Lesson 1
TV DRAMA - FORMATS
They're four different types of drama in television:
- Single Drama
- Series
- Serials
- Soaps
Series: It is a programme that is broadcast, either daily or weekly, this is where there are the same characters and use a basic situation would be used to tell a different story, each episode.
Serials: This is a format that uses the same characters and locations (like series), but episodes are not complete (cliffhangers) and the story lines would continue through to the next episode which would encourage us (the audience) to continue watching the show. Usually story narratives would carry one story line.
Soaps: It has multiple characters, they carry different story lines at once. Usually there are no story line that would dominate and story lines would carry on for weeks or months before it comes to a conclusion.
Lesson 2
Boy A: Its a movie about a boy (Jack Burridge/ Eric Wilson) and his best-friend (Philipp Craig), they had murdered a young girl, by beating her to death and throwing her in the river nearby. This film was inspired by the murder of James Bulger, a two year old kid that was in a shopping centre with his mother but she had lost him in the mall and two kids had taken him. They had raped, tortured, and murdered him. This film was loosely based on this.
Jack Burridge/ Eric Wilson: Was released from prison, after the murder of the young girl. Eric was sent into rehabilitation and when he was released, he went by the name of Eric Wilson. His best-friend (Philipp Craig) was murdered over the years but Eric was told it was a suicide; however Eric had realised over the years that it was actually a murder and not a suicide.
Jack Burridge/ Eric Wilson: Was released from prison, after the murder of the young girl. Eric was sent into rehabilitation and when he was released, he went by the name of Eric Wilson. His best-friend (Philipp Craig) was murdered over the years but Eric was told it was a suicide; however Eric had realised over the years that it was actually a murder and not a suicide.
Lesson 3
Narrative Structure
Linear: A film that follows an order
Non-Linear: A film with multiple story-lines
Flash Backs: Films that look into the past
Realist: A realistic film
Anti-Realist: A non-realistic film
Open Ending: A film/television show that end on a cliff-hanger
Close Ending: A film/television that ends on the plot
Different Narrative Structure
Narrative Form: It is the structure through which movies tell stories
Narratives: It appears everywhere throughout media and society- in novels, plays, comic books, television shows and commercials. They are most common in fiction films, but also appear in all types of film.
Events Occur in Space and Time: A narrative is an account of a string of events occurring in space and time. Narratives do not unfold randomly, but rather as an ordered series of events connected by the logic of cause and effect. This logic of cause and effect ties together character traits, goals, obstacles and actions.
There are three acts:
Act 1: Introduction
Act 2: Midpoint
Act 3: Climax
Set up/Exposition: Meeting characters, establishing the setting, setting the tone - establishing the normal of the film world.
Rising Action: The central conflict is introduced and the tension between the protagonist and antagonist begins to mount, many events will happen and stakes get higher.
Climax: The climax is the turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonists future.
Falling Action: The major action has happened. This is the aftermath. This is the sorting out of the major conflicts resolution.
Denouement/Resolution: The creation of the new normal. The conflict is resolved.
How Narratives Unfold
Character Development
Different Narrative Structure
Narrative Form: It is the structure through which movies tell stories
Narratives: It appears everywhere throughout media and society- in novels, plays, comic books, television shows and commercials. They are most common in fiction films, but also appear in all types of film.
Events Occur in Space and Time: A narrative is an account of a string of events occurring in space and time. Narratives do not unfold randomly, but rather as an ordered series of events connected by the logic of cause and effect. This logic of cause and effect ties together character traits, goals, obstacles and actions.
Spider Man: Homecoming
- Peter Parker gets his suit from Iron Man.
- Bank Robbery took place and he stopped them.
- The villain is revealed and his intensions are brought to light.
- The villain gets hold of illegal weapons.
- He comes back from a job and his best-friend finds out his secret identity.
- He finds out that his crush, likes spiderman, and his best-friend tries to help him out.
- Spiderman goes on a mission and the villain attacks him.
- He shows his intension of harming the city.
- Peter's classmates went on a trip to the Washington Monument, and the villain attacked the monument.
- Spiderman arrived and saved his friends from the building, he also did to keep the monument intact.
- He finds out that the villain is doing an illegal deal on the Staten island Ferry and decides to stop him.
- The villain has split the ship in half, and Iron Man had to stop the ferry from sinking
- Iron Man, then takes Peters suit away from him.
There are three acts:
Act 1: Introduction
Act 2: Midpoint
Act 3: Climax
Set up/Exposition: Meeting characters, establishing the setting, setting the tone - establishing the normal of the film world.
Rising Action: The central conflict is introduced and the tension between the protagonist and antagonist begins to mount, many events will happen and stakes get higher.
Climax: The climax is the turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonists future.
Falling Action: The major action has happened. This is the aftermath. This is the sorting out of the major conflicts resolution.
Denouement/Resolution: The creation of the new normal. The conflict is resolved.
How Narratives Unfold
- Exposition
- Series that unfold due to cause and effect
- A new situation arises- mainly through character choice and conflict- it restores equilibrium to the world of the story and brings about the end of the narrative
- A new story equilibrium almost always results in a character change
Lesson 4
Character
- Narrative films generally focus on human characters and their struggles
- Characters are typically responsible for pause and effect in narratives
- Flat Characters are minor characters who do not go through any substantial change throughout the story or have much substance to them
- Round Characters are more developed characters who experience a change during the story
Character Development
How do writers develop round, dynamic characters?
- Through conversation with other characters
- Through group associations
- Through direct description of that character
- Through reactions to conflict
Character Traits
- Traits are attitudes, skills, habits, tastes, psychological, drives and any other qualities that distinguish a character
- Traits in opening scenes are relevant to later scenes, this is related to cause and affect
Character Choices
Goals and Obstacles- Goals might include locating treasure, choosing a foster parent or looking for love
- Characters encounter obstacles in pursuing these goals - the collision of goals and obstacles create conflict and thus drama
- Characters create cause and effect through choices that lead to conflict and consequences
- These patterns are designed so that the viewer clearly sees and understands them
- Characters posses traits, face conflict, make choices and undergo changes that enable or hinder pursuit of a specific goal
Character Profile
Name: Wallace Perkins
Age: 22 years old
Birthday: June 30th 1967
Birthday: June 30th 1967
Birth Place: Compton, California
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: African-American
Nationality: American
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Hair Colour: Black
Height: 5ft 11in
Weight: 12 Stone
Personality: He's laid back and relaxed, he doesn't really care for anything or anyone besides his best-friend (Douglas Parker), family, and girl-friend (Erica Hernandez)
Character Bio: He was born in Compton, California, on 30/06/1967. Wallace Perkins was born in a gang ridden area filled with Bloods and Crips, his father was a member of the Piru Street Families (Bloods Gang);
however Wallace did not get to meet his father because he had left his family;
his mother on the other hand was a working woman. Wallace is the third of four,
he has two older brothers (Leonard and Michael) and one younger sister
(Tamera). Leonard was a member of the Piru Street Families, he was killed
when he was 17 years old. Michael is a member of the Tree Top Pirus. Wallace had gotten into the
lifestyle and had eventually joined the Piru Street Families (under the
leadership of Big E) alongside his best
friend (Douglas ‘Doug’ Parker). Wallace was put under house arrest for a
burglary when he was only twelve (alongside Doug). When he had gone to high
school he had a girlfriend (Erica Hernandez), but at this time he had also
joined the Piru Street Families. When he had
joined he had killed a person (Shockz), which had haunted him. He ended
up getting arrested when he was in college for brutality; after this Wallace
had decided to change for the better. He had decided to live with Erica and had
managed to get her pregnant; however Wallace didn’t get to see his child
because he was killed by Doug and Big E (he died at 22).
Conflict - Central to any Narrative
- Relational Conflict - This is conflict between characters over goals and how to achieve goals
- Inner Conflict - This is conflict within a character. It could be concerned with their self esteem, insecurities or uncertainties
- Societal - This is conflict between a person and a group. This group could be a government, a gang, family, the army, or a country for example
- Situational - This is conflict that develops as a result of a situation. Disaster films use this style of conflict
- Cosmic - This is conflict between the main character and a supernatural force e.g. God or a universal god
Lesson 5
Briefs
Contract: You can tell a contractual brief apart from the others easily, you will have to sign it. A contractual brief is descriptive, it describes what is required from you. It is used in situations where there are large sums of money involved. If there is a lack of trust between the client and the employee. You can face legal action if the contract is breached.
Negotiated: It would argue that all briefs are somewhat negotiable; however this brief is almost entirely up to the employee, as the client is open to ideas. A negotiated brief would give more leeway as you alter almost all of the briefs aspects. This would mean that you get to use more of your creative version.
Formal: A formal brief is a document that outlines the specifications of a product or service. It would be well set out and structured in a neat and orderly fashion. As it is formal language, this means no slang or abbreviations. The document would be thoroughly explained so the employee knows exactly what they are doing. This to make it look professional and would have the clients logo on it.
Informal: A short piece of text or email that requests to someone to do some work for them. An informal brief doesn't have to be written and can just be a verbal agreement. This is usually see with friends or when little money is involved. A trademark of an informal brief is that it is written in informal language, this includes slang.
Commission: It is where a client commissions a company to fulfil a brief. A commission is usually only to give a company who clients had established relations with. This is done instead of the brief going to tender, as you already know who you would like to work for. This would mean that you can save time on looking for potential employees and just go straight away to your company of choice.
Competition: It is a brief which is open to the public. This kind of brief allows for a wide range of people with a spectrum of talents to create a product which is based on the brief for free. This is a competition brief, so only the winners would get a prize or monetary reward. This means that less money would be spent on a product, and you would have wealth of different ideas to choose from.
Tender: It is similar to competition brief as it requires a client to post a brief that is open to outside companies. After receiving the brief the companies have to come to pitch on the clients to vi for the work. The best will be selected and then they would be given the chance to work for the client; this is to develop their ideas and creating their product.
Co-Operative: This is where two or more companies are contracted to work on the same assignment. This may be done for a number of reasons, maybe the most common is multi-skilling, one company may not have the expertise to complete all the assignments by themselves. Another reason could be having a tight deadline, if the deadlines are too short then two companies will be able to finish work faster.
Reading a Brief
When reading a brief you have to pay attention to what kind of brief it is; would it be contract, tender, competition or co-operative. By knowing what brief it is when coming up with ideas and actually working on the project. The things in a brief that you need to pay attention to are;
- Final Dates
- Timescale
- What is required?
Negotiating a brief
All briefs are negotiable to an extent, so when you receive one its always best to carefully read through and check if there is anything that wouldn't be possible or that you would like to change. Negotiation can be crucial especially when something isn't plausible or that will put you of pocket. For example, if you're filming a snow scene (in a movie) and it is filmed in the summer, then you would change locations
Tip for negotiations
Give yourself and client time - read the brief thoroughly
If you don't understand something - Ask
Make sure that both you and the client understand and agree expectations, goals and objectives are for the negotiation. Many times, the contractor comes back thinking they've done a great job, only to find that the clients expectations were based on issues only partly communicated and understood.
Opportunities
There are many opportunities to be found within a brief on top of money making aspects. Some of the possible opportunities are:
New Skills
Self Development
Multi-Skilling
Gain Contacts
Experience
Travel
Communication Skills
Portfolio/ CV
Meet Clients or important people in the industry
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