Narrative and Genre

Todorov's theory applied to The Lego Movie trailer

Equilibrium - The normality and equal state of characters.
- emmet is shown on the sofa watching tv

Disruption - something breaks that normality
- President Business makes an announcement that "you will be put to sleep"

Recognition of Disruption - The character realise something has gone wrong
- emmet realised the world is getting destroyed when sat on the sofa

Attempt to repair - the characters try to solve the problem
- emmet and wyldstyle fighting against the bad characters

New equilibrium - problem is solved, new equilibrium is established.
- not shown as it is will leave the audience wanting to find out the ending so they will watch it when it come out. 

Genre
The lego movie advertising campaign is an example of genre hybridity = when a film mixes elements of different genres.
Lego movie = sci-fi, comedy, romance, adventure and action.

Genre	Poster Campaign	TV Ad break
Codes and conventions VISUAL ELEMENTS: mise-en-scene, cinematography	The facial expressions and body language of the characters in the main poster campaign suggest panic as they are running away from danger. This conveys the action-adventure genre. In Vitruvius is shown with white hair and white clothing which connotes purity and an angelic sense which is intertextualised from the hobbit and lord of the rings which is sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure.	There is a clear difference between heroic protagonists and villainous antagonists
Hybridity	President Business's facial expression on his close-up poster suggests he is a villainous character, which is a convention of the action-adventure genre. In contrast, some characters on the main poster convey elements of the comedy genre such as Unikitty, demonstrated by her out of place character amongst’ heroes’. This reflects genre hybridity. Emmet facial expression is quite comedic and funny, however in the background we see an explosion which is more of an action genre.	The location when emmet, wyldstyle and Vitruvius are talking to everyone looks like a roman village area. Also the weapons and vehicals are more action
Iconography Props? Sound?  Location?	Props such as weaponry are examples of iconography of the action-adventure genre, as they connote danger and conflict. This reflects the genre. In Vitruvius there is a dragon flying in the background which connotes a fantasy genre.	weapons and explosions which are icons of action genre.

Explain how The Lego Movie is an example of genre hybridity.
Discuss the products you have studied. (5 marks)

In The Lego Movie poster campaign Emmets facial expression is quite funny and comedic which shows a comedy element, however in the background of the poster we can see an explosion which is a more violent, action based thing to occur in the action genre. Also in Wyldstyle's poster campaign her facial expressions and red lipstick connotes romance and cheekiness which conflicts with the background of chaos and action, showing genre hybridity.