Tv Drama



This is our editing analysis of a doctor who clip. 

 

 

 

 

Period Drama Codes by jamiebackler

Television Drama Codes by jamiebackler

Breaking Bad Case Study by jamiebackler

Holby City Case Study by jamiebackler

Pre-Production

LOGLINE- A mysterious boy is on the run after having his identity found out, will he escape from the prospect of the evil hunters chasing him every second.

TREATMENT-A mysterious boy (Kenneth Michaels) has had his identity found out after committing a serious crime towards the county's most brutal gang members and their leader Emmanuel Adebayo after betraying them and robbing them of their earnings. He wakes up having been taken hostage by the gang. A sand bag Is pulled of his head and a man with a gun is stood there threatening him. Kenneth sees Adebayo walking off and ordering the man to kill him. Kenneth then catches him off guard and tackles him before running out into the fields. He luckily misses a bullet shot from the leader and manages to escape. When he escapes he finds himself in the city where he seeks refuge for the night. He meets a girl called Nicki Jeffries who was concerned at first but allows him to stay at her house. 

In the morning, the gang comes to kill Kenneth. He senses this when the dog has disappeared from the house which is "not normal" as Nicki explained. Kenneth tells Nicki to take cover in the basement. He shoots a flammable barrel to distract them before fleeing into the near by woods where he picks them of one by one using a compact MP5 with laser sight he picked up when fleeing from them the day before. He captures one and interrogates him "where is your leader" but the man quickly bleeds to death from a bullet wound.

Back at gang headquarters they discuss the assassination attempt against Kenneth failed. Meanwhile in Nicki's house Kenneth explains it is too dangerous to follow or stay at her location. thankfully her friend is nearby to pick her up and take her to safety. The following day, he visits the bank and retrieves the large amounts of assorted currencies stashed as his life savings which he now must use to ever get rid of the gangsters. Taking all the money he leaves in search of the patriot leader.

Spotting a gang vehicle he places a tracker on the under side of the vehicle to identify the location of the gangs headquarters. Kenneth breaks in and holds the gang leader Adebayo and two other members at gunpoint. He kills them and leaves, fighting his way out through more gang members. Some time later Kenneth finds Nicki renting out boats to tourists in Hawaii and the two reunite.

Location recce
We will be shooting our OTS in Kings Langley, Hunton Bridge in a field with an abandoned barn. 

Equipment and Props

• Camera
• Tripod
• Lights
• Weapons
• Costumes
• Go-Pro 

Risk Assessment

Hazard	Who may be harmed?	Is the risk controlled?	What action is needed to control the risks?
Bright lighting	Actors	The actors will be instructed not to look directly into the bright lights.	The lights should be dimmed so that the actors are not affected.
Tripod Legs	Actors, Camera men/women	All people on set should be aware where all cameras and tripods are at all time, so that nobody trips over a tripod and causes serious injury.	The cameras should never be left unattended so that everyone is aware that it is there.
Barbed wire	Actors, Camera men/women	All people on set should be aware of barbed wire as it could cause deep cut wounds.	Clearly mark where the barbed wire is and wear protective clothing, e.g. no shorts/ sandals.
Cars	Actors, Camera men/women	People should be aware of cars when walking back and fourth from the barn as it is quite close to a road.	Avoid crossing the road too often. cross the road responsibly.
Wooden flooring/ beams	Actors, Camera men/women	Actors will be asked to take greater caution when walking around loose beams and flooring.	The wood should be placed to a side. Loose flooring should be clearly marked so no one steps on it.

Characters
Kenneth Michaels - Jacob Hutchins
Emmanuel Adebayo - Josh Coulson
Nicki Jeffries- n/a
Gangsters- Callum Denham, Miles Johnson, Luke Ashton,


Shot list

• Mid angle
• High angle
• Low angle
• Bird’s eye
• Close up
• Extreme close up
• Long shot
• Over the shoulder shot
• Point of view
• 
  

Feedback on my logline

1. 1: escaping hunters would be far more exciting than escaping the prospect of hunters.
   2: If the inciting incident is the boys identity revealed, you should tell us what that identity is in your logline.
   Such as:
   After he’s discovered to be the rightful heir to the throne of England.
   After he’s discovered to be the Anti-Christ.
   After he’s discovered to be the bastard child of Adolf Hitler.
   Then you can tell us what he must do to evade the hunters.
   Hope the helped, good luck with this!
    
2. nicholasandrewhalls says: (Edit)

   Why does it matter that his identity has been revealed? If that’s the ‘primal stakes’ driving your story, it’s 100% necessary that they’re made clear in the logline. I don’t know who he is, so I don’t care that his identity has been revealed, so the story does not grip me.
   Don’t ask ME if he’s going to escape – you’re the storyteller. Instead, tell me what the action he DOES take to escape the hunters is.
   Who are these hunters? Is it like JUMPER and they’re some sort of police force? Or is he literally being hunted like in THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME?
    
3. Nir Shelter says: (Edit)

   Good points raise above.
   I would add also that in this instance the antagonist description is of particular importance. The boy running away is a relatively mundane action that most boys will be able to do (if not have done at some point during child hood). There for the force he is running from needs to be specifically designed to increase the obstacles he is up against. A generic hunter is not scary or specific enough but: an OCD serial killer could be for example, just a crazy suggestion to illustrate what I mean.
   Hope this helps.

What is a log line

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1

There's a mystery afoot in Gotham City, and Batman must go toe-to-toe with a mysterious vigilante, who goes by the name of Red Hood. Subsequently, old wounds reopen and old, once buried memories come into the light.

Se7en

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Horns

In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to find strange horns sprouting from his temples.

My log line

A mysterious boy is on the run after having his identity found out. Will he escape from the prospect of the evil hunters continuously chasing him.

This is the link that shows my logline and the comments I received.

The comments I received where very useful, because it helped me to understand what I needed to do in order to improve my logline. The comment said that I needed to be more specific in order for the reader to fully understand what's happening.

BFI trip

I learnt that when creating my OTS it is important that the title of the film comes in near the beginning of the sequence, so that it does not look like a trailer and it is also important not to make the OTS not to look like a short film.

I also learnt that sound is just as important as visual, it is important that there is no distracting background noise, such as wind, and if this is the case, foley should be used to sync sound with action so that the background noises to not interfere with dialogue or the music in the OTS.

We also had a Q&A with Hannah Rothman and Dexter Fletcher. Both of these were useful to hear from because they gave us useful information about the media industry and how there careers have changed and what they did to get to where they are now.  

Credits

Below is a Scribd document that gives information on credits and what they include.

Analysis of type faces

Typography is the style and appearance of something that is printed, i.e. text.

Typography is important in an opening title sequence because it provides a further visual to give the audience a hint to the genre and mood of the film.

It is also important to use a suitable font type for the type of film because if a font is not fitting to the genre, the opening title sequence will look unrealistic and it will be misleading to the viewer. 

Conventions of the order of titles in OTS

• NAME OF THE STUDIO
• NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY
• PRODUCER NAME/PRODUCTION
• STARRING
• FILM'S TITLE
• FEATURING
• CASTING
• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY
• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Explanation of post/pre production

Production is the time spent on set filming. Pre-Production will have been carried out before production, so that the location, storyboard, shot list, risk assessment and shooting schedule will have been planned so you know what needs to be done and so that you can get straight into the production. Using all of the information gathered in pre-production, filming will be started to create the opening title sequence.  

In production it is important to film the same scene more than once, so that we get the best shots and that any bad shot do not need to be re-filmed. When filming it is important to consider composition, techniques such as the rule of thirds, framing and the 180 degree rule. These will add to continuity in the editing stage at post-production and make the filming look more professional and appealing. 

Encoding/decoding- hall

Stuart Hall was a cultural theorist, who looked at the role of audience positioning. He thought of 3 ways in which people read a media text. Dominant Reading, Negotiated Reading and Oppositional Reading. 


1) Dominant Reading: the reader views the media text in the intended way set by the producers.

(2) Negotiated Reading: the reader slightly views the media text in the intended way set by the producers, however this changes to suit their own views.

(3) Oppositional Reading: the reader has read a text in a way that was not intended by the producers.

 

Hall thought that media creates dominant ideology and that mass media defines important problems through audience positioning.

Sound in OTS

Sound is a very important part to an opening title sequence.

Diegetic sound comes from things we can see on screen.
Non Diegetic sound is created from an external source, e.g. voiceover/music.

Getting a perfect sound is vital, when somebody is speaking it is important that they speak loudly and clear so that their voice is heard. Microphones or sound recorders should be used so that no background noise is heard.

Foley is sound that is recorded over the top of a clip. This eliminates any background distracting noise if speech is recorded separately to the visual and then edited and layered over the top.

In my OTS it is important that the music we use is copyright free, as this is one of the specifications set by the exam board.

Conventions of OTS

-  Details of cast and crew.

-  The film's title.

-  An introduction to character or character type.

-  Indication of place.

-  Indication of historical period.

-  Information regarding mood and tone.

-  Introduction to signature theme tune.

-  Information about genre.

-  Questions that the viewer finds intriguing.

-  Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film.

-  Mise en scene and cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film

History of Opening Sequences

50 opening title sequences

The link above contains, both old and new OTS' to show the differences and how OTS' have changed.





The video above, 'THE FILM before THE FILM', shows how effects in OTS' change over time to attract new or more audiences to watch films.

Making an OTS

This is a slide share from petesmediablog, when we went on our trip to the BFI, Pete gave us a talk on what our OTS' should include and what makes a good OTS. Pete also gave us some tips on how to make out OTS look like an OTS rather than it looking like a short film or a trailer of a film.

What is an OTS?

The purpose of an opening title sequence to a film is to establish the visual style of the film and to introduce the viewer to all or some of the following:

• Characters
• Location
• Narrative/Plot
• Genre
• Themes

unforgettable movie title sequences

In the link above, you can watch the top OTS' to get a good idea on how to make a successful OTS. The link includes a wide range of genres so it is not fixated on one specific film genre.

Outline of an OTS?

Outline of task  - OCR stipulate: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. The main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum of four members to a group.

Audience Positioning

Positioning the Audience in Films Via Different Shots

Shot-Reverse-Shot: allows the audience to feel a part of a conversation.

POV Shot: allows the audience to see from the perspective of a character.

Birds-Eye view Shot: allows the audience to get an overview of the scene from above it. 

Key Terms

Audience Engagement: describes how an audience interacts with a film.

Audience Expectations: ideas that the audience has before seeing a film.

Audience Classification

Demographic: age/gender
Psychographic: Audiences job/interests

Qualitative Research: questionnaire focus group
Quantitive Research: Clip board questionnaire

Audience and groups:

 Group A:

• Doctors
• Scientists
• Lawyers
• Well paid professionals

Group B:

• Teachers
• Middle management
• Fairly well paid professionals

Group C1:

• Junior management
• Bank clerks
• Nurses
• 'White collar' professions

Group C2:

• Electricians
• Plumbers
• Carpenters
• 'Blue collar' professionals

Group D:

• Manual workers such as;
• Drivers
• Post sorters

Group E:

• Students
• Unemployed
• Pensioners   

 

Audience Engagement: This describes how an audience interacts with a media text. Different people react in different ways to the same text.

Audience Expectations: These are the ideas the audience have in advance of seeing a media text. This particularly applies to genre pieces. Don't forget producers continually play with or shatter audiences expectations.

Impact of technology in audiences

New/Modern Technology

 

New sources of technology, such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, a allow audiences to access clips of films anywhere in the world at any point the audience wishes to do so. This therefore widens the range as to the size of the audience that a film can attract. 

 

Old Technology

Old sources of technology, such as radio and film tapes, only allowed the audiences to either see or hear the film whenever it was being shown at a theatre or cinema, or being played/broadcasted over the radio, which will narrow the audience that the film is able to reach.
 

 

Audiences - Mass and Niche

Niche media is known as narrowcasting and it is information aimed at a narrow audience such as a film addressed to a smaller group of people. An example of niche media would be How it's made, as it would only really attract people interested in the manufacturing of products.  

Mass media is information addressed to a large number of people. An example of mass media would be Coronation Street, as it attracts a wide range of audience.

Katz and Blumler Theory

Katz and Blumler discovered from researching into audiences that there were three main elements that provided audiences with the pleasure of watching films. These three elements where;

•  Information

Using sources such as newspapers to retrieve information about current events which satisfies curiosity gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

•  Personal Identity

Reinforcement for personal values, this is to find models of behaviour, insight into one's self. For example Twitter can reinforce your own values by only following that certain criteria in which you are relating to.

•  Integration and Social interaction

Insight into circumstances of others; social empathy, identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, interaction,  enabling one to connect with family, friends and society. For example someone may tune into a TV drama so that they can relate and reinforce into their own lifestyle.

 

Narrative - Three Act Structure

Act 1: is the first act of the film, usually is the first section of the film.
Act 1 starts and sets up the film, there is a point which introduces the characters and lets the audience see what type of character they are and how they act.

The main character has a target to reach, this turns out to be the main focus of the film. An incident gets the plot of the film started halfway through the first act. 

Act 2: is the second act of the film, it takes up the last half of the film. 
In act 2 there are problems, which prevent the main character from achieving what they need to. 

The first Culmination is just before halfway through the film, the main character almost reaches their target. However a problem usually occurs  

At the midpoint the main character reaches their weakest and lowest point in the film as they seem too far away from reaching their target. 

Act 3: is the final act of the film, this is the final section of the film.
 
The climax is when the plot of the film reaches its biggest tension between the two opposite sides.

Narrative and enigmas

Narrative

 

Narrative is the order in which a film is told. In terms of Media and films narrative is the coherence/organisation of media texts (eg. the story). The narrative is needed to make sense of things. We connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. Narrative is correlated with genre as some genres have typical story-lines.

Narrative Enigmas

The purpose of this engages audience attention, maintains curiosity and interest within the narrative chain of cause and effect. (It is essential that you create enigma when making your own Opening Title Sequence - OTS)

Difference Between Narrative Story and Narrative PlotsA narrative story is what happens in the film which includes a backstory as well as those projected the story whereas a narrative plot is the order in which the story is told.

For example the series of events from a narrative story could be in this order:

Crime Conceived
Crime Planned
Crime Committed
Crime Discovered
Detective investigates
Detective Identifies criminals

However, the story events could be re-arranged in a different sequence to make the narrative more interesting, for example the plot could be:

Crime Discovered
Detective investigates
Detective Identifies criminals
Crime Conceived
Crime Planned
Crime Committed

Narrative and its 6 codes

Narratives 6 codes:

• Technical Code 
• Verbal Code
• Symbolic Code 
• Structure 
• Character 
• Narrative conflict

Genre, hybrid and sub genres

Film genres are identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that have similar techniques or conventions such as;

• content
• subject matter
• structures
• themes
• mood
• period
• plot
• settings
• recurring icons 
• stock characters
• narrative events
• situations
• motifs
• styles
• props
• stars

Genres change and develop because of changes in the period in which the genre is being produced. Genres have also changed overtime with the introduction of brand new technology which allows a film to create new features.

Neale (2003) points out that generic norms and conventions may be recognized and understood by audiences, readers and viewers. Genre frames audience expectations, whereby viewers bring a set of assumptions with them and anticipate that these will somehow be met in the viewing experience, this brings audience pleasure. The demands of commercial practices necessitate that generic forms must somehow ‘guarantee meaning and pleasure’ in order to locate and retain a sizeable audience to justify a return on substantial investment. Steve Neale states that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference' and 'genres are not systems, they are processes of systemisation'.
He also say's that, definitions of genre are historically relative and are therefore historically specific. Believed that there was a system of expectation and that by using own knowledge and applying conventions of the genre, the audience should be able to infer the narrative and storyline of the music video. He also declares that difference is essential to the economy of genre; mere repetition would not attract the audience. 

Hybrid Genre

A hybrid genre occurs when an author or other creative professional attempts to merge two or more genres.

Sub genre

A sub-genre is a sub-category of a specific genre.