The Lego Movie

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




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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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