The Lion King

Lion king
The movie Narrative is based around the murder of a lion who is the king of his village, after the death of the
king, his son who is a young prince lion his to flee from his kingdom for his safety only to learn the truth about
his father’s death and the true meaning of his responsibility.
Pre-Production of Lion king
Risk Assessment
Before the production of Lion king they had to conduct lots of risk assessment in order to eliminate any
possibility of accident occurring, also equipment intended on been used will need to be properly checked in
order to avoid any delay or disruption to the production of the movie, for example in order to complete the
production of the movie, a real life breathing lion was brought into the studio in order to complete the CGI
used in the movie, this is a massive risk that could easily go wrong if not carefully assessed, i presume the
producer would have to minimise the risk of lion attacking any cast through taking precaution such as they
would have had a tranquilizer in the studio and a keeper, and making sure the lion has been trained and also
have its trainer is around to control the lion if anything was to go wrong. The producer of the movie also had
to undertake risk assessment for all the location they intended on filming at, for reference sake south Africa
was one of the location used in the movie, considering the reality of south Africa been an undeveloped county,
the producer would have had to provide an adequate protection over all the cast that were involved in the
production of the film from theft or any threat, and also all the equipment used during the production of the
movie. Risk assessment are carried out to prevent anticipated future hazard before real production , so for
example actors tripping over wires this would have been a likly hazard as it was mainly filmed in the studio due
to it been an animated film, if this is anticipated, before the production , cast can make sure they place all their
equipment in the right place to prevent any possibility of an accident occurring, all possible risk assessment
would have to be conducted before production begins, this is to ensure all cast and crew are safe and
comfortable with the environment they are filming at.
Location: health and safety are essential, the safety of a location is fundamental, as both crew and cast would
be spending a lot of time at a specific location in order to complete the production of their movie, meaning the
producer of lion king would have had to consider possible hazard that could be a threat to cast and crew, this
highlights the importance of location scouting which is an essential process in the pre-production of any
movie/film as it allows the producer to investigate and navigate safe location to film outside of the studio
beforehand. Location scouts are important as they assist with locating the most effective area to film a movie
in order to make the movie as realistic as it could be, in this case lion king. Also characters would have had to
be injected with vaccine for protection against any diseases or infection before travelling to south Arica.
Weather: Filming at a location such as Africa will in no doubt involve preparing for the worst case scenario
beforehand therefore the producer would have to consider what the weather could possibly present its self as
( too hot/extremely rainy ), it would only be sensible to prepare wisely by either by bringing along skin
protectors such as sun cream that would prevent crew and cast from getting burnt in an extremely hot
weather, They would also have water resistance material for the equipment which will aid in the prevention
of getting wet in an heavy rain. Also for prevention they would have had to confirm the weather for the sake
of everyone on set as it wouldn’t match up to the other shots , director would have also had to prepare for
adequate provision of food and shelters to prevent hunger and sun struck.

Equipment: filming a movie like lion king involves a lot of equipment to bring the whole movie together,
therefore both crew and cast must have had to be careful when using equipments to avoid things like tripping
over wire or been electrocuted. The new lion king was filmed as a photorealistic computer-animated remake
of the 1994 version of Lion king; therefore editors would have had to be careful with editing to ensure no
mistakes are made, all editing would have had to be continually saved and backed up in case the equipment
breaks or becomes faulty.
This was important as the deadline of the film was the 8 th of July 2019, so any risk would affect the film and
would have cost Disney much more money for everyday overrun to pay for the cast, crew and equipment.
Budget
The budget for this movie was $250 million, the budget was this high as they planned on remaking the
animated version of Lion king that was released in October 1994, the new Lion king will implement new
technology and breath new features into the 1994 version, new tone and feel will be added to its source
material, all of these coupled with new actors, who are well known in the world of movie, explains why the
budget is as expensive as it is. Also some of the cast involved in the production would have contributed to the
expenses of the budget as they would have required a lot of money to accept the contract , for example the
famous celebrity Beyoncé was one of the cast Disney included in the production of the new Lion king,
although the exact salary she received for her role isn’t clear, it was estimated that the famous character had
received up to 25 million due to singing role and acting role, considering the fact that she’s also a very famous
character, she has also been involved in other famous movies and music’s, and she was worth $400 million,
therefore lots of audience would be interested in whatever movie she’s involved in, although featuring
Beyoncé has been massively expensive for Disney, on the flip side it’s also an advantage for Disney as a lot of
audience will be interested in the movie because of Beyoncé, which will aid in the success of the movie, as it
will increase their gross profit, including beyonce as on Lion king’s character would have contributed to the
expenses of the movie, and therefore increase the overall budget of the movie.
Seth Rogen played Pumba who was good for this row as his a well known comedian who has won award for
films such bad neighbours and super Dad, Disney would have paid a lot for him as he is worth $55 MILLION,
This makes the film better as it shows that there is comedy involved in the film.
Although featuring all these different actors will be very expensive for Disney, it wouldn’t be a problem for the
industry as they are one of the top 10 film industry in the world, which answers the question of Disney having
enough income to produce the film regardless of all expenditures as they are worth$ 150billion.
How did they make the film? According to secondary research, according to the director of The Lion King (Jon
Favreau) in order to produce the film the characters had to study the scripts a lot, and they also had to practice
a lot before the actual performance, the director stated the character were an important element of the film
production, he also stated that all production were technology based, Unity 3D test was also used to test the
environment of the virtual reality they were creating for perfection sake, Jon Favreau also stated ‘ the
technology used further Humanised the story telling of the film, he also stated they used an incredibly Anti-
septic digital medium to tell one of the most emotional story that we have in our tradition’ (The Lion King).
The added to the success of the film, it didn’t only aid in an higher profit, but also gave the movie industry a
technology that has never been used in the movie industry, helping to evolve the movie industry.
Audiences been aware of how successful the 1994 lion king was, this in no doubt would have added explicit
pressure to the production of the new version of The lion king as audiences who personally identify with the
movie would expect a better and outstanding performance from the new version of The lion king.
Company Credits
Lion king was created by Walt Disney Picture, which is an American film studio and a subsidiary of Walt Disney
studio, Walt Disney studio is originally owned by Walt Disney Company, they are also producers of live-action
films within Disney studio, like the Jungle book who has won an academy award for best visual effect , with a
profit of 364million and Aladdin and Wonderland which won 14 awards and a profit of 334million, this made
Disney a trust worthy industry to create a successful film as they had previously done so, the producer of The
Lion king also teamed up with Fairview entertainment which is a production company mainly directed by
Jonathan Favreau who is an American actor, director, producer, and screen writer, he was also involved in the
production of some famous movie such as, iron-man, Avengers age of Ultron, Spiderman-Homecoming,
therefore teaming up with Fairview entertainment, would have been beneficial as it would have aid in the
success of the film, as the other films were successful, therefore this shows how strong of a director he is and
his also worth £2million, this would have affected the budget of Lion King as they would have been expensive
to hire.

Storyboard

Storyboard are usually made before the production to make sure all scene are involved and nothing is missed
out, a storyboard also helps with the preparation of what shots will be used when filming the movie in reality,
also helps to check if there are any mistakes that needs to be corrected before the production of the specific
movie, in the case lion king, lion king story board shows me that different shots has been used to achieve
different means meaning(high angle shot to show vulnerability of scar when Simba comes back to take his
place as the right king, a wide shot is also used in lion king to compare the environment of the wealthy lions
and the poor lions. Therefore a conclusion can be made that including storyboard in the pre-production of lion
king will aid in the success of the production of the movie) link
The storyboard was made using an interacting tablet, which then became an animated storyboard which then
was used to film the location of lion king
There were 7 storyboard artist one was Phill Langone who also did the Jungle book, this would have made it
successful as the artist is known to be an experienced artist
Also all artists would have meet-up with the director to discuss the progress of the storyboard before
proceeding with the production.
Equipment
During the development of lion king the producer said the virtual cinematography used in The Jungle Book
would also be used to a greater degree in the new lion king, this was to make sure the movie was the best
version it could be when it came out, this types of technology are expensive to use, therefore it must have
contributed to the expensive budget of the movie, they also planned on combining VR technology with the
camera they planning on using for the movie, this was to make shots were captured effectively and correctly,
they also planned on using other techniques that would traditionally be called animation and other techniques
that would traditionally be called live-action, all of there were added to the production, to make sure the new
lion king was produced at its best version, to aid in the satisfaction and expectation form the 1994 version.
The Black magic cinema camera was used for this film as shots in 4K, which was needed for The Lion King as it
also came out in 3D and it is worth $1323, meaning All of these equipment altogether would have cost Disney
a lot of money as they are all expensive. They also needed special equipment and technology to make all the
animals involved look as realistic as they could in the eye of audience when been viewed.
Dolby surround sound was also used during the production of Lion King as Dolby sound has enhanced loudness
and optimized audio which will engage the audience and sit with the audience. This would have made the film
better as it would allow the audience to hear every single sound involved in the movie.
Location
During the preproduction of lion king the producer decided to set the movie off in Africa in order to make it
highly realistic. The opening song and phrase of the movie “Hakunu Matata” are in Swahili, which is a language
spoken in a number of east African counties, including Kenya and Tanzania, THIS ADDS TO THE SUCCESS AS
AUDINCE MIGHT PERSONALLY IDEANTIFY WITH THE LANGUAGE BEEN SPOCKEN IN THE FILM, and also it fits
with the setting of the film making it true and realistic, the film was also filmed in Africa and south Africa this
location would have inspired languages, as this are the languages that are usually spoken at this location. Also
during the pre-production of lion king it has been argued that the narrative of the movie was researched in
Kenya, therefore we could conclude that Pride rock was based in Kenya. Having to travel this different location
must have been expensive as they would have had to prepare for food, shelter etc. Therefore all of these
expenses would have also contributed to the budget of the movie as a whole, however locations such as South
Africa, Los Angeles and Californian, will look really good on Lion king as all of these different locations are
famous and associated with other movies that have done well in the movie industry, therefore these locations
will present Lion king as an interesting movie, presenting the movie as an interesting and fascinating movie to
watch, which then aids in the success of the movie.
Script
During the pre-production of Lion king scrip had to be included, there were 4 writers for this script, these were
(Jeff Nethenson, Irene necchi, jonathan Robert, linder Woolverson. Jeff has worked on films such as he had
written the script for other films such as Men in Black, Rush Hour etc. this could be why the film was successful
as he is a talented and well educated writer.
For correction purpose there would have been a meeting with the director for correction on script, after the
corrections are made on each individual script then all the script are viewed by the producer and they decide
the one they are comfortable with as they get to choose, specifically to lion king, according to the mirror the
script of the 1994 Lion king changes to in the 2019 Lion king, for example The lion king was originally meant to
be called the king of Jungle before realising that, it wouldn’t work as the movie was set in Africa, also according
to secondary research, the original script included scar fighting baboons in order to become the leader, but
then this was taken out as the producer concluded it would be irrelevant to include this.

The original film’s influence

In the original lion king music like “can you feel the love tonight” , “ Circle of life” , and “Hakuna Matata” were
included as the song won an academy award for best original score, this music contributed to the success of
the movie, because at the time(19994) lion king was known for the most successful film in 1994,it was also
recorded that lion king was the highest-grossing animated features ever produced up till that time, therefore it
would be a good idea to included similar things such as the music from the previous lion king, into the new
upcoming lion king film, as it will aid in the success of the movie, and also bring back similar reputation from
the previous film, this was important as the first film was one of Disney most successful films which won a
golden globe for best original picture.

Conclusion
The pre-production of lion king has aid in its success as it has helped to analyse the movie in depth, it’s helped
to analysis this like the script, risk assessment, story board and all other necessity.
Also through the analysis of Lion king Pre-production I have learnt the Disney is an American film studio and a
subsidiary of Walt Disney studio, Walt Disney studio is originally owned by Walt Disney Company, they are also
producers of live-action films within Disney studio, producer of lion king also teamed up with Fairview
entertainment this is also a production company mainly directed by Jonathan Favreau who is an American
actor, director, producer, and screen writer,
It was essential that all documentation were completed, otherwise it could affect the success of the movie, if
all documentation aren’t completed, Disney investing a lot of capital to produce the movie could be the wrong
idea as audience might not find the movie as interesting, meaning they might not watch the movie in cinema
as much as they normally would have, which means less profit will be made and Disney won’t be able to meet-
up to the reputation they created for lion king in 1994. Have also learnt that the pre-production processes are
all important as they all help plan out what the movie is expected to look like, the processes also helps in
checking things like scripts, a script must be checked before approval during pre-production of a movie,
therefore things like this ensures accuracy in each steps and part of the pre-production of movies, which is
why it’s essential to carry out pre-production for all movies.