MEST 2; notes

Task; 

Our tasks is to produce the opening few scenes of our television programme establishing the narrative themes, character and location. You should include a title sequence and your finished product should be approximately two minutes long. we will be working for silver lining productions, a multi-media production company that has had recent television success with fly on the wall documentaries, structured reality programming and fiction products. They have also developed supporting media for their broadcast productions in print audio and e-media

Audience; 

We need to look at the target audience that we think will like our television production and who we think it should be aimed at which gives us a opportunity to prepare a pitch for development funding. Our programme needs to be have a target audience that is similar to E4's demographic which is (15-35) and needs to be suitable for pre-watershed broadcasting. We also have to look at how to identify our target audience which means to research how they would engage and how it would appeal to the audience correctly. From this we can get a few interviews done with teenagers asking them about socio-demographics to understand fully what type of audience it addresses to and if it fits into our one.

So far me and my group have researched and identified the connection between our target audience and the production by using various use of slang we will be able to engage the audience as they use this kind of term language which therefore builds a connection between the audience and the the drama. For example a show such as revenge uses formal language and the audience would not be able to stay in direct mode of address with them and stay connected with them and this means for our television teen drama we need to make the language more dramatic so the audience feel engaged  which means from understanding this it has helped us with planning our own ideas as we are aiming as a group to target it more at teen females then men as our drama consists more of an emotional genre and as women like drama, suspense and love story they will be more engaged into watching it. As we know that the television programme that we will be producing will be pre-watershed and we cannot use any sort of 'violence, drugs or swearing' involved and this would attain young teenage and men attention as this is what the society is depicted of today's ideology  However by having a suspense (enigma code) and some sort of a love story in the teen drama it would attain more females attention to watch it and as you look at other type of movies it is mostly targeted at females as females like watching romance as for men they like something which involves more of action. Furthermore from this we need to attain and undertake research in number of areas that allow us to approach our production in a more exprience, knowledgeable and intresting way so we are able to engage the audience and get their attention.

Me and my group need to consider all these types of things in our production in order to influence our audience into watching it from making making these media language choices such as;

• Audience appeal/engagement
• Common representational conventions
• Genre codes
• Institutional issues
• Ideological positioning 
• Narrative devices used 

From the use of these media language convention code forms we need to acknowledge and use them in order to make the audience feel as if this is made for them. for example 'Conventional opening sequences for dramas tend to contain vital narrative information having where, when, what and who.' and this would be something that we have considered as where being the location, the setting in which the character is in. When being what time during the day it could be night time or day time depending on the scene. What could be what is happening or taking place and who is the person. Something of this sort, which we need to take on board. We also need to think about how we convey a message to the audience, will they learn something from this? Or is it something which will be left for them to decide?

The Evaluation;

A good evaluation supports a good production but a weak one impact's on the grade achieved by the student when the marks from both parts of the assessment are combined.  

The evaluation needs to consider my completed work in light of the chosen brief. The production need's be analysed to consider its strengths and weaknesses in terms of fulfilling the stated function of the products, the effectiveness of the media language choices in copying codes and conventions and a consideration of the audience appeal. 

Useful questions which could help me for my evaluation:

Have I replicated form (reproduced) and genre codes successfully?

Have I used appropriate layout and design codes?

Did we use house-style appropriately?

How successful were we in creating products that would be appealing to the 

target audience?

How well have we fulfilled the functions of the productions?

Examples of Research and Planning Materials

• A ‘statement of intent’ summarizing pre-production research and its impact on 

the planning of the productions

• Annotated existing products – focussed on media concepts

• Written evaluations of existing products – focussed on media concepts

• Summaries of findings showing institutional research

• Identification of audience needs/expectations with evidence

• Justification of the selection of target audience 

• Summaries of findings showing ‘academic’ research

• Storyboards that are annotated to show changes and/or reasons for choices

• Scripts that are annotated to show reasons for choices

• Flat plans that identify genre/form codes considering layout and design codes 

and house style conventions

• ‘Before and After’ photographs showing post production manipulation of 

images

• ‘Before and After’ screenshots showing post production work for moving 

image

Broadcasting Task;
This broadcasting task use a documentary, interview or montage style to present 
information to the audience. Bands/artists use promotional videos on their 
websites or on YouTube and so research into the many approaches to this form 
should be undertaken first. Certain musical genres tend to have a visual style. This can be replicated in the video and the genre may dictate whether live music needs to feature or whether a serious or humorous approach is appropriate. We can use pre-recorded music if we want to if copyright free material is not available.

Our production needs to  consider mise-en-scene, lighting, costume and location as part of the planning process. If we use a variety of camera shots in the work tend to make more interesting moving image work. Post production effects may be appropriate and the use of the camera and editing software allows marks to be awarded for technical ability. In the evaluation we should be prepared to talk about the reasoning behind their media language choices. And consider the choices in light of the requirements of the brief/task.

Research could investigate how themes, characters and locations are identified early 
in a broadcast. Showtime dramas use a range of methods. For example, Game 
of Thrones travels across a map of the fantasy world the audience will find 
themselves immersed in whilst Dexter uses a montage of familiar domestic images 
(cooking breakfast, getting dressed etc.) in extreme close-up, destabilising the 
familiar and tying it into the violence of the story-lines to follow.   

Productions We as a group need to use the knowledge and understanding gained from the 

research  to inform the media language choices made in our production. We should use this knowledge but  the higher level marks are rewarded where conventions are not simply replicated but where students also show creativity and flair in the approach. This means having originality and being influenced.  In broadcast work, including and having locations/costume and lighting, or in post production choices can show originality and creativity. Audio work too can use existing codes.

Mark Scheme:

The candidate demonstrates creativity and clear technical proficiency in the use of the chosen technologies (AO3). The candidate also demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the necessities and details of the production process (AO3). Codes and conventions have been used appropriately and with some flair throughout (AO3). The productions are clearly fit for purpose in thelight of the candidate’s research (AO4). At the top of this level work will demonstrate considerable attention to detail and a genuine sense ofengagement with both the chosen media and the subject matter.

Holiday Tasks;

Over the half term we have been given tasks to do which i will be completing everyday. we have to research and concept of ofcom research rules and regulations of the pre-watershed concept so this could help in our production as we could then know what to contain and what not to contain. We also need to make a power point which me and my group needs to do over the half term together so we can present our final idea to the teacher and the class on the first day back. All of us have been given different duties for e.g. dupinder is researching more into teen drama and i am researching the lighting and analysing different lighting's that we can use in our production. Moreover mandeep and Rashmi are taking pictures of the locations and also the sounds. Overall we will all be looking at different things together and presenting them on our next meeting.

1. Ofcom Research

2. Storyboarding

3. Script

4. Progress reports

5. Action Plan

6. Focus Groups

7. Actors research