This document analyzes the poster for the film The Lego Movie. It summarizes the following key points: 1) The poster features many Lego characters lined up based on their importance to the plot, with the main character Emmet looking terrified. 2) Lord Business towers over the characters as the antagonist, with a wall of fire threatening the heroes. 3) The background is set in Lego City, matching Emmet's uniform and being the most well-known Lego franchise. 4) Bright colors, the title hung by a crane, and credits at the bottom provide key information to audiences.

1. Family/animation film poster
analysis
Using posters from the film The Lego Movie

2. • At the centre of this poster, we can see a selection of various different Lego characters. Some of these characters, such as Emmet,
Wildstyle and Vitruvius are unique to this film, whilst others are iconic to the Lego franchise (as well as to their own franchises) such
as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Kitty and the spaceman. The characters are lined up such to fit how main
they are to the story’s plotline. Whilst the majority of the characters are seen to be holding determined expressions on their faces,
Emmet can be seen to have a terrified expression on his face indicating that he is not used to this kind of life and therefore is more of
a common man type of character that the audience can relate to.
• Behind the main protagonists, we can see Lord Business (the film’s chief antagonist) towering over everybody else connoting his
superiority and importance. It is common for the antagonist to a film to be shown as such, although unlike that of a horror film poster
he is not to be seen as the centre of attention to the poster. Directly in front of Lord Business we can see a wall of fire racing towards
the protagonists, suggesting that he is the one who has created the mess that they need to run away from. The fact that there are a
vast number of different heroes and only one Lord Business, and yet they still need to run away from him adds to the air of
superiority that he holds within the frame.
• The background of the poster is set in Lego City, probably the biggest and longest running Lego series of all time and so also the most
well known of all of them. It also matches Emmet’s construction worker uniform as Lego City is the sub-franchise from which he
comes.
Poster 1

3. • Like all action/adventure type of film posters, within the poster lies a wide variety of different bright colours, this serves
to connote life and soul to the film, and contrasts with the darker and more dangerous colours you might see in
something like a horror film poster. It also brings out the idea that bricks come in a wide variety of different colours.
• The film title – the Lego Movie – is very clearly hung by a construction workers crane over the scene that the rest of the
poster portrays. This serves to make it more visible to the audience. By having it built out of Lego Bricks the film title
feels more thematic to the movie, and by having it hung over by the construction crane it makes the title fit into the
scene playing out below.
• At the bottom of the screen we can see a whole host of different pieces of information such as actor and company
credits – whilst it is common place for the actor credits of the key people in the film to be shown on a film poster that is
much more important here as faces of the different voices actors cannot be recognised from the plastic Lego faces.
Below that, in red so that it stands out from some of the other pieces of information, we can see a release date and
website for the film so that the audience knows both how long they have to wait for the film to reach cinemas as well as
where they can go to find out more information and potentially book tickets.
• And finally, at the very top of the poster we can see the film’s tagline: “The story about a nobody who saved
everybody.” As a more straightforward tagline, whilst it does not serve to give away too much about the plot, it gives
the audience an idea of one of the films key themes – that everybody, no matter how big or small, is capable of great
things. It also tells us more about the main character, Emmet, and the fact that he is more of the common man and thus
relatable to the audience
Poster 1 continued

4. Poster 2
• The focus behind each of these three posters (and there are
several others for some of the other main characters from the
film) is to showcase and advertise each main character for the
film.
• In each picture the characters, in this case Emmet, Batman and
Vitruvius, are each shown in their home setting, in this case
Construction site, Gotham City and ’Knights and Dragons.’ By
showing where each of the characters comes from, it tells us a
little bit about them as a person because it shows where they
get their roots.
• Each picture also gives the different characters an expression
that is ‘classically them.’ In Emmet’s case he is shown to be
terrified as the world in which the film will throw him is
completely at odds with what he is used to and where he is
shown in his poster. For Batman, a face of aggressive
determination is shown on him and connotes his gruff yet heroic
personality. For Vitruvius, his eyes appear to looking to some
otherworldly realm, which fits in the with idea of him being a
Wizard as well as fitting in with the idea of him telling the
prophecy of a character known as “the special” which a large
portion of the film revolves around.
• Additionally, in the top of each picture we can see the voice-actor credit for each
character, which allows the audience to see who will be playing each role. This
also adds to the idea that each poster serves to illustrate each character, as all
actors (and voice-actors) have their own unique personality and style so by
knowing who is voicing who (other than the fact that the big names will help to
sell the film) this reveals a little bit more about each of the characters.
• Finally, in the bottom right hand corner of each of the pictures we can see the film
title and additional information. Whilst these posters are more focused on selling
the characters and so they get more of a centre stage to the poster, as these
posters are designed more for the children’s bedrooms than to be showcased in
public, it is still important that the poster give details to the audience so that they
know which film (even if it is obvious) and when that film is going to be released
as well as where they can go if they want to get more information for the film.