Free «Disney Company» Essay

The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) is the global leader in the entertainment industry, which was founded by Walt Disney in 1923. Disney is among the ten most valuable brands in the world. TWDC is active in 172 countries and represents 1,300 radio and TV stations, broadcasting in 53 languages. TWDC is also one of the world’s largest licensors. The company tops the list of distributors, video, and DVD and Blu-Ray products in Europe, Latin America and Russia. TWDC has a video library of more than three thousand films. Since its founding, TWDC and structures which are part of it remain true to its guiding principle – to create exceptionally high-quality products, using a wealth of experience gained over many years of successful operation.

Being brought up on the production of Walt Disney people of the 21^st century show a strong interest in this company, since it reached a considerable success within a relatively short timeframe and continues to exist along with other young, successful companies.

Up to date, The Walt Disney Company operates within five lines of business.

Studios and Theater

Studios are the oldest unit of TWDC which is engaged in the production and distribution of animated and feature films. The structure units include world famous studios of Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and others. TWDC also have a theatrical division which is engaged in licensing and staging musicals, ice shows, and chamber music performances, which go on the biggest stages in the world over the years. Disney Theatrical Productions gave the world famous musical productions such as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Tarzan and many others.

Disney Music Group division produces music of various genres and soundtracks for the most famous film companies. TWDC regularly attracts leading musicians and composers to work on animation and feature films, including the legendary Hans Zimmer (music to kinosage Pirates of the Caribbean), Alan Mencken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled and Aladdin) and the French electronic duo Daft Punk (Throne: Legacy).

Media Network

Integrated media network includes cable and broadcast television channels, including Disney channel, which in August 2010 started to be broadcast over Asia.

Interactive Media Group

TWDC Interactive Media Group is engaged in the production and distribution of computer and video games, as well as mobile and online content. TWDC is actively developing new areas and channels of communication, focusing on the social networks.

Consumer Goods

The history of TWDC consumer goods started in 1929 with a proposal to place an image of Mickey Mouse on the cover of children’s albums for drawing (Thomas 1994, 65). Since then, License Department decided to expand the range of products which is presented in almost all categories of consumer goods. TWDC constantly cooperates with the largest manufacturers of consumer products in various categories, including Mattel, Hasbro, LEGO, Kimberley-Clark, Adidas, Tefal, Luminarc, Nestle, Procter and Gamble and others.

Division of Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) is the largest licensor of children’s literature in the world. TWDC produces interactive audio books, books with game modules, developing and coloring books and e-books in different formats.

Parks and Resorts

Doors of the first Disney Park were opened on July 17, 1955. Since then, their number has increased considerably. At present, there are five parks of Disney worldwide: Walt Disney World Resort (Florida), Disneyland Resort (California), Disneyland Resort Paris (France) and Tokyo Disney Resort (Japan), Hong Kong Disneyland (Hong Kong). The fourth theme park after Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong outside the U.S. will be the Disneyland in Shanghai; the ceremony of laying the first stone for the project was held in early 2011. The composition of this unit also includes the company TWDC Disney Cruise Lines, which is organizing cruise vacation for the whole family.

This huge company, in fact, started with one single person. When Walt Disney came to California in the summer of 1923, he had nothing but enthusiasm and high hopes. In Kansas City, he made a cartoon called Alice's Wonderland and he thought he had a lot of opportunities to use it as a test film comedy about Alice for sale to an owner of a film distribution company. On October 16, 1923 New York film distributor, MJ Winkler, signed a contract for the creation of a series of cartoons about Alice. This day was the date of the foundation of The Walt Disney Company.

Five years later, Walt created a new character – Mickey Mouse. Together with his main animator Abb Avorks, Walt drew a famous hero, little mouse, which is presented with a unique personality. Abb and Walt made two cartoons of Mickey Mouse, but could not receive any money for it since they were “dumb” and this time it was a moment when the film industry received a sound. The third cartoon about Mickey Mouse was fully voiced, and on November 18, 1928 at the New York Colony Theatre a cartoon Steamboat Willie was shown to critics. This day was the day of birth of a new cartoons star.

Having no desire to rest staying in shades of his own success, in parallel with a series of cartoons of Mickey Mouse Walt Disney released a new series of cartoons called Silly Symphonies. Each cartoon was attended by a variety of characters, making it possible to engage with multiples subjects, moods and music. Gradually, Silly Symphonies became a training basis for all animators in the Walt Disney Studio, which was preparing masters for full-length animated films.

One day in 1934 Disney told his animators that he wanted to make a full-length animated film. He presented the story about a Snow White and seven dwarfs. The creation of a full-length animated film lasted three years, and by Christmas 1937 the work on the film was completed. It was a stunning success. The cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs brought its creators the highest revenue ever to be obtained from the rental of art films, and only Gone with the Wind was able to beat the record set by it.

The following two feature films, Pinocchio and Fantasia, have seen the world in 1940. From a technical point of view, they were real masterpieces, but the cost of production was extremely expensive for the company, which, due to the Second World War, already lost most of its foreign markets. In 1941, with an extremely limited budget a film Dumbo was released, and it was followed with Bambi, released in 1942, which became quite an expensive project, due to which the studio had to cut spending. It took many years till the time when full-length animated films of the highest quality could be shot again.

1950 was marked by the release of a number of highly successful projects – the first feature film Treasure Island and Cinderella which were a return to the classic art of animation, and the first Christmas Walt Disney television show. In the 1950ies, such films as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Shaggy Dog saw the light and became the classics of nowadays:  these were the first films in the series of eccentric comedy, and, of course, a popular TV series about the adventures of a legendary hero, Zorro.

In 1954, after the screens of two Christmas programs, Walt Disney made a name for himself on the television show of the anthology of animated Disney films. Over the years, this transmission changed its name six times, but remained popular for 29 years, becoming the “long-playing” television project exhibited in prime time. In 1955, the screen broadcast a program called Mickey Mouse Club, which quickly became one of the most popular children’s television programs, and the participants of this program, talented “mouseketeers”, became TV stars on a national scale.

In fact, Walt Disney never stayed at one place. As soon as his feature films and TV programs became extremely popular, he felt a strong desire to start a new business. As a father of two daughters, he often went to zoos with his girls, as well as to carnivals and similar entertainment events, where he had to sit on a bench and wait for his daughter take a ride on a carousel, and the fun never ended. Walt Disney thought about a park, in which children and parents could enjoy their time together. On essence, this idea was the beginning of Disneyland. The opening of a new park, planning and construction of which lasted for several years, was held on 17 July, 1955.

In 1964, a film Mary Poppins appeared on the screens, and it became, probably, the peak of Walt Disney’s career in cinematography. On December 15, 1966 Walt Disney died. His death marked the end of an era in the history of cinema. Plans for several years left by Walt Disney contributed to the development of the company, whose management was taken over by Roy Disney. Movies The AristoCats (1970) and The Jungle Book (1967) confirmed the superiority of the company in the field of animated films. The Disney Company has also started to shoot wide educational materials, releasing screens educational series in 1969.

In the early 1980s, the film industry in the U.S. was rapidly changing. The audience of family films was declining. Hence, the production company, which specialized in this area for many years, faced a growing competition from film companies that produced movies for teens and adult audience. In order to reverse the trend, The Walt Disney Company has founded a new studio, Touchstone Pictures, which released the film Splash, in 1984. Only one year before, the company was focused on launching the Disney cable channel The Disney Channel. Pay TV was commercially successful, but studio executives realized that the company should be well represented on broadcast television. Therefore, in 1985, Touchstone Pictures launched a hugely successful show, Golden Girls, and since 1986, on Sunday evenings the program Disney Sunday Movie was broadcasted; later it was renamed into The Magical World of Disney. From the film archives, classic Disney animated films for a single release on video were selected. Quickly they reached top positions in the list of best-selling movies.

In 1988, Disney was the first box office leader among Hollywood studios. This happened thanks to profits from the rental of such films as Three Men and a Baby, Good Morning, Vietnam, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, followed with, Pretty Woman and Sister Act and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dick Tracy.

Disney cartoon won more and more fans. The delight of the appearance on the screen of the film The Little Mermaid was followed with admiration of the film Beauty and the Beas.t Thereafter was an unprecedented success of the film Aladdin, which was released in 1992. At the same time, the income of Hollywood Records label, which offered the largest selection of music tracks on the current rap to film soundtracks Disney, went higher and higher. New TV entertainment shows, such as Empty Nest Live with Regis, Kathy Lee, Dinosaurs and Note Improvement expanded the capabilities of Disney on television.

The company's success in the Disney animated film was continued in 1994 by the release of a film The Lion King, which became one of the highest grossing films in the history of cinema. This was followed by released film Pocahontas in 1995, and in 1996 – Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film Toy Story was the first feature-length animated film, shot by computer animation. Children's animated Disney's series were also on the TV screens, and Aladdin and Gargoyles received the highest popularity ratings.

Modern history is full of a wide variety of events and is extremely dynamic. In 2003, two Disney movies brought box office of over $ 300 million: the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the co-production with studio Pixar – Finding Nemo. In October 2003, the Epcot Center officially opened an attraction “Mission: Space”, and the following month, the company celebrated the 75^th anniversary of Mickey Mouse.

In 2006, the Disney Channel aired a TV movie High School Musical, which immediately became a sensation. In May of that year, the company opened its doors to a new team member, Pixar Animation Studios, so the ranks of the company's employees were joined by Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, who led the creative work of Disney Feature Animation studios. In June 2006, viewers saw the cartoon production of Disney/Pixar - Cars which won many prizes. An animated film Ratatouille released in July 2007 became a sensation.

Apart from such a tremendous success in various spheres, Disney Company proves to have a substantial influence on people not only regarding cinema and TV, but also green policies and food industry. In fact, advocates of health and nutrition suddenly acquired a new partner in the fight against advertising unhealthy food to children. Disney announces a program of proper nutrition, which will introduce strict guidelines for products advertised on their TV programs, radio and in amusement parks. Such a decision without any doubt will spoil relations of Disney with advertisers like Capri Sun, Kraft Lunchables and many other manufacturers of sugar cereals and sweets, as well as fast-food chains. However, this does not mean that the new rules will harm the entertainment giant. Promoting only healthy choice for children, Disney gets in return trust and appreciation of parents around the world, who are seriously concerned about the problem of childhood obesity and want to raise healthy children.

Disney opened its guidelines for healthy food for all. Consequently, their approach to the regulation of advertising proved to be effective. In 2006, Disney no longer allowed the appearance of any characters in the advertising of foods high in fat or sugar. The other child media companies followed this example. The new program of Disney may not be perfect, but it is a giant step in the direction of limiting advertising of junk food, which affects children. Moreover, it is amusing to hear how the business recognizes that this is a sensible financial decision for them. By focusing on this problem, Disney may encourage other companies to make such a move. It is high time for companies to realize that health programs are not just “good”, but also beneficial for them. It seems that Disney came forward to show the way.

The Walt Disney Company is known for many things – innovative animation, magical amusement parks, excellent management and a strong corporate culture with an emphasis on preserving the environment. That is the reason why when the Disney Company took innovation in print, the legendary leader of the entertainment industry turned to HP. Disney company started communication with HP about two years ago, when many printers and copiers in the corporation required to be replaced. “We wanted to involve experts in the field of printing to help us choose the solution that has minimal impact on the environment and at the same time provides technologies that fit our needs”, said Charlie Weiner, a senior vice president of The Walt Disney Company.

Within the last few years, the Walt Disney Company pursues ambitious regarding the protection of the environment and enhancement of the environmental profile of the company. For the introduction of “green” practices, the corporation has developed a series of tasks under the name “green standards”. The following objectives were suggested: to improve the performance impact on the environment, reduce the number of printers/copiers in the company, reduce the number of suppliers in order to simplify management and upgrade technology. HP experts have analyzed the use of printers and copiers in the company and developed a plan, which provides users with the right technology, while significantly reducing the number of devices and reducing the impact on the environment. The managed print services from HP help reduce the consumption of paper and energy, increase the rate of resources recycling and reduce carbon emissions.

The main results of the implementation of the print management program:

• Energy consumption reduced by more than 18%.
• The duplex number of pages decreased by an average of 1.5 million per month.
• CO2 emissions from energy consumption reduced by about 185 tons.
• CO2 emissions from the consumption of paper for 36 months reduced by more than 225 tons, thanks to double-sided printing.
• 100% recyclable laser printer cartridges from HP Planet Partners program were introduced.
• The number of device models print and copy reduced by 89%.
• There is an approximately 90% reduction in the number of suppliers (Grover 1997, 48).
• The total number of printing devices in the corporation is reduced by 59%.
• A single service center on site and billing is identified.
• Monthly reports on the use of print devices and consumables suitable for the analysis and prediction are consolidated.
• Supplies orders are automated.
• Perhaps, the most noticeable results are in freeing the space in offices. Before, almost every employee was standing beside a printer and copier, and now a HP multifunction device serves a working group.

“Perhaps, the most important result of the renovation of the printing environment was the approval of the employees, - said Geoff Cooper, a vice president of The Walt Disney Company. – HP has helped us to achieve significant improvements and achieve our environmental goals. The end result is that our equipment is now faster and better, and the functionality is much improved. Employees have opportunities that they did not have before. In addition, we now have a complete understanding of our printing environment through HP's consolidated statements”.

The Walt Disney Company film industry, over the years, produced such masterpieces as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Chronicles of Narnia, National Treasure, and Enchanted. During eight decades of hectic activity, The Walt Disney Company has managed to establish the company's reputation as a ? 1 company in the area of family entertainment. Starting its journey as a tiny studio of animated films in the period of 1920s, today it has grown to a scale of one of the largest corporations in the world and continues to make millions of families happy all around the world. In fact, not only it is successful in cinema, but it also shows high concerns for environment and human health. This is a media company which uses its tremendous influence on people with positive intentions of improving human life.