10 D : 01 PROMOTING MEDIA: LEGO

As the OCR have issued some more guidance about how they want us to answer questions, I am spending a little time at the start of the lesson updating you.

 
The main focus today is 01 PROMOTING MEDIA: LEGO. We look at how Warner created a synergetic release of the trailer ad break, video game and posters in order to promote The Lego Movie (2014). We have to know these three elements (rather than the movie itself) and answer questions on how they promote the movie and engage / attract / address audiences.

At each stage, we study the sample exam question and the examiner's report (how to answer the question). There are links to open in most of the points below.

1. PEGI: who are they and what do they do?
2. What is the Hollywood studio system? What is meant by Dalecki's 4S megafranchise model? We define synergy, spectacle, sequel and story. 
3. Why do film studios such as Warner and others of the Big Six release a portfolio of related products? What is cross-promotion?
4. We watch and analyse the Lego Ad Break. This is the background to it.
5. We view a walk-through of the video game
6. We apply Blumler and Katz's uses and gratifications model of audience needs and behaviour to the Lego video game. This is explained simply in the article Why People Watch Television.
7. See also MediaKnowall 
   

 

1. We study the 5 Lego posters  of Emmet, Wyldstyle, Lord Business and Vitruvius
2. We view a walk-through of the video game and note what the audience pleasures consist of.
3. If there is time, we read the review by Stuart Beedie:
   "Today’s blockbuster franchises rarely exist simply to sell themselves – they double as advertisements for a raft of goods, from tie-in video games to personal appliances. A film studio is never just a film studio, but a small subsidiary of a conglomerate, with revenue to be raised by the many arms of the octopus..."

PREP Get to know a bit about The Lego Movie (2014) by watching the trailers or, if you have access, a bit of the movie itself. We will not be tested on the whole movie, but we do need to understand its appeal to its audiences.

For instance, it is really interesting to watch the Behind The Scenes of the Lego Movie 
which opens with the question: "What is The Lego Movie? Well...." then explains it.
Useful to note comments such as 

• "The whole world is created out of Lego bricks and populated with Lego figurines."
• "Emmet is just this normal guy who is thrown on this crazy adventure with some famous personalities."  
• "There were some big egos."
• "Like all my movies, Batman is the main character and this is no exception."
• "The cool part is, all these Lego worlds come together... there are superheroes, Ninjas, knights, pirates, a space dog, a space cat.." 
• "Wyldstyle, she's the most awesome kick-butt hero of all time, a strong role model for girls everywhere."

The LEGO® Movie Family · 2014 · PG

The first-ever full-length theatrical LEGO movie follows Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.

Actors

Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman

Directors

Phil Lord, Christopher Miller