Wednesday 23 April 2014

4. How are representations constructed across the 3 platforms?

How are characters/stars in the film represented in?

Emmet Brickowski is the main protagonist of The LEGO Movie in 2014, and appears in sets based on the movie. He is voiced by Chris Pratt in the film and by Keith Ferguson in the video game adaption.Emmet wears an orange and blue construction vest and pants lined with silver on the legs, back, and front. There are two pockets on his vest, one of them containing a blue pen. On his left leg is an ID badge with a small bio (portrayed by three black bars), an image of Emmet, and his name written in white above the bio. His hair is medium brown with ripples molded into it and a little bit of hair sticking out of the back. To fit the Piece of Resistance on Emmet's back, a neck bracket is placed around his neck and the Piece is attached via a stud hole on the back.Emmet has been working most of his life on the construction site as an instruction worker in the city of Bricksburg. He longs to be popular, but his co-workers hardly notice he's there. He lives life by the book--literally--and builds things only from the instructions. Because of this, however, he is mostly boring and uncreative, except for at some moment of inspiration, like his inventing the "double decker couch". He is not a fan of adventure or danger either both of which give him reason for "freaking out".

This is a description about Emmet Brickowski taken from LEGO.com. 
"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."

I think that the writers are trying to make Emmet sound as boring as they can, but they make him fun to watch  just by the way of his attitude. The audience will look and feel that this guys crazy and then they would want more especially from watching the trailer.  

3. How do audiences access the text across the 3 platforms?

Who are the film’s target audience(s) and how do you know?


How is the film promoted to its target audience(s) through:


Overall, it was the second largest February opening in history trailing only the $83.8M of The Passion of the Christ from ten years ago. It was also the third best animated debut outside of summer following The Incredibles ($70.5M in November 2004) and The Lorax ($70.2M in March 2012). LEGO proved that audiences can come out to the multiplexes in huge numbers at any point of the year as long as there is a compelling film that people really want to experience.
Based on the popular toy blocks which have been around for generations, LEGO benefited from a brand that is loved by audiences of all ages and so it played beyond just a kid crowd. Plus reviews were positive across the board and the marketing machine had been pushing the toon for months. Appeal was broad with teens and young adults also taking interest in the witty humor.
Studio research showed that the PG-rated film skewed 55% male and 59% were over 18. Ticket buyers liked what they paid for with the CinemaScore grade being an encouraging A. With strong reviews, positive word-of-mouth, and the Presidents Day holiday coming up next week, the future looks bright forThe LEGO Movie which might be able to make it to the quarter-billion mark in North America alone. Fans opted more for the standard 2D option at regular prices as higher-priced 3D screens accounted for only 35% of the gross.
Summer is the main time for A-list animated features to come out. Otherwise, the Thanksgiving and Easter holiday months will be used to launch major toons too, but until now, the biggest animated opening in February had been Gnomeo & Juliet with $25.4M. LEGO opened almost three times larger so it truly was an exceptional performance.
A lack of competition also worked in its favor. Though The Nut Job has done respectable business, there really has been no animated blockbuster for families to rally behind since Frozen which opened nearly three months ago. Studios programmed too few toon options this winter and LEGO took full advantage. It also opened to an estimated $18.1M from 34 international markets this weekend including Mexico, Spain, and Brazil. The U.K. opens next weekend with many more key markets to follow throughout the spring.

The chance to build your own LEGO minifigure. Here you can make your wildest dreams come true and become a true life LEGO person.
And here’s the finished product…
You can download this as a custom film poster, desktop background or social avatar, but best of all, you can unlock your specially designed character as a playable minifigure in the forthcoming LEGO Movie computer game.
The LEGO Movie also shares its follower’s photographs in a ‘fan of the week’ showcase.
They don’t have to do this, they’re just clearly excited to be in a LEGO Movie.
As a lifelong LEGO fan, the Twitter feed is a pleasure to follow and uses the relationship built up with its fans over the decades in a responsible, entertaining and relevant way.

On the LEGO Movie Facebook page, LEGO is sharing the photographs its followers have taken of themselves with the LEGO Movie stands found in cinemas around the country. Ass you can see a lot of these people are kids all who want are excited from the stand and can't wait.

When the The Lego Movie videogame advert came on TV kids were really into it and even YouTubers got the hype as there young male audience asked The Lego Movie Let's Play.


1. Film Media in context


  • How does the industry promote the film to audiences using:
  • Print media?
  • Broadcast media (TV/Radio/DVD)?
  • E-Media?


Picking up hundreds of Lego pieces after a messy child is a familiar scenario to most parents, but mothers and fathers must be feeling a little grateful towards the Danish toy company at the moment. The Lego Movie, which is released in February, is currently the must-see family film, and a guaranteed way to get a couple of hour's peace.And the marketing team behind the film are going all out with promoting it. On Sunday night, during ITV's Dancing on Ice, Lego took over an entire ad break, and put out a series of well-known commercials that had been remade with the famous plastic figurines. The charming three-and-a-half minutes saw ads from the British Heart Foundation, Confused.com, BT and Premier Inn replicated using Lego figures, including the original soundtracks, for a one-off special.

Viewers flocked to social media to praise the Lego-fied commercial break. Despite it essentially being advertising within advertising, it seemed that the public struggled to be cynical about such a wonderfully executed concept.

The idea came from the media agency PHD, which worked alongside Warner Bros, ITV and its sister agency Drum. The ads were created by ITN Productions and Bricksports, a company that recreates major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics with Lego. The brands featured paid for the ads to be made. One can only imagine how much of a headache it was to get all the businesses involved to sign everything off.

The Lego Movie might feature Abraham Lincoln and Batman as plastic figurines, but this ad montage boasted Lego recreations of Vinnie Jones (British Heart Foundation) and Lenny Henry (Premier Inn). And all the more endearing it was for it.
"To support the launch of a movie in which the whole world is made of Lego, we came up with the idea of transporting ITV viewers there," said David Wilding, the head of planning at PHD. "It's a testament to the strength of the idea, just how much passion, energy and sheer enthusiasm every partner in this project has put in."
The UK team behind The Lego Movie, which follows ordinary Lego construction worker Emmet as he is dragged in to a quest to stop an evil tyrant, must be hoping to repeat the success it has enjoyed in the US. It opened there at the weekend with a box office taking of $69.1m (£42.1m), the second biggest February opening of all time.

Another grand idea by a marketing bod cooked up to support the movie was to put on an exhibition called The Art of the Brick at Discovery, a museum in New York's Times Square. The impressive Lego sculptures by artist Nathan Sawaya (known as the Michelangelo of Lego), who gave up a career as a corporate lawyer to play with bricks, have also been getting plenty of attention online. Sawaya's work is just the latest thing to highlight the versatility of Lego, which, despite harking back to playtime in a pre-PlayStation age, achieved revenues of $4bn (£2.4bn) in 2012.

Most recently, the Danish company partnered with Google to create virtual Lego which can be built online. Naturally, many pointed out that this completely defeated the educational benefits of learning how to construct with Lego. But perhaps the app, called Build with Chrome, isn't exactly aimed at the little ones. After all, a breakdown of The Lego Movie's weekend audience in the US showed that 59 per cent of the ticket holders were over 18. These adult Lego-lovers might be embarrassed to own an actual set, but they're probably the ones constructing virtual cargo planes online during their lunch break.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

2. How are texts in the three platforms constructed?


How is the film promoted through?
  • Print?
  • Broadcasting (TV/Radio/DVD)?
  • E-Media?

In broadcast one of the ways they promoted the film was that in chat shows when Chris Pratt (lead role) would give something or Lego would do something extra. Example, In “Good Moring America” the whole set was made out of Legos including the cups. “Good Moring America” is a American morning television show which goes live on air every weekday at 7:00AM.  Good Morning America is the only morning news show to have an audience on set; fans looking to secure one of the 100 standing-room spots can make free online reservations at least a week before the desired taping. Another Example was when Chris Pratt presents an amazing Gift to the new host of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Lego and Chris Pratt gave Jimmy Fallon a plack of the logo of the show but it was made all out of Lego.  I think I can apply this to the hypermedic theory because it just injects you with Lego fever.  The appearance of Chirs Pratt on The tonight show did help help reach out to a older audience because of the time slot of the tonight show, which starts at 11:34pm and finishes at 12:36pm.

On the LEGO Movie Facebook page, LEGO is sharing the photographs its followers have taken of themselves with the LEGO Movie stands found in cinemas around the country.
The LEGO Movie Facebook also runs a ‘fan of the week’ competition.
This is a specifically built interface where the user can load photos directly on to the Facebook page through an app. Followers can then vote with 'likes' to pick the winner. You can also upload photos on to Instagram using the #LEGOfanoftheweek hashtag.

Twitter

My attention was first drawn to The LEGO Movie’s Twitter campaign yesterday when my film journalist friend tweeted this: 
This followed his comment:
The LEGO Movie has its ears to the ground, and is quick to engage. The tweet comes from The Lego Movie UK account, but as it's only a very nascent account this shows a soft, subtle approach to marketing
The USA based LEGO Movie Twitter account has 11,025 followers, which is still relatively few, considering the comparable Thor: The Dark World account has 96,025 followers. That film has been released for a week now and has therefore reached the peak of its marketing push. So what is LEGO offering in its tweets?
The chance to build your own LEGO minifigure. Here you can make your wildest dreams come true and become a true life LEGO person.
Here’s me halfway through the build. I don’t have any trousers on.
And here’s the finished product…
You can download this as a custom film poster, desktop background or social avatar, but best of all, you can unlock your specially designed character as a playable minifigure in the forthcoming LEGO Movie computer game.
The LEGO Movie also shares its follower’s photographs in a ‘fan of the week’ showcase.
There’s also a palpable sense of joy coming from the stars of the film, who often tweet links and join in conversations with the LEGO Movie account. 
They don’t have to do this, they’re just clearly excited to be in a LEGO Movie.
As a lifelong LEGO fan, the Twitter feed is a pleasure to follow and uses the relationship built up with its fans over the decades in a responsible, entertaining and relevant way.

Sunday 23 March 2014

MEST2: Evaluation darft

AQA AS Media Studies
MEST2: Evaluation

In MEST2 I worked by myself, so I had to do a lot on my own but I brought it on myself but I think I handled it well. My brief is about a Teen Drama that I had to create for a pre-watershed audience and timing and I had the option to broadcast it on two channels and choice BBC Three.
My Research contribute a lot to my planning and final product in many ways. One of the main things that my research helped me was the type of filming and camera work I would do use for my TV opening. Also my research helped me on what types of photo I would use for my magazine front cover and double page speared. With my institutional research I did looked at BBC Three and E4 because I had to choose one of them.  BBC3 is a TV channel that is presented by the BBC3 broadcasting. Their target audience are those in the 16-34 year old age group. In 2001 the bbc chose to rebrand their two digital channels, so that could link more into BBC One and BBC Two. They finally in 2002 BBC Choice was renamed and rebranded to BBC Three. Some people disagreed about the changed and said that the channel would become rivals between ITV2 and E4. BBC3 focus on drama, entertainment, comedy, music, learning and news. The some of the most popular programs are, Sherlock, Russel Howards's good news and Bad Education. BBC3 is a channel that  have a audience that don't like to watch the news for too long, that’s why BBC3 have 60 seconds news every hour between programs which tells the news in 60 seconds. E4 is a british channel which was launched s a pay-TV companion to channel 4 in 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment. The channel has a very similar target audience. The channel is mainly aimed at 15-35 age group. On the channel they show a lot of american programs, they also have a lot of british shows. Its most successful broadcast to date was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of The Inbetweeners pulled in over 3.7 million viewers.E4 is watched by 9.6 million people a month and its audience share of 1.8% places it well ahead of Sky1 and the better-funded BBC3 – although the BSkyB general entertainment channel is available in fewer homes, and the corporation's service only broadcasts 12 hours a day – and has grown every year without fail. At the end this really helped me make my choice of where I was going to broadcast the teen drama. I chose BBC Three because my narrative and narrative concepts linked to the BBC Institution and what their motto is and also what can of broadcaster they are. The narrative concepts is police, crime, teen issues etc. The BBC’s motto is to inform, educate and entertain and I will doing those things across my work. ANother reason i chose BBC Three was because the BBC institution is a Public Service Broadcaster which is funded by the government, which comes through our TV licence. My narrative shows the good side of police service because in recent years the nation has question about the police and it would seem right if this program is on BBC Three. The government are saying that the police are one of the best unit in the world and it be right if the BBC shows that through my program. I did carry out an audience research which was a Focus group. I talk about my A clear explanation of my idea, referencing other programmes/films, details about my characters, narrative themes and location, Why my idea would appeal to the key 15-35 audience demographic and Scheduling details - when it might be broadcast and on which channel.

My target audience for my TV show are 15-30 year olds. To be honest my target audience doesn’t really have a target gender. I think it’s a program which connects 2 both males and females. I think my shows target audience is people who on BBC3 and my main protagonist turns into an undercover police. So then the overall the message the show is trying to send is that the police try their best then again the BBC’s have 3 things they want to achieve is to inform-educate-entertain, and that’s why the show is trying inform the audience that the police force is a strong force and that the audience should believe in the police force. I think when it comes to demographics my program appeals to all the groups but i think it mostly appeals to E, D, C1 and C2 but i think the program appeals to the E group more because its about gangs a d police and the main protagonist a d the E group it appeals to students and persinors because persinors well see themselves as one of the characters in the program and students can relate to the main protagonist because of their age and because that at 15-17 age young people tend to have some problems with families. Using Youngs and Rubicam's Psychographics, my concept will target the groups Strugglers, The Mainstreams, The Aspirers and the Explorer, because my program is about someone trying to escape from his life and wants to do something rather than paying of debts which will connect the strugglers. Also the narrative is something new which i haven't seen on tv which would go into The Explores. Furthermore I think the concept is unique in a way that the program is presented as a mainstream program and that would fit in with the Mainstream. My main protagonist fits as a aspirer because he is pushed by other perceptions and i think that would connect to the audience that fit into the Aspirer group.

I think my print work match the key conventions of magazine publishing. Example - one of key conventions of magazine publishing is a title of publication which I do have at the top third of my magazine.  I also have a central image (which is another key convention) which employs single, strong central image which serves to anchor the cover. I think overall my print work was my weak point in this. I did have some strengths but I had a lot of weaknesses. I think one of my strengths and weaknesses was that I had some experience with Adobe Photoshop CS6 but I wasn't great at it and I should have improved my skills on it knowing that I was going to use it for the print work - due to the fact that I have Adobe Photoshop CS6 at home. My other strength was that I knew how I wanted my front cover and double page spread to look like. I had an idea, also I had an example which I saw from a rage of front covers I saw and research a lot an empire magazines. On to my weaknesses – I have a lot. Example I did not expand my skills when I had the program at home knowing that I would have it at home. Like, I should have at least have expanded my skills on Adobe Photoshop CS6. I could have gone crazy and magical editing on them but I just did not expand my skills – which I should have.  Another weakness was that I didn’t really research a lot of souvenir magazines. I should have look into souvenir magazines a lot more deep. I should have look into the key conventions of souvenir magazines.  Another weakness I had was that I couldn’t control the lighting from the outside photoshoot, which was a limitations because I did not have the rights to take lighting equipment outside school grounds. But – saying that, I did have an indoor photoshoot (a strength) which I had lighting equipment. Overall I used that outdoor photos. I also learnt something from the second photoshoot which was, facial expression and scenery are something I had to think before that photoshoot happens so I know what to expect.


The representation created around the persona of young people is that of rebellion and more crucially unadulterated/ uncompromised violence. I tried to make my main protagonist as similar as most teens in terms to personality and problems. When it comes to young people, they have a lot of problems. Especially young people come a lot of crossroads in their young lives. I don’t think that this is a stereotype but I could have made a new one.  

Monday 17 March 2014

Ill Manors: Tag London campaign


  1. The ill Manors tag London campaign is a campaign this promotes the ill Manors album. The key concept was to make sure that this reflected the scale and character of the album while it attracting an online audience. Fans were prompted to tweet the hashtag #ILLMANORS and they would tweet their opinions on the current climate in the UK. They would projected 100ft high onto London landmarks. This would apply to what Plan B says in board cast and what his songs are about. This helps build Plan B’s brand. 
  2. The ill Manors tag London campaign helps promote the film by making a new trend. This would encourage and seduce their audience by making to take part of this. This could also attract news which then then attract more of an audience that it already has.    
  3. There are links between the ill manors campaign as they are trying to get their messages across. They may be different messages but they are all trying to send out messages to their viewers. This is from the broadcast in where Plan B may have interviews with talk shows to magazine articles which is similar to the ill manors campaign as they all promoting the movie and giving you a way of interacting with things to do with ill manors.
  4. I believe this type of a campaign may be more successful that traditional campaigns as it is using Twitter and social networking to promote themselves. In today's modern society technology is an important asset to the way we live and e media is becoming more and more important. So by ill manors using this campaign through twitter and using hash tags they would be targeting a wide target audience due to the fact that e media may be more important than broadcast and print nowadays. Also through Twitter they are able to target a much wider audience as well as the campaign itself being different and unique. 
  5. #ILLMANORS INCLUSION NOT EXCLUSION.
    The illmanors music video is about how the society in general don't accept the youth's and they are excluded, thus this tweet links in with the concept of including the youth. not excluding them!
  6. - THE RECESSION IS A WORLD SCHEME TO KEEP THE POOR, POOR. THE RICH OF THIS WORD HAVE NEVER BEING RICHER. #ILLMANORS
    This tweet suggests that similar to the music video, the system are purposefully making the

                                  

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Section 2 - Practise Paragraph LR

In ill Manors we the same font that is used across all three platforms - e-media, print and broadcast. We see the same font in the title in the album cover for Plan B's album, we also see it on the movie trailer  and we also see it  on the header of the ill Manors twitter page. All of the titles are the same colour and the same font. Additional to that we see the same background. The connotations of the colour  white are innocence and purity. In Plan B's broadcast interviews, he speaks about the characters being mistreated , which is also representing the cast majority of his young audience who face similar problems in reality. Therefore the colour white represents young people and the type of people that are apart of ill Manors. We can also link this to the hypodermic needle theory saying that ill Manors are showing there audience that they are innocent and need help. We can also say that the font is a massive part of ill manors and Plan B's identity.