Lego Movie

9th september 2020                               Industry research

1.

2. A conglomerate is a multi-industry company – i.e., a combination of multiple business entities operating in entirely different industries under one corporate group, usually involving a parent company and many subsidiaries.

3. “The big six” comprised of motion picture conglomerates 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and Walt Disney Studios, account for over 83 percent of the North American market share and bring in billions of dollars in revenue each year.

4. The Film industry in the UK is regulated by the British Board of Film Classification

5.Lin Pictures were the primary production company on The Lego Movie and waner bros.

6. Dan lin and Roy Lee produced the lego movie 

7. Chris miller and Phil Lord were the directors of the lego movie

8. the lego movie was half funded by Village roadshaw and the other half was warner bros 9

9. the lego movie was distrubuted by warner bros.

21st september

1. Emmet, an ordinary LEGO figurine who always follows the rules, is mistakenly identified as the Special -- an extraordinary being and the key to saving the world. He finds himself drafted into a fellowship of strangers who are on a mission to stop an evil tyrant's  plans to conquer the world. Unfortunately for Emmet, he is hopelessly -- and hilariously -- unprepared for such a task, but he'll give it his all nonetheless.

2. The lego movie shows a message of individuality and creativity. The main themes are capatalism and the power the govenment holds.

cast list:

emmet -  Chris Pratt 

Batman -  Will Arnett

     Lucy -  Elizabeth Banks

Uni Kitty -  Alison Brie  

MetalBeard - Nick Offermen

President Buisness/ the man upstairs - Will Ferrel

Benny - Charlie Day

Vitruvius - Morgan Freeman

Bad Cop/Good Cop - Liam Neeson 

Intertextuality

Lo //to explore the intertextuality of The Lego Movie\\

Postmodernism :

 postmodern films often contain the following characteristic:

• Challeneges genre conventions: might be a mixture of many genres; challenge typical character roles etc
• Patiche : imiates other texts, humerous take on society/culture
• Hyper-reality : makes the audience aware that they are watching a movie

Hybrid:    Lego Movie Genres : Animation, Adventure, Action, Comedy, Fantasy

Wednesday 23rd September

                                                   Todorov: Narrative Theory

A films narrative is the story of a film and is broken down into 5 key stages by theorist Tzvetan Todorov:

1. Equilibrium                                         1. everything is normal

2. Disruption                                           2. something happens to disrupt normal life

3. Recognition                                         3. the protagonist realise something is wrong 

4. Attempt to solve disruption               4. protagonist goes on a journey to solve the disruption

5. New equilibrium                                 5. the disruption is solved and a new normality occurs 

 

The Lego Movie

Equilibrium: The normality and equal state of characters.
Emmet is shown following the instructions and living his daily life.

Disruption: Something breaks that normality.
 Emmet finds the piece of resistance and/or President Business makes an announcement that "you will be put to sleep." (taco tuesday)

Recognition of disruption: The characters realise something has gone wrong.
Emmet jumps up and realises that President Business is putting people to sleep.(taco tuesday)

Attempt to repair: The characters try to solve the problem.
They try to destroy the piece of resistance + 'Kragle' and save everyone. 

New equilibrium: Problem is solved, new equilibrium is established.
Because it will spoil the next film i dont think there is a clear new 'normal' 

Propps Spheres Of Actions

.

The Villian - President Buissness ,  The man upstairs

The Helper/Princess - Wildstyle/Lucy

The Prize - The cragle

The Donor/ The Father/ The Dispatcher - Vitruvius 

The Hero - Emmet and Finn

The False Hero - Batman Wyldstyle

Homework

Promoting Media Revision Wk1.

1.

 a) The film industry in the UK is regulated by the British Board of Film Classification

b) Ofcom is the regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. It regulates the TV and radio sectors.

c)The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established in 1914 to promote “consumer protection” and to monitor “anticompetitive” business practices. 

d) The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines,  Monday 8 September 2014, and was replaced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation 

e) The Games Rating Authority (GRA) 

2.

a) Postmodernist film is a classification for works that articulate the themes and ideas of postmodernism through the medium of cinema. Postmodernist film attempts to subvert the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization, and tests the audience's suspension of disbelief. 

b)  The common elements that can be identified in a postmodern text include intertextuality, parody, pastiche, homage, bricolage, simulacra, hyper-reality and fragmentation.

Monday 28th September

 watching the matrix

Monday 5th October 

                                                      Intertextuality

Learning objective: To explore the similarities between the Matrix and the Lego Movie  

Intertextuality - 
he relationship between texts
the shaping of a text's meaning by another text

Wednesday 7th October

                                                          Target Audience

Lo: to identify the target audience using demographics & psychographics 

movie targets family
kids who play with lego
kids-parents who watch animation movies

young adult cinema goers

How does the movie appeal to each group?

kids -- the lego making, bright colours, the message to be creative, action

parents who played with lego -- older refrences, the parent-son relationship, approve of the message, cast members would appeal to them (older actors they would know)

teens, cinema goers- romance, cast members, older humour, references for teens

Boy

• Male characters
• business man
• Construction man

Girl

• Cloud Koo Koo Land 
• Wyldstyle
• Unikity

Monday 12th October

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the intertextual relationship between the matrix and the lego movie.

• Target Audience 
• Themes and messages 
• The matrix is 20 yrs old

one advantage of the intertextual relationship between the matrix and the lego movie is that the storyline of both of them are actually quite similar, the way they both get chosen as the "special one" adds the the links between the two. Another advantage could be if you havent watched the matrix and here of the links you are more likley to then go watch the matrix which means more money to waner brothers.However a disadvantage culd be that if you dont like the matrix you are LESS likely to watch the lego movie and/or recomned it to other people

19th October

                                                     The Lego Movie: Marketing

LO: To explore marketing and promotion of the lego movie; to link the methods to the target audience

Tentpole Production

A tent-pole or tentpole is a program or film that supports the financial performance of a film studio or television network. ... A tent-pole film may be expected to support the sale of tie-in merchandise.

Why was the lego movie a tentpole production

The Lego Movie was a Tent-Pole production because it was the most successful / highest earning movie of 2014, and because the Lego movie sold lots of movie-Lego related merchandise.

Advantages of a tent pole film 

 The tent-pole movie combines what a studio thinks is their best effort. They use the best actors, the best writers, best directors, you get the idea. You also are establishing a brand which then can be used in other facets of the business.

Ways to market a film:

1. songs relating to the film
2. merchandise
3. Film Posters 
4. Teasers for the trailer/ the actual trailer
5. interviews on talk shows with main characters
6. film premier
7. social media promotion

Synergy: he interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

The lego movie merchandise:

• lego movie Lego sets (17 based on the different worlds)
• character toys/plushie
• character clocks
• character key chains
• clothes
• videogames

The lego movie created its own website for the lego movie which lets millions of people on the internet interact with the movie with items such as creating your own character, giving story line plots and watching extended videos.  The lego movie released its own video game.

Mcdonalds linked with the lego movie with creating toys for children in their happy meals which may persuade more people, especially families to go and see the upcoming movie.

The lego movie would go the ITV to create lego movie ad breaks which created an exciting buzz for the movie. Nearly 6m people saw The LEGO Movie break live on TV, with an additional 1.1m seeking it out on YouTube within a week.

1. Conglomerate

2. easier access to finance and more power

3. new level because of support and collaboration they are sharing with each other. with good synergy comes an effective team and makes a team stronger

4. vertical intergation

Wednesday 21st October 

     The Gardian                                                       

Building blocks for success: The Lego Movie created content targeted at audiences who will soon be able to buy their products and services.

What did Lego do right?: Lego brought in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (of 21 Jump Street and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fame) to add in the comiedical effect and and create a clever movie. They pursuade adults/young adults and teach them the lego spirit of adventure.

How has it laid the foundations for future success:  The lego movie have created a peice of work that will have such an enduring legacy. For this it firstly finds its excitable audience in the cinema, then when it comes out on dvd the young viewers will go and grab one to watch at home consecetive times. As the child grows up, they will inevitably feel nostalgic about the films they watched as a mite and watch them again when an older adult and perhaps show their kids and so the cycle repeats. 

Zesty

How had it got heart?: people go to the cinema to feel all the emotions there are. Any piece of content marketing needs to be fit for purpose, so informative, analyse or just to make u feel. The lego movie has a storyline of creativity, meaning of love, partnership and community. The lego movie ticks all the boxes and makes you feel extactly all those things.

How is about you?: It reflects on the viewer rather than the characters and inspires the audience by using the characters in a way that links to the audience into the story.

How does it show that it knows its audience?:  it has little links to what each age group will understand and feel. Jokes, Refrences and older humour/topics for adults and then smaller jokes for the kidd that play the actual lego.

The lego Movie used social media to market and promote their film and create an effective marketing campaign. When using social media it means it means that they can get more views from different sets of platforms this works by making a post on twitter that people can re-tweet or putting a post up about that advert on instagram that people can tag others in or send to others. 

The Lego Movie also used TV channels such as ITV and got tones of views by turning all their ads into lego. By doing this it created a buzz and got people talking about the lego movie and wanting to watch it. The lego movie was actually the first ever people to do this which is what made it so effective as no one has seen it done before.They also used Youtube to share the trailers on, the more views they got the more viral the lego movie gets and the more talk about the lego movie happens. 

The Lego movie created lots of different posters, some with a different character on each one. They got even more attention from this as The character posters had each actor on it and even older aldults would recognise the actors they love and would then want to watch the movie. By going around and sayiung they saw one of their favourite actors was in a new movie this created more talk of the lego movie and made even more adults go check it out.

The official website that the lego movie created means it adds an interactive effect. it makes the audience already feel ,like theyre part of the film.

Another way that The Lego Movie promoted the film was through Mc Donald's. The way that Mc Donald's helped to promote the Lego movie was by having the happy meal toy or thing as something to do with the Lego movie and reminded young kida the fun part of it.

                                                                                                                      (327 words)

2nd November 2020

                                                                    Tv Advertising

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 between 7 and 9pm
• they created the worlds first all Lego Tv ad break- each adverts for different products were made out of lego.
•  dancing on Ice at 7:27pm on sunday 9th febuary 2014 , the lego ad break was broadcasted. which was Five days before it was released.
• Integration: Using one product to promote another.
• 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.
• Products and brands: British Heart foundation/Confused.com/Bt Infinity/Premier Inn/The Lego Movie advert
• the ads were separated by five different two second clips featuring characters from the movie.

The Lego Movie broke boundaries when advertising the release of the movie only just five days prior. they targeted the three main major audiences. People watching Dancing on Ice were shown an all Lego ad break on the 9th of February on Peak time ITV which was at around half seven in the evening . 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. 

 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 was made entierly out of lego. 

                                                                Video Game

Lo:  to explain how vertical integration benefits companies; to analyse using uses & Grafication theory

• the game devolpers were  TT Games, Traveller's Tales, TT Fusion
• The game was published by Warner Bros. 
• the video game was released on 7th feburary 2014
• the genre is action adventure
• the platforms it was released on was iOS Microsoft Windows Nintendo 3DS OS X PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Wii U Xbox 360 Xbox One
• The modes are Single-player, multiplayer

Monday 9th November 2020

5 film/video games most recent:

• Sonic the hedgehog (2020)
• Spider-man : the city that never sleeps (2018)
• jumanji
• Tomb Raider
• starwars the force awakens

If audiences really like and enjoy the video-game they are more likely to go and see the movie

profit maximised : the promotion of a film will create a receptive awareness in potentinal consumers of the game : they have heard of it and are fimilar with it.

famililarity : the brand and plot and characters are already known ; recognition of the fact we liked the film so may enjoy a game based on it.

extends the pleasure of the film : a chamce to continue to 'be part of' the film that we enjoyed. chance to play the roles we saw in the film.

the game promotes the film, the film the game : efficient use of marketing of both products and increases potential audiences as fans 'cross-over' between the two platforms. think of how the theme of bond films piggy-backs on the promotion of the film and vice-versa

Uses and Gratification:

1. personal identity - helps us consider who we are ; what ideas and values we identify with.

2.information - new information we want to know or take pleasure in knowing

3. entertainment - offers the distractions from the world

4. social interaction - we find things we can share and discuss with others

Explain how the lego movie video game cover is constructed (put together) to appeal to the target audience. (7+age rating):

This poster is constructed to appeal to its target audience for the first reason that the content image is showing the main characters and the hero as the main focal point at the very front of the poster whereas the two 'sidekick's' are just to the side of the the hero not in the main eyesight. The colours have been chosen to stand out to any one looking by using bright primary colours they really grab the attention of anyone.  The different images of the characters targets the different parts of the target audience because Emmet normally attracts boys and Wyldstyle, is commonly seen as a strong female characters so this would attract the girls to the game. It would also appeal to the younger cinema-goers and adults by showing Batman on the image because batman is seen in other movies that they might have seen beforehand. 

Wednesday 11th november 2020

                                                                 Dirt

This poster is constructed to appeal to its target audience for the first reason that the colours have been chosen to stand out by using bright primary colours they really grab the attention of everyone. The bright colours make the game poster seem fun and creative which would be aimed at getting the younger kids attention. The way Emmet is holding a spanner and he is in main eyesight (right at the front) shows that the game has a creative and imaginative characteristic to it as the spanner has connotation to building and creating.The size of it shows that this is the main vocal point. The different images of the characters targets the different parts of the target audience because Emmet normally attracts boys and Wyldstyle, is commonly seen as a strong female characters so this would attract the girls to the game that love to be creative. It would also appeal to the younger cinema-goers and adults by showing Batman on the image because batman is seen in movies made for older people that they might have seen beforehand.

                                                             Poster campaign

Lo: to explain the effectiveness of the campaign ; to analyse using uses and gratification theory

Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the precise, literal definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary.

The smoke can suggest that there is a lot of mystery within this film.The fire on batmans 'trademark' could imply that this is batmans end and is destroyed as a connotation to fire is destruction.

Batman is stood right at the front and creates mystery for the fact hes in half light and wearing a mask this can connote mystery and he could be 'the dark knight'.

The film’s message Suggests that there is no order in Gotham city and has been over-ruled possibly by the bad guys.

the dennotations are:

• batman
• in a city
• fire
• smoke

Monday 16th November 2020

                                                             Poster Campaign

 

Iconography : the visual elements, like props, that help to symbolize a particular genre. For example, iconography of a western film may include cowboy hats, guns and horses.

Explain how the lego movie theatrical poster is constructed to appeal to its target audience:

The lego movie's poster appeals to its target audience by the use of iconography. The use of visual elements such as an explosion indicates the genre of action and adventure. Another visual effect is the cross promotion through batman, wonder women and green lantern. They are all well known to play main parts in action and adventure movies therefore this would appeal and captivate those viewers meaning they would naturally gravitate towards the lego movie. 

The lego movie is also a hybrid movie meaning  it blends two or more recognisable genres together so different genres would appeal to different target audiences creating a wide spread of different viewers. For example, Wyldstyle and emmet have been placed right next to each other indicating romance, normally this would attract women and teens. However another genre would be sci - fi, near the very back of the poster you can see robots and benny the astronaut flying around. The target audience this would attract is 'nerd, or gamers which are normally young adults/late teens.

Monday 23rd November 20202

Representation

LO: to analyse the representations throughout the lego movie promotional campaign 

How are men represented in the lego movie promotional campaign?

In the lego movie and lego movie poster Men are represented as the dominant male figure, following in the stereotypes. The whole movie is focused on emmet, a male character who becomes the hero these are good examples to say that the franchise supports the stereotype of men being superior and dominant.

On the other hand, there are strong parts of the campaign that go against this and subvert the stereotypical representation of men in the media. one example of this is in the movie poster emmet is in the very centre of the image but his facial expressions show him to be very scared and running away, he is seen to be presented as a coward. However when you compare his expression to wyldstyle she seems to be much more confident and a powerful female figure, this would have big impact due to the patriarchal society most of the female audience grew up in.

wyldstyle in the main poster and character poster

which elements of her portrayal support stereotypical representations of gender?

• being placed behind a man
• being saved
• pink for a girl

which elements of her portrayal subvert stereotypical representations of gender?

• facial expressions (more powerful)
• being one of the strongest characters (mentally and physically)
• 
  

How are the generation represented?

the older generation, vutruvious, is presented as being wise and more able to look up too.

put it all together

LO: to explore exam style questions and how to answer them effectively 

on paper

monday 30th november 

                                                          Dirt

Lo: to review and reflect on the unit assessment  and set personal targets 

Question 7: Vertical integration can help to increase profits through not having to share revenue with outside companies.

it can make the production process more efficient as nothing is outsourced at different stages and teams can collaborate easily.

It can help to increase the exposure of one brand or franchise as it will be promoted at each stage of production and distribution and exhibition.

it can help conglomerates to increase power in an industry as profits can go straight back to producing better quality films.

ebi - understand the difference between horizontal and vertical integration 

question 8 : use of the lego movie TV advert to link brand to familiar companies and create a widely discussed 'event' through different social medias

cross - media promotion with the video game to appeal to fans of that media form 

use of merchandising and tie-ins with other companies, E.g. McDonalds

ebi - lengthen your explanation and use evidence to support your points

question 9:  stereotypical representations used throughout; Lord buisness as evil antagonist, male dominance etc; patriarchal society as seen by male protagonist; vitruvius as wise old man; typical female traits of wyldstyle