...longer than some might know of. It’s said that John Whitney, Sr. was the first to bring computer graphics to the film industry with his slit-scan technology creating the visually powerful “into the monolith” imagery of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Over the years computers would keep proving there worth in movies such as Tron, the film many people associate with the birth of Hollywood computer graphics. In 1985 Pixar produced what is said to be the first CGI character animation in film with the stained glass window come to life effect in the Young Sherlock Holmes. Disney, the maker of popular children’s movies of all kinds would later acquire Pixar and take animated movies from the classic sketched scenes of Cinderella and Bambi to the first full length CGI movie, Toy Story. Toy Story changed the way of viewing for animated movies making the characters seem more realistic and giving more detail to the worlds created in the movies. Another big maker of all CGI movies that would prove its worth would be DreamWorks Animation which would follow in the steps of the new Disney/Pixar to bring such movies as Antz and Shrek to the big screen. Today these companies are still going strong with multiple movies being made on the average of probably about one to two per year taking full advantage of the use of...
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...Gender Roles and Disney The Disney princess has become one of the most iconic symbols of Walt’s ever growing empire. The disney Princess’ franchise first began in 1937 with the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs making Snow White the first princess in the now infamous princess lineup. The franchise continues with the most recent disney princess movie Tangled ( Rapunzel) which came out in 2011. Disney and their filmmakers caused great controversy with their princess’ such as race. Disney broke their european tradition by adding their first African American Princess to the line up. Princess Tiana of The Princess and the Frog in 2009 which still caused controversy. Another one of Disney’s biggest controversial topics was gender roles and how women and men are portrayed in these disney films. Gender roles are separate patterns of personality traits, mannerisms, interests, attitudes, and behaviors that are regarded as either "male" or "female" by one's culture. They are what is considered the “ Norm” for the male and female sex. There are stereotypical behaviors normally associated with either gender such as Women are suppose to be more passive aggressive, overly emotional, and illogical, just to name a few characteristics. While men tend to be more tough or in control, leaders, Not crying or wimpy and a womanizer As suggested in Kimmel’s “ Bros before Hos”: The Guy Code in Language Awareness (469). These same messages are often presented to children through the media they...
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...He brings up Pixar and Disney to support his argument. However, he doesn’t bring up people like Hayao Miyazaki a Japanese animator hand draws all his characters. And who makes most of his main character’s females. For example, the main character in Spirited Away is a girl. Her characteristic in this film are considered strong female characters as both physically and...
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...Disney-Pixar Mickey and Nemo. Pinocchio and “Toy Story.” Cinderella and “Cars.” The merger of legendary Walt Disney and everything-we-create-kids-adore Pixar was a match made in cartoon heaven. Disney had released all of Pixar’s movies before, but with their contract about to run out after the release of “Cars,” the merger made perfect sense. With the merger, the two companies could collaborate freely and easily.Did the merger work? Well, take a look at the successful movies that Disney and Pixar have put out since: “WALL-E,” “Up,” and “Bolt.” Pixar has plans for twice-yearly films, unthinkable before the merger, and has certainly gained the expert advice from Disney when it comes to advertising, marketing plugs, and merchandising. When it comes to marketing to children, no one does it better than Disney. Even pre-merger cartoon “Cars” got the Disney treatment and remains a top seller in merchandising amongst 4 year old boys (just ask my nephew). irius/XM radio merger On July 29, 2008, satellite radio officially had one provider when Sirius Satellite Radio joined forces with rival XM Satellite Radio. The merger was officially announced over a year before, in February 2007, but the actual merger was delayed due to one tiny problem – when satellite radio first began in 1997, the FCC granted only two licenses under one condition: that either of the holders would not acquire control of the other.Oops. So Sirius and XM filed the proper paperwork with the FCC, allowed the FCC to...
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...characters like the Mickey Mouse, Alice and the wonderland, lion king, Cinderella. All these characters have been remembered by kids for decades. The creative team at Disney has generated characters and presented them such that they are well applauded by customers. The great quality content has been a trademark in Disney’s every offering. * Disney has the ability to market their content to each generation of children and their parents and it sets them apart from the competition. * Since its first feature animation, Disney has had a strategy of making a wide range of products related to the characters of the movies. Various toys, memorabilia, apparels, books, video games and many other things were stocked in stores around the release time that generated great secondary revenues. * Open & Collaborative Environment: All employees were encouraged to share story ideas in a Gong show hosted by executives of the companies. Since anyone from the company was allowed to bring in ideas, Disney had a broad variety of stories to select from which generated great storylines for Disney and was a key towards their success. * Family friendly brand offering: All of Disney’s offerings have been family oriented, which means their products attracts a bigger audience, in form of kids and their parents. They later targeted adults as well through touchstone films. * Relationship with Pixar: Disney’s collaboration with Pixar in 1986 was an important step towards improving their animation...
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...This August, Disney announced all of its films to be released through 2017 at its three-day D23 fan convention. But now, Disney has gone even further and published their film lineup all the way through 2019. Working with Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, this diverse lineup includes some sequels, superheroes, kid-friendly animations and of course - Star Wars. Here is everything you can expect to see from Disney, from November 2015 to November 2019: The Good Dinosaur - November 22, 2015 This film imagines a world where dinosaurs never went extinct and live among humans. Cast: Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn Director: Meg LeFauve Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens - December 18, 2015 This action-packed continuation of...
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...representation of conventional Disney Princesses For many kids, Disney films have grown to nurture their escalation into developing as a child. Children have viewed different characters in different colours and patterns, whether idolizing them, favouring them or even despising them; those characters succeeded in impacting the mentality of those children, marking a point of interest that I would like to thoroughly investigate in this research assignment. Bearing that in mind, I have centered the aim of my research on the pink innuendos flaring from the very similar roles of the helpless princesses of Disney – the same innuendos that are now mostly looked as the societal norms of the Disney world. Some particular films that I have studied include ‘Cinderella’, ‘Snow White’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Beauty and The Beast’, ‘Tangled’, and ‘Mulan’. Through the utilization of those films, I have carried my study in an order that would allow me to scrutinize the similarities assigned to the ‘pink’ customs fitted to Disney princesses, and any other differences that could break the code followed through years on the films – hence an investigation in the representation of conventional Disney princesses. Disney films have allowed children to compose a preconceived idea of women or female roles in the films or even in life altogether, as helpless, and in need of an external party (usually male – or the Prince Charming) to come in and switch their lives into the better. These stereotypical...
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...1. What is Walt Disney Company’s corporate strategy? Disney’s main strategies include: developing quality and innovative features that will separate Disney as “Best-in-class”; researching and implementing new and exciting technology for an early competitive advantage while at the same time increasing customer experience. 3. What is your assessment of the competitive strength of Walt Disney Company’s different business units? Media Networks/Broadcasting and Studio Entertainment –High market capitalization and the lower end of revenues compared to Time Warner and CBS. However, with the capital and brand recognition Disney has they are extremely competitive here; especially with ESPN, Pixar, ABC, The Disney Channel. Parks and Resorts –Disney is extremely competitive here with high market cap and high revenues. Disney has become known as the premier destination and vacation for those looking for a theme park. They compete with Six Flags and Ocean Park; Disney has tons of pull in this side of the business. Consumer Products –Another form of Disney’s business that is extremely strong and highly competitive. The only downfall of this side of the business is that it is HIGHLY competitive and a weakened global economy has hurt the bottom line. 5. Does Walt Disney’s portfolio exhibit good strategic fit? What value chain match-ups do you see? What opportunities for skills transfer, cost sharing, or brand sharing do you see? All of the business units in Walt Disney’s portfolio...
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...radi An analysis of storytelling and Joseph Campbell’s universal themes and their role in animated films. Theodore Hicks Word count: 1,711 Feedback: quite broad terms. Where there is some analysis it is very short and this needs developing further. Much of this is down to Analysis, Argument There is some analysis here but it is very limited. ON the whole you are describing events and stories in animation in quite broad terms. Where there is some analysis it is very short and this needs developing further. Much of this is down to your choice of question. If you had picked a couple of Disney/Pixar films and analysed them in more detail in relation to Campbell, your essay would have been more focused. Outlining this narrowing in the question will help with this, as reading the essay, this is where the topic really lies. You need to be able to show Campbell’s theories working across more than one film for it to be a successful piece of analysis at this stage, and in doing so, it will help you reach a central argument about the use of Campbell’s theories in discussing these films – at the moment this doesn’t happen. This is the section you need to work on the most, to increase your word count and extend the overall discussion. Structure, communication, referencing/bibliography The structure is generally ok, with an introduction, and a conclusion. You need to work on some of the in between sections as the essay jumps between ideas of outlining theories, linking some...
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...one must proclaim that it is a brilliant feature, a wonderful film full of charming comedy, lyrical romance, vigorous and exciting battles, eerie magic, and truly sinister, frightening evil. The double-tale of Prince Achmed and Aladdin battling mythical demons and finding love is presented in the silhouette, Chinese shadow plays tradition with a plot that is a pastiche of stories from One Thousand and One Nights. The Groundbreaking Silhouette animations of Lotte Reiniger is Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and more. The origin of the modern animated film without talking about the work of Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981), the German creator of some 40 animated films between the 1910s and the 70s and hardly talk about Reiniger’s work without talking about the enchanting art of shadow puppetry, which we mostly associate with traditional cultures like that of Indonesia, but which also inspired her early 20th-century innovations in animation. This may sound quite obscure, especially when put up against the Disney and Pixar extravaganzas in theaters today, but all these forms of entertainment draw, in a sense, from a common well: the fairy tale. Continue to adapt their basic story material, layering on both the latest visual effects and smirking gags with up-to-the-minute references in order to keep the obvious entertainment value high. But Indonesian shadow puppet theater has been doing the same thing for centuries and centuries, converting ancient folktales into an evening’s (albeit often a...
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...Identify an episode of strategic change for an organisation of your own choice. How appropriate was the approach to strategic change given the issues faced by the organisation? Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic leadership during the change process. Identify the impact of the change episode upon the key resources and core competencies of your organisation. This paper will analyse a recent period of strategic change at The Walt Disney Company which began in 2005 with the appointment of current CEO Robert Iger. The company began to experience halted growth during the late 1990s. The former CEO Michael Eisner had been successful himself in the late 1980s in changing the company during what is known as the Disney Renaissance. Eisner successfully concentrated the company’s energy back into producing animated films and helped the company to create now-classic names such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin and others. However starting in 1999 share prices began to fall as changes in Disney’s competitive environment, consumer preferences and technology combined to alter its strategic context – which posed problems for the company in aligning its strategic objectives with its organisational structure and culture. Eisner was well known for his micromanagement and top down approach to management (Gunther, 1999), which served the company well during the 1990s when he could focus on single brands. The production of animated feature films...
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...The Fluidity of Disney. Gender Norms & Racial Bias in the Study of the Modern “Disney” The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media corporation headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world's second largest broadcasting and cable company in terms of revenue, after Comcast. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio, then Walt Disney Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing, and online media. In addition, Disney has created new corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Studios, which is today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 14 theme parks around the world. It also has a...
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...The company is made up of media networks, theme parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products, and interactive media. Walt Disney Company’s corporate strategy involves three aspects; creating high-quality family content, exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and internal expansion. Disney wants the whole family to be involved. Much of their success is due to targeting not just children, but the entire family. The movies and shows they release are done with family in mind. Theme parks and resorts, Disney Cruises, live performances and interactive media are all aimed at creating high quality family content. Disney acquired Pixar, Marvel, and Playdom in order to satisfy their second corporate strategy. The acquisition of Marvel and Pixar was intended to enhance Disney’s animation abilities to make experiences more memorable. Playdom gave the company new online gaming capacities that Disney hoped would help to improve its struggling interactive media division. UTV was acquired to facilitate its international expansion efforts. Disney’s international expansion strategy mainly focused on opportunities in emerging overseas markets. As of 2012 The Disney Channel was available in more than 100 countries and reached 75 percent of viewers in China and Russia. This was a huge increase from only 19 countries in 2002. They have also opened theme parks and resorts in China in an effort to expand internationally. Disney’s corporate...
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...The Walt Disney Company SWOT Analysis BUS 206 April 1 2015 Matthew LaPorte The Walt Disney Company is one of the most famous entertainment corporations in the world today with a diverse portfolio including movies, television shows, theme parks, and merchandising. Some of the most famous icons in American pop culture have come from Disney, most famously their mascot Mickey Mouse. Entire generations of American children have now grown up watching and consuming Disney productions across different forms of media or going on vacation at the massive Disney theme parks in California or Florida. For these reasons, the Walt Disney Company remains a very interesting corporation The Disney Company got its start in 1923 when brothers Walt and Roy decided to start an animation company in Hollywood. Walt Disney has already had experience in animation, but his first few cartoons with his own company were failures. In fact, Walt almost lost control of his company when a rival lured away almost all of his employees after Walt refused to sell his company to his competitor. The Disney Company’s fortunes changed when Walt came up with the idea of Mickey Mouse and produced Disney’s first sound film Steamboat Willie. This cartoon was an immediate success, due in part to the fact that this was the very first animated film to have synchronized sound. The success of Steamboat Willie opened the doors for Walt Disney to produce numerous Mickey Mouse cartoons that found success and established...
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...JUAN ALCACER DAVID COLLIS MARY FUREY The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire? In November 2005, Robert Iger, the newly appointed CEO of the Walt Disney Company, eagerly awaited the box office results of Chicken Little, the company’s second computer-generated (CG) feature film. He knew that, for Disney as a whole to be successful, he had to get the animation business right, particularly the new CG technology that was rapidly supplanting hand-drawn animation.1 Yet the company had been reliant on a contract with animation studio Pixar, which had produced hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo, for most of its recent animated film revenue. And the co-production agreement, brokered during the tenure of his predecessor, Michael Eisner, was set to expire in 2006 after the release of Cars, the fifth movie in the five-picture deal. Unfortunately, contract renewal negotiations between Steve Jobs, CEO of Pixar, and Eisner had broken down in 2004 amid reports of personal conflict. When he assumed his new role, Iger reopened the lines of communication between the companies. In fact, he had just struck a deal with Jobs to sell Disneyowned, ABC-produced television shows—such as “Desperate Housewives”—through Apple’s iTunes Music Store.2 Iger knew that a deal with Pixar was possible; it was just a question of what that deal would look like. Did it make the most sense for Disney to simply buy Pixar? Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Feature Animation...
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