P1 - Memorable adverts

 

The aims and objectives of this advert is to encourage a vast audience of most demographics and is achieved by using the amazing musician and singer Elton John to share his story through an emotional display of all his achievements which all started when he was young when his mother and grandmother bought him a piano.

P2 Evaluating the Brief

 The Brief states that I will have to create a low budget TV drama for BBC 3.  The target audience is 15-21 and I must comply to their audience pleasures.  As i am part of IGS Creative i have been tasked by them to also make a cross media advertisement campaign that must consist of a trailer, an app with an interactive quiz and one other type of advertisement.  

A way in which my drama may appeal to my target audience is by advertising on types of media that are mostly used by that target audience for example 15-21 year olds mostly watch BBC 3 more than the other BBC sites so it would be best to make a trailer on BBC iPlayer on the BBC 3 section.  We could also put the trailer as an ad on Youtube.  The target audience mostly includes people of the white British majority however there are some from the black British ethnicity and many Asian ethnicities so we must appeal to them too by fairly representing their communities if need be in the show.   

M1 Script Conventions

 Here below is a screen shot of a section of my script from P4.

The Client has recently tasked me to make either a shooting script or a Spec script, I have chosen to make a shooting script.  A shooting script is basically everything that you be hearing and seeing on screen but its all on paper.  However its not that simple, Shooting scripts involve many conventions that are important to make it as informative as possible to different members of the production team.  My shooting script that I have made meets all the conventions to script writing as I have been paying close attention to what a proper script should have in it.  A shooting script also should be used to give technical instructions that are included for the editor, camera person and sound designer along with many other people involved in the production process.  As you can see in this screenshot of my shooting script there are instructions for the director and cameraperson where the shooting script is telling them to pan around all the people in the bunker. 

When it comes to the formatting of a script, it must always be in 12 Point Courier Font as this font ensures that a page would almost be 1 minute long.  My script is all written in 12 Point Courier as it is one of the most important conventions of a script.  Another convention of scriptwriting is the Layout of a script which can be quite confusing however it is easy to remember when you get your head around it.  To start with, each scene should start with a Slugline which is all in capitals by the way.  A slugline must include if its inside or not by saying INT. for inside and EXT. for outside. After that there must be a name of the set where you are filming for example DARK BUNKER. Which is the description of the set that starts of my script.  Then you must state what time of day it is and most of the time you would say DAY or NIGHT however you could also say EVENING or DAWN to be more specific to what time of day you want in your scene. Of course in my script I had a slugline for every time a scene started for example I had a slugline that said at the start of my script;  INT. DARK BUNKER. NIGHT.

There must also be well made, action blocks written in the present tense to not confuse the actors, producers and especially the director.  They shouldn't be too long as well, to ensure that a full page does approximately add up to a minute.  New characters in the show that are just being introduced should also be shown in full paragraphs for example when the main antagonists enter the scene he is named in all capitols in an action block, in my script.  Overall I have followed the action block conventions as I have made them relatively short as well as writing characters names in full capitols when they are first shown in the script.  Another thing to add is that action blocks should always be written in the present tense, an example from the shooting script of this would be in the first action block of the script that is also the first in this screenshot.  It starts of with 'families of all sorts are huddled together on benches...'  This sentence is in present tense therefore this shows that I have followed the script convention for action blocks.

Dialogue needed to be written effectively as well by making sure that characters speak effectively instead of sounding unrealistic.  Characters should sound realistic and if they must speak a lot, they must have a lot of action blocks in between if there is something happening when their speaking.  Overall in my script I have ensured that speech is realistic and isn't useless to the plot.  At times I have also used Parentheticals as they help tell the actors what the writer expects them to act when there acting out dialogue.   Another thing to add about dialogue is that it has to be authentic to every character especially in a period drama where people probably spoke differently back then.  An example of every character having authentic dialogue is the dialogue of the old man in this screenshot of the script.  He is a loud, extroverted man, not afraid to share his opinion he speaks of the wars he and his ancestors fought in and how the world is changing quite fast for the worst.  You can tell he is pessimistic which will give the first impression and tone of the show to the target audience who will see what the people are thinking at first.

Now when making a script it is important to understand the conventions of the genre your show is a part of so the whole show will make sense and not be out of place.  Of course Defend Our Island is a period - action hybrid drama therefor it should have conventions of both period dramas and action shows.  For both these genres, I have followed their conventions by, for example adding gunfights to the plot for action and also understanding the language of the time and incorporating it into the script.  When making a script it is also important to know if its going to be linear or non-linear as the story will have to be clear to the audience even if the show is non-linear and there is a constant back and forth of events in time.  Just for reference, Linear means that the show moves forward in time with no flashbacks, however non-linier is the opposite where there can be flashbacks or repeating of scenes in the past with different points of view.  The entirety of my script and the whole show is meant to be linear with no types of flashbacks or repeated scenes.  

It is also important to understand if the show is meant to be multi stranded or single stranded which means if there are more than one story taking place during the show.  Multi stranded means that the show follows more than one story and Single stranded is when there is only one main story to follow.  In the script that I have made for Defend Our Island, and the entire show, It is meant to be Multi stranded as there are two different main protagonists in which the prologue that I made shows them not being together at the start and there are two different stories that follows both of them separately.  There is also a small extra story that follows the main antagonist, Agent Smith who is just about to set off on his mission to cause unrest in the north of England.  They will all eventually meet and cause the show to be single stranded like most other multi stranded shows.  

Angle of article means whether the story follows the point of view of one character or perhaps more.  In the script that I have made, we watch the show through the Point of View of both main protagonists, Rosie and Xander and also the main antagonists sometimes, Agent Smith.  I have also made sure that the show takes part in a three act script which is a very important way of telling any type of story and this theory dates back to ancient Greece.  The Three act script is the understanding that every story should have a beginning, middle and end overall my script and the show follows this understanding.  For example, when making the screenplay of the script, I created the Prologue and a scene in which the main antagonists is revealed to the protagonists.  The prologue is obviously at the start and therefor in act 1 of the show and is the setup of the show, the secret Nazi meeting is in the second act of the show and is the confrontation in the show.

P4 Second draft, Full Prologue.

 

As you can see of the second draft of this script I have improved my script to a sufficient amount as there are plenty more pages and improvements with dialogue and improvements in the action blocks.  There are now transitions from scene to scene with fades ins, fade outs and cut to.  There are still some improvements to be made however as some minor characters need to be named and there are a few spelling errors that will need to be sorted.

P4 - First Script Draft

Here above is my first draft of the script, as you can see it is mainly unfinished and needs a lot of work, therefor in the next couple of days I will work to finish and improve this script by creating another two drafts.