The Lego Movie: Poster Campaign

Monday 26th March 2018
L/o: To explain the effectiveness of the campaign; to analyse using Uses and Gratifications theory.

Denotation: Explicit stuff where you say what you see.
Connotation: Relies on personal knowledge and opinion. What you can infer and explain (opinion)

Game Cover:
Denotations:

• A shadowed guy in the background
• Shows different character
•  Shows Emmets name badge- assume its his name.

Connotations:

• The guy in the background is the antagonist because of his angry facial expression, his size.
• The way the characters are stood at the front show they are probably the main characters 
• Emmet is the protagonist- happy facial expression 

How is the Lego Movie theatrical poster constructed to appeal to its target audience:

Connotations: The character at the front must be the main character, and the girl behind and batman are aswell. They are all running from the antagonist.

The genre is a children film and the conventions shown are the bright colours The explosion, the running characters show the conventions of action adventure.

This appeals to the target audience because there is something for everyone.

Explain the poster campaign and the representations created within it.

Make sure you explain how those representations are created and what they suggest.

The poster campaign of the characters helps people looking at the poster get the representations created within it and  understand what kind of character they are before watching the film. For example,  Emmet is represented as a nervous, scared and unpopular builder, this is created by his frightened facial expression on the poster and his outfit. Wyldstyle is shown to not be a stereotypical  female character and this has been created by her makeup hair and clothing suggesting she is not the typical woman in a movie. Lord business is represented as antagonist and his facial expression shows an angry looking man that looks like he’s shouting, and his clothing.

The Lego Movie: Video Game

Thursday 22nd March 2018
LO: To explain how vertical integration benefits companies; to analyse using Uses&Gratification theory.

Examples of recent film/video games releases:


16th November 2010- Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows Part one video game
19th November 2010-Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows part one film

8th August 2003- Pirates of the Caribbean- The curse of the black pearl
19th June 2003- Video Game

May 15th 2007- Shrek 3rd Video games
13th November 2007- Shrek 3rd Film
             
25th February 2010- Alice in Wonderland Film
March 2nd 2010- Alice in Wonderland Video game

Why companies release films and games simultaneously:
Profit maximised
Familiarity
Extends the pleasure of the film
They promote each other

Monday 26th March 2018

Uses and Gratifications:
Blumler & Katz researched how and why people choose certain media products over others:

• Entertainment: Offers distraction from the world.
• Personal Identity: Helps us consider who we are; what ideas and values we identify with.
• Relationships: We find things we can share and discuss with others.
• Information: New information we want to know or take pleasure in knowing.

Lego Movie video game cover:

Explain how the Lego Movie video game image is constructed to appeal to its target audience.

     The Lego Movie Video Game is constructed to appeal to its target audience by the image used on the cover. It includes some of the main characters (Emmet) who appeals to Boys as he is the Hero and is the one that saves the world. To appeal to the Girls they included Wyldstyle, a female character thats presented as very strong and determined. Virtuvius and Lord Business are also included to appeal to adults. The cover also represents the film posters as it has all the Main characters making almost the same expressions. 

     The colour palette is mainly blue, red, orange and yellow which is bright and fun which would attract many as they know its entertaining. The fact that Emmet is holding a spanner shows the values that the films all about building and making things. The Video game was released before the Film, on the 7th of February 2014 whereas the Film was released 14th February 2014

     Uses and Gratifications are included, the video game gives a fun way to offer distraction from the world. You can also play it with others which builds a relationship because you can discuss it with them. The fact they have all different types of characters- different genders, ages etc shows personal identity as everyone can identify with different characters. And people can give information about the game or film which makes others want to watch/play it.

The Lego Movie: TV Advertising

Thursday 22nd March 2018
LO: To evaluate the methods used to market The Lego Movie; to link the methods to the target audience.

• Lego and Warner brothers teamed up to make the film.
• The adverts were on Peak time Itv to get the message to families- around 6/7 Friday/Saurday evening.
• They created the worlds first all Lego Tv ad break- adverts for different products were made out of lego.
• In dancing on Ice, 9th Feb 2014, 7:27 pm, the lego ad break was broadcasted. Five days before it was released.
• Products and brands: British Heart foundation/Confused.com/Bt Infinity/Premier Inn/The Lego Movie advert(40secs)
• The ads were separated by five different two second "stings" featuring characters from the movie.
• Itv also introduced the break with a voiceover informing viewers that to "celebrate a much anticipated new movie, we've assembled a very special ad break"
• Integration: Using one product to promote another.
• Same time it was shown live, it was released in full on Youtube. The four participating brands had a block party on social media.
• The reaction across social media was immediate and overwhelming. The amount of tweets per day increased by five times as many. Nearly 6m people live, and around 1.1m went to look for it on youtube just within a week. 
• No paid for digital optimisation- didn't pay youtube to put it up the top of the page or anything. 
• Written about it in over 60 different publications.
• The movie ended 2014 at no.1 in the UK box office charts, wasn't just the best performing kids film of the year, best performing film of any kind.

Explain how the Lego Movie broke boundaries with branded marketing, how it targeted the different sections of their target audience and whether it was successful or not.

The Lego Movie broke boundaries when advertising the release of the film five days before. They targeted the three major target audiences. People watching Dancing on Ice were shown an all Lego ad break on the 9th of February on Peak time ITV at around half seven in the evening, because they did it at this time, many of the viewers were parents sat with their younger children. It was very successful and there was almost 6 million viewers. For the people that missed the adverts, it was released in full on youtube at the same time, the target audience of young adult cinema goers were many of the 1.1 million viewers in the first week of upload. Social media publicity reactions were immediate and the amount of tweets a day increased fivefold. The brands of the adverts included: The british heart foundation, Confused.com, BT infinity and the Premiere Inn. They recreated the recent adverts of the brands but with Lego.

The Lego Movie: Marketing

Monday 12th March 2018
Lo: To explore marketing and promotion of the Lego movie.

Ways to promote a movie:

• Trailers -
• Teaser (Really short, builds hype, early on)             
• Theatrical (Longer, story plot given, few months before the films released)
• Posters
• Social Media Pages
• Magazine 
• Newspaper 
• Merchandise- Clothes/Toys
• Billboards on Buses/Trains/Outside cinemas
• Tie in ride at theme park
• Pop up ads
• Website
• Computer Games
• CD or Soundtrack
• Collab with other brands

Synergy is the simultaneous release of different products to boost both.

The Lego Movie merchandise-

• 17 Lego World sets
• 16 Collectable Mini Figures
• Video Game
• Range of school supplies (Stationary, lunch boxes, bags etc)
• Sticker and activity books
• T shirts
• Cushions
• Bags
• Device cases
• Mugs 
• Canvas

Methods used to promote the film:

• A website- trailers, short movie
• Character posters- Each week in Jan 2014, a new one was released

• Events- 

The Lego Movie Premiere 14th February 2014

Various events at different Lego stores

4th Feb Video game released

7th Feb McDonalds released collectible 3D cups with happy meals

• Movie poster

                      

Horizontal and Vertical Integration

The advantages for a parent company of each type of ownership is that they can share the profit instead of paying other companies.

Guardian article: 

What are the building blocks of success?

The Lego Movie is a ripping adventure for kids, but is also great fun for adults.A common theme is that a brand will create useful or entertaining content targeted at consumers that will soon be in a position to pay for the company's services/products

What did Lego do right?

Created a genuinely funny and clever movie.

The limit of the story is the limit of your imagination.

How has it laid out the foundations for future success?

As the child grows up, they will inevitably feel nostalgic about the films they watched as a mite and watch them again in adulthood, perhaps even showing it to a young relative and beginning the cycle again.

Zesty Article:

How has it got heart?

Lego offers a story thats relevant both inside and outside the product universe its built for itself.

How is it all about 'you'?
We mentioned above the core theme of the movie: the difference between those who create and those who build, the difference between those who lead and who follow, and the difference between those who choose to be themselves or a part of something bigger.

How does it show that it knows its audience?

The Lego Movie has a very clear idea of who it’s speaking to – or, in harsher terms, its target market – as it bids to increase its standing among kids (the players), parents (the buyers) and other adults (the nostalgists).

The marketing of the LEGO movie conducts an effective marketing campaign and it exploits a range of platforms. Print is a popular one, they produced 6 Movie posters, four were the main characters, and had a picture the character name and actor name on it. These posters were included in newspapers, magazines, billaboards. This helped to construct a good marketing campaign because it helped to get the attention of the people who wanted to watch the film. It targets kids because they get an image of the characters in the film, not so much but the posters did also target adults by putting the actor names on the posters, as the adults may see the name of an actor/ they like and want to see their part in The Lego Movie. They also printed on Merchandise, school supplies, sticker and activity books, t shirts etc. The movie also uses film to produce a marketing campaign. The Lego Movie had trailers that were advertised to make people aware that the movie was being   released. Before films shown in cinemas, a theatrical trailer was likely to be shown. There would have been Teaser trailers that were also shown in the adverts of family programmes, which would draw families into watching the film.

Lego Movie: Target Audience

Thursday 8th March
LO: To identify the target audience using demographics and psychographics

The Lego Movie targets a family audience.

• Young children who play with Lego (7-12)
• Parents who played with it when they were young
• Young adult cinema goers

Both boys and girls- although stereotypically is male dominated.

The film is aimed at young children. The use of the toy lego and the characters, the catchy song, the vivid colours , the different worlds, the humour, and the idea of creating stuff using your imagination would appeal to them.

Its also aimed at adults, theres some adult humour and jokes. The ending with the real people is like an eye opener for parents because it shows the difference between children and adults. It encourages parents to support creativity in their kids. The big name actors, the characters from adult films like Gandalf. It refrences to films like the matrix.

Young adults are targeted because of the big name actors. The product could reference their childhood and the humour both subtle and obvious. The age of the characters like Emmet and Wyldstyle are around the young adult age as oppose to Vitruvius for example.

It appeals to both genders. The different characters gender, the different worlds (Middle Zealand/Cloud Cuckoo land)

A/B/C1

I think the target audience are Explorers and Reformers and Mainstreamers.

Lego Movie: Intertextuality&TA

Monday 5th March 
L/o: To explore the intertextuality of The Lego Movie and the Target Audience; to apply Propps narrative theory

Postmodernism:
-Challenges genre conventions- may use a mixture
-Imitates other texts or takes a humorous take on society/culture
-Makes the audience aware they are watching

"Postmodernism questions what is real and what is absolute"

The Lego Movie is a postmodernist film because they use a range of genres: Romance, Fantasy, Action, Comedy.
Also, through the film, Emmet turns and speaks to the audience which suggests its trying to link to reality.
It challenges character rules for example Emmet is not your typical Hero and Wyldstyle in not the typical sidekick, she is Emo and stronger the hero.

Intertextuality:

Summary of the plot:

The Lego Movie focuses on a character called Emmet who is just a regular man and a builder. One day Emmet falls down a hole and finds out he is a prodigy by Virtuvius  and is given the piece de resistance. Emmet meets a girl called Wyldstyle  who is Batmans girlfriend and they travel through many different worlds to try and keep Emmet and the piece de resistance safe from Lord business from his destructive weapon. The Kraggle which is human superglue) that can end the world. Lord business has locked the super builders away to use their bran power for his weapon and then he locks up Emmets friends as they are super builders. The movie ends with Vitruvius dying and Emmet jumping out of Lord Businesses top floor office and into the real world. Then emmet is a normal lego figure controlled by a boy and his dad in their massive lego cit. Then Emmet manages to come to life in the real world and the human boy puts him back into the tube which sends him back to the Lego world and Emmet saves the world from the Kraggle with Wyldstyle and they fall in love.

The main themes of the Lego movie is that creativity and imagination in society is not as strong as it used to be.
They reference to Warner bros by using characters such as Batman, Wonderwoman, Superman, Dumbledore, Gandalf. It also relates to the matrix.
Star wars lego products are mentioned. The different lego worlds- promoting

Propps spheres of action:              
Vladimir Propp says that characters take up the role of narrative "Spheres of action"
He identified different character roles necessary to make up a narrative.