P2 Plan for a cross media advertising campaign

 

Exam preparation

 

Exam question 7

•The development of the app associated with your TV series will require the creation of a production schedule. 

•Evaluate the effectiveness of using a production schedule as a part of the planning process for the app. You may refer to the specifics that are in a production schedule to support your answer.

A production schedule will be useful for the planning process for the app for my Tv series because it includes all the tasks that will need to be done over the course of the production because production schedules list tasks and allocate what specific days those tasks will have to be completed on or between, for example since the proposal from our brief has to be completed by the 4th of January so the initial ideas for the app in the proposal would have to take priority over any stages of app development. 

A production schedule might not be as useful because on a production schedule there is no information about who will be completing the listed tasks so if people do not know where and when they are needed on production days, they might not attend and postpone production. For example, if the app designer and coder are not present for the early stages of app development then the production cannot move forward so online production management software might be more useful as everyone would have access and see where they are needed on various days through email so there is a minimised risk of the production being delayed because project management software would do it all automatically. 

Production schedules do not have contingency plans so if something goes wrong in the course of production, then a whole new production schedule will need to be made which will take up time that could be spent moving the app development along. However, if a Gantt chart is used, it would include contingencies and therefore would make sure that a whole new production schedule would not have to be made. Additionally, Gantt charts are very visual whereas production schedules are not and would not stand out if put on a notice so there is a higher chance of missing deadlines. Gantt charts highlight contingencies, deadlines and tasks which everyone could see at all times. In this instance, Gantt charts would be more useful than production schedules.

P2 Evaluate the Brief

What is the Brief and what are the Aims and Objectives of it?

 My brief is to create an advertising campaign to promote my TV show that was pitched in the last unit. It must be cross media (some traditional media, some digital media) for the TV show that I pitched in the last unit. It needs to comply with all regulations (ASA, BCAP) and complies with the conventions of individual media e.g radio must have a voice-over and sound effects and a tv show must include short bursts of footage from the show itself with intermittent titles saying when the show is going to air. Since it is going to be viewed on BBC 3, I need to establish why BBC 3 and how it's going to stand out against Netflix, its greatest competitor. 

What drama series will you be advertising and what are the key things that are likely to appeal to the target audience? 

I am advertising Face the Past which is aimed at a 15-25 age demographic. As shown by my primary research post from my Unit 21 Plan and Pitch unit of which the full post is linked here, it demonstrates that the majority of people watch shows for both the characters and the narrative. As for the genre and themes more widely, I found that people want a show about a criminal underworld and mental health.

'I mention my target audience for my tv show in depth in my Proposal for my tv show which is linked here. I explain that the demographics for my target audience would be people between 15-21, and are primarily of a male demographic as looking at the audience surveys, it shows that a larger male audience would enjoy the crime aspect more than other genders, possibly this may be because of the violence or themes, but females and non-binary people might also like the show as the audience research wasn’t only males, there was also a high amount of non-males interested in crime shows.

As some of the characters will be representative of different sexualities, this might hopefully attract the LGBTQ+ community to the show as is not going to queerbait like other shows have in the past such as Riverdale.

My target audience would be interested in crime shows, mystery and possibly comedy as my show is going to occasionally have some comedic aspects so the tone doesn’t stay too depressing. Additionally, although education level isn’t a large factor in the viewership, since the characters will be attending a college, my target audience is people who are currently attending full time education, either a college, an apprenticeship, or an university to be able to have the personal identity of the audience pleasures and relate to the characters and so that they would be of a similar age to the characters.'

Taking this on board, the campaign would feature heavily on social media (primarily instagram, twitter, snapchat- specifically stories-) as 15-21 yr olds now stream more than watch tv with the family. Social media would be the most easily accessible method as then anyone can view it and follow along if they show an interest. 

What can you do to work out exactly who the target audience of your show is going to be? think about what research you could carry out and how you will conduct it.

As well as conducting an audience survey about what shows they like to watch, I also asked a focus group for their opinions. here

Secondary Advertising:

blog.hootsuite.com says that, 'Activity and engagement is crucial for every social platform to build a positive brand experience, and develop meaningful relationships with new and potential future customers.

Social media engagement is measured by a range of metrics that could include the following:'

• Shares or retweets
• Comments
• Likes
• Followers and audience growth
• Click-throughs
• Mentions (either tagged or untagged)
• Using branded hashtags

It says that we have to know our target audience, know what engages them and what is more of a miss. You then can tailor your posts with the target audience in mind, with fonts, type of content type of voice, and when to post. (If your target audience are students, then you might want to post at night because its unlikely that they'll be on their phones during school hours- or shouldn't be, anyway). 

Staying topical is also a good idea, talk about and engage with things that your target audience are also interested in, try to have a voice. Not taking yourself too seriously is another things- try to engage with the meme culture of today. Add in a human touch, a sign off to show that you're not only part of the capitalist corporation world take-over. Answer questions, try to be open about the team, show actors doing everyday things.

M1 Evaluate different cross media advertising campaigns for consistency of message

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oXsLBKwvbnE-QFhtLslSNDIsbkN061eC/view?usp=sharing

More advertising- celebrity endorsements and shock marketing

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT?

• TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC - CLASS, GENDER, AGE ETC.
• GEOGRAPHICS - GEOGRAPHICAL STATUS
• PSYCHOGRAPHICS - PERSONALITY, LIFESTYLE, VALUES ETC.

HISTORY OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT

• 1950s DORIS DAY HARVESTER ROAD ROLLING EQUIPMENT
• 1970S COKE ADVERT WITH PEPSI CHALLENGE (1975) ADVERT 1979 JOE GREENE
• 1980S CO-BRANDING MICHAEL JORDAN NIKES (1984) AIR JORDANS - MORE HANDS-ON APPROACH FROM THE CELEBRITY
• 1990S RISE OF TECHNOLOGY AND NICHE MARKETING SHAPED ADVERTISING - A TRIBE CALLED QUEST AND SPRITE
• 2000S INFLUENCER MARKETING - RUNNING DIALOGUE, MORE INTERACTIONS (ZOELLA, KSI, LIZA KOSHY) 

An example of a celebrity endorsement is for the Armani Code advert which they've used Ryan Reynolds. This advert must've worked because I remember his endorsement and this advert because of it. Ryan Reynolds is a well-known film star and has a lot of fans worldwide because of it. The aim of the advert is to sell aftershave/perfume and it succeeded, having just under 4 million views on youtube.

An example of influencer marketing is:

SHOCK ADVERTISING 

P1 Describe an existing media advertising campaign

The advertising campaign I have chosen is: Aldi's Christmas 'Kevin the carrot'.

Aims and objectives: To advertise Aldi's new Christmas food range. They're launching a whole new series of products (at a cheap price which is typical of Aldi) and are using this character to make people check it out. 

Target Audience:

Demographics: It doesn't appeal to one ethic group/race as the adverts tend to be very representative of different cultures and within this advertising campaign, the main 'character' is a cartoon carrot who is definitely just a carrot and isn't depicted as a specific race. According to yougov (see below), Aldi is most popular with Millennials and Baby Boomers (Age 25-60) as well as more popular with women. Aldi targets these social grades: C1, C2 and D because Aldi specialises in providing items (food, drink, clothing, decorations etc...) of really good quality at a lower price. Aldi also appeals to young families for this exact same reason.

Psychographics: According to the different types of psychographics, people who shop at Aldi are typically Strugglers, Mainstreamers or Explorers.

Geographics: There are more than 5,000 Aldi stores in the whole UK. 

Slogan: "There's nothing quite like Christmas." and "Wishing you a very merry award-winning Christmas." These are both unique to the campaign and are heavily Christmas themed with 'Christmas' being right at the end of both slogans on the website to really drill the message in. 

Key Messages: In the advert, it focuses on the family side of Christmas because it centres around Kevin getting home for Christmas to eat with his family. The message could be that Aldi is perfect for a family Christmas and a Christmas wouldn't be the same without it. 

Approach: Iconography of Kevin The Carrot because everyone knows who Kevin is from last years advert (which was based on The Greatest Showman).

Call to Action: There isn't a call to action in this advert as it's just raising awareness for the Christmas range of products.

Representation: Stereotypical depiction of Santa Claus, represents a family unit so isn't representative of people who don't have a stable family. 

Campaign Logistics: This campaign uses the bursting/flight model as the Aldi advert 'burst' onto the scene all at once and is shown on irregular intervals on tv. There is very heavy marketing for this campaign as it is everywhere and Aldi wants to show the quality of its Christmas products. After Christmas, this advert will stop and the adverts will become less regular.

Choice of Media: This advert is a TV advert. Along with this, however, there are also Kevin the Carrot children's toys. The campaign also follows onto the store's website where Kevin is put everywhere, especially on the Christmas selection. Since it targets families and people between the ages of 25-60, these people 

Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues: In this advert, the use of other film and TV references are used so there will be the issue of copyright infringement (The film E.T) so there would be legal issues to use this within the advert. The advert is relatively truthful as it doesn't spread lies about the quality of the products. The advert is unaggressive and looking at the CAP and BCAP, there aren't any issues because the advert is 'legal, decent, honest and truthful'.

But because this is a food product, there are special regulations that have to be included within the advert and approved; the product can not be misleading or promise various health benefits that it can't deliver on. (see below).

CAP and BCAP: The CAP and BCAP Codes are the UK’s advertising rules for agencies, advertisers and media owners. CAP stands for Committee of Advertising Practice and BCAP is the Broadcasting equivalent. BACP covers on TV, Radio and online advertisements and the CAP Code covers everything else including online banner ads, paid for search listings, email, text messages, brochures, catalogues, posters and so on. Both codes are designed to ensure that marketing communications are legal, decent, honest and truthful. The Codes are policed by the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA). The Codes are similar but BCAP includes concerns about the scheduling of broadcast advertisements, such as making sure that advertisement for adult products (such as alcohol) are not broadcast when children are likely to see them.

General rules include:

• marketing communications must be clearly identified as marketing (this is has caused problems with paid-for tweets not being clearly marketing) 
• marketing communications must not cause serious or wide-spread offence. Note you can shock people or offend a small group of people, the rule is not to cause widespread offence. An example is the 2014 TV and cinema advertisements for Booking.com.  Complainers argued the ads were offensive because the word ‘booking’ was used to indicate a swear word. Despite receiving over 2,000 complaints, the ASA decided the advertisements were light-hearted, did not condone swearing or cause wide-spread offence.

*www.marketingcollege.com

Regulatory Bodies: The BBFC will have been used to give the advert a rating, which will have been used to decide when the advert can be shown on TV (before or after the 9pm watershed). ASA is the main regulator of adverts (tv), they are an independent regulator and provide advertising codes. For this advert to be approved, Aldi would've had to submit the advert, and only when the company gives the green light can it be aired (they would've had to stick to the plan they submitted as well). Ofcom is responsible for TV adverts as well as radio adverts so Aldi would've had to check their radio advert.

Key Terms

What is an Advertising Campaign?

a series of advertising products and/or events linked by a core message or aim. These campaigns are also cross media advertising.

The Media:

Communication channels through which. news, entertainment, educational or promotional messages are disseminated. The internet, newspapers, magazines, television are considered as a group.

A Media Product (aKa Media text)

A single product like a book, magazine, video, audio, app, game etc..

Medium: 

The form the product takes; the method of delivery.

Media Platform: 

The tool by which information and content is distributed to the audience (e.g website, app, TV show, film, video game).

Market: 

all the consumers who use a product, e.g cornflakes

Market share:

The percentage of those customers who use a particular brand.

Market research: 

Activity of gathering information about the audience and their preferences. You can get market research through means like questionnaires and focus groups. 

Brand Awareness:

The aim of advertising.

Segments: 

Audience subgroups defined by sets of characteristics such as where they live or their lifestyle choices. 

audience profile: 

The specific demographic variables of an average target audience member for a given media product based on age, gender, income, ethnicity and interests.

USP: 

Characteristics of a product that identifies it away from the competitors. 

Value proposition: 

A promise to a customer that they will receive and/or experience value for their custom. e.g Coca Cola promises to 'make you happy'. 

General Aims for advertisements:

1. Create brand awareness
2. Introduce a new product into the market
3. increase sales and achieve larger market shares than competitors. 
4. re brand an existing product
5. generate feedback
6. achieve a combination of the above

(have an example of each AND ADD IN LATER)

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ADVERTISING 

Pop-ups:

Adverts that appear when using a specific web page

Pop-unders:

Adverts that appear when you close a page

Web banners:

adverts on a website hyperlinked to the advertiser's website.

Email marketing:

advertisers send adverts to your inbox if they have your email address

Contexual advertising:

adverts linked ro recent internet searches you've made (ie ADSENSE)

Search engine marketing:

companies pay search engines to display links to their other websites, and their presence ranking higher on searches. 

Vloggers and bloggers:

Advertisers offer free products to influencers (ie Zoella)

Call to action:

In marketing, a call to action is an instruction to the audience designed to provoke an immediate response, usually using an imperative verb such as "call now", "find out more" or "visit a store today".

Above the Line Advertising:

When there is advertising that everyone can see e.g a billboard or a bus advert. These adverts are not targeted to a specific person and hope that enough people of the TA see the advert. 

Below the Line Advertising:

When adverts are targeted especially to YOU through sites tracking products you've viewed or websites you've gone on. This type of advertising includes pop-ups and a good example of below the line advertising is the 'You might also like' bit on Amazon. 

THE LEGAL AND ETHICAL SIDES OF THINGS: 

ASA is the UK's independent regulator of media across all platforms. Using the ASA, this makes adverts have to be honest, socially responsible, truthful, decent, legal, accurate. Additionally to this, they cannot endorse any sort of illegal activity. They have a selected council from all different walks of life to accurately represent the general public. If a company continuously breaks these rules then the ASA will forward them on to Trading Standards and Ofcom. 

https://www.asa.org.uk/non-compliant/protein-world-ltd.html Problem Food Claims: Protein World Ltd breaks the UK advertising rules for making unauthorised health claims for its “Carb Blocker” supplement on the proteinworld.com website.

https://www.asa.org.uk/non-compliant/vistaprint-bv.html

https://www.asa.org.uk/non-compliant/holland-barrett-retail-ltd.html

Memorable adverts

Memorable Adverts

 Magazine advert: Got my attention because it's bold and takes up the entire page.

Key message: To use their product as it's the safest product to use around the home.

Target Audience: Parents that work/ stay at home parents and adults (25-35).

 TV advert: This got my attention as it's got a really catchy song (jingle) that has stayed in my head for at least 8 years.

Key message: That these kids are having fun and enjoying this toy- and your kids will too (if you buy it).

Target Audience: Parents and their kids.

 Radio advert: It's a very stern voice and as it goes on the voice becomes very rushed as they start to list all the items- it makes you listen to all of the products.

Key message: To go to Tesco because they literally have everything in store at a very low price.

Target Audience: Adults and people who listen to the radio (mostly adults/parents) and also people who want to buy food cheaply. Lower middle class/Lower class.

Examples

Other memorable adverts include:

      

P4 Third script draft

I finally fixed the dialogue and added in a few more comedic moments to fit by comedy subgenre.

P4 Final Script

 

D1 Requirements met

 Have we done a good job with our scripts?

The Leeds based production company wanted me to write a sequence of events from my tv drama, it had to be between 10-15 minutes long and was aimed for a BBC 3 15-21 audience so I chose an exciting segment of my tv show to fulfil the aim which is to promote our tv drama to gain interest from our target audiences. As it's already been commissioned and paid for, we are writing a shooting script which will include shot types and camera angles so they could film from my script on set.  

My tv show is going to be episodic as it's made for a home audience. The conflict is realistic (my show includes manslaughter, murder, robbery, physical assault) and as you can see all of these crimes range in severity but are all serious conflict. The conflict is physical and emotional but they work together- the physical violence affects Connor mentally so by the end of the first series, he is more paranoid. 

My show is a crime drama with the subgenre of supernatural.

Typical features of TV Dramas: Episodic tv dramas normally are for a home audience. Tv dramas are about people and conflict in their relationships. There is usually one main conflict and other subplots which follow other characters- these can follow minor plots which interact with the main story but aren't a really large factor. This could be something such as a romance subplot. 

Equilibrium - Everything is normal, Connor (the main character) goes to school, hangs out afterwards with a few friends and goes home.

Disruption - Burglary occurs, things are stolen and Connor is lightly traumatised. In the morning, he realises that he's body swapped and is also repeating the same day over again.

Recognition of disruption - After the first day and burglary for the second time, he realises that this isn't a dream.

Attempt to repair - He goes around trying to find out why his house was targeted and also why they broke in to begin with.

New equilibrium - He finds out why and manages to stop the time loop however he is more shaky, paranoid and fidgety before. 

What extract did I choose and why?

The extract that I've chosen is from episode 1 and 2 of my tv show which is the introduction of my disruption (the burglary) following onto the recognition of the disruption (the body swapping) which is recognised right at the end of my chosen scene.

It reveals the whole nature of my show with a few comedic moments (the burglary montage scene, the breathing into the Tesco's bag, the screaming section at the end) and introduces Connor as a flawed character. He's too reliant on everybody else and is cowardly when the people break in- he believes that the best way to go about it is to go along with it and do what they say. As an explanation, he's a scary-cat but through speech, hopefully elements of a further 'relatable' personality comes through in the use of swearing and underwhelming reactions (Which typically fits into the British type of humour). 

By choosing the extract with my burglary in centre frame, I should've (hopefully) highlighted it as a significant event- which it is. It's the catalyst for my entire show so the audience need to see it to fully invest in my show. If they don't see it, the audience might get confused- which I don't want. 

I haven't ended on a cliffhanger but on an active question- What's causing the body-swapping? How's Connor going to fix it? How will he learn and adapt? I think this is wise because if I left everything resolved then the audience wouldn't have a reason to tune into the actual show.

Why will people be interested in my show?

Hopefully, in my script I've given him some introverted character traits (not speaking up, not challenging people, being very quiet, preferring to spend time on his own rather than with people, not shouting etc...) which people might be able to relate to as 25-40% of the population identify as introverts. I think the audience will be intrigued by the supernatural element as well as the incident (burglary) itself as something like a burglary could happen in real life so might be relatable but adding a supernatural twist might hook the audience in and make them watch on. People have always been interested in the supernatural as it aids escapism for the audience so they can invest in something so different from their everyday lives and can take a break from it. The time loop element has happened in Groundhog Day (winner of a BAFTA film award and one of the most famous timeloop films ever made making a lifetime gross of $7.9 million dollars.) and more recently in Netflix's Russian Doll which was nominated for a golden globe and won some Primetime Emmy Awards showing that there is an audience for this type of show.

Character Dynamics:

In my script, I tried to make Connor and his mother, (Heidi) seem close. There's no angst on Connor's side and no overbearingness from Heidi. Hopefully, this is a good setup so when my show progresses we see their relationship change dramatically. I also sort of introduced Wesley through text messages in my script- he's Connor's boyfriend and I purposefully didn't want the texts to seem nice as Wesley is not a kind character. I tried to portray realistic relationships (as not all teenagers have issues with their parents and not all relationships are perfect) and to not overly dramatise them as BBC 3 tends to broadcast realistic shows that comment on society instead of melodramas. 

Connor's character arc:

In the extract, we are right at the start of Connor's character journey as the script features the first major disruption 1/3 of the way through. Overall Connor has a Fall Arc, he changes negatively by becoming more paranoid and ultimately harsher with people as he discovers that most people have their own motives and don't actually value him, they're simply using him. He realises more things about the people in his life (his mother especially) and this changes him- it finally makes him realise how corrupt the world can be. In my chosen extract, we see don't see any change in Connor yet, since it's very early in the show and he hasn't made any concrete growth.

The laws of my alternative universe:

In my script, I show the audience the burglary (along with what day it is explicitly) all the way through then into the 'next day' where I show Connor in a different body to his own (his mother's) I then flick back towards the real Heidi in the kitchen, showing the audience that there are now two versions of the same person simultaneously- I haven't found any evidence of this being used in a time-looping concept so hopefully with the body-swapping and having the navigate the original person, the day replays, I think the idea is unique enough to intrigue and audience as I don't answer all the questions they may have instantly.

P4 Second draft of script

 

I have incorporated all the feedback from my first draft of my script which includes cutting down the number of parentheticals and changing the spaces between the character name and the parentheticals to 1. The biggest change I have made is to increase the number of pages my script has from 5 to 10 to fit the brief of a 10-15 minute script. I will add more pages later on if I can. 

Now for my second (feedback underneath): I will change some of the dialogue to make the characters,  (especially Heidi) seem like actual real people and also clarify why Connor won't call the police- as he's too scared. 

Feedback

-I had a feeling there was going to be a plot twist but I didn't expect it! The atmosphere you evoked was really good but I got confused by the plot twist but that was probably intentional. One thing I picked up on was some of the dialogue- particularly Heidi's which sounded a little strange in places at first- I thought that was because she's a whimsical character and I didn't know if that was her characterisation. She seems calm in this intense situation. One example- page 4- I'm confused at why she goes 'I don't know how this is going to go'. Maybe her career could be in stressful situations. She seems too relaxed until the photo smashing.

-My favourite moment is after the burglary when it follows Connor's perspective- reminds me of expressionism.

-Also I was interested in why Connor was anxious about calling the police- to me it suggested that they have a reason why they don't want the police anywhere near them. 

M1 script formatting

 Rules:

We are writing a shooting script- because of this is the most appropriate as we are including some specific technical intrusions for the director and the producers. A spec script is to secure the money whereas the shooting script goes onto the set and is used as a production document. 

The set standard script for the industry says that it has to include the slug line, action blocks, dialogue, the character's names have to be written in CAPITALS and all of the action blocks have to be in present tense. 

If the speech needs to be said in a certain way, parentheticals are used (between the speech and character name). The industry standard is a courier size 12 font as this makes 1 page equilivant to one minute of screen time so 20 pages is approximately 20 minutes.

Formatting: 

As shown in the diagram (see below), there are different industry standards for different things. One of these things is known as indentation which is all to do with alignment and where things have to be located on a page. 

1. Action blocks and Scene Headings are aligned furthest to the left (Scene headings must be all in capitals)

2. Dialogue is indented further in towards the middle and text is directly under it towards the middle left of the page.

3. Transitions are indented to the far right hand side. 

Type: TV episodic drama

Genre: Crime, supernatural

Angle of the Article: Written from a 3rd person perspective but follows the character Connor around. Occasionally, there are POVs from him. 

Non-linear: Sporadically there are flashbacks.

Single-stranded: Follows one person completing a single task. 

I have done this layout in my script as you can see below:

P4 Script first draft

 

My Script (1st draft)

 

                                                       My Script FEEDBACK (1st draft)

P3 Script Planning

 

P2 Developed Ideas

My first idea is when Connor swaps into the body of Keiran, one of the guys who initially broke into his house- he is forced to relive the burglary but he is the one orchestrating it this time. I took this idea forward as it would expand on the world I'm creating and would hopefully hook the audience (who's into crime shows) to continue watching. Additionally, choosing this would help me set the tone for my show- that it is has dark themes and doesn't shy away from showing violence in a realistic way. 

My second idea is the first body swap where Connor, after the first burglary occurs, wakes up in the body of his mother and finds out that he's reliving the same day over and over. Although I will have to write some build up beforehand so the pay off makes sense, this is an obvious choice as it sets up the entire theme for my show and hopefully expresses it in an interesting way so people will want to continue watching my show.

 

22.7 P2 Initial Ideas

How long? Purpose of product? Target Audience, script type, spec or shooting script, set up or cliffhanger?

I have to make a 10-15 minute long sequence of our tv show that would gather interest from the possible audience so they would be more intrigued and might end up watching it when it's broadcast (as the purpose as told in the brief is to promote my show). The main target audience of my TV show is teenagers and young adults (specifically 15-21yr olds) with a secondary audience of this age group who are interested in crime dramas with supernatural elements. For me, I think cliffhangers would be a good way to hook an audience as in my show, there are plenty of tense moments I could end on. The script I'll produce will be a spec script. It needs to be made to secure funding for the full production of the show by the BBC and also I will think about which aspects of the story are interesting so the audience gets hooked on characters and the world. (Not boring, filler scenes.)

22.6 P2 Scriptwriting Top Tips!

4 Golden Rules of Screenwriting

1. Sections
2. Present Tense
3. Show not Tell
4. Characters

Sections

• Slug Lines
• Actions
• Dialogue

Slug Lines = e.g INT. KITCHEN - DAY 

Shows the location, interior or exterior and night or day.

Actions = Basically whatever the viewer sees has to be written into the script in the forms of action blocks. E.g 'Umar enters the kitchen, opens the fridge and removes a CARTON OF ORANGE JUICE.'

Dialogue: What is spoken on screen, laid out with the characters name with the speech directly under it.

HENDRIX

Are we going to go now?

Present Tense

All text in scripts (excluding dialogue) has to be in present tense. This means that there shouldn't be any 'is' in the actions blocks. E.g Sundus is walking should turn into Sundus walks.

This is an example from a show called, my left nut. The left is the corrected one, the right is the original!

Show don't tell
Instead of telling the audience that a character (for example) likes scooters, you should show them.

Showing: Darren enters the kitchen, sees a scooter and makes a gagging gesture. 
Telling: 

AJ

So I heard Darren doesn't like scooters!

Another example of this would be like this: 

INT. BAKERY - DAY

KARLA stands in the middle of the bakery, waiting for her order to be called out. She looks over and sees a lone BAGEL on a chair which makes her shudder and bat it onto the floor.

Characters
When a character is first introduced, their name is in all caps and there should be a brief description of what they look like and who they are so that casting and costume design will be able to use the script.

INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR - DAY
ALEXIA, 17, struts down the hallway, waving. She wears a bright, perfectly fitting, green cheerleading outfit with red hair that reaches her shoulders.

Micro script tasks

1. A relationship between two characters
2. A woman telling a man she's pregnant

INT. LIVINGROOM - NIGHT

SHANE, 37, gets off the sofa with a huff, tossing the remote uncaringly behind him and trudges over to the dinner table. He watches the same tv show as before on his phone as food is brought to him. His partner, JAMIE, tidies up the table, rapidly scooping up different letters and papers which he sorts into two different piles, then brings Shane through a lager. 

JAMIE 

Did you manage to get your script done today?

SHANE (not looking away from phone)

These things take time, just stop pressuring me and I'll probably make some progress, I just can't with you always in my ear about this and that!

INT. STARBUCKS - DAY

BEATRIZ sits in the middle of starbucks with MARVIN, who is opposite. She looks highly uncomfortable, fiddling with the lid of her drink.

MARVIN

If you've got something to say, spit it out. 

There's silence. MARVIN sighs, goes to stand but BEATRIZ grabs his arm.

BEATRIZ (wearily)

I'm pregnant.

MARVIN holds eye contact with him for a second then yanks his wrist back and storms off.

Unit 22 P1 Task

Unit 22 P1

D1 Discuss Client considerations

Representation. 

-Themes

Mental health. 
I initially chose to focus in on mental health issues within my show as I thought it would be a very relatable topic for my target audience of 15-21 but hadn't really put much thought into the finer details of how I would be able to portray anxiety and paranoia correctly without it being overly stereotypical or incorrect.

In my pitch, I received very helpful feedback (that I agree with) that I needed to be more thorough with my explanations about specifically how mental health issues will be shown, which was very useful to me as I decided before my show could be made, I would have to take action to find out more about these issues and how I would show them. As I mentioned in my M3 Understanding Feedback blog post, I am going to show the gradual appearance of these mental health issues, showing Connor having more symptoms of paranoia and anxiety as the episodes go on, showing him to be isolating more and also staying away from large social events or any major confrontation (or showing more reservations about it if he is forced to.) The reason I want to introduce this gradually is to show that mental health issues can happen to anybody and tend to build over time.

In my M3 blogpost I talked about how I'd expand my show’s exploration of  Mental Health Issues in a possible season two.

“If I had thought about this before, I would have said that for the second season, I want to focus in on the new family dynamics and Connor stepping into his own, being more independent, also following up with the mental health issues that were brought up towards the end. Also, I want to continue the supernatural element with Connor and Keily together, possibly having a new ability also to do with time, such as seeing into the future by 30 seconds.” To expand one what I meant here in relation to the mental health aspects, I will explain: Since Connor has dealt with his mental health issues alone so far (through series 1), a new angle would to see how he acts around different people and how his relationship changes with them because of his paranoia (which may result in him being very wary of his friends' ulterior motives) and his anxiety, so he may not be able to hang around in large groups anymore. I want to follow up on these mental health issues obviously within the episodes, eg, letting Connor speak to other characters about his problems, including Keily who has suffered mental health issues herself. Possibly this could address further mental health issues (such as depression or bi-polar) so they could look for places that could help them together as this would show to the audience that friends and family are there for them and will help them to get help.

Before my show could enter pre-production, I would want to speak to people who have experienced these mental health issues (anxiety and paranoia) to represent them within the show using Connor's character the best I can as well as Keily's.


Characters

Within my cast of characters, I don't want certain characters to be representing individual issues, eg: Connor represents bisexuality, Keily with mental health. I would like all the characters to have multiple layers to their character to make them more relatable to the audience.

A piece of feedback I got about this was about if Connor had an inner monologue. Personally, I don't think this would add much to the show and might take the audience out of the experience, realising that they're being told exactly what the character is thinking, instead of being able to guess along. I don't agree with the respect that there should be an inner monologue but I think Connor could tend to talk to himself instead to make his situation seem more plausible.

I would avoid using this inner monologue technique by initially letting Connor (in the body of someone else) completely freak out and appear to be scared. Depending on who's body he will be in, there will be different reactions to portray his emotions without unnecessary exposition; with his mother's, he'll be more confused and freaked out, the burglars, initially confused and then angry etc. I intend to instruct the actors to change their body language depending on who it is and how he feels about that person, (open body language, defensive, agitated,) because people inherently can identify body language.

For example, the film Freaky Friday does not use an inner monologue and you remain aware of what the characters are feeling and know that they are each other despite looking like themselves through body language and the way that they speak, acting like they would act normally but in somebody else's body. I would want this to happen in Face The Past as it will definitely help the audience to differentiate!

Look of the show

Special fx

I was also asked a question about special effects since in one of my episodes, there will be two copies of the same person. Definitely, before starting pre-production, I would need to work out how this would work as it is a really important scene while keeping the costs pretty low. I agree that there might be a need for compositing and if so, the budget for the show might have to be reassessed depending on how much that would cost to do (see below under Budget).

As I don't want to add more to the budget than I am already aiming for, the choreography of where the actors and cameras are going to move to is going to have to be perfect so they can be simply edited together in a split-screen sort of way to create the appearance of the two actors where there will only be one, sticking to this will mean that only basic editing effects will be needed in post-production.

Budget

If we were to choreograph the camera movement and actors multiple times before actual shooting, this would cost more as we would have to pay for longer hours on the set and therefore may get fewer scenes shot within a day, meaning the locations might have to be rebooked for different days than I was thinking. This method would cost less in post-production also as instead of having to composite things into the shots, only basic techniques will have to be used as well as special effects such as a gun firing.  In conclusion, I think the cost of special effects and specialist editing software to do this will cost more than booking more time within a location and the overall effect may look better if shot authentically, rather than added in later on.

Positive Feedback

In my M3 blogpost, I discussed some of the positive feedback I got from my client. One thing I was very pleased to hear is that it would be 'Good for the BBC3 target audience' as the themes fit in with some other shows that are already on BBC3 such as Fleabag and Back To Life. When I was planning the themes of my show and the overall look of it, I was very conscious of all the pre-existing shows that also appeal to this target audience so I'm happy it paid off.

How will I ensure it it perfect for my 15-21 target audience? Well, I will ask the target audience through social media, online questionnaires or the BBC adverts on tv what they would like to see within this TV show so I can get direct feedback from the target audience and possibly adjust some things to make it more representative of their wants as this is a show for them that they should enjoy.

M3 Understanding Feedback

Final Pitch

Q. So is the burglary the central event that is being relived every day?

A. Yes, it's really the whole day, the burglary happens around 35 minutes into each episode.

-I would have explained more that as the episodes go on, there are some things that he can't get out of, eg: coming up with an excuse as to why he isn't in school and what he does before the burglary effects massively how the burglary is going to go, better or worse.

Q. Does Connor disappear as a character when he becomes somebody else?

A. Yes! He's got to make excuses as to why he's not there, so he'll have to ring the school claiming that he's ill.

-I'd add in that he still exists within the story every day, so people might ask where he is. 

Q. He has to hide from the real mother when he becomes her to add in that extra comedic element?

A. Yes, exactly

-I'd explain how, eg: It adds in another layer to his character, and should be comedic because he'll have to navigate around her and there'll be some very close calls.

Q. Why does he try to hide from her?

A. Because he's seen enough films to know that you're not meant to do that.

-He doesn't know what's happening so instinctively copies what he's learnt from other TV shows and movies just like any person in real life might if they were posed the same question.

Q. You've made a lot of effort to represent LGBTQ+ to normalise it which is good, my worry is the representation of the female stalker character, do you think there's a danger when to comes to stereotyping?

A. Yes, I'll have to deal with that quite carefully. I think if there's a reason for her to do things so they're justified as much as they can be. There will an 'if you've been upset by any of the themes in this tv show' things at the end. Also, we'd put out public surveys to ask them what wouldn't be a good idea. There is definitely an issue with stalkers being idolised, especially with shows like You with the main stalker, Max. I think we need to show clear reasoning behind her actions.
-Talk to people who have been stalked to get an accurate representation and definitely not to glorify stalking, I want to make a point that it is unhealthy behaviour and that the audience should see that it is not okay.

Q. Potential for a second season, is there potential? Can you try to imagine a second season, if that's possible?

A. Well, I tried to leave the ending pretty open, maybe following the mother's story more with Keily into the family with a new dynamic.

If I had thought about this before, I would have said that for the second season, I want to focus in on the new family dynamics and Connor stepping into his own, being more independent, also following up with the mental health issues that were brought up towards the end. Also, I want to continue the supernatural element with Connor and Keily together, possibly having a new ability also to do with time, such as seeing into the future by 30 seconds.

Q. Special effects, if we've got two copies of a character will there be a need for compositing?

A. I want them to stay far away from each other so it is easier to edit, not touching each other or going into their spaces.

-To keep the costs low, since this is a low budget production. I think if we did it this way, we could still make it look great.

Q. You said at the beginning it was going to focus on paranoia and anxiety and mental health issues. Are they going to be induced due to the situation or just as a normal teen going through life?

A. It's going to be a mix of both. Definitely, throughout the episodes, he is going to show more symptoms, especially with paranoia as he is going to be second-guessing all of his actions. I want to talk to people about the realistic representation of anxiety- as I know there are stereotypes of it and I want it to be represented right.

-If there was going to be a second season, I think I'd want to explore his treatment and recovery to leave a positive message to the audience who might be going through the same thing.

o------o

Feedback from the client:

Positives

The pitch was detailed – you had thought through the required aspects of your idea.

I spent a lot of time on the pitch so am happy that it checked all the boxes and came across coherently!

Your PowerPoint was visually branded beautifully and gave a sense of the show

I worked on this since the last pitch!

I love that you gave us an “it’s Groundhog Day meets Final Destination” towards the start of the pitch

I took advice from my last pitch and made the improvement, I also think it sets the tone well!

You were able to answer questions in a mature, professional manner

Thanks.

You responded positively to feedback and suggestions

I appreciated the advice, thanks again.

Room for improvement

The delivery would have benefited from more “selling” of the idea

Yep, I agree totally, it definitely focused on describing too much instead of selling, in retrospect, I would've definitely asked more rhetorical questions and sold the idea to the client!

It would have been nice to see you in professional business wear

In retrospect, I would've worn a professional shirt for my pitch.

Content feedback

Positives

Your logline was effective in conveying your show in a nutshell 

Great, I'm glad it came across.

Very detailed episode breakdown

I made an effort to really think of the intricacies of my show, thanks.

Good for BBC 3 and the target audience

That's great, I'm happy it suits it.

Excellent range of supporting documents that enhanced pitch

Thanks.

Room for improvement

Explain if we the audience will hear the inner monologue of the protagonist in the body of other people, to help us understand his mental state?

You won't be able to hear an inner monologue, but Connor will talk to himself during the day, keeping the audience in the loop of what he's thinking. His thoughts may also be shown with 1st persona camera shots. 

Explain how mental health will be represented in your show.

Through the character's experiences and times where they might not feel comfortable in certain situations because of it. Connor will develop mental health issues because he feels out of control with his life and unsure of his decisions, becoming more and more anxious and paranoid as the episodes progress, staying more to himself and warier of people, staying away from public spaces and having more time to be by himself, slowly isolating away from his friends. Towards the end of the show, I want there to be more focus on him doing things alone and having (near)breakdowns where he could just cry.