Production

The Lion King.

Stages involved in producing the film:

The first stage of the making of the Lion King was observing the animals that they wanted to have in the movie. This included looking at their overall behaviour, the way they moved, the way they looked, their colours and the sounds they made. This gives the animators and artists inspiration for their drawings. A group of writers and animators then came together to help create the story line and the characters that will play a role in it. They put together a story board of rough sketches, which was inspired by African savannah this then lead to the dialogue and gags being produced; the Disney artists call this process “pitching the boards”. After the storyboard was sorted, the voices for each character were selected. This was done by the directors who chose particular actors who they believed would “spark the animator’s imagination”. The actors were then shown and were given the description of their characters; this helped them voice and become one with their characters (“the character is drawn, and then the actor comes and brings it to life” it was also said that often “the actor is the inspiration for the character itself). Once the drawings and their colours were finalised, the film makers took the artistic elements and put them into a unified design; creating the film. Another factor that was important in the making of the movie was the music; African musicians and singers were asked to take part in the making of the soundtrack.

Writers put the idea into words, story artists create pictures to match the words, actors perform the words, and animators put the performances into motion. The directors, producers, editors, musicians, computer artists all help in the making of The Lion King.

Distribution

There are many ways in which movies can be distributed, this includes:

Internet release: When an independent movie (preferably one that is home made) is released on the internet to viewers. An example of this process is when the producers of ‘The Blaire witch project’ released their movie on the internet and gained a wild speculation about it.

Standard release: This is when a movie is released in theatres (cinema), and then it is released on DVD, then PAY TV and VOD. After approximately 2 years, it is then shown on TV. A clear example of this would be popular Hollywood movies such as Twilight.

Simultaneous release: This is when a movie is available on many media (DVD, Cinema, Internet) at the same time/or little difference in timing.

Straight to video release: This is when a movie is released straight onto DVD, video, iTunes ECT.

Marketing

It is important that films are marketed throughout the media in order to get people to watch the film via Cinema or buy upcoming DVD releases. There are many ways in which they can market there movies, for example:

Trailers: This helps promote upcoming films and DVD releases through TV adverts. They often screen in theatres before the movie actually comes out too.

Film posters: These can often be seen on Buses, street walls, train stations, Newspapers, magazines ECT. It helps attract a wider range of people. A clear example of this would be Swan Lake; it was promoted in the newspaper “The Sun”, in an erotic way in order to get more male viewers.

Exhibition

There are many different ways that people can view films today. Many examples include; Cinema, DVDs, TV, Online screening (illegal), Online Cinemas (where you pay to view movies), Phones, game consoles and even iPods.