Preliminary exercise: Research and planning

Preliminary exercise: Research and planning

1) Choose at least three TV dramas similar to your concept and watch at least one scene from each. Make bullet-point notes on everything you watch, commenting on camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene.

How To Get Away With Murder: Narrative and genre

In terms of the tv crime drama genre it is mainly viewed by the older generation however because the show involves a narrative of law students it gained a lot of attraction from college/law  students across the world, which skyrocketed the viewer age. show starts off with an introduction to a criminal law course, throughout the seasons the audience is able to identify the irony between the law class and what they have to go through in order to actually get away with murder. The narrative is then communicated to the audience through varies flashbacks at the start of each season and working its way through to the very last episode of the said season to showcase the whole event in one piece rather than in fragments. By doing so audience are left into a cliffhanger each episode causing them to binge watch the show as the crime drama genre has always been some what a game the audience can play with the characters themselves to unfold the mystery as they go along. 

Narcos: Mise-en-scene

When it comes to storytelling, great lighting can play a subtle yet powerful role. You can control how your audience takes in the story with directional lighting, pinpointing critical people or objects that help establish plot points. The opening scene for Narcos, the audience can identify the time setting is at midnight, which you also tell through the lack of sunlight. In creating this illusion the lighting has been used in various different ways such as through the monitors being used in the vans, streetlights, neon sing lights from the restaurant.By doing so, it creates a more natural feel as if the audience is part of the group itself. In terms of the setting, visuals across the screen and name dropping can be used to recognise the setting in this case its Bogota, Columbia. Setting is also measured by the props and the construction of the set to make it look like a location straight out of Bogota. 

You: Camerawork

You is meticulously known for its point of view camera shots from its main protagonist Joe. The camera has been positioned to give an insight on how Joe views others since the show is from his perspective. In season 1, episode 6 between 39:00 - 40:00 the camera points up above as soon as we are about to see who receives the gun, and as soon as that happens a gun shot is heard. This particular scene shows the analytic side of how camera shots meanings can infer. The anticipation builds as the camera hold sits the positioning pointing ti the air, allowing the tension to build and for the audience to react.Close up shots reinforce he anticipation making it clear that the viewer is a character within the show allowing them to experience the events with Joe himself such as a perspective shot.


Breaking Bad: Editing

Video editing helps in getting rid of the flawed or unwanted parts of the footage. As we already know that a lot of footage is shot while making videos. It is important to go through the completely shot footage and select the best footage which can be used for creating the final video.  In terms of editing in Breaking Bad in season 4 episode 13 jumps cute are crucial in terms of what the scene is producing, in this episode one of the most powerful deaths occurred and to execute it the editing had to be on point, from the way they are seated to every movement they make. As the character presses the bell, you can see the camera zooming onto the hand movement as it cuts straight to the villains perplexed emotion. In order to match up the scenes, timing is crucially important for editing, to create a seamless transition into the explosion and the character walking out which then pans from the side to the front of the character creating the perfect eyeliner match between the audience and the view behind the character.

Prison Break: Sound

Sound can assist in the creation of tension, mood and changes in rhythm in a performance. Sound can be used to create a setting and develop character. Music and sound effects can be used to create mood and atmosphere, build tension, strengthen an emotion or empathise the action onstage. Season 3, episode 5  -1:08 to 2:32- in Prison Break, sound plays a crucial part in building tension. Non diegetic sound is presented as Michael the character is attempting to figure something out at the suspense of not getting caught. When using sound in a scene like so, pitch matters a lot because that helps guide the audience what the level of anticipation they should be at. As the pitch increases so does the tension and by only us hearing the music it's almost as if we are matching the emotion of the character to our own. The fact that no dialogue is being said further implicates the tension, making the audience move to the edge of their seat.

The Boys: Make-up and Props

Make-up artists that work in television and film help communicate the personality of all characters to the viewer. They use make-up as a way to improve, enhance, or alter the appearance of the actors/actresses. Props are crucial in the story-telling, they complement and motivate the character, helping the actor feel more 'the part' and setting the scene. Throughout the whole show various use of make up and props have been revealed as a pivotal figure to embody realism. When wanting to create a realistic level drama, make-up allows that to happen when done perfectly. In the very first episode of The Boys in the duration 5: 41 - 6:37 you can see how the effects of fake blood and body parts are presented within the part, the consistency of the blood also helps in terms of the realism aspect, the blood splattering all over Hughie makes the audience feel his pain and disgust. The juxtaposition of his fleeting moments with his girlfriend and him holding her hands completely detached off of her body shows how make up and props communicates emotion from the character to the viewer.

2) Write a script for your TV drama scene. 

The Killer Beside Me - script.

3) Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. 

Chimes,Uxbridge

Shot No.	Shot	Filmed?
1	Wide shot of the couple walking.
2	Medium shot of the couple from behind.
3	Wide shot from up above of the couple from another persons pov.
4	Close up on the couple holding hands .
5	Close up on the couples eyes.

Printing house lane, Hayes town

Shot No.	Shot	Filmed?
1	Wide shot of the best friends sitting on the field.
2	PoV shot of the bestfriends looking out at the field.
3	Close up on the killers face.
4	Extreme close up on killers mouth.
5	Extreme wide shot, to wide shot and lastly to medium shot of the setting to them.
6	Medium shot of protagonists fidgeting.
7	Close up of protagonists eyes.
8	Medium shot of both their face but a focus shift onto the protagonist.
9	Medium shot on both their faces.
10	Wide shot of the camera panning from them to the sky.

4) Plan your mise-en-scene: Plan your cast, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting. For this preliminary task, use just one location to keep it simple.

• Cast: Nabia Ali, Ayesha Mohammed, Ryan Smith.

• Make-up: Very minimalistic and natural and in terms of the fight scene only a few rough 'cuts' on the cheeks and forehead which will be done by special effects make-up.

• Lighting: For lighting, I want to use natural lighting such as the weather to portray a sudden dark change to showcase a convention of pathetic fallacy.

• Setting: For my three minute extract I plan to film at scenic atmospheres one which holds a special bond between my characters such as the Printing House Lane and The Chimes; crime drama series always capture intense scenes at eerie locations.

5) Plan a shooting schedule that will ensure everything is filmed by the deadline. Include when, where, who is required.

• When? During the half term.

• Where? Chimes and Printing house lane, all near my house.

• Who? 2 girls and 1 boy whom are my friends.