Coursework: Summer Project 2019

Research: TV drama trailer analysis:

1)

TV drama trailer 1: Narrative and genre
How is narrative and genre communicated quickly and clearly to the audience?

Trailer 1 - Criminal minds season 13



From the very first mini scene of where a truck crashes into a police car, the genre is fairly clear. The police car and the officers inside the car wearing bulletproof vests already signify to the audience that this is going to be a crime drama. Followed by a scene where another character who seems to be in an officer away from the front line field is facing a screen with a map and a red flashing dot which says signal lost. This could have a direct link to the first scene where the first scene is the cause to the signal failure between HQ and the officers. Furthermore, at 0:14 we can see another character this time holding a gun where 2 cuts later changes back to the same character but he's saying 'I'm going to kill him' which also clearly reinforces the idea of it being a crime drama. The cut between those two shots shows another character which may mean that the first character was aiming to kill that character that shows up in between the two shots. At 0:17 we see a shot in a hospital where 2 severely injured patients are being rushed into the hospital. Both seem like different characters and unlinked directly to the other shots, but watching the episodes in order gives background information on certain scenes in the future.




TV drama trailer 2: Mise-en-scene:
What do you notice about the use of mise-en-scene to create meanings for the audience? Think CLAMPS.

Trailer 2 - Hannibal Season 1



Costume - The very first scene, we see 4 characters on screen. The two on the far left and the far right are wearing American FBI full suits and seem to be holding their rifles at the front. The two characters in the middle are dressed more casually with some in a normal day to day jacket and the other in a suit. This may suggest the 2 in the middle are about to go arrest someone with the back up of the FBI which tells the audience that there may be some sudden action in this drama. Then followed by a scene in some sort of lab with several characters in lab coats. Experiments lie on metal tables which do not look pleasant. This may tell the audience that some sort of experiment is going on or perhaps they are analysing a dead body from some earlier crime.

Lighting - The lighting in the first scene is natural lighting from the shop. This gives the scene a sense of reality which can make audiences feel more into the drama. The next scene in the lab also seems to be lit up by natural lighting but there are no definite lights to be seen. Unsure. The following scene does use natural lighting which is the sunlight from  outside which again can create that sense of realism. At 1:39, the scene between 2 of the main characters is lit from outside the window. This casts a shadow on the face on the side of where the camera is. This fits in with the dialogue since the last line is 'Oh you will' which is very ominous and eerie therefore using shadows to emphasise on that feeling.

Actor placement - The first scene places 2 of the non uniformed officers in the middle with the 2 officers on either side of them, this could suggest that the 2 characters in the middle are somewhat more important compared to the two on the side. This is true for at least of the characters since the next scene shows the character 3rd from the right in a mid shot alone where he holds up an FBI badge. He is again show in the first outdoor scene walking with a different character.

Make up - There is no significant make up change within the trailer apart from the scene at 0:32 where there are 2 characters lying next to each other. One alive and the other dead (since there is a blood patch around her stomach area. To show that she had passed away, her make up was done to make her look extremely pale. The pale skin shows that blood no longer pumps around her body and that it has been a while since she has died. This scene was a memory from one of the characters or rather a hallucination from one of the characters.

Props - The FBI badge at the start signals to the audience that the character is most likely one of the main and important characters. It also tells the audience that the drama involves the FBI so most likely a crime drama. To further reinforce this, they show a board with pictures and strings on the board. This is a very iconic detective/ crime drama scene. A gun is also used in the trailer at 0:59 which may suggest a gun fight at some point in the drama or maybe even several.

Setting - The trailer consists of over 15 different locations which allows the audience to see that there will be quite a lot of different episodes ad different scenes taking places in different settings. There is a scene in a supermarket, then a scene out doors, then a scene in a lab, and then a scene in some sort of office. However, one thing I noticed was that more scenes were shot indoors rather than outdoors and even if it were outdoors it would be during the night. This may be done to give off a more dark vibe to the drama.




TV drama trailer 3: Camerawork:
Here you are looking for particular camera shots and movement. EG. Are close ups used to introduce a key character to the audience? How are establishing shots used?

Trailer 3 - Breaking Bad season 1



The very first scene of the trailer shows a close up of the feet of our first character which is then followed by a mid shot/close up of the same characters face. The character is panting and from the first shot, we can assume that he was doing some sort of exercise. This may start questions of who this man is and what he is exactly doing. To give the audience a bit more information about our main character, a shot of a Nobel prize for proton radiography is shown to suggest that our main character was some sort of scientist. Again in the next shot, some more information about our main character is revealed. A breakfast plate is shown with the number 50 written in bacon on top of some scrambled eggs. This tells the audience that the main character is not a young person but someone older in age. The breakfast scene shot is quite shaky suggesting it was hand held perhaps to give it a sense of realism. More information about him is shown at 0:45 where he faints and in the following scenes tell the audience that he has lung cancer. At 1:11, we are introduced to our next main character, a young male who is involved in the drugs business. It is clear that he is also one of the main characters since he appears in the majority of the rest of the shots in the trailer.




TV drama trailer 4: Editing:
Analyse pace, transitions, number of shots and juxtaposition. EG. eyeline matches. Does the pace speed up towards the end of the trailer?

Trailer 4 - Mindhunter Season 1



The very first scenes shown in the trailer are more longer than some of the shots you would see later on in the trailer. When the picture of what looks like a crime scene picture of a dead body is being printed out, it is prolonged to see the whole picture get printed. From the ground to the feet, then the legs then the torso and finally the head. This allows audiences to get a feel of the type of drama mindhunter will be ad it is also an indicator that more of these sorts of images may be shown in either the trailer or the drama itself. That shot lasted 6 seconds which is much longer compared to the other shots that come in later. Some of the later shots end up stay at around 1 second before a cut to either a different angle of the same scene or onto a different scene from the drama. From 0:47 up until 0:53 contained 6 1 second shots. Some of these shots were from the same scene but there is still a cut between them. This may suggest an increase of tension in the storyline of the drama. The end of the trailer shows a 5 second shot of a character asking a question. By using a question at the end, it automatically makes the audience start to think of questions to do with it. In this instance, 'How do we get ahead of crazy if we don't know how crazy thinks?' Is crazy a person or are they just referring to the criminal as crazy? What happened to make him ask the question? Who is this character? All these push audiences to watch the drama.




TV drama trailer 5: Sound:
Analyse both diegetic and non diegetic sound - Music, dialogue, voiceover, SFX, background or foley sound etc.

Trailer 5 - Broadcurch Season 1



Throughout the trailer, there was only one example of diegetic sound which was at 0:47. The character (who seems to be the main character) says 'I promise' which is a scene from the actual drama. Apart from this one scene, every other second includes a non diegetic sound which is the song that plays throughout. There were other no diegetic sounds such as the voice over right at the start. The voice over is a recording of what seems to be a radio broadcast which explains what is going on in the scene that the trailer shows the audience. The main reason why the song is so effective is because it matches several scenes to the lyrics of the song. For example, at 0:25 to 0:26, the lyrics sing 'hide the tears' where the shot the audience sees is a character with a tear drop falling down her face. In a way the song tells the story of the trailer and is supported by the visuals that are shown within the trailer. The song itself is quite sad and slow which matches with the overall vibe from the trailer. The trailer shows a much more sad side to a crime genre where it shows the effects of crime on family. Watching the characters cry in pain and sorrow along with the help of the slow paced song really does affect the audiences emotions which make them want to watch the drama.




TV drama trailer 6: Trailer conventions, graphics, text-on-screen etc.:
Here you need to explore trailer conventions - what does this trailer have that you've spotted in all the trailers you have analysed so far? Look for things like text-on-screen, graphics, title, release date, social media links and more.

Trailer 6 - Luther season 1



One of the very aspects that can be seen is the voice over that is near the beginning of the trailer. This is seen in some of the trailers like the Broadchurch one. Both similarly put the voice over near the start of the trailer. Perhaps it was done to pull in audience members into the story line of the drama. We can see in Broadchurch that the voice over goes like 'An 11 year old boy was found on cliff Harbour beach' which instantly hooks the audience since there is a shocking news spread in the form of a radio broadcast. It makes the audience want to know what is going on and makes the audience more interested in the storyline of the drama. Another trailer convention that is seen within this trailer is the use of background music to communicate a mood within the trailer. The music used in this trailer is only music and does not contain lyrics. The music at the start is not slow but neither fast, as the trailer goes on, it speeds up and changes into a more upbeat and faster track to make the audience feel excitement from all the action that is in the drama. At the end, the music slows do considerably and a diegetic sound can be heard of a character in a hospital bed shouting 'Luther'.




Planning: TV drama Concept:

2)

Title:

Just me

Tagline:

Don’t worry, it’s just me.

Genre (and sub-genre/hybrid genre if applicable):

Crime

Setting (note brief – at least two locations): 

·         Elevator door close

·         Street magic 

Number of episodes:

20

Channel and time/day of broadcast (note brief – prime-time, pre-watershed, family audience):

8 pm. Before watershed and since it is a crime drama, it will include actions from criminals which may be better off not shown at prime time where really young children could see these.

Logline – one sentence that sums up the whole TV drama series and hooks people in (25 words or fewer):

The story of the survival of a rebellious teenager who uses the skills she has learnt from a mysterious figure in order to pave her own way.

Other successful TV dramas that are similar to yours:

•  Deception
  

Narrative arc – what happens in the overall series and in what order:

Valerie is a 17 year old who has lost both parents in illegal dealings which ended up in a brutal face off against the police. Valerie refuses to stay with her foster parents and ends up running away to attempt to survive in the real world by herself. She meets Lucifer (who specialises in card magic in order to earn money on the streets but also takes advantage in order to make pick pocketing easier) who teaches her tricks and basic knowledge to card magic. She later finds that Lucifer leaves her one day and she is left with nothing but the skills she has learnt.

Episodic narratives – what will happen in each episode?

In the very first episode, it will give the background story of our main character Valerie. From when she lost her parents to getting sent to a foster family and how her life was during that period of time. To end the first episode, we would introduce our secondary main character who only appears for a brief moment (perhaps 1-2 minutes near the end). This would allow audiences to start thinking about this this man is and what he does which then pushes them towards watching the next episode. The following episodes will reveal the secondary main character and show the journey the two take of teaching and learning while going out to hunt victims. Around episode 10, we will see a change where the mysterious man who teaches Valerie her skills suddenly disappears. The rest of the 10 episodes will show her searching for him and surviving along the way.

Main protagonist – their motivation, conflicts etc.:

Our main protagonist would be Valerie. After losing both parents and running away from her foster home, she had decided to attempt to live in the real world alone. However, fortunately for her, she finds a mysterious figure who teaches her a set of skills in order to survive. With these skills se can now prove to her foster parents that she ca survive on her own and don’t need them to look after her. After the mysterious figure leaves, life becomes much nerve wrecking as no one is there to save her if she ends up getting caught pick pocketing. With these nerves, she struggles to find the perfect stable mind in order to work to her best. Her fight to survive is filled with different struggles and emotions where she goes from feeling useless to being in control and calm. The main protagonist goes through a long winding and changing experience.

Other characters, their narrative role and their audience appeal:

·      The mysterious man – the dark and ominous feeling from him causes the audience to get hooked and interested in this particular character. Even though he is not the main character, he plays an extremely important role in the early stages of the story line.

Target audience for your TV drama (note brief – family audience, pre-watershed broadcast etc.): age, gender, social class, interests, psychographic groups etc. 

The main target audience is for audiences between 16 to 30 who enjoy a more realistic and mysterious type of drama. Audiences who are interested in the idea of ‘magic’ and the constant living on the edge feeling. This drama is also aimed at any of the card magicians out there who don’t really get enough attention or praise for the work they do and they may feel validated by having a movie based on the hardships of performing to an audience while not always making the most amount of money.


Statement of intent:

3)

The brief requires a 30 second trailer which would be for a drama that is shown pre watershed ad during prime time. This will affect the target audience as it means there will be younger audiences awake at this time, therefore, the audience target I have aimed mine at are viewers from the age 16-30 who are interested in a more realistic and mysterious type of drama. Also includes any viewers who have an interest in card magic or just the idea of 'magic' in general. I have chosen the genre of crime to carry out which may be a bit harder since crime dramas tend to include strong language and blood ad criminal activities. To limit myself to the aspects I am able to show, it gives me a challenge to work around. I plan to use the key aspects of trailers and different meaningful costumes, lighting and actions in order to create an ominous feeling which allows audiences to get hooked onto the story. Since it is a crime drama, I plan to use a number of quick cuts in order to build tension along with an upbeat fast backing track to support this. It makes the trailer come to life with both the combination of fast music and fast editing. Our main character will start with a very young style, perhaps a hoodie and jeans with trainers. Our next main character is portrayed as a much more ominous and shady and to emphasise this, I plan to dress him in all black and perhaps a mask in order to hide an identity which allows audiences to start thinking about this character and wanting to find out more. This can link to Roland Barthes theory of action and enigma codes. This character as a whole is an enigma code which allows audience members to start thinking about possibilities with this character. As for the storyline, it is the story of a teenage girl who loses both parents and runs away from her foster home and ends up meeting our mysterious character and learns skills in order to survive in the real world. This can be linked to Todorov's equilibrium theory where the loss of her parents and the running away from her foster home is seen as the disequilibrium and the meeting of a new guardian like figure is seen as the new equilibrium. The idea of this drama can also be linked to Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality. The drama will show the reality of the harsh life in London. Audiences who know how hard it is to live in London will understand some of the struggles that the main character faces in the drama. The drama would be shown on a more adventurous broadcaster who broadcasts more diverse content like channel 4. This also means that since channel 4 is such a well known channel, it means that the number of audiences would increase which would support the growth and success of the drama.