Disney Animation, A form of Brand

Disney and all of their films have a certain formula to their style of animation. When you look at Tangle, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Moana, and even Zootopia, all relative recent films all look alike.

 Sure in one of them you have a Marshmallow looking robot fighting crime, in the others you have singing princesses, and in one of them a universe with talking animals. Even though for the most part, all these films tackle different and unique stories, their animation styles are almost one in the same. 

All these films have different director. For the exception of Zootopiaand Tangle, both share the same co-director Byron Howard. So, if different people are directing all these films with different visions, why do they all look alike? 

My theory is that Disney wants to not only play it safeand create something that feels familiar but also something that can be easily recognized for their target audience. This time though, instead of being a brand logo like Nike, it’s an animation style. 

Disney wants kids to be able to recognize the characters and immediately associate them with the Disney brand, and not the directors work. It’s a brilliant way to make business because all of your projects have a recognizable trait that will continuously be bringing back the same kids back to your properties. 

That is something that became very apparent on this week’s screenings. Which is why the screening was so special this week. Each animator was allowed to express their own individual style of animation on each one of their projects. It makes their work stand out compare to others. Hedgehog in the Fogcan stand on its own as its own animation with its own unique style that is very specific to Yuri Norstein. While Films like Moana will always belong to the Disney and not the creator. While some of the films went right over my head and some were not as entertaining compare to others, their animation style alone made it satisfying and rewarding to watch each and one of these films.