Ofcom
As part of my research for the production of my two minute
opening for my online teen drama series, I need to be aware of rules and
regulations set by Ofcom. This is because my teen drama will be aired as a
pre-watershed online show that will be somewhat accessible to a younger
audience for the content of the TV show. Ofcom describe themselves as the
'Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications
industry', this means that Ofcom's purpose is to protect citizens from inappropriate
or upsetting content or from scams, and they function under the 'Communications
Act 2003'. For the purpose of my product, I am ensuring that I pay close
attention to the page on their website titled 'Protecting the under Eighteens.'
In the rules and regulations that Ofcom have set to protect
people under the age of eighteen, the page states three standard regulations
that producers are to follow when producing pre-watershed content. These state
that ; 'Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral
development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast', 'broadcasters must
take all reasonable steps to protect people under eighteen' and 'Children must
also be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable
for them.' Rules and regulations set by Ofcom also state that the use of drugs,
alcohol or sexual content is supposed to be avoided at all costs and if it is a
feature in a pre-watershed television programme, it has to be for some form of
educational reason
I have decided that the target demographic for my show is 15-35
year old and therefore I have taken the regulations for making content
appropriate for under-18s into consideration when discussing the content and narrative
of my drama to make sure that the content will be appealing to an adult and appropriate
for teenagers aged 15 to 18. The usual broadcast time for a programme which is
meant to appeal to my demographics is anywhere between 5pm and 9pm, as after
9pm is post-watershed.
As the narrative for the teen drama that I am filming the
opening two minutes for is about two young people being kidnapped, I need to
follow the rules and regulations set by Ofcom in regards to violence so that I
can be sure that the content of my product is not offensive or distressing to
my younger target demographic. On the Ofcom website, there are many regulations
regarding violence in a pre-watershed show, such as: 'Violence, its
after-effects and descriptions of violence, whether verbal or physical, must be
appropriately limited in programmes broadcast before the watershed or when
children are particularly likely to be listening and must also be justified by
the context.'
Something that I need to consider when creating my online series
is that a younger audience will be able to easily access and view the content
unless I put an age regulating system into place. Other websites, such as BBC
iPlayer and ITV Player, have check boxes that will pop up on the page when
somebody is about to watch a show that may be considered to have inappropriate
content for under-18s. The issues of this method of regulation is that somebody
could simply select an option such as ‘Yes, I am over 18’ so that they can view
the show. Parents can also set up a password system on these websites so that
the content is only accessible to the people who know the password, this is a
more effective way of making sure that children are not exposed to harmful content.
After researching the purpose of Ofcom and the rules and
regulations regarding pre-watershed television shows, I am now aware of what
type of content is and is not appropriate for my target demographics and also the
consequences of why I should be careful in regards to content.
Schedule
Week 1 – Given brief. Brainstorm
ideas. Research into existing thrillers to begin to establish an initial
house-style and content. Pitch my idea to an audience and collate my feedback
to adapt my idea.
Week 2 - Research into audience with
surveys and further research of different thriller series including fan sites,
user generated content, idents and teaser videos.
Week 3 – Write the script. Create storyboards and project mock-ups for
print and web.
Week 4 – Make sure that all of the cast is established and that they have
a copy of the script. Make arrangements for a filming location. Make a project
schedule, prop list and equipment list.
Week 5 – Create a more detailed draft for all of the products including
mock-ups for print and web and also storyboards – show that a house style has
been established. Analyse amendments and improvements that I have made and why.
Make arrangements of transport to and from the location.
Week 6 – Begin shooting film. Take set photos. Review footage to make
sure that everything is as it should be.
Week 7 – Re-film any clips that needed amending and film any remaining
footage that needs to be filmed.
Week 8 – Begin to edit the video clips and put them together to create
the product.
Week 9 – Go through the images that were take on set and decide which
ones are right for the magazine. Interview members of the cast about their
experience. Review this content and begin to produce the magazine article. Continue
editing film.
Week 10 – Use the images from the set shoot to begin putting together the
website. Make sure that the content is relevant and somewhat similar between the
products so that effective synergy is created.
Week 11 – Finish editing film.
Week 12 – Put all of the written, visual and interactive content onto the
website. Continue putting the magazine together.
Week 13 – Finish project.
Week 14 – Begin writing evaluation of all three products.
Week 15 – Complete Evaluation.
Finances/Equipment
Costumes/Appearance
For protagonist
·
Dress £30
·
Tights £2
·
Shoes £20
·
Makeup £20
Boy with bag on head
·
Jeans £40
·
Jumper £20
·
Trainers £45
·
Bag for head £5
Background people
·
Party-wear for all background people (10 people) £200
Equipment
·
2 X Nikon D3200 SLR Cameras £400 each – 1 for filming and
1 for photography.
·
Go Pro Hero 4 camera £290 – for hand held filming
·
2 x tripod £20 each
Salaries
·
Videographer £500 per day (3 days of filming.)
·
Photographer £300 per day (3 days of photography.)
·
Main character £400 per day (4 days inc. interview.)
·
Other characters £50 (2 hours of filming.)
Other
·
Fees for main location £50 for a day. Filmed over 2 days.
·
Transport for 4 people to main location £12 per day. Filmed over 2
days.
·
Food and drink for party scene £20
·
Fees for transport of 14 people to party scene £20 for taxis
Overall budget: £5501
Location
The location that we used to film in was an unused middle
school, which originally built to be a hospital. I had enquired about our use
of the building from Dorset County Council, who were happy to rent the space to
us over two days. This building has been stripped of the majority of the
fittings and furniture, meaning that there was a wide empty space to use which
was a perfect use of mise en scene for making the protagonist seem small in
such a large area. The most effective space used in our filming was the
staircase because the lighting was darker than the rest of the building and
this setting was used to film the most effective scene where the most tension
was created. We took advantage of the higher level of the staircase and used
high angle handheld shots to make the protagonist seem small and vulnerable.
As part of my pre-production planning for my two minute opening sequence,
I needed to take photographs of possible set locations for my product.
I want my location to be a big
building with empty rooms and long corridors so that the space appears large
and daunting for the protagonist. The location needs to be an effective use of
mise en scene and by using the most appropriate location, it will suit the
genre and narrative of my product.
By using settings like large
and long corridors, as well as suitable camera angles, I hope to be able to
present the protagonist to be vulnerable as she explores the building in my two
minute sequence.
Stair cases are another
setting that can be used to make a character look vulnerable and to make a
setting appear more daunting than it is in real life. I will need to use
appropriate camera angles and also may need to use the camera handheld rather
than on a tripod to create point of view shots of the protagonist and also as
if somebody is watching her from the top of the stairs. Doing this will create
more suspense and therefore link to the Thriller genre.
Script
Scene 1
Alyssa has woken up in an empty room and
she appears disorientated and out of place as if she didn’t know where she was.
There is non-diegetic eerie sound effects.
A flashback. There is diegetic music from
a party of a group of teenagers. The clip shows Alyssa dancing and there are
also point of view shots of girls taking shots of alcohol.
Alyssa runs to the window and tries to
open it, then manically turns and runs to the door and lets herself out.
Scene 2
Alyssa is walking slowly down a corridor.
There is non-diegetic eerie sound effects.
She stops at the bottom of a staircase and
looks up before making her way up the stairs.
When she is walking up the stairs, she is
looking at pieces of paper that are stuck to the wall.
The point of view changes to a point of
view shot from the top of the stairs as if somebody is watching her.
Diegetic sound of a door slamming spooks
Alyssa.
Alyssa: Hello?
*Pause*
Alyssa: Who’s there?
She carries on walking up the stairs and
opens the door at the top.
Scene 3
She closes the door behind herself and
looks around for somewhere to go. Non-Diegetic eerie sound effect.
Alyssa walks down the corridor and towards
another door.
The camera shot switches to a point of
view shot of somebody watching Alyssa from the window of the door.
Change of camera shot again, long shot
establishing the setting.
Alyssa walks through the door.
She looks around for a moment and then
goes to another door and opens it.
When she opens the door she gasps when she is faced with somebody
tied to a chair with a bag over their head.
The non-diegetic sound becomes more
dramatic and the diegetic sound is Alyssa
screaming.
END.
Research
Questionnaire
I asked fifteen people five different questions in regards to how
effective my mock-up's for my website are. These questions were:
1. Do you think that the colour
scheme of my website is appropriate for the Crime Thriller genre?
2. Do you enjoy being part of online communities? (Speaking to other people via forums, submitting user generated content, and viewing fan sites.)
3. Is the narrative of the TV series made clear in the 'About' page of my draft?
4. Does the website layout look easy to use and navigate around based on my draft?
5. Are there any other features that you would like to see on my website?
Feedback that I received made it clear to me that rather than having such a small audience age range of 15-25, I could infact broaden this to people aged up to 35 years old. This being because I asked several people aged between 24 and 34 and their feedback was positive towards my proposal.
From my questionnaire, I have
concluded that 60% of the people I asked enjoyed being part of online
communities and interacting online by speaking to other people on forums,
viewing fan sites and submitting user generated content like fan art and fan
fictions online.
I asked what features that
people would like to see on my website and the responses that I received
included more colour, information on cast and crew, more detail of narrative,
more genre appropriate and a use of more images throughout my website.
I don't think that the colour
scheme of my product is something that I would change because I hope to have a
textured background to give a crumpled paper effect.
An issue that I had when
asking people to take my questionnaire was that they weren't willing to do so
the majority of the time. I think that this is because they think that it will
take a lot of time to do.
Overall, I will take the
feedback that I received from my research and apply it to the final production
of my website, film and print projects.
Analysing an opening
sequence
Lost
As part of the research towards the production for my film which
I will work towards producing, I have chosen to analyse the opening two minutes
from the Pilot episode of the television series ‘Lost’. Although the series is
not necessarily a Teen Drama like the product that I hope to produce, it is a
Thriller. The episode uses many different techniques to show disorientation and
isolation in the point of view of the character that it is concentrating on,
making the audience very aware of the situation, too. I also chose to analyse
the Pilot episode of ‘Lost’ as the mise en scene has been considered very
carefully in terms of establishing the situation that the character is faced
with and also focusing on the surroundings from his point of view.
The series begins on a somewhat different structure in
comparison to a stereotypical storyline. Todorov is a theorist who said that a
typical storyline begins with equilibrium and then some sort of disequilibrium
occurs to disrupt the peace. However, in the Pilot episode from the series
‘Lost’, the opening two minutes introduce the character to have already been
faced with some form of disequilibrium. I can tell that some sort of disaster
has occurred as the man is lying on the ground in the middle of a jungle with cuts
on his face. The non-diegetic sound used also creates a sense of tension or
disorientation to represent how the character is feeling, this is effective
because it follows the Enigma codes by drawing the interest of the audience in
to continue watching and find out what has happened to the man.
Representation of the character in the clip has been thought of
very carefully, for example, the man has been presented as a business man. I
get this impression as he is wearing stereotypical business man attire; shirt
and tie. However, he is covered in cuts and laying on the ground of what
appears to be a jungle, which will make the audience question why he is there
and how he got there, creating another enigma code. The way in which someone
would interpret the scenario would most likely be in a reflective point of
view, as it is easy to realize that something out of the ordinary has occurred
based on the representation of the character and his surroundings. There are
many connotations that I can make based on the features of the opening scene,
for example the jungle setting links with the idea of a forest type location, a
stereotypical setting used to disorientate a character as there is not much
sense of direction. Also, the shirt and tie shows connotations of authority and
power in terms of a workplace, a businessman is usually someone who is composed
and in control, but when faced with a situation like he is in, the character
has been stripped of his control.
The setting of the scene has been represented very well using
different camera angles, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds and lighting affects
to show the disorientation of the character based on his surroundings. For
example, a close up shot of the character has then been used just before the
camera zooms out and rotates to establish the setting and also emphasise that
the episode may be very disorientating. Also, lighting used has been thought of
carefully as the setting is in a jungle-type location and therefore the face of
the man is patched with shadows from the leaves of the bamboo trees surrounding
him. However, the lighting in the scene when the camera angle becomes a bird’s
eye view changes so that most of the light is on the man, he is also wearing a
white shirt which highlights him more in comparison to his surroundings. And
finally, non-diegetic sound has been used to create a shock as the eye opens
all of a sudden. Both non-diegetic and diegetic sound is then used to create
curiosity in the establishing shot from the man’s point of view looking up through
the trees as he is lying on the ground.
There are many connotations that I can make based on the
features of the opening scene, for example the jungle setting links with the
idea of a forest type location, a stereotypical setting used to disorientate a character
as there is not much sense of direction.
From my analysis of the opening two minutes of the pilot episode
from the series ‘Lost’, I have learned how the directors intentionally used
representation, the setting and different affects to create an engaging
narrative for an audience to follow and interpret how the character has been
made to feel disorientated and scared. This will help me in the production
towards my product because I can use examples from this clip in the journey to
my completed product to create a disorientating setting for the character.
Swot Analysis
Strengths
- Online communities - web
1.0/2.0 - interactive.
- A website can be easily
updated.
- Websites can be accessed by
the audience by different platforms (computer, phone and tablet.)
- By using skills that I have,
I can make a website that is both effective and fitting to the genre which
will create an appealing mise en scene.
- Online promotion can be
easier than other types of promotion.
- Information about the show
and the fan site where UGC can be uploaded are in the same place. Keeps
the whole website interactive.
Weaknesses
- Constraint - Censorship -
how I will censor content so that it will not be accessed by younger
viewers who it would not be appropriate for.
- Because the show is on its
own independent website rather than YouTube, it will have a smaller
audience than it would if it were directly on YouTube.
- Limitation - Making sure
that I have the correct equipment and that I have skills in HTML and
coding to enhance my websites functionality.
Opportunity
- Creating something that
young people will like and talk about - the market of online communities
is huge.
- Being able to create
promotional products, like the magazine, across different platforms. This
also widens the profit that will be made.
Threat
- Content from the website
could be taken, distributed and abused - the tragedy of the commons.
- Finding the most effective
way of promotion/advertisement could be difficult.
- People's interests are
always changing - when will online communities no longer be part of online
popular culture.
Copyright Issues
Some
things that I have needed to consider when creating my products is copyright
issues. This includes intertextuality and the use of brand names, sound and
brand identity.
In
my research, I have mentioned the television series Lost and I analysed the opening two minutes of the pilot episode.
However, I needed to remember that my analysis was to be written with no screen
shots or video clips used in my document because I do not own the video clips.
Something
that I will need to do for my film is use sounds that I do not have the right
to use. If I had wished to use sounds from sources where there may be a
copyright issue, I would need to seek permission from the owner to use it.
When
carrying out my research into print and web products, I took ideas from the
house style but I did not want to copy the products completely. From the lost
fanzine and fan website, I had decided on a choice of font. However, the
overall house style is different because I have used a white, red and black
colour scheme.
Contingency Plan
For
the production of my film, I have needed to consider how I will solve issues that
may occur in the process of filming and post production.
If for some reason, a member of cast couldn’t make it to set on the
day of filming we would
need to make sure that we have a member of crew who is willing to step in, or we
would need to get an extra person to take up the role last minute. We would
take the names and numbers of these people during auditions.
If somebody is injured during filming we will make sure that we have somebody
who can drive on set and somebody with suitable medical and first aid training,
along with a first aid kit, to treat any minor injuries.
If somebody in the group cannot film everybody in the production team has some
form of experience with cameras. Therefore if Alice could not film, Beth would
be able to take over filming and I could take over Photography.
If problems occur with equipment on the day we plan to check that all of the equipment
is in working order before we leave to film. If any of the cameras appear to
not work, we would need to either delay filming or only use one camera to film
rather than two. Alternatively, we could use two cameras to film and then take
set and cast photos afterwards by recreating the scenes.
Risk Assessment
·
Trip hazard for the
cast and crew –
the wires from the equipment and also tripods. We will avoid people tripping
and injuring themselves on this equipment by placing notices on set to be aware
of trip hazards.
·
Slipping – there are slip hazards for the cast,
especially when the protagonist is walking up the staircase as the surface is
smooth and could be quite slippery. This will be avoided by making sure that
the cast and crew take extra care when walking up and down the staircase.
Talent Release Form
Talent Name: Lisa
Howarth
Project Title: Elsewhere
online Thriller series.
I
give my consent for the use of all footage and photographs of myself to be used
as property of Blair Entertainment
and distributed on their websites and press releases for the project that I am
involved in.
Location for filming Bovington
Middle School, Dorset.
Dates for filming 5th
November – 8th November
Producer Madeleine
Blair
Signature
Parents signature (if under 18)
