I Wan’na Be Like You ‘
in The Jungle Book, he just asked original songwriter Richard
Sherman.)’ (http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/beauty-and-the-
beast-disneys-remake-machine.html)

Ownership, marketing and

distribution
‘Disney leads the world in the production and distribution of
popular culture.6 What’s more they can use their incredible
back catalogue of production and re-present it for new
audiences: To have this incredible vault of content that they
can go back to and reimagine, retool and recreate for today’s
audiences just gives them a depth and breadth of films that
is almost unparalleled.’ (Media analyst Paul Dergarabedian in
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/jungle-book-
roars-box-office-103-6-million-debut-n557341)

As noted above JB16 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.’ With DVD sales declining and digital
downloads on the rise, studios can’t just reissue old films in

6 Lee Artz in Budd. M (Ed) & Kirsch, M. (Ed). (2005) Rethinking Disney:
Private Control, Public Dimensions, Wesleyan University Press, p75.

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Warner Brothers had been producing their own adaptation Apart from traditional marketing devices (theatrical trailers and
of Kipling’s The Jungle Book (possible because the book itself print-based posters) Disney uploaded an interactive movie
was out of copyright) but delayed the release date, probably poster on Snapchat and users could apply a framed ‘Jungle
to separate it from the Disney film and to give its version a Book’ lens, which turned their faces into the snake, Kaa.
chance at the box office: (https://www.cinemablend.com/
new/How-Andy-Serkis-Feels-About-His-Jungle-Book-Getting- The film tied in with other partners for promotional
Delayed-123057.html) opportunities, with competitions and other products, for
example https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/22/
Favreau was aware of the technological inter-relationship competition-win-a-disney-jungle-book-prize-pack
between the making of the film and its promotion ‘What’s
interesting about the film is we are telling an old story with JB16 was produced in 3D (as well as 2D) and was one of the
new technology, and that’s bled over into other aspects of first films to be released in Dolby Vision 3D (but only a handful
film and promotion…We had an extremely sophisticated of cinemas were equipped to show it in that form). 10% of US
technological landscape that we were dealing with day to showings were in IMAX.
day as we created the film. Now, as we explore the means
It has subsequently been released on DVD and Blu Ray and
by which we share it with people, technology seemed like a
JB has also been released by Disney as digital downloads via
very inherent part of the whole live action Jungle Book movie.’
iTunes, Disney Movies Anywhere, Disney Life, Amazon Video,
(http://mashable.com/2015/12/16/jungle-book-tech-social-
Movies Anywhere, Google Play etc.
media/#XgnQY9WQaGqY)
Walt Disney Records has released a soundtrack album.
This is seen in the way Disney uses social media, having JB16
Merchandise was, of course, another money spinner for Disney,
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts. The accounts released
with the Disney Store (online and in high street shops) selling
teasers and making of photos and videos (including behind
toys, clothing and homeware. Disney also licensed other
the scenes) in the months before the theatrical release
manufacturers to produce related products – the designer
and kept up the promotion for the release on DVD and as
Kenzo produced a range of clothing to mark the new film
downloads. Sharing is obviously an invaluable promotional
but featuring designs from the original film (http://www.
tool. There are a number of online articles talking about how
globalblue.com/destinations/uk/london/kenzo-jungle-book-
Disney generally uses social media, e.g. https://econsultancy.
capsule-collection)
com/blog/67860-10-examples-of-great-disney-marketing-
campaigns. This discusses how JB16 was marketed https:// For more on marketing and distribution see below,
www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/business/media/disneys-savvy- Maintaining Audiences. The whole Disney ‘Jungle Book
marketing-jungle-book.html Franchise’ is listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle_
Book_(franchise)

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Regulation
For copyright, see JB above.

The global certifications and classifications are to be

found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3040964/
parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg#certification The film is a little
darker than the original, so in the UK is rated PG rather than U,
for ‘mild threat’.

Technology
Sean Bailey, president of production for Disney, called JB16
‘one of the most technologically advanced movies ever made’;
as the director noted, ‘I found myself wrestling with the same
things as Walt, who used cutting edge technology for his day,
but with a different set of tools and technologies.’ (https://
www.awn.com/animationworld/jon-favreau-looks-back-
jungle-book )

JB16 is the result of cutting edge CGI – the animals were

created digitally post-production and the one actor in
the film (playing Mowgli) acted against a blue screen.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-jungle-book-without-
cgi-2016-4/#all-of-the-jungles-animal-inhabitants-were-
created-in-post-production-9 ; https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=NSQcBZcvqpg

On the set, scenes for The Jungle Book were first filmed using
motion capture. ‘We motion-captured the entire movie before
we filmed anything and we cut the whole film together,’ says
Favreau. Using that footage, the effects team then built the
film’s sets virtually, a process known as previsualisation (previz).
‘Everything was mapped against the virtual sets. We designed
the sets like you would for a video game.’ (http://www.wired.
co.uk/article/jungle-book-jon-favreau-disney-film)

The CGI was mostly created by MPC. Their website includes an

excellent exposition of how the effects were created http://
www.moving-picture.com/film/filmography/the-jungle-book/
The VFX won both the BAFTA and Academy Award. The new
film opens and closes using analogue techniques, however,
referencing the original film: https://youtu.be/aZOUWQ6ioxc

Both the 1967 and 2016 versions worked in Technicolor. This

is a useful account of the integral working relationship and
production process: http://thefuturetrust.technicolor.com/
article/the-future-of-storytelling/success-of-the-jungle-book-
stems-from-harnessing-talent-and-technology-in-service-of-
the-storyteller/

11 © OCR 2017
AS and A Level Media Studies Teacher Guide: The Jungle Book 1967 and 2016:
Industries and audience

Economics/Funding This article explains how each stage of the marketing attracted
a different market sector: https://www.quora.com/Why-was-
JB16 cost an estimated $175m to produce but opened with Disneys-marketing-of-The-Jungle-Book-remarked-upon-as-
$103.6 million in North America, making it one of the biggest savvy-and-innovative-What-did-they-do-differently : ‘Stepping
April debuts ever at the box office. It grossed over $966 million, back to look at it, Disney has developed a marketing strategy
making it the fifth highest grossing film of 2016 and the 35th not dissimilar to a political campaign… Disney has pulled off
highest grossing film of all time (Wikipedia). some big, complex marketing in the past, but nothing quite
as perfect and impressive as what they accomplished with The
In 2016 Disney’s productions earned more at the box office Jungle Book.’
than any of the other six majors; Disney ‘amassed $2.56 billion
globally, well ahead of its next nearest rivals, Warner Bros. Part of the huge box office success was marketing to appeal
and Universal, with each at roughly $1.8 billion. The Disney to a wide range of age groups, such as targeting action
domination is impressive, providing enough cushion to adventure fans, not just Disney’s traditional family audiences:
withstand the losses sustained from The BFG and Alice…. To ‘according to surveys, 49 per cent of the sales were attributed
date, the studio claims the top-four grossing films of the year. to movie-goers who were over 25 years of age and 51 per cent
In addition to Captain America: Civil War (Marvel Studies is a of the sales were attributed to audiences in the under-25 age
wholly owned subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company) and group. And audiences in the age group of 18 to 24 led to 33
Finding Dory, there’s Zootopia and The Jungle Book. (http:// per cent of ticket sales.’ (https://www.inquisitr.com/3011048/
www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/summer-box-office-2016- jungle-books-clever-marketing-tactics-that-caused-it-to-be-
blockbusters-flops-sequelitis-923601) the-second-highest-weekend-grosser-ever/ ‘ Jungle Book has
also wildly overperformed after being embraced by critics
The film was released in 70 countries, opening at different and audiences alike, earning nearly $600 million to date in
times depending on competition and school holiday dates. another defining moment for [Sean] Bailey and his colleagues.
It was the biggest Hollywood release ever in India, having … The movie is playing to not just the coveted Disney female
earned $36.8 million and was very successful in China, where audience, but to all demos. Males have flocked to the film,
the film was locally known as Fantasy Forest. It was particularly attracted by the cutting edge technology used for its visual
strong in terms of 3D ticket sales due to being ‘precisely the effects...’ (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/disney-
sort of film that Chinese audiences love with its 3D visuals, rules-hollywoods-fairy-tale-888663)
heartwarming story, and talking animal cast’. (https://www.
forbes.com/sites/robcain/2016/04/15/disneys-jungle-book- ‘Looking at The Jungle Book CinemaScore breakdown: 97%
swings-in-china-to-12-million-opening-day-250-better-than- of the audience gave the film an A or a B. The total positive
zootopia/#7d44f2aa2a1f ) response from PostTrak was also a very high 92%. It is 95% fresh
on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s also a very high ‘definite recommend.’
Global box office figures can be found at http://www. The film got A’s from both the under and over 25 crowd and
boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=junglebook2015.htm and A+ among those under 18 years of age and also for the over-50
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle_Book_(2016_ audience.’ (http://deadline.com/2016/04/jungle-book-goes-
film)#Sequel wild-85m-to-88m-barbershop-snips-about-20m-criminal-box-
office-friday-1201738755/)
Capitalising on the success of JB16, a sequel is planned,
possibly for release in 2019.

Maintaining audiences
‘Considering the highly developed corporate synergy in which
every Disney product is both a commodity and an ad for every
other Disney commodity, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say
that each story the company tells, each theme the company
deploys builds the Disney brand. In Disney’s case, the medium
is also the advertisement. Disney products are themselves
advertisements for Disney and for its ideological and cultural
themes.’7

As mentioned above, this article is very good on the marketing

of JB16: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/business/
media/disneys-savvy-marketing-jungle-book.html (including
how a Spanish-speaking audience was targeted). This is also
useful: https://christhilk.com/2016/04/13/the-jungle-book-
marketing/

7 Budd. M (Ed) & Kirsch, M. (Ed). (2005) Rethinking Disney:

Private Control, Public Dimensions, Wesleyan University Press, p1.

12 © OCR 2017
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