My Intentions (updated)

Within my research I found that the target audience for science-fiction drama was usually youth to adults between the ages of 16-30.  I came to this conclusion after visiting the Misfit’s website, where they have presented the home page with a large picture of young adults between the ages of 17-25. On the Smallville (another science-fiction drama) website the head image has the same thing, with the subsidiary images below this. On both websites there were screen grabs of the show, where action or supernatural happenings were taking place, which we usually associate with attracting male audiences, so we are led to believe that science-fiction dramas are predominantly aimed at males.

In creating a website aimed at an audience between the ages of 16-30, I will present a simple website that is easy to navigate around for a casual browser, looking at pages that include photos, videos and information on what the show is about, including character descriptions and their background history. In my research I found that a website is considered to be more interesting if the pages are simple and brief, and the layout of the website shows images related to the page links. The colours I will use will connote to the genre of the programme and also give an idea of what the programme is like; using dark colours will show the grittiness of the programme we intend to create. The 3 pages I intend to create will be the ‘about’ page, giving detail into the programme’s synopsis and where the idea has come from. It will also include a brief summary of each character, accompanied with pictures. This should contain content that will interest the audience and persuade them to watch the show. It will also give the audience a greater chance to connect with the characters and relate to them more easily, so that they understand the character’s history before the show and are not left questioning it throughout when the show is being aired. Other pages will show images, including screen grabs of the programme, location shots and character headshots, building up anticipation for its release. In addition, it will show videos showing the final product and interviews with the cast members about the show.

In creating our programme I intend to create an entertaining science-fiction drama, appealing to our intended target audience. When conducting research into the producers of the E4 products, a member of our group, Jake Hashdi, phoned the producers of the E4 science-fiction drama, Misfits. They told him that they never solely targeted their products at a particular audience; they aim to attract as wide as an audience as possible, but try and appeal to a lower class audience, as they are more likely to relate to the ‘real life’ issues within the programme. Therefore, the programme I intend to create will be targeted at males, aged 16-30 but will also appeal to any other audiences that enjoy the science-fiction genre. It will be aimed at those in the C2 grade of the NRS social class, as the toughness and grittiness will be easy for them to relate to, and the struggle of everyday life in the post-apocalyptic world will be entertaining to watch and escape to from the world around them.

Although the show we intend to create is a science-fiction drama with action and adventure sequences, it all creates a fantasy world that is entertaining to watch, but within this we intend to incorporate real life situations. E4 did similar things with their popular TV show, Smallville, and their story line of the main character losing one of his parents. This ‘real life’ element will make the show (putting the fantasy element aside) seem realistic, having a gripping storyline for all audiences to enjoy. Bearing this in mind, if we were to make the full episodes and season of the programme, we would make some episodes happy, some funny and some sad, appealing to a variety of audiences. We will stick strictly to the conventions of the genre whilst creating original content for audiences to enjoy. We will make efficient use of time when filming by making sure we have full understanding of how to use the equipment before we start filming and are familiar with the editing software before we start to edit.

Pre- Production & Production Schedule

This was the production schedule for the day of filming
The schedule for editing was to finish by the 31st of February
The pre- production research was be finished by the 4th of November:

Responses to feedback on pitch

What went well:

- Firstly my group really liked my idea, they told me they thought my synopsis was well thought out, I had made an effort into making it as original as I could but still making it based on popular TV programmes out that the moment. They liked the fact I had gone into detailed description when explaining not only what my two minute clip would be but also what I would do for a whole episode and even giving a brief series synopsis.
- They praised me on my visual mood board, they told me that it reflected my ideas well and that I had a clear vision of where I wanted to go with my production.
- My group liked the fact I had taken our research on board with creating an appealing synopsis for the programme, I had also bared in mind an easy location  to film at when deciding the location that my programme was set in.

What I could have improved on:

- In my pitch I had a lot to get through, in such little time. Unfortunately I didn't manage to explain my script or show my script to any other member of my group. The area that I need to improve on for this is my time management.
- I think what I could have done better was explaining more about how I intend to make my production more beneficially and targeted toward our target audience. I think I went into too much detail into the synopsis of the series and where I intend to go with the programme, information that wasn't relevant. This time could have being used for explained something far more beneficial to how I intend to target my audience and/or my script.  
 

My Treatment - Including Pitch

The Pitch including my Treatment, Script and Visual Mood Board has being uploaded to Slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/ZacBowen

Summary of Research

Me:

In my research I found out the while a lot of people in the demographic that is our target audience enjoy dramas and a lot of them enjoy dramas on e4 they enjoy seeing comedy within these dramas as they feel it makes the show more entertaining. I think this is defiantly something we will have to consider incorporating into are drama. I asked a question in a focus group saying, “do you prefer a storyline that runs though out an entire series or a few episode or a narrative structure were the storyline is different every episode” and the answers I got back were mixed. However, one answer I got back was both. This is defiantly a sensible option when considering how the narrative structure will go. In my secondary research I studied books to see if I could apply any knowledge of people who have being in the media business a long time. Some of the aspects for production seem helpful which we can apply when making our program however the information I gathered for audience doesn’t seem relevant and it seems as though my primary research would be more helpful for that. Although, the media book I read did say I was going about the right way for information.

Hannah: http://mediahannahw.blogspot.co.uk/

In Hannah’s research a lot of people in her online questionnaire said they preferred characters that they can relate too and a lot people in the same questionnaire said they enjoyed paranormal dramas, this could be something to consider when thinking about storylines. Also a popular answer was that a lot of people would watch real life drama, this makes me think about my storyline for my drama and how I should write it so it is as ‘real life’ as possible.

Jake: http://mediajakehashdi.blogspot.co.uk/

For Jake’s research, he analysed a popular show on E4, with the same target audience as what our show is aiming for. This can be helpful as the show is very popular and we take the techniques used in this show and apply them to our own show to make it as popular as possible. He also looked into reviews for similar programs which can be helpful as this gives us an insight into what audiences like and what they dislike. He also researched into production companies and how they function and the tactics they use when creating a show, this can be helpful as it will make the production of our show more efficient. For his primary research he phoned up production companies such as Clerkenwell Productions and got them to answer question regarding our research. The answers he got back were very useful and gave us a wider insight into how these top production companies go about making their shows and appealing to their target audience. This will be most useful as we can defiantly apply this knowledge into our own show.     

Nathan: http://sullymedia.blogspot.co.uk/

For Nathan’s research he firstly looked into the type of camera (Nikon D3100) we will be using to film our show. This can be very helpful as Nathan should now hopefully be able to operate the camera which should speed up production. Nathan also analysed the webpage for Misfit (a popular show on e4) which will be helpful, as another part of our task is to create a 3 page webpage for our show, using techniques off Nathan’s analysis we should be able to create a successful website that attracts more viewers. He also conducted audience reviews of shows similar to the ones we are going to make, this is helpful as it narrows down are target audience (as the research suggests that more male are interested in drama on e4 such as Skins, Misfits and Deadest) into a more specific target audience and even though we will not solely base are show towards this audience we can still take in this demographic to increase the popularity of the show.

Primary Audience Research - Survey Results

What is your gender?

Male: 17

Female: 21

What is your age?

1-13:

14-24: 37

25-35:1

35+: 0

What is your favourite genre of TV show?

Action: 3

Comedy: 22

Sci - Fi: 3

Reality: 1

Horror: 1

Drama: 10

How many hours of television would you say you watch per week?

none :0

0 to 3: 10

3 to 6: 8

6 to 9: 11

9+: 9

Do you watch E4:

Yes: 29

No: 12

If the answer to question 5 is yes, what is your favourite E4 show and why?

-"The big bang theory because it’s awesome"

-"Misfits because it’s funny and interesting."

-"The Big Bang Theory, because it's clever, funny and well written"

-"The big bang theory"

-"How I met your mother or The big bang theory because Barney and Sheldon are just SOOOO good."

-"The Big Bang theory, just genially funny with humorous actors"

-"Fresh meat"

-"Don't really have one. if i had to pick then probably big bang theory but to be honest E4 is just something i put on when your flicking through and there's f*** all else on."

-"How I met your mother because it's funny"

-"Mad Fat Diary (used to be Skins)"

-"Rules of engagement and bang theory"

-"Big Bang theory because its my type of humour, awkward guys trying to get girls"

-"Skins good mix of humor and drama"

-"Big Bang Theory - it's funny."

-"Revenge, just think it's amazing"

-"My mad fat diary because it shows the aspects of life today"

-"The Big Bang Theory, specific characters that are somehow relatable"

-"My mad fat diary funny"

-"90210 and because I love the cast"

-"Big bang theory, it's really funny!

-"They always have good programs and series that are as good and better than more popular channels."

-"I don't have a favourite show on E4 I tend to just watch whatever's on and looks interesting. :)"

-"Fonejacker, the Inbetweeners, scrubs, misfits"

-"Big Bang theory - it's funny."

-"The Ricky Gervais show because it’s very funny."

Survey carried out and completed by Jake Hashdi

Primary Audience Research - Focus Group Responses

http://soundcloud.com/dashboard

These are the responses I got in a focus group I conducted, I have had permission of all participants to release the recordings on this website. Some of the responses are very useful conserning what they want to see and don't want to see and what they would like to see conserning narrative structures and character types. It seems that a lot of our target audience enjoy dramas with comedic elements to them. This is something we will definitely consider when writing our script.

One of the appearance release forms for the focus group