2. INSTITUTION RESEARCH TASK
Choose a film institution and look at their icon/logos.
Explain the connotations and what ideas they give about the
institution for example:
•Clouds •Mountains •Black •Gold •Moon/Earth •Crests •Symbols of
power/authority •Statues •Use of light etc.
Has the logo changed over time/Why?
Additional research:
•Who owns them? (the parent company)
•What else do they own?
•What else does the parent company own?
3. WALT DISNEY: CONNOTATIONS OF A
CASTLE
Disney’s logo is infamous and
easily recognised, it is of the
Disney world castle, with a fairy
dust arch over it. The
connotations of a castle are
monarchy related fairy tales; this
appeals to the target audience,
children, as at that age they
aspire to be princes and
princesses.
Furthermore, Disney was
conventionally known for its
animations of princess stories,
amongst this are Snow White
(1937), Cinderalla (1950) and
Sleeping Beauty (1959); all of
4. WALT DISNEY: CONNOTATIONS OF
THE ARCH
During an animation, after the
castle is established, Tinkerbell
(Fairy, first seen in Peter Pan
(1953)) flies over and leaves a trail
of magic pixie dust. Fairies are
magical creatures used in the logo
to reinforce Disney’s withheld
theme of ‘magic’; a common
theme seen in children’s movies
due to their belief in the notion.
The arch has also been created in
more recent films, by fireworks,
again a magical and captivating
concept for young children.
5. WALT DISNEY: FONT
‘Walt Disney’ is written at the bottom
of the castle in the iconic Disney
font. The font sans-serif as it is a
company that makes films aimed at
children and is uniformly in a
contrasting colour to the
background allowing it to catch the
viewers attention and be easily
recognised.
Below are the words ‘Television
Animation’, and previously ‘Pictures’,
which allows the institution to be
recognized as an animation
company. A serif font in all caps has
been used, most likely because this
would have been designed to inform
the adults and thus a more formal
font was required.
6. WALT DISNEY: DISTRIBUTION
1930 – Distribution moved to Columbia
pictures
1932 – Distribution moved to United Artists
1936 – Distribution moved to RKO Radio
Pictures
1954 – Distribution moved to Beuna Vista
7. WALT DISNEY: FOUNDERS AND
HISTORY
What is now most commonly
known as ‘Disney’ was originally
called ‘Disney Brothers Cartoon
Studio’ by it’s founders Roy and
Walt Disney in 1923. The first
motion pictures released by the
company was the ‘Alice
Comedies’ series after the
production contract with M.J
Winkler. The series is a
combination of film and
animation to create amusing
shorts about C.S Lewis’ Alice and
her adventures in the animated
world..
8. WALT DISNEY: ASSETS
Assets owned by Disney:
ABC Disney Television group
Disneyland/Disney resort
ESPN (80%)
Marvel Entertainment
Marvista Films
Motion pictures group
Pixar animations
TWDC
9. WALT DISNEY: FORMER ASSETS
Digimon
Power Rangers
Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
