gender representation

 Analyse how gender has been represented in The Lego Movie poster campaign. Use the written handout to help you answer this exam question (10 marks). 

The majority of these posters are male dominated. Male characters play an active role and are shown as mentally and physically powerful. 

The main character Emmets Lego movie poster is him running away with a scared expression on his face. this might show he is not the typical main male hero as most typical heroes are brave, strong and powerful and are usually running towards danger and saving people whereas emmet is running away. this might be trying to break down gender stereotypes by showing emmets vulnerability and that he is not a typical male. 

the main evil villain lord business's poster is very evil and angry. from the way he is shouting in the poster it shows he is angry and an important character. by the way he is angry we know he is supposed to be feared. he is also showing teeth on his helmet and his mouth. the helmet is also red which indicates anger and might make him seem like a villain.

there is only one girl poster. this is of wild style which is emmets love interest. she is seen as the opposite to emmet and is seen as less of a typical girl stereotype. she is not afraid of danger and saves emmet many times. whilst she is portrayed as breaking gender stereotypes, she still has some femininity in her character like she is lipstick and long eyelashes.

Vitruvius is one of the  key characters in Lego movie. he is shown as a typical wise old man since he has a long flowing beard, white hair. by having glowing eyes it shows the wisdom and mystery he holds. 

all of these posters create lots of different gender representations.

PREP: TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD, DELICATESSEN

 PREP To prepare for tomorrow's practical work of filming an opening sequence, please watch the following two title sequences which are filmed in in a similar 'table top' style. 

• Delicatessen (dir. Jean-Pierre Jaunet, 1991)
• To Kill A Mockingbird ( dir. Robert Mulligan,1962)

• what titles and credits appear on screen?
• how is the film's genre conveyed? 
• what use is made of sound?
• what hooks the audience and makes us want to carry on watching?

Delicatessen:

The credits appear in French on items relating to the subject for example music was on a record, the costumes were on a jacket and the director was on a camera. The title comes up when a man throws his hand up while he holds a knife cutting into a persons head and as he swings the knife down the title of the film appears onto the screen with a big bang noise and an effect making it look like the title has just fallen down from somewhere and had a rough landing.

The film genre seems to be horror and quite gruesome, we can tell by the way at the start the man has a knife and is stabbing someone in the head. The objects that the credits are shown on look very worn out and ruined which shows some sort of distress which can link to the subject of horror.  

At the end of the title scene there's a slight creek sound of something swinging on a chain, this sound effect is usually heard as a creepy sound which people are automatically alarmed by when they hear it and think there's something spine shivering about to happen. The non-diegetic music in the back sounds like clown music or music that doesn't bring people joy, when i hear this music it makes me think there's going to be some sort of jump scare or surprise of something scary is about to happen. 

The beginning of the movie is what hooks the audience. We see a scene where someone is potentially getting killed, but we don't actually see if he definitely gets killed, maybe he escapes? maybe the scene is made to look like the guy is about to kill someone but really he's swinging the knife at something else? This makes us want to keep watching and find out what really happens.

To kill a mocking bird: 

The language for the title and the credit is English. The title is shown when a young child is scribbling on the paper with a crayon, we see it slowly appear so we don't know what word will be next until the word appears. The credits are shown edited on the screen, but as the credits are shown we see different objects, things like a pencil, a clock, a pen, a marble rolling along a table. We don't only see objects but we also see the child drawing on a piece of paper again.

The film genre is conveyed as sort of horror but not in the same way as the other movie was. We hear a little girl singing in a weird way, they are drawing and the items look very old. As soon as we hear a high pitched hum which we don't like the noise of, we think the film is definitely got something to do with a young child with a horror side to it. 

At first we hear the sound of the child humming which shows us that there is a child involved in the movie. As the humming carries on a non-diegetic music fades into it, the effect of this is to add a bit more sound rather than just the humming sound for the whole time of the credits, this re attracts the watcher as there's a new sound added to it. 

The different change of scenery attracts the viewer to keep watching. We keep getting a change of the box full of objects and then the child drawing. We don't know what the link of these are and we wonder why we keep getting shown them. The viewer wants to find out what the link is and keeps watching as they are intrigued to find out what happens to the child, and what the objects have to do with the movie. 

Task 3 Homework

 Task 3: Go to the BBFC site and research age ratings. Why was The Lego Movie (2014) given a U rating? You need to click on the Ratings info

the short 'insight' description the BBFC provides for use on posters and advertisement (in this case 'contains mild fantasy violence and very mild language') In the Lego movie no one is seen to get hurt and the fact that all the fighting involved animated toy figures means that the fantasy of natures of the violence is very clear. very few of the blows are clearly seen to land and all the action involves toy figures rather than humans. Occasionally the heads of the Lego figures pop off during fights, and one character's head is knocked off by a flying coin but continues to talk to his friends. Other sequences have science fiction space ships and robots shooting laser beams at others, causing explosions and crashes.  this film was therefore awarded a 'U' certificate- meaning 'universal'. this means the BBFC feels it is appropriate for any age group. There is some very mild bad language, with uses of 'butt', 'bum', 'darn' and 'heck'.

Lego Industry

 

• franchise

a collection of media products ( e.g. films, television programs, video games) all based off creative work.

• synergy

different areas of the media industry often work together in order to promote the same product.

• tent-pole production

a film that can make large profits to support funding of other projects

• ensemble cast

An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a production. 

•  conglomerate

a large (often multinational) business organization that owns a number of different companies.

• vertical integration

is the process whereby a single company (or merged companies/linked companies) controls both the production  and the supply of a product.  so TT fusion, owned by warner bros, makes the video game (animations, soundtrack etc) while warner bros distributes the product to audiences.

Lego Movie Trailer

 Task 1: how does Emmet come across? How effective would this trailer be in promoting the film?

how does Emmet come across?

Emmet is an ordinary guy who is not hasn't got the 'normal' characteristics of a hero. he is overly happy about everything and wants to be liked by everyone. hes not got the typical leader qualitys as he isn't assertive since he pays 37 dollars for a cup of coffee and doesnt say anything. he hasn't got the normal fitness as a super hero as he struggles to do even two star jumps before he gives up whereas typical heroes are very strong and do lots of running and cool tricks. he has to step up to the expectations from Lucy and the others which he cannot do. he believes he is imaginative but Lucy and the others disagree so he tries to prove them wrong by creating a double decker sofa to watch tv on but the idea is quickly shut down. heroes are usually quick on their feet and avoid disaster however to become a hero he falls down a hole which is clumsy. he has no faith in himself as he stands up in front of everyone and says he is not a good leader. 

How effective would this trailer be in promoting the film?

this trailer would be very effective as it is very comedic and makes lots of people laugh. It shows a normal guy become a hero slowly so it makes regular people feel like they can be like emmet and be special like him. the bright colour scheme also makes people more intrigued as its nice to look at.