1.

My final idea for the Lego advertisement is a stop motion, stand alone and has a surrealistic
theme to it. In the advert a child playing with a Lego set in the living room and after she leaves
the room, the Lego set comes to life and are moving around and building with stop motion.
After the child comes back the Lego set stops moving and the child goes back to playing with
the Lego set. The persuasive strategies I used in the advert included personal success,
maternal/paternal love, humor, nostalgia and intertextuality. In terms of CARGEL the target
audience I aimed for was primarily parents/family of middle and upper class. The gender would
be versatile as I aimed to target either the mother or father. The ethnicity would also be broad as
well as I do not want to exclude any ethnic groups. Since the advert would be aired in London,
the target audience would also have to be British or living in London. Since Lego is a brand that
is played by children, the secondary audience would be children from the ages of 3-15 years old
which means that the advert is also aimed at them. In terms of uses and gratification the advert
also appeals to the target audience through escapism because the style of the advert is
surrealistic which would entertain the audience and make them involved in the surrealism rather
than realism. The advert also appeals to the secondary audience through social relationships as
the secondary audience would talk about the brand to their friends if theyre interested in the
same entertainment, or they would talk to the primary audience (their parents/guardians) to buy
it for them.
2. For this project I used secondary research to further understand about the Lego brand. To
find out information about the brands product advertising history I researched the history behind
Lego to further understand what the brand is about through Wikipedia and their website and
searched up their previous adverts on Youtube, such as the ones that aired in the 1980s. I also
researched their changes through Wikipedia and through Google, such as their taglines which
changed from Just Imagine... to Play on. Through the Lego timeline that I searched on Google
I found out that their past sales during 1994-2000 there was decline in profit and sales. Based
on the SWOT analysis I understood that their strengths is that they incorporate their product
with educational features to help boost their childrens key skills and that theyre popular
worldwide. Using the information about their strengths I tried to include that Lego encourages
active and imaginative play in my advert. Additionally I also understood that one of their
weaknesses included the imitation of brand names and products which I tried to avoid in my
advert by using a Lego set that is completely original in their idea. I also researched that their
rival companies are Automoblox, Meccano, VTech and Leapfrog which means that there is
intense competition. This has impacted them as they are expanding and have been switching to
different types of medias (such as video games and movies). This also one of their weaknesses
as they are slowly losing their purpose. Together I found out quantitative and qualitative
information from my secondary research and compiled in a document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AN2FbjYWiRL6CCwthnfg6HzN0NFgEFJIpgSLFRRG_k/edit?usp=sharing
I also researched the brands USP, weakness, strengths and opportunities to further extend my
knowledge of the brand, and to maintain the strengths and USP in my advert. The new slogan
that I introduced Imagination coming to life is a result of the research of the brand because the
slogan introduces a surrealistic theme which is suitable with Lego because their strength is
creating toys that induce creative thinking and imagination. The surrealistic theme has to be fun
as well to appeal to children, however they are only the secondary audience as the
parents/guardians would be the one to buy them.
3. For idea generation we did morphological matrix which is filled in based on word association
and simple drawings depending on your brand. For example for Lego you would put words like
blocks, fun etc. then we would draw small pictures associated with that word. However the

morphological matrix didnt help me that much in terms of creating an idea for my advert.
Morphological matrix is often used in advert idea generating, and it would also be a benefit if
you used/have the product for the morphological matrix. Another idea generation activity I did
was in a group using flashcards with certain words on them, for example parody. We would
then come up with ideas based on the word, so if the word was parody we would have to think
of a parody Lego advert. It was useful being in a group as I easily got responses of how I could
improve and what was liked or disliked about the idea.
4. The pre production tools that helped me the most towards the advert was the storyboard. The
storyboard was helpful because it is a visual representation of my ideas for my advert and
includes details like the lighting, soundtrack, shots and screen action. The storyboard helps me
plan ahead before filming so I know what to do. The storyboard also allows me to ask for
feedback from other people, and the visuals/details would make it easier for them to know what
my ideas are so they could understand and critique it better. The location recce also helped me
because it allowed me to survey the filming location so I can check the risks and the space to
see if it is possible to film my idea. For further in-depth information about risks in the filming
location, the risk assessment is also useful as it allows me to record all of the possible risks and
precautions along with the solution if it did happen. The requirements sheet also helped me as I
could record all of the things I would need in order to film the advert, which helps me double
check and make sure that I have everything in order for the filming to go smoothly.
5. Although I had prior experience in filming, this advert is my first time filming a stop motion
which was very long to do due to the amount of photographs that I needed to fully create the
scenes to convey my idea. For my first draft I filmed for four hours straight, whereas for my final
I filmed for 2 and a half hours. While taking the pictures I was unable to use the tripod because
the tripod was too far away from the Lego which made all the shots (extreme) long shots, so I
had to create an impromptu tripod in order for the camera to stay in place while taking the
photographs. The persuasive strategies that I wanted to film was nostalgia, intertextuality,
humour and personal success and a bit of maternal/paternal to attract both the primary and
secondary audience.During the filming most of the scenes that I had anticipated worked
however if I were to do it differently now, I would make the lighting constant to make the advert
flow better so the lighting doesnt change all of the sudden. I used various shot types such as
long shots, close ups and extreme long shots to show the actions that the Lego figures were
doing and to focus on them. Although I had a storyboard with my ideas which I did film most of,
on set I changed a couple of scenes as I felt that it would be more effective than the ideas
presented on the storyboard. However even though I changed some of the scenes I still made
sure that the message and overall idea was conveyed, for example in the storyboard I had
originally put that the Lego figures would build something which was entirely different to what I
had actually filmed.
6. After filming I used Adobe Premiere to edit> Editing also leads to post production work which
includes: footage log, asset log and the EDL. Editing in Adobe Premiere was daunting at first
however learning how to edit was very easy and editing became easier as more work was done.
I am confident in my editing skills when it comes to the basics, such as inserting footage/audio
and cutting or adding parts that are/arent needed. I am also confident in changing the duration
of the footage, and adding audio/video transitions to the editing. However if things got
complicated or I was unsure of how to do something, I gained support from peers and the
teacher so editing was no problem at all. I was able to synchronise the sounds with the footage
very easily because my soundtrack just needed to play until the footage stopped and I had no
sound effects in my advert. Therefore I only needed to start the audio when the footage started
and then fade the audio when the footage ended without having to do anything in between.

Since my advert is a stop motion, I had to change the duration of each shot (photograph) to 0.09
seconds to make it flow smoothly and to make it seem as if the Lego figures were actually alive
which induces intertextuality because of the reference to Toy Story (how the toys are alive). I
also faded the on screen graphics onto the screen near the end of the advert to show the logo
and the new slogan I introduced. My main focus in the advert was the Lego figures, which
although I didnt focus on the Lego logo, the viewers would still know what brand is being
promoted due to how popular it is which shows that I am showing Legos strength in the fact that
they are immensely popular worldwide.
7. For the first draft I had presented it to a group of media peers who critiqued my draft. Their
initial reaction was positive and they thought that the idea linked well with the brands image.
The critiques I received was improvement such as replacing the blurry images, to clearly show
my actor leaving the room and to improve the lighting of some shots. Since my advert is a stop
motion, they commented that my editing (which was edited on Adobe Premiere) of the shots
emphasised the surrealistic style of the advert. Luckily no serious issues were pointed out, such
as the breaking of ASA or Ofcom rules. Using the feedback that I received from my peers, for
my finale take I tried to improve the focus of the images and to refilm my actor leaving the room
clearly. I also replaced some scenes to make it more interesting, yet make it stay within the idea
that Im trying to convey in my advert.
8. Overall I found that the advert was successful because I had stuck with my idea all the way to
the end, and even though I changed and replaced some scenes the idea was still conveyed
very well. The best thing that I liked about my advert was the editing of the stop motion because
of how smoothly it flowed. I think that the persuasive strategies that I had planned was effective
in my advert because I included humorous elements, induced nostalgia with the toys coming to
life, showed personal success with how the toys and the child was playing and also a tinge of
maternal/paternal love by using a child actor. The only thing that I disliked about my advert was
the inconsistent lighting which made it look unprofessional. The advert went as planned in
general, but specific scenes needed to be taken out and replaced, but rather than making the
advert worse it was made better.