Homework Mon 10 Dec

An effective media campaign would exploit a variety of media forms to gain the largest amount of viewership and traction as possible while not wasting resources investing in areas where the target audience is near nonexistent.

For example The Lego Movie advertised across many different platforms to gain a large amount of popularity and interest.

Homework Mon 26 Nov

• Look at the main movie poster. (Attached) What are the GENRE CONVENTIONS shown?
• Explain how the following elements on the poster appeal to the TARGET AUDIENCE:
  • Title
  • Tagline
  • Main Image - Characters
  • Main Image - Setting
• Look at the main poster and the teaser posters. Analyse how they use STEREOTYPES to create REPRESENTATIONS that appeal to the TARGET AUDIENCE.

It follows the genre conventions of action where there is an explosion and the characters running away from it.

The title is shown as made out of Lego, interesting the children and adults mainly.

The tagline gives inspiration to believe in yourself which attracts the audience further.

The main characters include many different universes and interests to attract the most people.

The setting is in the Lego universe

Homework Mon 05 Nov

Blumler and Katz theory:

Information and education

Entertainment

Personal identity

Integration and social interaction

Escapism

Homework Mon 22 Oct

THE LEGO MOVIE

Explain why the TV Advertising campaign was so successful

The TV advertising campaign was successful due to the mix of nostalgic adults, children who play with Lego, and young movie goers that could all view these adverts and be interested in the movie and most likely want to go see the movie after seeing an advert/

Explain what SYNERGY is in marketing.

When two companies come together to create something greater than they could create individually.

Explain how Lego used SYNERGY to promote the movie.

Linked in D.C. Universe characters and other known public figures into the movie and put them on many of the posters and trailers.

Explain WHY a film company would want to release a video game to tie in with a film.

Due to the fact that an average AAA game can sell for around £50, almost 5 times the average mainstream film ticket, companies would want to release the two near to each other so that the gaming community and the movie goers all spend their money on their catered item around the lego movie theme, multiplying profit greatly.

Homework Mon 08 Oct

There are THREE sections of the FAMILY TARGET AUDIENCE: kids who like Lego; parents of kids who used to play with Lego themselves; young cinema goers.

Explain how The Lego Movie appeals to each of them using the following areas:

Characters:

The Lego Movie uses the variety of characters to create a certain aspect for each of the three target audiences, for example, Batman is used to link to young movie goers who could perhaps watch and enjoy many of the D.C. universe movies and characters. Benny is used to link to the parents who used to play with Lego, him being from a Lego set that came out for that age group when they were young, they will remember their youth and feel nostalgic about it. The kids who like Lego will enjoy many of the lighter themed characters, especially Emmet, used as a link to the children to promote inspiration that you can be whatever you aspire to be, personifying the different stages of life.

Narrative:

The narrative mainly follows a simple, but capturing and exciting story that can be understood by the kids who like Lego, can capture and create nostalgia and understanding for the parents of the kids, and an exciting, action filled narrative that captures the interest of the young cinema goers.

Settings:

Themes:

The theme of action is prevalent throughout the whole of the movie, creating tension and interest for every single person in the audience. Another theme for the younger cinema goers is the empowerment of women, this is portrayed through the character Wyldstyle.

What methods did they use to PROMOTE the Lego Movie and how did it target the different parts of the target audience? You should talk about the following methods: 

Poster Campaign:

The poster campaign is mainly aimed to attract certain parts of the audience, for example the character posters are aimed at the social and psychological groups that are represented through the characters. The main poster with all of the characters on, attracts mainly the young movie goers due to the many external movie links made through the characters like batman, superman, green lantern and others.

TV Advertising:

The TV advertising is mainly aimed for the parents and the kids, as many kids will see it and talk to their parents about seeing it. The parents will also see it advertised on their TV channels too so they can take their kids to see it for fun. Young movie goers will mostly watch Youtube instead of the TV, so therefore they would mainly see social media advertisements instead.

Film Trailers:

Young movie goers would see these online on Youtube and other video hosting websites, as well as on TV, appealing to the kids and the parents too.

Social Media:

Merchandise:

The Lego Sets and the video game made around the movie will attract the young movie goers who could also be gamers that would be interested in the game more so than the movie, and the Lego sets will attract the kids that play with Lego.

Homework Mon 24 Sep

Name the organisations that regulate the following media forms:

Film - BBFC

TV & Radio - Ofcom

Advertising - ASA

Newspapers & Magazines - IPSO

Video Games - VSC

Explain what a POSTMODERNIST film is. What features would it include?

A postmodernist film is a film style that presents postmodernism through film. It tries to stay away and bend the character and narrative codes and conventions of mainstream film and uses this to try and make the audience believe something surreal.

The Lego Movie is a POSTMODERNIST film. Explain how the The Lego Movie fits this term.

The Lego Movie is a postmodernist film because it does not use standard character codes and conventions, it breaks away from this by having a strong female character like Wyldstyle and a very basic male character as the hero like Emmet, the same can be said for many of the other characters that are unique to The Lego Movie.

DIRT

Media Language: Camerawork, Editing, Mise-en-Scene, Narrative Style, Sound.

1.
OFCOM


2.
Sk8ter Boi: Mise-en-Scene, uses stereotypical teenager clothing and stereotypical teenage objects like skateboards and BMXs. This music video is set in an urban city, being a very modern and trendy setting.

Teenage Dirtbag: Mise-en-Scene, uses the stereotypes of USA high school to create clothing styles for each character featured, the characters follow and dress/act like their stereotypes. This music video is set in a high school in a very stereotypically normal style of the USA.


4.
Codes and Conventions as well as the musicians show how much the magazine celebrates classic rock.
The language choice also follows the stereotypes.
Monochrome photography style.
Stereotypical white male rock artists.
Anti-Stereotypical representation of older rock artists.


5.
Analysis and Judgement of the magazine, make a judgement and draw a conclusion between the similarities and differences and why. Compare target audiences for either magazines. Cluttered layout on the WE <3 POP. magazine, very clean and simple layout on the MOJO magazine. Conclude with them being very different due to the codes and conventions of the rock sub-genre. WE <3 POP. magazine has a very bright and colourful colour palette, whereas the MOJO magazine has a dark and colourless colour palette.


6.
VSC or GRA


7.
To create synergy between both of the products. Contextual awareness from the game to the movie and from the movie to the game, forcing viewers or gamers to buy / watch the other one.


8.
Entertainment - A way for people to forget about the real world for a while to release themselves.
Identification - Relating to certain situations or characters.
Personal Relationships - Lets people understand each other.
Information - Gives contextual information to the movie.

9.
Main poster implies destruction, giving genre ideas to the audience who see these posters. The poster also mixes action/adventure with superhero, giving a large target audience. Subverts genre codes by having an unknown protagonist in the centre of the poster. The tagline at the top "The story of a nobody who saved everybody" creates intrigue to a family audience and especially to children, parents will believe it is a good inspirational topic for the children.


For the music industry unit I need to give examples and revise on contextual knowledge, codes and conventions, and accurate subject terminology.


For the LEGO unit I need to revise subject terminology, and the multiple theories that can be questioned in the exams.

The Lego Movie: Put It All Together

L/O: to explore exam style questions and how to answer them effectively.


Question Format:

Likely to be asked 4 questions, two short questions, two long questions.
First two are general questions on promotion techniques.
First question is 1 mark question that asks for a fact.
Second question is 4 marks and asks to give reasons why.
Two long questions will need support from The Lego Movie as examples.
Ten mark question.

Example Question:
How have Propp's spheres of action been used to represent the characters in the Lego Movie poster campaign.

Analyse how The Lego Movie posters use stereotypes to create representations that are easily understood.

The Lego Movie posters show some of the movie's characters as very standard stereotypes, for example the main character, Emmet, is shown as a normal builder and citizen, him being the main character gives an idea of hope for the normal, working class builders like he is due to him becoming extraordinary. Wyldstyle is represented as a normal superhero, showing the female audience that they too are superheroes and do not have to look or act normal to be good in life due to her wearing colourful clothing and having dyed hair and not looking like everyone else. Vitruvius is shown as an old withered man, representing the older audience, but changing in the movie to be a very strong character, the trailers also show this and shows the older audience what they can achieve. Lord business gives the idea of an angry upper class white male that hates everything lower than him and is trying to create a perfect world, this shows the audience that he is evil.

The Lego Movie: Poster Campaign

L/O: to explain the effectiveness of the campaign; to analyse using Uses and Gratification theory.



The Lego Movie poster appeals to its target audience by showing characters that the target audience will recognise from following the production of the movie for a while, the characters are very colourful and will appeal to a happy, curious audience. The tagline would suggest about the main character, being the one that is at the front, closest to the viewer, and show many elements of this character and what he might do or be like in the movie or to other people.

There are many superhero looking characters on the poster, showing that this movie is a movie that features superheroes and that they play a big part in this movie. There are also many parts that show fire, and teams of heroes, with characters being chased that could suggest action and adventure.

The recognisable superhero characters like batman, green lantern, wonder woman, will appeal to the older audience that has watch these characters rise up in the movie and comic scene, they can also be linked to many of the older characters as parents of kids who play with Lego. The Lego classic characters will appeal to the children and get them excited towards ones that they can relate themselves or their Lego toys with. The normal, young adult that enjoys movies will enjoy this because of the themes of action and the mystery behind the story of this.

Explain the poster campaign and the representations created within it.
The posters show off the main characters and the themes of the characters to the buyer, explaining to them what kind of movie it would be and the importance and role of the characters in the movie.

The Lego Movie: Videogame

L/O: To explain how vertical integration benefits companies; to analyse using uses and gratification theory.

The Simpsons Game
Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix
Resident Evil
Spinder man 2
Shrek
Mortal Kombat

Reason is to make maximum profit from movie and game, familiarity, extends the pleasure of the film or game, the game promotes the film and the film promotes the game.

Uses & Gratifications (U&G)
Blumer and Katz came up with 4 reasons for certain media to be popular over other media:
1. Entertainment, offers a distraction from the world.
2. Personal Identity, helps us consider who we are; what ideas and values we identify with.
3. Relationships, we find things that we can share and discuss with others.
4. Information, new information we want to know or take pleasure in knowing.

Analysis of the game cover:
The main image is the same style as the movie cover, the title shows the Lego logo and then a custom design for the video game itself that is big, bold, and made out of Lego to appeal to the fans.

The layout has a very simple design, it has a title and logos that are out of the way from the main image, making the main image very recognisable and people will start to remember it. The colours are very saturated and show that it is a very upbeat and happy game. The font is made out of Lego for the title, giving it a very unique look.

The main cover of the game shows many characters from the movie that can represent each part of the target audience for the game, for example there is Emmet for the male children, there is Wyldstyle for the female children that can relate to the strong female character of the movie, and then there is Benny for the adults that will be nostalgic towards that character.

The main characters are very well placed on the poster to make them stand out from the rest of the crowd, this shows their importance to the person viewing, even if they have never seen the movie, especially by changing the colours of the main characters so that they don't look like the others.

The wrench in Emmet's hand shows that he is a builder and is just a normal, working member of society.

It will pleasure the player by letting them experience a different part of the story from their own perspective with their own choices.

The cover represents the film by having a same style poster, with the same characters an d the same story.

The Lego Movie: TV Advertising

L/O: To evaluate the methods used to market the lego movie; to link the methods to the target audience.

Wanted to reach everyone quickly so put adverts on ITV from 18:00 to 21:00. Created the first All-Lego advert break. In Dancing on Ice at 19:27 on Sunday 9th February 2014 - five days before the movie launched - ITV broadcast a world first, an ad break made entirely out of Lego.

'Stings' feature characters from a movie in an advert.
At the same time as it was shown, they released it on youtube for other excited people to see.
Huge reaction on social media.
Reached 6 million people live.
1.1 million people saw it on youtube.
Dominated by adaptations and sequels.
Number 1 Movie in 2014.

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:

The Lego Movie managed to break boundaries when it stepped out of what most companies can do and made a whole themed advert break in the style of Lego, this accessed many people who probably did not know of the Lego movie beforehand and now could also be excited for it, it could also make the people who already know about it even more excited for it. This could've also reached families due to the show on being Dancing On Ice, especially because of the timing of 19:27, most of the family would be watching it and could see it as a good movie to watch with their kids, or their kids could have seen it as well.

The Lego Movie managed to target the sections of their target audience by adding jokes that any style of person could find funny, kids would find it hilarious and nag their parents to learn about the Lego movie. It managed to target nostalgic parents by just having the theme of lego in a movie, the trailers show snippets of what they might remember from being kids or other themes that they might know from being adults. The young adults would have seen the promotion on social media and youtube, for example, they managed to reach 6 million viewers on a livestream, this most likely have consisted of young adults and teenagers, reaching this many people is an impressive achievement and has definitely affected the success of the lego movie.

The Lego Movie was an extremely successful movie, both in advertising and in release, even though it was made as a child's movie, it attracted an audience far wider than just children. The amount of people that have seen it is an extreme achievement for the first movie of this style. It made a huge profit overall, in just the opening weekend it made $69,050,279. This movie grew increasingly successful over time, making a total of $470 million.

The Lego Movie: Marketing

L/O: To explore marketing & promotion of The Lego Movie; to link the methods to the target audience.

• TV Adverts
• Billboards
• Magazine Adverts
• Posters
• YouTube Adverts
• Trailers (Teaser, Theatrical)
• Pop-Up Adverts
• Merchandise
• Website
• Other Brands

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

Tie-In Merchandise:

• The Lego Movie Videogame
• The Lego Movie Lego Sets Feb 2013
• 17 Lego World Sets
• 16 Themed Minifigures
• School Supplies
• Sticker And Activity Sets

Movie Promotions

• Lego Movie Character Posters
• Added To The Lego Website
• Film Premiere
• Trailers and Short Films themed to The Lego Movie
• Events at Lego Stores
• Free Accessory Packs for building creatively
• Lego Movie Happy Meals
• Enabled Fans to make versions of themselves online
• Lego Movie Videogame

Disney Owns Marvel (Production), Disney (Distribution), Disney Resorts, Publishing, Home Entertainment.

This is an advantage because they don't have to split the profit or pay their sub-companies because they own the companies.

The Guardian

1. Making it appeal to the target audience and others as well, for example it links to children just from the theme of it, but also links to adults using their nostalgia.

2. Used actors that are popular in comedy movies to make it good for both adults and children, the actors are funny for children, and well known for adults

3. Makes the children feel nostalgic when they grow up because they can link to previous movies, therefore in later life bringing themselves to watch newer additions.

Zesty

1. The Lego Movie creates emotion within the viewers and pulls them in by grabbing on to their emotions using the storyline that is emotional.

2. 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.

3. It has subtle links to what the audience will understand for most age groups, jokes and references to older topics for adults, and easy jokes for kids, knowing that they play with Lego.

The Lego Movie makes an effective marketing campaign in a number of ways, for example they have online websites that kids can access and see Lego sets themed to the Lego Movie, trailers, and magazines that are also linking to the movie, this is very effective against kids especially when they see Lego sets and will think of what the Lego movie is, with a curious child's mind they will want to know more about the Lego movie, asking their parents to see it. Online and TV adverts will most likely be better for parents who want their child to be entertained, but also to be entertained themselves. Adverts on their website will bring more attention to merchandise, for example T-Shirts and posters will be appealing to children and adults alike. The Lego Movie video game is popular among children who enjoy other video games like roblox and minecraft, this will give the child an inspiration to watch the movie or ask to see it, the parents will then be interested in it. The Lego Club Magazine is sent 5 times a year and would include information about the lego movie very early on, if a child were to see this information, they would be very excited about it and tell their parents, friends and others about it, spreading the word about it very quickly.

Lego Movie: Target Audience

L/O: To identify the target audience using demographics and psychographics.

The lego movie appeals to the male fantasy.

The movie targets a family audience.

That could be split into the following three groups:

• Young kids who play with lego.
• Parents who played with it when they were young too.
• Young adult cinema goers.
• Both genders.

Explain how the movie appeals to each part of the target audience

Young kids who play with lego:

Vibrant Colours

Catchy Song

Simple Story

Easy To Understand Humour

Parents who remember playing with lego as kids:

Classic Lego Figures

Real World Relic References

Hidden Adult Humour

Parents And Children Bonding

Big Name Actors

References Adult And Older Films

Encourages Parents To Play With Their Kids

Young Adult Cinema Goers:

Big Names

References To Other Movies

Reference Their Childhood

Love Story

Ages Of Characters

Communist Themes

Both Genders:

Strong Female Characters

Strong Males Too

Love Story

Male Themes

Female Style Places

The Lego Movie appeals to:

Explorers

Mainstreamers

Lego Movie: Intertextuality and TA

L/O: To explore the intertextuality of The Lego Movie & the Target Audience; to apply Propp's narrative theory.

Postmodernism

A film that is abstract and and reminds the audience in a humorous way that the movie is not real.

'Postmodernism questions what is real and what is absolute.' (Palmer 2014)

The Lego Movie  The Lego Movie is a Postmodernist movie by:

• The change from fantasy to fantasy (Pirate, Medieval, Cowboy...)
• The movie changes genres (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Superhero, Animated...)
• The characters are not the stereotypical roles (Emmet is a usual builder)
• The movie links with the plot of other movies like The Matrix

Intertextuality

The Lego Movie starts by showing the location that is the city, when it starts, there is seemingly no main character due to all the people being ordinary and doing the same routines. All the builders other than Emmet leave, revealing the main character. Emmet then sees a person with a detector and then a hole arrives and they fall down it. Emmet and Wyldstyle, the second character, teleport to the surface and Emmet has a red thing on his back. Wyldstyle mistakes Emmet for the special. They go around world to save the world because Wyldstyle found out the Emmet is not a master builder and then they saw Vitruvius who makes Emmet into a master builder and then they fight the bad guys.

The main theme of the Lego Movie is that we should treat each other equally and not hate people. It also shows the message of not judging people at surface value. You don't have to be a stereotypical hero to be a hero. Using your imagination.

The Lego Movie had Lego Sets made for it that are in the style of it, these are a great way to make money off of the film. There are links to other superheroes in the D.C. universe like Batman and Superman, also linking to Dumbledore and other characters in different movies.

Propp's Spheres Of Action

Promotion of Media

L/O: To research the process, industry bodies and regulators behind film.

1. Development: The film has the rights bought for what it needs, the actual acting is written and the money for the film is sought out.

Pre-Production: The hiring of the crew is made and arrangements for the set and location is made.

Production: The film is recorded.

Post-Production: The images, sounds and visuals are made for the film and made into a finished product.

Distribution: The film is sold and shown in cinemas.

2. A conglomerate is a company that is made of lots of sub-companies to make a powerful company.

3. The Big Six consists of Walt Disney, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment, Sony Pictures, and Viacom

4.

Exam Practice 541

Q: Explain one way in which music videos use media language to differ from each other. Refer to one example of contrasting media language in two music videos you have studied to support your answer.




The 2 videos have many differences in how they are put together, for example in sk8ter boi the camerawork is very handheld and moves about a lot, representing the demographics and financial gain of the viewers and characters in the video. Also in the video, the clothing of the characters is of a very rebellious style and shows that they are not rich and have poor living styles. This contrasts the way that Teenage Dirtbag is made, where the camerawork is very smooth and is not held by a person. This would cost a lot of money and shows that this is made to show a richer side of life. The clothing is very normal and middle class compared to the lower class style of Sk8ter Boi, this shows that the characters are meant to appeal more to people of the middle class in Teenage Dirtbag. The location of Sk8ter Boi is in the suburbs of a city, showing that the characters probably don't go to school and rebel against the standard and healthy lifestyle of others. This location also shows that they are probably of lower class and have less money to be where they want, explaining why in the music video there are themes of violence and gang warfare. Whereas in Teenage Dirtbag it shows the character getting bullied and that the location is in a school, this shows the viewer that the people here are educated and care about their future compared to Sk8ter Boi where they have given up on education and their future and seem to just live in the now.

Applying Media Theory

sHoOKeTh

L/O: To apply media terminology when analysing music.

Sk8ter Boi

Sk8ter Boi's music video is best shown as Hall's view on the youth in media. They are shown as edgy, most likely depressed, vandalising cars and playing loud music to have fun as a huge group of people that can relate to each other. The youth are also shown as Hedbige would portray as "Youth are troublemakers", especially supported when the group are outside vandalising, this would show them being troublemakers indeed.

Teenage Dirtbag

This video shows Mackillon's point of view on males in the media, where they are represented as strong and good looking for women and that women are the only thing that matters to them as well as their looks. This is shown by the progression of the characters going from good looking to bad, and bad to good, and the way that the negatively viewed character gets a girl at the end. The video also follows Hedbige's view that the youth are troublemakers, in this video it would be shown by the bully in the video that is the alpha male showing his tactical superiority over the other characters.

Music Video Analysis

L/O: To apply media terminology when analysing music videos.

Avril Lavigne - Sk8ter Boi
The narrative style of the video would include most of the characters skating or being on bmxi. Once they are in the street they are playing the music in the video.


Most of the camerawork in the video is handheld, even in scenes with shot types from lower or higher angles.


Most of the video is a performance based narrative that has Avril Lavigne singing throughout, the narrative is linear and follows the story of Avril performing songs in the street.


The sounds in the video are mostly diegetic, the song is being performed by Avril in the video, suggesting that it is diegetic, the helicopter at the end is also diegetic.


Avril and her people are dressed like the edgy youth of the time. The objects in the scenes are styled towards what you would see in a punk rock music video.


There is lots of fast-paced editing that cuts from scene to scene and from person to person within seconds.

Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag
The narrative style is linear and has characters that perform and characters that show the story.

The camerawork is much more professional and uses more smooth angles of the camera and better movement.

The sounds in the video are mostly diegetic at the end of it, but throughout there is mostly just the music.

The clothing and mise en scene is standard american high school items that you would expect from the styles of the characters.


The editing is much more smooth and timed specifically for the song to work with the video.

The characters throughout are based off of high school stereotypes that fit the video correctly and help to tell the story.

Mock Feedback

L/O: To review mock exam questions and make improvements.

Question 1:
Gender, Age, Class, Interest in genre of music

Question 2:
Media Language, Correct Terminology, Representation, Specific Examples, Identify Media Language, Link to Target Audience

• The Star Picture will link directly to the audience that grew up around the artist
• The colour blue (background colour) will link to the male gender as a stereotype
• Dave Grohl's top is black which suggests the darker theme of music that the audience like
• The font of the masthead is bold and links to the masculinity of the audience

Question 3:

Media Language, Correct Terminology, Identify Genre Conventions, Link to Target Audience, Representation

• The stance of David Bowie is very masculine and strong
• The colour scheme is not the typical colours of a rock magazine, it is mainly blue and grey.
• The Star Picture is David Bowie and is very recognisable by the target audience
• David Bowie is not known to be masculine and goes against the stereotype of being in this magazine.

Music Videos

Narrative based video is where the lyrics are telling the story (narrating) of the video.
Performance based video is where it is the video showing the band playing the music.
Concept based video is where there is an abstract video that shows uniqueness.

Sk8ter Boi:
Artist: Avril Lavigne
Genre: Pop
Date Released: 2002
Type of music video: Narrative and performance based.
The story of this song is Avril's viewpoint of her rocker boyfriend, who knew a girl who was a snob and he rejected her because he was a skateboarder.
What happens in the video: Avril Lavigne and her crew skates and rides around illegal places, they spray paint some walls and then get in a car and drive into town, they start playing music and basically cause a riot, the police show up and they vandalise a car, then the video abruptly ends.
Who features in the video: Avril Lavigne, Avril Lavigne's Band

Represented as: Edgy skaters
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/avrillavigne/sk8erboi.html

Teenage Dirtbag:
Artist: Wheatus
Genre: Pop Rock
Date Released: 2000
Type of music video: Narrative and performance based
The story of this song is a teenager who falls asleep and dreams of turning cool and falling in love with a popular girl, he wakes up and seems startled.
Who features in this video: Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari

Represented as: Nerds
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/wheatus/teenagedirtbag.html