Unit 21-P1 TV drama case studies

Drama case study comparisons.

Lucifer-famous US episodic drama.

Summary: A Los Angeles set crime drama about the devil, as well as other supernatural and human characters, attempting to solve different crimes around the city, whilst also dealing with their own inter-personal conflicts.

Tv drama conventions and how they are followed:

Fits into the average drama length of 30+minutes per episode. Has both episodic plots focusing on different crimes (most often murder) and how they are solved, as well as grander stories which last through an entire season. The character’s relationships slowly progress from episode to episode, with most episodes having a conflict in one of these relationships to serve as a b story. These changes are usually commented on in the main characters therapy sessions which book-end most of the shows episodes. These are meant to serve to clearly explain character progression to the audience, with the intro showing a characters problem and the ending showing how through the episode the character changed and the problem was solved. Status quo changes are common either at the end of a season or at key points, either introducing new characters or revealing something new about a character we were not aware of, which is used to try and keep the show more fresh and interesting to try and stop it from becoming formulaic.

Uses and gratifications:

Diversions: The show frequently uses humour and absurdist situations to serve as both comic relief from the more serious moments, and to serve as a form of escapism for the viewer, entertaining them and letting them have fun through the show.

Personal identity: Despite mainly being completely separate from humanity, the characters in lucifer often face incredibly human and relatable struggles, such as struggling against family and trying to find a place in the world where you feel that you belong. By seeing how the different characters respond to these struggles, audience members who struggle with this can use the show to explore potential solutions to their problems, as well as inform how they feel about these intense and personal topics.

Surveillance: The show features a lot of up to date issues and culture from the time when it was made, and so can help people to understand and see what is going on in the world around them, as well as serving as a time capsule for the early 2010s period in which the show released.

Personal relationships: The shows relatable characters and their stories can make people feel personally attached to them, making it seem as though they have a sort of relationship. The choice of a mystery-focused overarching story can also promote discussion about the show and what is going to happen next, fostering relationships between the shows fans.

BBC3 original drama shorts-Anthology Drama show.

Summary: An anthology show which released short unrelated episodes which tell a variety of different stories with a wide range of tones, from the serious to the comedy-dramatic.

Tv drama conventions and how they are followed:

This series breaks the formula of the classic tv drama repeatedly, first by vastly condensing the episodes down to 15 minutes, making each episode need to have less filler and room to breathe for the entire plot to be delivered. This show keeps the idea of character focused plots with characters who change over the episode, but the anthology structure lets the characters be more tightly focused on one specific story, but also makes them more two dimensional, with less room to be deeply explored. The anthology structure means that there can be no room for a developing or constantly changing overarching plot, and so the plots are more tightly packed in its emotions, both of the comedic and dramatic, trying to leverage the same emotional impact in a viewer that a more traditional drama often does.

Uses and gratifications:

Diversions: Many of these dramatic shorts focus much more on their comedic elements and more outlandish premises, since they need to be just as memorable as other shows in a shorter amount of time, and so can be incredibly entertaining and escapist from the real world.

Personal identity: Since these shorts feature a lot more realistic characters in many real-world scenarios, the audience is more easily able to relate to them and look at their struggles through the lens of their own lives. This helps viewers use the shorts to safely explore their own identity, and come to a better understanding of themselves through the shorts.

Surveillance: In order to be more immediately dramatic and emotional, these shorts often drive their conflicts using modern day issues and problems, such as the internet and more widely known mental health issues. Using this, the audience can become more aware of the issues people face today, and how the world has recently changed.

Personal relationships: Although the anthology structure makes the show less likely to create a fan community, the show still uses its relatable and well explored characters to create a feeling of knowing the characters like people, and to ultimately make the viewers see themselves as having a more personal relationship with them.

P1-Response to the brief

 BBC3 Research.

The BBC (British broadcasting channel) is the largest group of television networks in the UK, being  its national broadcaster and funded by the government. The BBC3 channel is targeted mostly at late teens to young adult, with a target audience range from ages 16-34. Because of this BBC3's programs try to be slightly more darker and realistic than other shows, while still remaining interesting, since the BBCs main three purposes are to inform, entertain and educate.

Their programming tries to push boundaries and be transgressive, addressing political and social issues that their target audience may be beginning to find more interesting. It also tends to be more dark and mature than other shows, focusing on crime and other themes younger viewers may be disturbed by.

Drama series are popular right now, with two of the top 3 rated shows of the last week being drama shows. Despite this, BBC3 is not as popular as its competitors right now, with BBC1 and ITV dwarfing it in ratings, meaning that if it is to regain its past prominence, it should further lean in to dramatic storytelling.

A television Drama is a TV show which tone wise leans further into dramatic and emotional storytelling then most other genres, although it can still contain features from other genres such as comedy or horror. Drama storytelling often features distinct and complicated characters, with the relationships between them driving the story forward. This story is often Grand and bold, with a lot of intense moments and a sense of dread or tension throughout. The series often build up to the finale which serves as the climax of the drama, bringing together all of the storylines. These series may have stand alone episodes, but each episode will lead into the next with either a twist or teaser which keeps people interested until the next episode. Finally, the ending of a season may establish a new overarching story or villain, or have a large twist and/or cliffhanger which both generates hype for the next series, and establishes a new status quo for the series going forwards.

The Brief

We have been asked to create a concept for an episodic TV drama with a target audience of 16-21 year olds, which will be broadcast live, weekly on Fridays, before being able to stream on player once the entire series has been broadcast. The series must comply with OFCOM regulations, and the style of BBC3's other programs, whilst not having a BBFC rating over 15.

Audience Research

When we first began to do the research, we first made sure that we were doing research into the age group decided by the brief. We did this by assessing in a school which mostly fits into the age range of 16-21.

Assuming that the school population can be used as a microcosm of British society as a whole, we can see that the population has a slightly larger female population than a male one. To account for this, I should avoid fully committing to any specific gender as an audience, such as by using explicitly gendered marketing or a cast of entirely one gender.

As we can see, a British demographic is overwhelmingly white, and so my show should be sure not to alienate that audience or make them feel excluded from watching it.

Analysing the most enjoyed genres of television, we can see that the most viewed are comedic or action-oriented shows. Although my show will be a drama first and foremost, I should try to make sure that I include elements from these other genres such as scenes which focus on action or comedic elements.

Here we can see that for people who regularly consume dramas the characters and stories which are told with those characters are the most essential elements. This means that when I construct my drama, I should Keep the focus solely on the characters and ensure that I keep them recognisable and distinct.

Finally, we can see that the Uses and gratification that our target audience most wants fulfilling is entertainment and escapism, and so the show should avoid diving too far into realism, in case it may become boring or too similar to real life.

After Looking over all of the audience research, it has become clear that my TV drama will need to fall into quite a few categories in order to be successful. It will first have to make sure it appeals to what people want from a TV drama, focussing on character and narrative and serving as a form of escapism from peoples lives.

D1- How Post-production techniques were used to create meaning

 Post production techniques to create meaning.

Before the song begins I chose to add in an extended intro which serves as exposition as well as an introduction to the point of view character of the researcher. I added both visual and audio effects to this section which creates the impression of using dated technology which ,accompanied with this characters black and white angular appearance and blank environment, emphasises the rigidity and dullness of the normal world, which can then be disrupted. This section also features the videos only use of completely diegetic sound, although it is purposely understated to only be able to hear the rustling of a paper and the voice of a cameraman behind the screen. This is again meant to create a feeling of dullness and a completely emotionless character and situation, somewhat being reminiscent of an office building even when contrasted with the strange and unusual things that is being described. This is followed by a smash cut to black, further separating this normal world with the supernatural world which is about to enter. Finally, a j cut is used to transfer from black into the beginning of the song, cutting on the action of the first beat of the song.

As the song continues, the use of a lowered or changing opacity is used on the ghostly character, a technical code of the supernatural and horror genres which is often used to quickly show that a character or thing is intangible and has ties to the supernatural. Most of the edited in movements of the supernatural character are meant to be wild, large and flowing, again contrasting the practiced rigidity that the normal world is meant to represent. As the first chorus ends, an invisible cut is used to make the scene of the SC landing and the toe-tapping shot look like one continuous shot, meant to show how the SC never loses energy and is always doing something. The toe taps are edited to the beat, which is meant to inform the audience that the SC is linked to the background music, which is meant to be from its perspective.  

The following shot of the SC crawling on the ceiling was edited to both pay homage to other horror movies, which often use this as a horrific idea, as well as again showing how the presence of the SC breaks the basic rules of the world. The use of the changing colour shot (which is repeated again near the end of the video) is both meant to match with the bouncy and energetic feeling of the original song, as well as show how SC is beginning to change and overtake the environment, taking power away from the researcher and his normal world. The instrumental break also features the first use of smoke effects which are a piece of iconography which are used repeatedly throughout the rest of the video. These are meant to accompany the lyrics of the song, which use imagery of smoke and mist throughout as a part of its narrative, and so I felt they should also visually run through the video for the song. The use of the light zoom on the doorway in this section is used to visually show the movement and progress of the storyline, as well as providing a reason for the researcher to continue in that direction and push him forward through the storyline of the video.

The words in the tunnel scene was edited to match the rhythm and speed of the line in the song itself, further linking the SC and it’s influence to the words which are being sung, making it clearer that the song is meant to be from its perspective. The use of fuzzy and blurry effects in these sections again further distance the SC from reality, and add a separation between them. The shots during the chase scene are slowed and edited to match up better with the pace and energy of the background instrumental track, as well as to make the waviness of the cape more noticeable and make the chase seem more intense and climactic. 

The scenes where the SC begins to grow and overtake the room was meant to create a sense of rising action, tension and intensity, as the threat grows stronger and more powerful. This makes sense as the song reaches its later stages, and the narrative of the song begins to reach a climax and ending. The spark effect which comes out of the SCs fingers are both edited to the beat, again showing how in tune and connected this supernatural force is to the music, whilst also being reminiscent of an effect that magicians often use, connecting this force to that idea of wonder and the unexplained. The speed of the footage is played with  during these final scenes to make the impact of hits seem more powerful and unnatural, again trying to sell SC as a more powerful and unpredictable character. 

Finally, the ending shot used multiple techniques to create the feeling that I wanted. First the floating and disappearing was meant to create an ethereal feeling, reflecting the light music which plays at the end of the song, as well as setting up for a simple ending of the ghost disappearing. However, just like how the ending of the song is shockingly disrupted by a harsh and monotonous tone, I added a harsh dissolve to a bright white light at the end, subverting this idea and leaving the ending ambiguous as to what will happen next. This links to many other supernatural stories codes, as a concrete good or bad ending is hard to come by, since leaving things up to the audiences imagination will lead to more strange, unusual or even individually scary interpretations then what the author will imagine.

M4-Meeting the client brief

The brief

In the brief we were asked to create a music video for a song from either a pre established or local artist, which did not have a pre-existing video. It had to run for at least the length of the normal song, be made of a majority of original material, with any other copyright-free material having been referenced, and have a BBDC rating of no higher than 12. When creating the video, up to three people could work together and take on different individual roles. The video finally needed to be exported as both a master version for use in a festival, and a lower quality online version.

How I ensured I met the brief.

When I began to consider the brief, I first tried to find a song without any music video which I was already a fan of and which could prompt images in my head, as this would make sure that I both wouldn’t become tired of the song whilst also giving me ideas and inspirations for the video, instead of being more dry and generic. This also was one of the reasons why I was able to fulfil the requirement of my video being as long as the song. I ultimately decided upon soft fuzzy man as it had always been a song that I had enjoyed and which had an already existing, if incredibly vague, narrative for me to adapt and translate into the video. The songs themes would also be a fun challenge to represent visually, being forced to use special effects I had never used before to represent the songs supernatural tone, which I think I was able to do to great effect in my final video. Since I was already a fan of the artist I wanted to try and conform to their pre-existing aesthetics and brand, trying to seem unusual and appeal to a niche audience, as well as featuring dark, strange and stylised stories and presentation. The song is also relatively child friendly, and so it could remain within the ratings limit specified. I tried to keep this light tone when planning out my video, whilst also trying to memorise and understand the videos timings, so that I could make sure that the whole song would be covered by the music video. I had a limited crew who took up specific roles, with myself as the director and one of the actors and my brother being an actor and occasional camera operator. I made sure that almost all of the content created for the video was created originally, and took note of the copyright free sources used for the creation of special effects, which are listed below. These effects also conformed to the genre of indie and horror themed music, which try to use new and unusual effects to try and push the boundaries of what music videos often do.

My main obstacle when trying to create this video was time, as the short few days that we had to film meant that we often had to film all day to fill in some of the shots. If I was to try and create a similar project again I would give myself a lot more time for filming, only filming one or two hours each day so it would be a less rushed and burned out production. Since every member of the crew was from the same household and had all tested, we did not need to alter any of the video to account for Covid guidelines. Through my working, I was able to ultimately meet my deadlines and fully create my video in the allotted time, without having to leave out any edits or ideas which I was worried may have been more time consuming than they ultimately were. I exported the video in both a high quality format which can be used in professional screenings, and a lower quality format which is able to be easily shared and uploaded online. I uploaded the video to the industry standard of an mp4 file, at 24 frames per second and in a resolution of1920x1080. For the video codec of the high quality version Apple hi-res was used, where the lower quality version used H.264.

Sources for copyright free visual effects :

https://youtu.be/kE85Hel8UjA

https://youtu.be/--XTYmcUL4Q?list=PLNCK1M03YpqDiWOksukGfrHsXM_hoBxBO

https://youtu.be/8l8SCj4k6OE?list=PLNCK1M03YpqDiWOksukGfrHsXM_hoBxBO

https://youtu.be/D1Eg4rbB1XM?list=PLNCK1M03YpqDiWOksukGfrHsXM_hoBxBO

https://youtu.be/V8HzYUiNOts?list=PLNCK1M03YpqDiWOksukGfrHsXM_hoBxBO

M3- Codes and Conventions of My Music Video

How My music video fits the codes and conventions of its genre and style.

My Video

The video that I have created is for the song "soft fuzzy man" by the band Lemon demon. To match with the usual style of this bands songs I have tried to create a video that fits in with the sci-fi and supernatural/horror genres of film.To fit I with these ideas I created a narrative/concept style video, which could both tell a story with the telltale themes and ideas of this genre, as well as using conceptual elements for some of the shots to help build that supernatural and unusual feeling and look of the video. The videos basic narrative is about a researcher investigating a haunted building and interacting with the supernatural force which has taken residence there. The video is purposely light on complex story and an intricate narrative, focusing mostly on how two wildly different characters interact with each other and try to escape and foil the other. Most of the character and story comes through in the music and lyrics, as I hoped to create a diegetic sound which can explore the supernatural characters own mind and thoughts. The video doesn't give much context or resolution to the narrative, and is instead meant to capture one specific and strange moment in time.

Genre conventions

When working in the supernatural/sci-fi genre, there are many different tropes and conventions which I used to inform my video, such as using special effects to sell the impossible things happening in the story, the use of stylised and broad characters who fill certain archetypical roles, and certain stories which are used and reimagined in different ways. To help create this I first focused on visual effects heavily in both the filming and editing of my video. when filming I created several striking effects using props and lighting, creating words several times using glow in the dark paint and tape, as well as using light and dark lighting to create flickering lights and a silhouette effect in one of the shots.

 For editing effects, I took care to create many green screen shots in the original video and to play with including many different filters and transition effects throughout the. editing process. By using these I was able to create the air and theme of the supernatural throughout the video, whilst making the entire thing visually striking and full of appealing iconography. 

I also took this same care when writing the video and its storyline, focusing on the idea and basic story of a haunted house which I believe has a lot of room for interesting and creative ideas and scenes, while also having the strong pre-existing characters of the ghost and the person they are haunting. When creating these characters, I tried to tailor make them to be fully opposing, and to both have established visual styles which can clash throughout the video. As with many stories in these genres, the characters are mainly cartoonish and more thematic rather than deep and realistic people, with the scientist representing the boringness and mundanity of everyday life, being represented with monochromatic colours and representing a clearly very methodical and bureaucratic organisation, where the supernatural force is bright, colourful and full of energy, representing the unknown and valuing creativity.  This binary opposition of the natural vs the supernatural is at the core of this story, and is one of the most basic conflicts of the supernatural genre.

This left brain/right brain style dynamic presents the bulk of the videos conflict, whilst also presenting an opportunity to infuse the video with a unique visual style. This also helped my video to fit into the uses and gratification purpose of entertainment and escapism, as if I wish to fulfil this need I should focus on making the video as fun and engaging to watch as I can, which I feel like this style helped me to do.

Style conventions

There are multiple conventions of the narrative video and conceptual video genres which I needed to acknowledge and choose how to use when creating my video as well. When working on the conceptual elements I first looked towards the other videos by this artist, which are almost all conceptual. I very quickly found a pattern in the videos, which almost all involve the usage of the lyrics on screen in some capacity. I decided to also include this for several shots in my video, more specifically the hallway shot with words on the walls, and the “makes you see spots” shot with the wall decoration.

I then tried to include further conceptual and unusual elements to the video, such as playing with light and shadow by using silhouette shots and try to use more unusual or rarely seen effects. For the videos more narrative focused elements, I needed to make sure to keep it simple and easy to understand, since a more complicated video and plot can overshadow the song, which should be the main draw of the video. Since most music video stories are completely silent, visual storytelling is always key in making sure the narrative remains cohesive, which is why I chose to make sure each scene matched one to one with a lyric of the song, as well as using large gestures and actions which can easily be read. When looking at it through the lens of Stuart Halls representation theory, I tried to use the videos stylistic element to try and present the world of the video as being heightened, unusual and mysterious, trying to avoid realism in favour of a more colourful and cartoonish view of reality.