Market research is the process of gathering, recording and analysing data and information about customers, competitors and the market. This information can be collected through either primary or secondary research. Primary research is research carried out by collecting surveys, carrying out interviews etc. Secondary research is when a company uses information collected by somebody else. There are many different types of research as follows:
Audience Data/Profile – These contain the following information: age, gender, ethnicity and interests of a sample of people. They are useful as you can research into what a particular section of the market look for in television/media.
Audience Awareness – This is a type of interaction associated with the use of audience response systems, to create interactivity between a presenter and their audience. An example of this is a hand held remote called a ‘clicker’, which are used in schools for students to convey their responses to a question.
Product Reach – This is how far a programme is broadcasted. For e.g. Friday world is broadcasted as far as the main hall in school whereas Coronation Street is broadcasted all across the country.
Consumer Behaviour– This is the study of how people react to film/television. For example if the film is of a horror genre, you would expect the viewer to be tense and on edge whereas a film with a more sad, dramatic genre, the viewer to be more relaxed and possibly upset too.
Competitor Analysis – This is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current or potential competitors. This is important as then different broadcasting companies can see how one another are doing. For example if 'Emmerdale' get an exceptionally high viewing rate on a particular day through the week, then Eastenders might decide to change their broadcasting time to that of 'Emmerdale's' and try and take over their viewers.
BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) is a well-known market research organisation that provides the measurement of UK television audiences throughout the television industry. These measurements include which channels and programmes are being watched, at what time and the type of people watching. Below you will find the viewing figures of the top 10 programmes watched on the Disney Channel.
Production Research
When setting up a production, it is important to research the different content needed to make it successful.
It is important to research the type of content so that they production team know that what is produced will be effective as it is what people want. The personnel are an important factor in production as they are the people that make it possible, such as camera people, sound and lighting, make-up, costume etc. Without these the ‘talent’ side of the production would not be successful. The talent are the people on screen for example the presenters of ‘Friday World’ are the talent/stars of the show.
As well as this it is important to take into consideration the cost of production. Production teams have budgets that have to be stuck to therefore they need to spend their money wisely. For e.g. not paying to use a camera for a whole day when they only need it for a couple of hours or so. Or in some cases, if they are going to buy their own cameras they need to make sure that what they are paying for is worth it. Also they have to pay for their personnel and talent.
Another important factor to think about is time. For e.g. if ‘Friday World’ want to broadcast one of their shows from somewhere out of school, they need to work out how long it will take to get there so they know what time to set off to get there and start broadcasting in time for the show to be viewed back at the school hall.
Below is an example of the costs of different factors involved in ‘Lone Peak Productions’ company.
This is a type of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission. It was the first way of receiving television in the UK. There are 5 main channels with this type of television; BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV 3, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Out of the 5 channels, Channel 5 is the one which does not have as a great coverage as the others. Channel 5 only has 70% coverage whereas the other four channels have 99%. Analogue television is eventually going to be completely phased out by digital television in the UK by 2012.
This is made up of 50 free-to-air channels including the 5 analogue television channels. Digital television provides more channels than analogue as well as a higher quality picture and a newer version of teletext. The switchover from analogue to digital is starting to take place now after several months of organising and will eventually be completed by 2012, when digital will take over analogue for good.
Thanks to the great high-tech equipment we have today, it is now possible to watch television through your internet on your computer. There are different websites such as ‘YouTube’ that allow you to search a topic/genre of something you want to watch and then allows you to watch it. As well as this there’s the ‘BBC iPlayer’. This is an easy to use service which allows the viewer to a seven day catch up of any television or radio streams they have missed. The BBC is looking to offer the BBC iPlayer not only to online viewers but to cable and mobile phones.
How have advances in technology effected the TV industry and how have audiences changed as a result?
Technologies
When people purchase a television set today they automatically receive the following channels; BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. These are all analogue channels. Analogue television is a type of broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission. It was the first way of receiving television in the UK. Out of the 5 channels, Channel 5 is the one which does not have as a great coverage as the others. Channel 5 only has 70% coverage whereas the other four channels have 99%. Analogue television is eventually going to be completely phased out by digital television in the UK by 2012.
Not only is analogue free but due to these changes ‘freeview’ is also becoming free with television set. It was first founded in 2002 and is an operator that provides free digital television. Analogue television is now on the decrease as digital television is soon to take over. Digital television is made up of 50 free-to-air channels including the 5 analogue television channels. Digital television provides more channels than analogue as well as a higher quality picture and a newer version of teletext. The switchover from analogue to digital is starting to take place now after several months of organising and will eventually be completed by 2012, when digital will take over analogue for good. The latest type of technology to have an effect on the TV industry is things such as ‘Sky +’ and ‘TiVo’. allows the user to record, pause and rewind live TV. Satellite television is extremely popular in households today as 85% of the UK’s population all has satellite television. Satellite television is broadcast by communications satellites. A receptor such as a digibox or sky dish must be purchased to receive a satellite signal.
TiVo is the latest digital video recorder which started in the USA and is now available in Mexico, Taiwan, Canada and Australia.This allows people to have total control over their viewing experience as they are able to record their favourite programmes without the adverts. This is seen as a big threat to broadcasters, as without these adverts broadcasters don’t receive any funding, therefore will face financial problems. TiVo also allows viewers to take advantage of features such as ‘Season Pass’ recordings which ensures users don’t miss out on an episode of a particular programme and ‘Wish List Searches’ which records programmes that match the viewer’s interests.
People are able to interact with television thanks to technology more and more today such as the ‘red button’, shopping channels, music channels and reality TV shows. Today’s television is full of reality TV shows such as ‘Big Brother, X Factor, I’m A Celebrity…,’ etc. Each of these allowing the audience to have total control over the outcome of the show in ways such as voting who is voted out of ‘Big Brother’ each week and who wins ‘X Factor’ by phone-ins or online voting. This is getting the audience more involved as it makes it more personal to them and if they know they have control over what happens then they are more likely to watch these programmes therefore these channels making more money through the amount of viewings and the money made from people ringing in. Not only this, but we have the choice in how we watch a programme. This is mainly in sports programmes such as tennis. By simply pressing ‘The Red Button’ if you’re a digital viewer, we’re able to choose which angle we watch from, as well as been able to watch different games at the same time by setting the screen to show multiple games. Internet also plays a big part in how we watch television today. Television has now been able to be broadcasted straight to the internet so people are able to watch something live instead of a recording the day after due to the latest electronic communications and technology we have. But what’s next? Well there are a range of phones that offer television via the internet on these particular phones but in the future this option will be available to most people with a wider variety of phones and a much clearer picture than to what is available now. There are different websites such as ‘YouTube’ that allow you to search a topic/genre of something you want to watch and then allows you to watch it. As well as this there’s the ‘BBC iPlayer’. This is an easy to use service which allows the viewer to a seven day catch up of any television or radio streams they have missed. The BBC is looking to offer the BBC iPlayer not only to online viewers but to cable and mobile phones. Most online television is free although some sites do charge as you can subscribe to a particular programme and have it regularly sent to you. Television audiences were once mass viewing. This is because with only 5 channels available, this is all they could watch so the population was divided by 5. Now, due to the increase in different channels that are available to all, this ‘mass viewing’ has become more fragmented. This means that there are smaller audiences watching the wide variety of channels available. This has had an effect on the advertising industry. Advertisers now have to target a much wider range of target markets in new and different ways. This is seen as an advantage to the advertisers as they are able to advertise more to different audiences therefore making more money in the long run. On the other hand, more advertising means more staff which means more money, which may be a loss as they may not gain this money back in the advertising process.
How does ‘Channel 4’ use technology at the moment and how is it looking to use technology in the future?
Case Study
Channel 4 is one of many different channels that are now using modern technology in a number of ways to attract its viewers. At the moment Channel 4 transmits across the whole of the UK, except some parts of Wales. Channel 4 is available on terrestrial, satellite and cable transmitters allowing a wide range of people to view it. As well as this they offer a number of other services such the free-to-air digital TV channels E4, More4 and Film4, and a vast growing range of online activities at channel4.com, including the broadband service FourDocs and Channel 4's very own video-on-demand; 4oD (4 on Demand). At this stage, Channel 4 are said to be doing very well.
In June 2007 Andy Duncan, CEO, Channel 4 Television announced that Channel 4 had embarked on a major review of its role and purposes as a public service broadcaster for the digital age.
Channel 4 has a growing popularity which they aim to succeed in pleasing their viewers. To do this they need to stay in touch with what their viewers’ needs and wants are and to keep an eye on their competition. This means they need to look to the future to see what will keep their viewing rates high up with the other well known broadcasters.
Channel 4’s Future Priorities:
*They will make sure that there is more space for new programmes, talent and voices.
*They will search for, train and develop the different range of talent.
*They will find new ways to deliver educational and school content along with a new creative output targeting older children.
*They will create a pilot fund (4iP - 4 Innovation for the Public) which will support public service content in media.
How is the TV industry funded and how does this effect programming?
Funding
Most television channels are funded by advertising. This involves a business producing an advert and paying the television broadcaster which best suits what it is their advertising and whether their target market will be watching this channel. The advert is played in between and during breaks in programmes. The BBC, on the other hand is funded solely by the ‘TV license’. This allows the BBC to run shows without having breaks in between to televise different adverts. It also pays for the radio. The ‘TV License’ originally started as a ‘radio license’ but soon became known as the ‘TV License’ with the arrival of televisions and some of the funding for the radio going to the cost of the TV broadcasting as well. The ‘TV License’ is a type of tax that funds public broadcasting, allowing them to transmit programmes without funding from television commercials. Public service broadcasting (PSB) is broadcasting for the publics benefit instead of companies trying to make money by selling themselves through adverts. Ofcom (communications regulator) states that certain television and radio broadcasters follow and fulfil certain requirements as part of their broadcasting license. The BBC is one of the biggest PSB’s, which has to fulfil the ‘inform, educate and entertain’ requirement. The Public Service Broadcast partly funds certain TV, radio and other types of media. They pay for the radio and the BBC worldwide.
‘It's not a simple goal to achieve but we believe the future of PSB can be secured with an ambitious new vision for delivering and funding public service content’. – Peter Philips - Ofcom's strategy and market development partner.
Another form of funding which is very popular today is subscription. A subscription means you pay for a weekly/monthly etc product/service. In this case you pay monthly to receive particular channels on a television service. For e.g. ‘Sky’ offer a subscription where you receive 200 TV channels, some free others you have to pay for separately as a ‘pay-per-view’ as well as interactive features by pressing the red button and radio stations. All of this costs from £16 for a min of 12 months plus a one off charge of £30 to install. With this you get a free dish and box for new customers. Sky, Virgin and Cable are 3 major companies that try to persuade people to subscribe to their service. They also offer other types of subscription once you have signed up to use their television service such as using their internet or telephone lines as well as subscribing to channels that you don’t receive automatically in their package like movies or sports.
Pay-Per-View is another way television is funded. This is when television viewers pay to watch a particular event/programme, which is then privately broadcasted to their home. These types of pay-per-view events are often featured films, sports or pornographic movies. HBO (Home Box Office) is the world’s biggest pay-per-view broadcaster, broadcasting into 150 countries worldwide. The HBO was one of the first pay-per-view broadcasters and were the first to show soft porn movies. People were unable to complain about this as it could only be viewed if people paid for it; therefore it is their choice to watch it.
Mr Jackson – Class Notes
Many programmes today are sponsored by various businesses/products. To sponsor something is to support a person/event/activity etc. A sponsor is the person offering the support. In this case, products/services sponsor particular programmes that fit in with their image, or programmes that are broadcasted on channels that are most likely to have a the majority of their demographic.
A few examples of television sponsorship:
*Airwick sponsors Emmerdale.
*Extra Chewing Gum sponsors Hollyoaks.
*Harvey’s Furniture sponsors Coronation Street.
*Foxy Bingo sponsors Jeremy Kyle.
*Appletizer sponsors Sex and the City.
Many sponsors choose to sponsor programmes that best fit their image/product. For e.g. Appletizer sponsor Sex and the City. Sex and the City is a very classy, feminine programme so Appletizer fits in well with this image as it is a sweet, classy drink. Sponsorship is a way of advertising as the audience see this sponsor clip before; during and after the programme therefore they are showing their product over and over again.
Advertising is probably this biggest way that television is funded. Advertising is a type of communication that persuades potential customers to purchase the product/service been advertised. Advertising is probably less effective today than what it was as now there are so many channels to advertise on, which makes channels and audiences more targeted, allowing advertisers to target their product more specifically, but this makes audiences smaller so less people are responding to the adverts. These small audiences are known as niche audiences. Niche audiences are attractive because it allows advertisers to aim their advert more specifically. For e.g. people who like sport are going to mainly watch sports channels, therefore advertisers who advertise sports clothing/other programmes etc will advertise on these types of channels as they will be targeting their main demographic.
Lastly; product placement. This is a type of advertisement, also known as embedded marketing. It allows a company to advertise their product via films, television series, books, music videos etc. They do this by showing the logo of a product in a particular shot or by mentioning the product in a particular scene. Product placement is been used much more today particularly in movie and television (most common form). A very popular product that uses this is ‘Apple’. Lot of films/television series will have ‘Apple Laptops’ which advertises their product widely. The United Kingdom is one of the main countries that do not permit product placement; however this could be changed as there are talks of product placement been introduced from as early as 2010.
The most popular country to use it is the USA. Product Placement is ever on the increase to advertise a particular product via different films/television programmes due to new technology such as ‘TiVo’.
This is a clip from from ‘Spider Man’. As you can see there is a close up shot of the ‘Dr Pepper’ can which therefore advertises this brand to the viewers of this programme. This helps them to reach their target market as this will be watched my many young children and teenagers who are most likely to drink this fizzy drink.
There are two types of camera formats; single camera and multi-camera. A production using single camera format is generally used with just one camera and is mostly used in dramas, documentaries and comedies. Each shot and camera angle is taken by the one camera unlike a multi-camera format, where there is a camera for every angle and shot needed in a particular scene, which they are then switched to show these different perspectives. The choice of camera format can depend on what is been filmed such as the genre. In the 1960's, single camera format was popular amongst several comedy series such as 'The Addams Family' & 'Get Smart' and more recently 'The Office' and 'My name is Earl'. In things such as 'The Office', from the short clip we watched you see the camera move between both of the characters. This helps to get a closer look of their facial expressions which helps paint a clearer picture to the audience. The way this is done comes across to be a more amauter production which helps with the comedy genre as it reflects on the characters, therefore making them more comical as there is a sense of unprofessionalism.
Multi-camera setup is a method of shooting television programs and films. Several cameras are set up in different angles and simultaneously record a scene. In a general set up, the two outer cameras shoot close ups of the characters whilst the middle cameras shoot the 'master shot' which captures the overall action in the scene and shows the surroundings.
This is an example of a multi-camera setup. This helps to make editing a quicker process and is used mostly for daily soap operas as scenes can be shot more quickly as camera angles and lighting set ups don't have to be changed.The multi-camera setup is a faster and much cheaper setup compared to the single camera setup and is used for soap operas, talk shows and game shows. The short clip we watched of 'Question Time', which is a political discussion show, is filmed with a multi-camera setup. The cameras switches between the audience and the guests on the show which helps to create a greater insight of the programme and helps to show the different reactions between the two.
The advantages of multi-camera formats are it makes the filming easier as the actors don't have to keep stopping and starting to wait for different angle shots to be set up and recorded, instead they can carry on and then the scene can be edited and cut from the different cameras. Single camera formats on the other hand cut to each character in the scene that are having a conversation which closes up on the facial expressions and emotions of the characters. This helps to tell the story better which makes it easier for the audience to gain a better insight. References
In television there are many different types of single dramas which fit into 3 categories. These categories are serials, series’ and single dramas. Amongst these are a whole range of genres such as sitcoms, crime dramas and docudramas.
Serials are programmes that have very few episodes and the storyline starts and ends within these episodes. They are often advertised during ad breaks as ‘3 part drama starting Tuesday at 8pm, to finish Thursday 8pm’. The story unfolds and ends within these 3 parts and is completely forgotten about afterwards. An example of this is Wuthering Heights which was recently broadcasted on ITV as a 2 part drama.
A Series is different as they tend to have around 6/7 episodes in what is called a ‘season’. This is then followed by a number of other seasons. An example of this is the very well known ‘Dr Who’. This has seen 30 series broadcasted dating back to 1963. ‘One Tree Hill’ is also another of example of a series. This has seen 5 seasons broadcasted on E4 since they premiered on September 23, 2003. One Tree Hill is a slightly bigger series as their seasons consist of 20 episodes on average. However, it still works in the same way as the season is broadcasted and then the audience are made to wait a few months down the line for the next series.
A single drama is a one off production that is often broadcasted on ITV however; they are becoming more common on channels such as the BBC and Channel 4. An example of a single drama is ‘Five Minutes in Heaven’; an award-winning drama about reconciliation in Northern Ireland based on real event. The drama was broadcasted on BBC back in April 2009.
When it comes to programmes such as Hollyoaks, Emmerdale & Coronation Street; famously known as 'soaps', they don't fit into a category as easy as the others. This is because they have open endings which means there has to be another episode to follow for the story to make sense. This then turns it into a mixture of soap and serial as well as still been a single drama. These are the most popular kind of single dramas.
Real and Anti-Real are two other categories that television programmes can be placed into. They simply mean whether or not the context of the programme is real life or not. For e.g. Eastenders is a real life programme as all the characters and storylines are about real life and people can generally relate to them when watching the programme. However, 'Doctor Who' is anti-real. This is because the genre of this programme is sci-fi therefore completely fictional.
Another category that programmes can fit into is 'Docudrama'. These types of programmes are often broadcasted on the BBC and often involve someone talking about an event that has previously happened. They tell the story in their own words, often having a close up of the person that's talking, and then changing to a reconstruction of what has just been said.
Task 3(P1, M1, D1)
A narrative is important in a programme/film as this is the story. There are different structures in how these stories are told so therefore there are a number of different narrative structures to make programmes/films different to each other.
The two most basic types of narrative structures are linear (sequential) and non-linear (non-sequential). Linear narratives are the simplest form and are probably the easiest to understand. They tell the story in a chronological order with a beginning, middle and end. The most common types of programmes that use this narrative are soaps; Coronation Street, Eastenders, Emmerdale. They use this because their linear storylines are continuous. In comparison to this non-linear structures are more difficult to understand as they don’t follow a linear storyline. Things such as flashbacks and dream scenes make a story non-linear. However, you can have a linear story with flashbacks which then make it a non-linear story. An example of this is when an episode of neighbours showed the dogs dream. ‘Neighbours’ is a Soap so therefore has a very linear narrative; however this one off episode turned into a non-linear narrative. As well as this, Slum Dog Millionaire is a film with a linear narrative, however the majority of the film includes flashbacks, which tells a lot of the story, therefore giving this film elements of both linear and non-linear narratives.
Realist narrative is when a drama is based on real life events. Programmes with a realist narrative tend to be documentaries and most obvious; Soaps. The opposite of this is anti-realist narratives which are often of a sci-fi genre as these tell stories of fiction and fantasy. The most obvious example of a series with an anti-realist narrative is Doctor Who. Films such as ‘Donnie Darko’ are also anti-realist because of the same style of genre.
An important part of narratives are the type of endings that the producer chooses. An open ending means that the storyline has to continue; this is most popular in Soaps. This is because they want to make the audience watch the following episodes as it makes them want to find out how the story ends, however, once one story ends, another one has developed in the process and therefore keeps the audience wanting to know what’s going to happen next. This is a never ending sequence as Soaps are so continuous. Films such as High School Musical are open ending as they leave you wondering what happens next. This is why with High School Musical they were followed by High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3. On the other hand, closed endings are storylines that are given a definite ending. Often, the audience already know how the film/programme is going to end. An example of a film with a closed ending is Titanic.
You will often find that there are different narrative patterns within programmes/films. These are:
*Goal
*Investigation
*Journey
*Climax
A goal is where a character is aiming to achieve/fulfil something throughout the entire storyline. They want to get from Point A to B. An example of a film with a goal is the film ’50 First Dates’ as Henry wants to retrieve Lucy’s memory as to when they first met and prove to her that she is in love with him. The second narrative pattern is an investigation. This is when the characters try to resolve a problem that has occurred. The most obvious example of this is CSI – a television series. The next pattern is a journey. This can be a physical journey such as going from one place to another or an emotional journey through somebody’s life. An example of a film with a journey is ‘Billy Elliot’. This is because you see Billy grow older and watch him chase his dream of becoming a professional dancer. The last pattern is a climax. This is the most action packed part of a film.
Unrestricted information within a storyline is when the audience sees and hears everything that happens but the characters don’t. This means the audience knows more than the characters and often already know how it is going to end. Examples of text with this type of narrative are Pearl Harbour & Titanic.
Restricted information on the other hand is when the audience learns of and is introduced to happenings at the same time as the characters. This happens a lot in Soaps however in some storylines, Soaps have unrestricted information.
A subjective narration is when the viewer only knows what the character knows. Everything that the viewer sees and hears is from the characters point of view. An e.g. of a film that is subjective is Fight Club.
Objective narration on the other hand is when the viewer knows what is happening in all areas of the plot. For e.g. in Coronation Street you know what is been said around the street but not all characters know what the viewer knows. This allows the viewer to have an opinion on characters as they see them for what they are whereas the characters don’t necessarily see them in certain situations.
Doctor Who – ‘Gridlock Analysis’
Doctor who is a hybrid drama series as it includes a range of genres such as crime, comedy, period and most obvious sci-fi. It is a single camera drama series and the episode we watched was a single strand narrative with a closed ending. This means that there was an ending to the storyline so that the following episode would start with a new storyline.
Within this episode, an enigma was used. An enigma is a mystery, and the mystery within this episode was what would happen to the people that were in the fast lane. This helped to keep the audience in suspense and help build tension which kept the viewer interested.
The well known television drama is a series however each episode has a different storyline that all have closed endings which is different to normal series. This helps to encourage the different range of age groups that watch this programme which enables them to not lose understanding of the show as If the programme was to continue, it could cause confusion to the audience if they hadn’t seen the previous episode.
Doctor Who includes a non-realist genre as it contains material of a non realistic situation because of the types of characters that star in the drama as well as the high-level of generic verisimilitude things such as aliens; monsters, spacecraft, etc are all elements that signify the sci-fi genre of this drama.
Throughout this episode there are diagetic sounds, these are sounds that are heard by the characters, so they are in the story, such as characters singing, bangs and crashes made from the villains and traffic noises from the cars etc. These all help to create to the atmosphere that is built up throughout the episode as well as helping to make sense of it as if these sounds were non-diagetic, then the story wouldn’t make sense.
The use and gratification theory fits into the programme as it falls in the personal relationships and diversion section. The reason for this is because it allows the audience to escape real life and watch something with anti-realism therefore diverting them to something else. As well as this it helps to create a relationship between the characters and the audiences because the viewers can discuss the programme with each other and build a bond and friendship over something that they are both interested in and with the characters because they can relate to some of their feelings and emotions that may be occurring in different episodes.
Although the programme allows relationships to be built, it doesn’t however reference the audience. This makes them separate, as though they are looking into each others worlds, but more so that the audience is looking in on the world of the ‘Doctor Who’ series. This is referred to as a non-direct ‘mode of address’.
Lastly, the technical side of the show is some of the most important features in producing the programme. Firstly it contains a lot of high-key lighting. This is lighting that creates a bright atmosphere and helps to portray the sci-fi genre with lights coming from the unusual machines within the programme. However, this lighting soon changes to low-key to create a dark, mysterious mood to represent presence of the enemy/villain which represents their evilness. The help of a range of camera shots are also effective within this episode. Firstly establishing shots were used throughout the episode such as when the motorway was first introduced. This shot helped to set the scene and introduce the location. When the Doctor took control and beat the villain and brought the city to safety there was a low angle shot of the Doctor, therefore looking upto him. This represented that the Doctor was powerful and more dominant; a hero. A high angle shot was used on the enemy; this was to represent that they were the loser, and that they were beaten.
Propp invented a theory, which stated that all programmes/films have a hero, villain, helper and a damsel in distress. It is not always clear as to which characters take these roles. It can sometimes be misleading as to who is what. For e.g. in Watchmen as they are all heroes you wouldn’t expect one to be the villain however towards the end it is revealed that one of the so cold heroes is in fact the villain.
Todorov also invented a theory that stated every programme/film should have an equilibrium, a disruption and a resolution. They don’t necessarily have to be in this order. This means a film can start with a disruption for e.g. Dorian Gray. Also, a film/TV programme doesn’t have to end with a resolution, as there could be others made to follow as there could be a sequel or they may just want to leave the audience questioning the story. An example of a film that has ended like this is Cinderella Story. Austin and Sam finally admit their feelings to one another and start to kiss and then the camera tracks back and up to a birds eye view of the couple and the sports stadium.
Task 4
In the opening credits, the title ‘SE7EN’ appears on the screen shaking with train noises in the background; this helps to set the scene a little bit and give the audience an insight into what the drama is going to be about. The noise then fades as the screen also fades to black. The audience then see an establishing panning shot of an old train station which then leads to another establishing shot of two men getting out of a car. We then see a long shot of a woman near the train track which is where the shot then changes to focus on a puddle on the floor where we see the two men approaching the woman. An extreme close up is then used to show a tear running down the woman’s face which then leads to a long shot to show her raising her leg to hang over the train track which sends a message to the audience that the woman is feeling suicidal. We then see the two men still approaching the woman, which then leads to a worm’s eye shot which makes the two men appear powerful. The woman then falls to her knees which is when the shot switches to another close up to allow the audience to see her facial expressions to allow them to feel sorry for her.
The next thing we see is a flashback. This flashback makes the narrative non-linear. We know it’s a flashback due to the blurred effect around the edge of the screen as well as the use of black and white to show that it is something in the past. We see a dead body next to a lamp post which is then followed by an extreme close up where we see two pills in the person’s hand. This suggests that something bad has happened which is drug related. The scene then flicks back to the worm’s eye shot of the two men next to the woman which is in colour which makes the audience aware that this is no longer part of the flashback. The woman stands up and the camera switches to a close up of one side of her, which allows us to see one of the men‘s faces. We then see another flashback where we see a close up of the packet of pills that we saw in the first flashback.A medium, panning shot is then used where the camera pans on the woman and the two men walking either side of the train station. Again, this is followed by a flashback where see extreme close ups of the words ‘DRUGS, DEATH & TEENS KILLED’. A newspaper is then dropped and stood on. This flashback then ends and we are shown a close up shot of the woman shouting in one of the two men’s face. This allows the audience to see the expressions used by the characters to show insight into their feelings. Another flashback appears with low key lighting; just like the previous flashbacks, to help add haziness and mysteriousness to the scene which makes the audience question why the woman is so angry and upset. The scene then changed back to a shot of the blonde woman where we see a gradual close up of her face and eyes. We then see a wide midpoint shot where we see all 3 characters. This allows the audience to be made aware of where and what the characters are doing. Close up shots are used after a flashback to show all the previous images from the scene. These close up shots are of the man getting more and angrier at the woman, who then pins her down in a threatening manner. The woman then jumps onto the train track, where a mixture of close up and extreme close up shots are used which gradually speed up to increase the tension built. The final shot of the drama is of the girl which zooms in on her in an unsteady style. This creates an unstable, careless effect; which linked in with the sound of a train approaching suggests that the whole scene is reckless which reflects the attitude of the woman. This is then followed by the screen fading out to black which suggests the end, nothing left.
The last shot of the film is a point of view shot of the train, the camera is extremely shaky which helps the camera to represent a train and also I think that this represent the woman’s instability.
Task 5(P1, M1, D1)
Target audiences play a vital role when it comes to planning a single camera production. Without a target audience in mind the drama will be a pointless production. Audiences today are widely split into more niche markets, whereas back in the day when there would be 1 television per household, the audiences were much larger. This is because people were restricted as to when and where they could watch their favourite programmes, which is why programmes such as ‘Only Fools and Horses’ would rake in mass viewing figures of around 20 million people. Programmes such as the ‘X-Factor’ today still have a high viewing rate, with 10 million people tuning in to watch the contestants fight for their place in the competition each week, but this is a massive drop in the ratings since the earlier years of television. This is because in today’s society, there are various ways in which we can access our favourite programmes; iPlayer, Sky+, Freeview, Internet, DVD’s, etc. This allows audiences to pick and choose when to watch programmes, as well as allowing them to watch more as they can record one and watch another, or view it later on line. This is making audiences smaller and more fragmented.
This means it is harder for media producers to produce programmes that their consumers want exactly. This means they have to carry out extra research to refine their target audience and produce something that will satisfy their needs. At the same time, they need to ensure that they will still attract a mass audience as they want as many viewers as they can possibly get. In the words of Rupert Murdoch ‘"Television can no longer rely on mass audiences".
Task 6(P1, M1, D1)
The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the UK. They separate the different working classes and put them into different categories. This system is sometimes viewed as very judgemental but marketers will still refer to it when creating different products.
Consumer Profile – Teenage Male
Teenage boys are most likely to watch sport programmes and panel shows. This is because they can relate to these kinds of programmes and most boys are sport fanatics. Film wise, teenage boys are going to be most interested in action films and comedies compared to more political dramas as such. When it comes to newspapers, teenage boys are most likely to read ‘The Daily Star’; as they give the latest on sports and showbiz news as well as the use of female models on various pages. Lastly, I think they are most likely to listen to radio stations such as galaxy, radio 1 and sports broadcastings.
Task 7 (P1, M1, D1)
To create our single camera drama, we used a range of equipment and multipe types of software to help edit our footage. First of all, to record our film, we used a hand held Panasonic camera. This allowed us to reate a variety of shots from close up to long shots to different angled shots. This allowed us to build tension and create a mysterious atmosphere.
To record our voice overs we used a piece of equipment called 'Edirol R-09 Voice Recorder'. We used this to record the different thoughts that the characters wanted to express in our film. We then laid this over the top of our film as voiceovers.
Once we had filmed and recorded everything we needed to edit it. To edit our footage we used a piece of software called 'IMovie'. This is a piece of softwar that allowed us to add transition effects between different parts of the scene; it allowed us to change the colour of a particular shot to show that it was in the past as well as allowing us to add a music bed which plays throughout the film.
The people involved in our film were first of all; me. I played the character of the best friend of Claire, the girl who died of a drug overdose. Louis; he played Claire's boyfriend and Elliot who played the part of the drug dealer. Neve helped to film as she filmed the shots that all 3 of us had to be in. However the rest of the filming was shared between all 3 of us.
The props we used were first of all a bag of sugar. This represented the drugs that Elliot was giving Louis. We also used a car. This was used by myself as my character drives towards Elliot & Louis towards the end of our film to show that she has run them over and killed them.
For our costumes we wore our own normal clothes. Our film was set in today's society, therefore our own casual clothes fitted our characters most appropriately. Both Louis and Elliot wore hooded jackets and wore their hoods up as this helps to disguise there faces to help reflect on their characters behaviour and helps to suggest that they are trying to hide as they are doing something they shouldn't.
Task 8 (P1, M1, D1)
Treatment
Objective - The following is a proposal for a short single camera drama. The objective is to portray the story of what drugs can do to people and their family and friends at the time and years later. This will be done through voiceovers and different shots to show the journey and the consequences of a drugs deal.
Setting - There are 2 places used for our set during the short film. The majority of the film is set at the 'Pudsey Industrial Estate'. We chose to set our film here as the time we recorded was around 6pm when it was starting to get dark which allowed us to create an eery atmophere to help build suspense. At this time, everybody had finished work so the main road on the industrial estate was quiet which gave a sense of emptiness which meant nobody was around which also helped with the mysterious atmosphere. The second setting we used was the 'Pudsey Parish Church' grounds. We chose this for our flashback shot which shows Claire's best friend at her grave. We chose this place as it was most convenient for us and allowed us to film what we wanted to show.
Time Duration - Approx 2 minutes
Description - Our single camera drama is going to be created by showing the journey of two people meeting to do a drugs deal. The idea of our film is based around drug abuse in todays society. We will follow their journey by using a range of camera shots including tracking, long shot, low angled and medium shots. These will help to show them in their tracks and make it interesting to watch. We will link these with a transition effect to make the film flow and blend together, crossing from one character to another. A different thought voice over will be played over the top of this each time it cuts from one characters journey to another. This will help to portray how the characters are feeling the further along the journey they go. A music bed will play underneath the film to help build tension and create an atmosphere to keep the audience interested. We will record a number of shots and join them together to make the film. We will use high quality modern software that will help us to create a film of this standard and the best quality we can with the skills and knowledge we have.
Remarks
*All footage will be filmed with a handheld camera.
*There will be no speech in the play, voiceovers will be used for each characters thoughts.
*There will be an acoustic style piece of music playing in the background and underneath voiceovers to help create tension.
*We will film on a night as this will help us to create an eerie atmosphere.
Proposed Sequence Sample of Events
1) Opening scene will be an establishing shot will be used to start our single camera drama to help set the scene. This will lead to a long shot of Louis walking from round the corner, followed by a medium shot and a tracking shot to follow him on his journey. This is when Louis's voice over will start.
2) We will then use a long shot to introduce Elliot to the scene. He will come from the opposite side of the road to show that he is on a separate journey. We will then do the same as before by using a medium and a tracking shot to show his journey and again, like Louis's scene, Elliot' voiceover will start.
3) This will be followed by a close up of headlights. This suggests that there is somebody else there. This is when Sally will be introduced to the scene with a close up of her driving in the car. Again, her voiceover will start.
4) All 3 of the characters will be followed on their journey with different medium and long shots to show their journey. They will eventually all meet after a close up of the transaction of drugs.
5) The last shot will be a long shot of the car, with Louis & Elliot at the front of the shot talking. As Sally comes round the corner heading towards Louis & Elliot the shot will black out. This will leave a suspense ending to the film.
Narrative
Louis - 'I can't believe i'm still doing this, one of these days i'm going to get caught red-handed. It's been a year today, I should of learned my lesson... but I haven't'.
Elliots - 'Here we go again, diffrent day... same old story'.
Sally - 'We did everything together, she was MY best friend. Drugs took her away from me and I'm blaming them. I warned her about him, I always said he was a bad influence'.
Louis - 'I never wanted it to end the way it did though... she was so innocent'.
Elliot - 'He better be there, he better have the money. I hate waiting around'.
Louis - 'But I feel so guilty, why am I still doing it? I just can't stop. He should be here now... where is he?!'
Sally - 'I wish she'd of just listened to me... she's lying there in a cold grave whilst they carry on living their lives!!!'.
Task 9 (P1, M1, D1)
Storyboard
Task 10 (P1, M1, D1)
Task 11 (P1, M1, D1)
Health & Safety Documents
Task 12 (P1, M1, D1)
Our Single Camera Drama - The Ultimate Sacrifice
Task 13 (P1, M1, D1)
Evaluation
Purpose
The purpose of our single camera drama was to inform our audience about the dangers and outcome of drugs abuse. We wanted to do this is an educational form but in an informal way as this will suit our target audience the most (14-19 year olds).I believe we achieved this as our storyline was something that people can relate to easily whether it be first hand experience or from something they have seen/heard in the media.
Audience
When we first played our single camera drama to an audience we got a positive reaction and their initial reaction was that the film achieved its purpose to inform. They said the film was intriguing and built a tense atmosphere, which kept them interested as to what was going to happen next. In some cases, some of our viewers had to watch our single camera drama more than once so they could understand the story properly. We believed that the reason this was unclear to some people was because we had 3 characters each telling their own story, which meant the audience, was getting 3 sides of the story at the same time and the only way to tell them apart was the different voices. This could have been quite difficult to understand, but after they had watched it for a second time, they were able to concentrate on what was been said allowing them to understand fully.
Representation
The message we wanted to give across was a negative one as our film was based on the outcome of drugs and the effect it has afterwards on the people that have lost someone to drug abuse. Our video included both males and females, which suggest to the audience that drug abuse, can happen to anybody, not just one specific gender or type of person. We didn’t have any ethnic groups in our film, simply because we were placed into groups and therefore didn’t have a choice. The music we used was key in creating a specific mood in which we wanted to present. The music we used was acustic but with the backing sound being dark, grim and intense. This suited the mood of our film as it reflected exactly what we wanted to show from our drama as well s helping to get across our message to the audience. We located our drama in an industrial estate as it looked like a run down area, which was very secluded. This is the perfect place for a drugs deal to take place and as we set the drama in the evening, the area was of very low key lighting with street lights been the only bit of lighting used. This worked well as it made the scene look that bit more eerie and dramatic. The dialogue used in our drama was appropriate for our target audience (14-19 years old) as the people in our film were teenagers themselves so therefore the language came naturally to them. I believe our film was realistic as even with parts of our film that were harder to record, such as the car crash where the car runs into the two boys; we didn’t actually show this s the footage blacked out as the car approached them and they jump out of the way. This black out builds tension leaving the audience wondering what has happened therefore making it realistic in their own minds.
Technical Issues
When we first played our video back, we found that the sound levels between the voice over and the music bed were completely out so after re-adjusting we were able to correct the levels by lowering the music bed when a voice over was present so the audience could hear what was being said. Once the voice over has finished, the music bed would get louder to again help keep the mood of the drama consistent. Because we recorded our voice over’s separately, it meant that no ones voice was cut off in the film as recording it separately allowed us to edit it on different software allowing us to leave pauses in appropriate places etc. Our camera work on a whole was good to say that the majority of the shots were filmed by us moving with the camera which therefore made some of the clips slightly shakey as we don’t have the technology and equipment to be able to use cars and cranes. The shots varied between the 3 different characters as we wanted to keep the audience appealed ad gripped into the drama, as each clip was only a few seconds long. We didn’t use any text throughout the film except from our titles at the end, however these titles were different to normal ones, as these were the death dates of the characters in the film to tell the audience that everyone in the scene were killed after the car crash. We used a normal ‘Times Roman’ font as we felt it had an official feel to it stating the deaths of the characters involved.
Conventions/Narrative
When creating a film with the ‘drama’ genre there a few typical things to consider:
*Dark & Intense Music
*Key Props Used
*Quick & Varied Camera Shots
*Suspense Plot Line
*Voices
If we were to of been producing a professional production the same would apply, but the quality would be significantly different. They would have a bigger advantage over us as they would have more money to spend on top of the range equipment. We decided to make our film enigmatic so that our target audience was on edge and interested throughout the film. Our film followed ‘Todorov’s Theory’ of equilibrium, disruption and resolution, however at the end, the situation is resolved but not in the manor which is seen as acceptable today. When thinking about the strand narrative, the film would come under it appears that it contains elements from both single and multi strand narrative. This is because at first, audiences would believe that 3 different stories are being told along side one another, however at the end it is clear that the 3 stories are all linked and come together as one story.
Own Performance
During the process of filming this production, I didn’t learn anything new in particular as I was already able to use the software and equipment we used. I believe that I personally did well in the filming of this drama and I think that my strengths in particular were in creating the drama itself and deciding in what we wanted to show and say. My weaknesses I believe is the actual editing of the video footage this is simply due to my own personal interest in doing different jobs within the production process. I believe I was a strong team member as I was always on time to lessons when producing the film as well as co-operating well when meeting out of school. We all worked well together as we all agreed on different things we wanted to show as well as co-operating with one another and not arguing over any problems that occurred.
Improvements
To improve our film, I would do a few small changes by during the filming process use a tripod for the more still shots as this will have a massive impact on the quality of our shots and will also help to make the footage look more professional.
