Learning Aim A.

By Douglas Clayton
Lion King (1994)
 Pre-production sources
• The idea came from Jeffrey Katzenberg, Peter Schneider and Ron Disney. These
people were the people who came up with the idea of The Lion King movie. They
came up with what to include in the narrative when they went to Kenya to
brainstorm ideas before the storyboard and scheduling stages happened. They
were the people in charge and who oversaw everything that was going on in both
the production and pre-production of the film, The Lion King.
• There was a trip to Kenya, it was a two week trip and six production staff went
because it is where the film is set. The researchers had to go to see what was
realistic and what to put in their production. Arguably without this trip, the film
would not have been as successful or culturally accurate and respectful because it
was so true to life. Below is a picture of the Meerkats in The Lion King and them
also in Kenya which they used as inspiration, this would have been inspiration for
the character ‘Timon’, a beloved friend of Simba’s in the movie. This was used in
the film as inspiration and pictures like this helped the animators and Director to
make the film when they were making the storyboard for The Lion King.
• This storyboard is from the famous iconic musical number ‘I just can’t wait to be
king’.
• The first storyboard features Simba and Nala and the second storyboard features
Zazu. This shows the detail the storyboard developers made so that it was easier
for the animators to animate. As you can see here the drawings are reasonably
detailed- this is so the animators can show the crew and walk through the
production of the song. They put these up in the animation room and they take off
parts of the storyboard if the crew dislike them and change them by redrawing
what is better suited.
• The purpose of storyboarding is that it aids the filmmaker and allows them to see
the blue prints of the movie before going into the actual animation production.
Storyboards are shots of what will happen in that scene. In animation it is used to
develop the story, it is inexpensive and useful to all cast and crew within the
production. The purpose is to help tell the story and help people to understand
what will happen.
 Disney storyboard process
• Firstly the storyboard animator sits with the director and talk
through the idea.
• From this meeting the animator then makes a storyboard. Once
completed the animator will place these onto the walls of the
storyboard viewing room and the crew will watch the animator go
through each shot while they read parts of the film out to give the
crew an visual idea of how it would look. After this the crew will
decide whether to keep these shots or to change that storyboard
scene. They do their in groups and they do this often meaning that
they go through a lot of drafts so they get the exact storyboard
that they want. This is affective because doing it in a big group
means that everyone can put their input in which is important as
they must understand what is expected of the film. This makes the
movie as good as possible.
• Disney’s storyboard process is to make an idea, then draft it once
it has been drafted it is then said to different groups of people
who are making the film, after everyone puts what idea they want
in the storyboard, more drafts are drawn and finally they come to
a conclusion on what will be in that specific storyboard scene.
• In this screenshot below they are in a group with the animators
and storyboard makers, they are improving the storyboard, this is
how Disney do their storyboards.
 Storyboard
This storyboard pictured to the left is from
The Lion King, ‘Be Prepared’ song. The image
below shows Scar in this song and how he
was crafted and drawn before being
transformed into an animation.

This storyboard pictured to the right shows the lion laughing,

this is important to the production of the movie because
Disney's animators need to give the lion elements of emotion,
this image clearly shows that they want the lion to be seen
laughing to aid the upbeat atmosphere suggested in the
directorial intent.

After the drafting process, the crew are taken into a movie
theatre they call ‘the viewing room’ and the animator has put
all of the storyboards onto film so they can watch the film in
real time to see how it would look. This is an idea made by
Walt Disney himself. This is really useful as they can see what
it would look like and what particularly works as it is moving.
 Storyboard
This storyboard pictured to the left shows Scar in
an angry looking manner, he is looking to pounce
out of the screen, this emotion is key to the
character of Scar as Scar is seen as one of the
Disney villains. The shot is of a wide shot to
make him look intimidating.

This storyboard pictured to the right

shows two Hyenas laughing and having a
good time – key to their villainous
portryal which is shown throughout the
film, The Lion king. The two shot here
makes them look close yet aggressive.
 Pre-production sources
• The producers aimed to make sure that when they were producing the animation they would consider the background
ambient sound, including the sound of the wind and the birds in the background to help build an atmosphere.
• Jim Fowler brought a Lion to the creators of The Lion King to see what it was like and capture how they acted, in
addition to visiting Kenya to see all of this in a natural setting as well, it helped to see it again closer up to make sure
the film looks true to life. This was helpful because it helped the producers to see how the animals acted, how they
drink and eat and how they behave in the wild compared to if the producers went to a zoo so their knowledge had an
influence on how the film overall looked which was captured within the animal’s movements and reactions to one
another.
• The CGI of the animal is put onto a screen with dots and then it was easier to animate it on screen because this way
the animators knew the way that the Lions acted. They needed a lot of the animals so they made different types of
movement for the animals and then copied them across so it was easier when creating the characters. The software
that they would have used would've been outdated compared to now but the best of its kind during the 90s.
• The animators work with the actors so they can work together to fit with the character’s persona so it is easier to
make the film and have each Lion personalised a different way, this adds character to the film and makes the audience
enjoy it more. This also helps the actors to see how they should speak so that it can encourage them when recording
their voiceovers for the film.
• The image below shows a man describing how the CGI works with the Lions. On the monitor/screen is a short video of
an animal running and it is dotted and the lines are all joined up together. The software they used to make The Lion
King is called CAPS which stand for (Computer Animation Production System).
 Sources of the production
• Music by - Tim Rice, Elton John, Hans Zimmer.
• Cast - Rowan Atkinson (Zazu), Matthew Broderick (Simba), Niketa Calame-Harris (Young Nala), Jim Cummings (Ed),
Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi), Robert Guillaume (Rafiki), Jeremy Irons (Scar), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Moira Kelly
(Nala), Nathan Lane (Timon), Zoe Leader (Sarafina), Cheech Marin (Banzai), Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa), Madge Sinclair
(Sarabi), Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Young Simba).
• Rowan Atkinson and Whoopi Goldberg were used in The Lion King because they are already famous well known
actors. Rown Atkinson is a successful comedian which is why he would have been given the role of Zazu as the over
protective yet funny character that mentors Simba. Whoopi Goldberg plays the main hyena which is a main part which
would have made the film better as she is a strong actress and believable.
• Budget: $45,000,000
• There was a large budget because Disney were the production company and Disneys budget is big as they are a large
business.
• Opening Weekend USA: $1,825,849, 15 June 1994, Limited Release.
• Gross USA: $312,900,000.
• Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $987,483,777 as of 12 November 2013.
• Running time: 88 minutes.
• Directors: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff.
• Produced by: Don Hahn.
• Screenplay by: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton.
• The Lion King has been named the most successful production of all time because it is loved by many people as it is a
fantastic film, it is loved by many because Disney has a large target audience and the film The Lion King therefore had
a very big audience. The film has influenced many adaptions such as the Broadway musical ‘the Lion King’ , direct to
video Sequels, theme park attractions, Disney Parks Parades and shows as well as an upcoming ‘live action’ style
remake directed by John Faveru.
• Last year, it was the highest-grossing musical on the New York stage, and it retains its number one position, without
the films success this would not have been possible, and the film would not have been successful if it was not for its
carefully thought through pre-production.
• Its has 22 productions around the world and has thought to have been seen by around 75 million people.
• It was the 32nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series alongside iconic films such as Peter Pan
(14th) , Frozen (53rd) and the original Disney fairy-tale Snow White (1st).
 Equipment
The Equipment used in the making of the Lion King would be and editing software, an animators
software, Disney uses a combination of Autodesk Maya for the modelling of the characters and for
sculpting, they use Pixologic Zbrush. For visual effects Pixar and Disney use Side Effects Houdini.
Disney also used lots of plugins which I will name below.
• Ptex: Ptex is a texture mapping system software that was developed by Walt Disney Animation
Studios for production-quality rendering.
• BRDF (Bidirectional reflectance distribution functions): BRDF is an application that allows the
development and analysis of bidirectional reflectance distribution functions it a useful tool for
evaluating and understanding different BRDFs. It is licensed under Microsoft Public License (MS-
PL). It is a useful tool for evaluating and understanding different BRDFs.
• SeExpr: SeExpr is a software that Walt Disney Animation Studios uses to provide artistic control
and customization to our core software.
• Reposado is a set of tools written in Python that is also used by Walt Disney.
• Partio is an open source C++ library for reading that Walt Disney also uses.
• Munki is a set of tools that, used together with a webserver-based repository of packages and
package metadata.
• Dynamica is a plug-in for Maya that provides an interface to the Bullet rigid body engine.
This is important because without the plugins The Lion King could not have been made. All the
plugins help make The Lion King what it is, being a well done, well loved Disney phenomenon due to
the professional look of the production. The plug ins were used for making the animation itself and
different features such as the fast paced parts of the film such as the buffalo trampede.
 Scheduling and Planning Considerations
• The importance of a deadline and a production schedule is, that it helps people to keep track of when they need to get
things done by, as Disney is a very big company this is important to everyone so that they know when they will do
things. They would have different production schedules for different factors of the film. For example editors, animators
etc. This is a Disney is such a large company. The director however would have made their own production schedule to
time what is needed to be done before the film is needed to be completed so it has time to get out to the audience.
For example the people who are doing the animations need to know when the storyboard animators are finished so
that the animators have enough time to do and prepare everything without rushing it, this is so everything is done as
quickly as possible.
• I could not find the production schedule of Disney’s film The Lion King, but I found the production schedule of another
film and I will link it to The Lion King.

As you can see there are

deadlines put into place
per different aspect that
is needed to be done to
make sure that
deadlines are met.

The Lion King would need to have their storyboard done by a

specific time. Then the animations would have to be done by a
specific time, then the editing as so on and so forth. They would
need to do this so that the production of the film is not delayed and
so that everyone knows when they need to get everything done by
which gives them reassurance into what is going on. A production
schedule helps the film be successful as it helps the organisation of
the film and pressures the crew to do the best they can in the time
allocated.
 Voicing and recording
• They recorded the voices and after, added the animations, they did this in the editing. They
aligned the footage of the animation up with the sound of the voices. They recorded the
voices first and then went onto make the animations as it would have been easier because
they would know exactly what to make the animals say.
• The image below is of one of the song composers, he helped to compose the songs and
write the songs for the film The Lion King. In the cast area (8th slide) I have put the song
writers names and song they composed in The Lion King. This is Jeremy Irons in the picture
below.
 Script & Narrative
• The script is necessary as without it the cast would not know what to say. Giving each cast
member a script also lets the cast member learn their lines for the film.
• Scripting works by the producers coming up with the lines for the character, then if any
adjustments are needed they will make them, they will tell the cast member their lines, if
the cast member does not like one or multiple of their lines they will usually have it
changed for them. This is done during a meeting when the cast meet and do a read through
of the script. The director will hear the cast read through their lines and decide whether
lines work or not- and they will speak to the cast to discuss how they should read their lines.
• Evidently the Lion King script was successful as the film did so well and is loved by its large
target audience. The film’s themes are relatable to people, for example it talks about a Lion,
which could also be perceived as a child being brought up and its childhood. For example
when the Father dies, that could be relatable to people who have had people gone in their
life. Another example of why it is relatable is because of the friendship groups, the Lions
have different friend zones, for example the Lions who are mean are together and the Lions
that are nice are together. The film is also relatable to people in a romantic/relationship
with their partner, it is relatable because they it is about a Lion who falls in love with
another Lion and then they grow up together and become really good friends.
 Songs & Success
• They made the songs and then put them into the film after the songs were just right. The then made the recordings of
the voices, this would have taken a few attempts on each scene to make it just right. Elton John and Hans Zimmer
made songs for The Lion King, I will talk about that more below, Elton John was one of the most impactful song writers
and composers which made him a big asset to the film, The Lion King. All of the songs were made into Disney sing-
alongs as well. This helped play the part of generating more money for the film as they could sell the soundtrack on
iTunes for example.
• YouTube is now a platform that has a mass audience and there are various versions of the songs online with the lyrics
so people could do sing-alongs with the animals, this made the film more popular and widened the audience to a lot
more people. There is also a new Lion King adaptation film coming to cinemas soon with cast including This shows the
success of the Lion King because of how many people want to still watch the film and adaptations of the film after a
very long time since the film has been out.
Songs and the composer/song writer: The image below shows the song
- The Lion King - Can You Feel The Love Tonight. composers singing the songs and
writing the songs, they are also
- Carmen Twillie, Lebo M. - Circle Of Life.
improving the songs depending on
- The Lion King - I Just Can't Wait to Be King. what the producers feel fit with the film
- Le roi lion LA TENTATION DE SIMBA. of The Lion King.
- I Just Can't Wait to Be King - Elton John.
- The Lion King - Be Prepared.
- Sous Les Etoiles - by Elton John, Hans Zimmer, Mbongeni Ngema, and Richard Harvey.
- Can You Feel the Love Tonight - by Elton John.
- Hakuna Matata - The Lion King.
- Sur le rocher des lions.
 Legal and Ethical Considerations
The BBFC has classified Lion King as a ‘U’ therefore it is ‘Universal’ to all audiences as it does not contain any
content that is inappropriate for audiences, and therefore it is accessible to all audiences allowing a larger target
audience.

Copyright and Intellectual property law. This is the law which stops people from copying your idea, you will have
the documents to prove it is your idea because your product will be patented. This does apply to Disney's film as
Disney is not allowed to copy the work of other people and alternatively no one can copy the ideas of Disney. This
is why Lion King had to create their own music and all documents themselves, to avoid risk of being sued for
copyright.

Libel law is the law which stops people from damaging the good reputation of someone/a business. It stops people
from saying something bad about your product or you saying something bad about someone else's product. It is
against the law only if the defamatory statement is false, if they cannot prove it (the defendant) with evidence that
it is true then it is not against the law. This applies to Disney as they cannot say negative things about other
companies in their business because lots of people may believe them as Disney is a well recognized business,
alternatively no other business can say negative things about Disney.

Race relations act. This is to stop people from discriminating against you, for example discrimination of race,
colour/Nationality, Ethnic and national origin in the fields of employment, the provision of goods and services,
education and public functions. This does apply to Disney's film as they cannot discriminate against ethnic diversity
as it would be illegal and inconsiderate, they would have had to be aware of this when representing the Kenyan
culture in the Lion King.

The staff have to have good working conditions so that they are safe within the planning and production of the film
and have normal rights just like any other business. For example the minimum wage, Disney would have paid the
staff at least the minimum wage, but I expect as Disney is a very big business that everyone would be on a contract
and they would be paid monthly/yearly.
 Awards/Commendations
• Oscar winning award for Song Elton John (music) and TimRice (lyrics), for the song "Can You Feel the Love
Tonight". Best song Hans Zimmer.
• Oscar nominee - Best Music, Original Song - Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), for the song "Circle of
Life".
• Best Music Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), for the song "Hakuna Matata".
• Winner Golden Globe Best Original Score - Motion Picture - Hans Zimmer. Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), for the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight“. Best Motion Picture -
Comedy or Musical.
• Nominee Golden Globe - Best Original Song - Motion Picture - Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), for the
song "The Circle of Life“.
• The winner for the BAFTA Interactive Award – DVD Walt Disney Home Entertainment -
For the Lion King - Special Edition DVD.
• BAFTA awards, Nominee - Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - Hans Zimmer.
• BAFTA awards, Nominee - Best Sound - Terry Porter, Mel Metcalfe, David Hudson, Doc Kane.
• Annie awards - Best Animated Film, Walt Disney Pictures. Best Individual Achievement for Story Contribution
in the Field of Animation - Brenda Chapman(head of story). Best Achievement for Voice Acting - Jeremy Irons.
• ACCA (Awards Circuit Community Awards) winners - Best Achievement in Sound – Hans Zimmer.
• BMI Film Music Award winner – Hans Zimmer, winner for most performed song from a film - Elton John and
Tim Rice for the song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight".
• Artios winner - Best Casting for Animated Voiceover - Brian Chavanne.
• CFCA Award winner - Hans Zimmer.
• DFWFCA (Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards) award winner – best animated film and Nominee for
best picture.
 Awards/Commendations
Grammy awards:
• Best Male Pop Vocal Performance - Elton John, for the song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight".
• Best Musical Album for Children, Chris Thomas (produced by), Hans Zimmer (produced by),
Jay Rifkin (produced by), Mark Mancina (produced by).
• Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocals, Hans Zimmer (composer,
arrangers), Lebo M. (arrangers/African vocals performer), Carmen Twillie (performer), for
the song "Circle of Life / Nants' Inginyama"

• KCFCC (Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards) Award winner - Best Animated Film.
• Kids' Choice Award – Favourite film.
• Young Artist Award winner - Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Voiceover - TV or
Movie - Laura Williams, for the duet with Jason Weaver.
• Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Voiceover - TV or Movie - Jason Weaver, for the
duet with Laura Williams.

The amount of awards The Lion King won shows the success of the film and how well loved it was
by its large audience. This would have drawn further attention to The Lion King which may have
been why it was adapted into a musical and a feature film.