M2 - POTENTIAL QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS

1. WHAT IS CROAK ABOUT? A journalism student named Fen who wants to write a good story - Croak is about what happens when she gets that big story.
2. STATEMENT OF NEED? Croak is an oddball idea for a show and unrealistic, which you don't get as much on BBC3. It's similar to a Netflix show, which directly rivals competitors.
3. IS YOUR AUDIENCE SIMILAR TO THOSE OF THE SHOWS YOU'VE USED AS EXAMPLES? Yes. 17% of our survey said they liked mystery, which fits the definition of those shows. I'd also like to represent minorities, however casually.
4. THE DURATION? 8 episodes, 35 minutes each. A lot of shows nowadays are shorter.
5. THE VISUALS? Nostalgic 80s feeling to fit with the running theme of conspiracy.
6. DO WE FIND OUT IF THE SECRET SOCIETY EXISTS? DOES FEN GET HER STORY? She does get her story, but for her it's a bit underwhelming. The secret society does exist.

Feedback summary:

1. Overall everybody’s pitch presentations need to incorporate more visual branding to represent their show on the actual slides.
2. Set the scene at the beginning: More precise, detailed explanation of the storyline needed – Need to explain what the “one little thing” is – why is this such a disruption for your protagonist?
3. The episode duration is unconventional at 35 minutes. I would advice choosing a conventional comedy drama duration of 28-30 minutes or choosing a more conventional tense drama duration of 45 minutes.
4. I like the intro paragraph, but you need to reveal the “one little thing”
5. Reduce the amount of text on the slides – Include bullet points, not a transcript of what you wish to say (have that as a separate set of flash cards for yourself to refer to)
6. Add more images to visually represent and support your ideas – I’d like to see the toad/frog
7. Describe the sub-genre up front
8. I like the moodboard of colour scheme and locations – I like the idea of over saturated colours
9. Paint a picture of your protagonist – character profile
10. Paint a picture of the secret society – include iconography inspiration (maybe a moodboard for them)
11. 80’s nostalgic feel is on trend right now, but will be slightly more expensive due to need for art director, costume designer and more props. How will you keep the cost “low-budget”?
12. Marketing/Distribution – Need some ideas about how you will inform your audience about this hot new TV drama.
13. Why BBC3? How is your show suitable for BBC3 specifically rather than one of its rivals? Consider the BBC’s remit of “Educate, Inform and Entertain” and that BBC3’s young audience expect transgressive subjects to be dealt with? Is their a social issue being explored under the surface of the drama’s narrative?
14. Ensure you have incorporated all the required elements in the presentation – use the attached checklist.

QUESTIONS

PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS & AMENDMENTS

1. Finish all relevant character profiles.
2. Finish the story and ensure everything fits in each episode/nothing drags on. May require further research.
3. Research ways to lower my budget and pull off a theme with less money. Perhaps look into the budgets of other shows with similar themes.
4. I'd like to add an element of magic, or have the society be something to do with magic. There could be duality between Fen and her lack of magic, and the society who looks down on her for it.

P2 - SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

CHARACTER ARCS

CHARACTER PROFILES

MOODBOARDS

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POSTER

STORY STRUCTURE

SCRIPT (start of pilot episode)

STORYBOARD

P1 - NARRATIVE ARC

NARRATIVE ARC
OF EACH EPISODE

1st STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT:

The narrative arc of Croak is currently quite difficult to distribute between episodes - I've given it another go below.

2nd STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

Edit notes

The edits I have made after taking on feedback from my pitch are in blue. I thought that it would be interesting, as mentioned in the retrospective I wrote before Unit 22, to turn Croak into a murder mystery rather than just a story about losing a frog and a conspiracy. 

• EPISODE 1 (PILOT) - Everything goes a bit wrong    +

It’s yet another Sunday and Fen is investigating her biggest case yet - a thief. That is to say, a stationary thief. The worst kind.

In which Fen is a journalist, not a detective.

1. A young girl stumbles across a body in an alleyway. She rushes off to her mother, who works in the clock shop, and tells her (and a customer she's talking to) what she found. The clocks all chime 12. They rush off, the mother murmuring about fixing those clocks so that they don't go off at twelve every day. The three find the body again - it is a councillor of the town. They all go off to get someone else, like the police.
   Once they have left, Fen Marsh slinks into the alleyway and looks at the body, very conscious of other people coming back and finding her there. She followed the child, her mother and the customer at the mention of a dead body. MAYBE END PROLOGUE HERE. (She goes up to the body and investigates around in a hurry, snapping pictures of things, and then she runs away.)
2. Fen gets to the club - meets lotus on the way
   Fen Marsh gets ready for journalism club, throwing on a jumper and stuffing things into her backpack. She has notes and stationary littered about everywhere - in particular, she has notes on the recent murder. She picks these up and folds them carefully, tucking them into her coat pocket. Watering one of her plants with her water bottle, she hustles out the door and shuts the door - she forgets to lock it and has to turn back around to do that. Then, she's off.
   
   
   Along the way, she gets held up by Lotus - she wants to chat and Fen is very antsy. They have a brief conversation before Fen can leave (rather impolitely) and go to her club. We learn that the university campus is mostly empty because it's a school break.
3. 
   
   Fen gets to her club and startles everyone, she mumbles her sorries and bundles into a chair by her friend, Aster. She's bursting to tell her and cryptically reveals that she has a 'big story' in the works. In the meanwhile, aster asks her to help with a story she has to write up - it's about a stationary thief. Fen reluctantly agrees.
   
   
4. 
   
   Fen cuts it close and nearly gets caught, chased by security 
5. Fen gets back to the clubroom, bangs on the door etc

• EPISODE 2    +

1. FEN AND PINE INVESTIGATE 
2. FEN GOES TO THE BOGS AND GETS MUDDY
3. FEN COMES BACK AND FINDS HER APARTMENT OPEN
4. SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND PASSAGES - SOMEONE BROKE IN AND LEFT HER A KEY

• EPISODE 3    + AN UNEVENTFUL DAY

1. ASTER CONVINCES FEN TO HAVE A DAY OFF, WHICH FEN PROMPTLY IGNORES. BEHIND ASTER’S BACK, SHE GOES TO INVESTIGATE THE TUNNELS UNDER THE SCHOOL
2. SHE HAS QUITE THE TIME AND EMERGES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN
3. DAMP AND MUDDY, SHE TREDGES BACK TO HER APARTMENT AND GREETS PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY
4. SHE HAS A BATH AND PRETENDS THAT SHE WAS THERE ALL ALONG

• EPISODE 4    +

1. FEN OPENS HER DOOR TO FIND MOSS HAS COME HOME FROM THE GEOGRAPHY TRIP IN ICELAND HE WAS ON EARLY
2. FEN TAKES MOSS TO A CAFE TO CATCH HIM UP
3. THEY GO BACK TO INVESTIGATE THE ROOMS FROM BEFORE. FEN FINDS A COUPLE OF ARTICLES SHOVED INTO THE BOOKSHELF IN OSCAR’S ROOM ABOUT ‘WITCH HUNTERS’. THEY LOOK REAL. SHE ASKS MOSS TO TAKE A PHOTO OF THEM AND HE MAKES FUN OF HER FLIP PHONE. THE TWO COME OUT OF THE ROOM AND BUMP INTO LOTUS (SHE SAYS SHE’S VISITING SOMEONE)
4. THEY BOTH FEEL LIKE THEYRE BEING WATCHED ON THE WAY HOME, BUT LOTUS WALKS WITH THEM - IT CAN’T BE HER 

• EPISODE 5    +

1. FEN, ASTER AND MOSS GO TO MEET UP IN THE NEWS CLUB ROOM AND DISCUSS WHEN THEY FIND IT CLOSED BECAUSE IT’S BEING PAINTED, FEN SLIPS AWAY FROM THE GROUP BECAUSE OF AN INKLING
2. FEN MEETS LOTUS IN THE CAFE FROM BEFORE, WHERE SHE’S DOING WORK. THEY HAVE A CRYPTIC TALK ABOUT THE PAINT AND THEN FEN SEES OSCAR, THE MAN WITH THE LOST CAT, AND SHE SCOOTS OFF TO TALK TO HIM

• EPISODE 6    +

1. FEN IS SUSPICIOUS OF LOTUS, WHO SHE FOLLOWS INTO TOWN.
2. LOTUS MEETS WITH THE WITCH COUNCIL, AND FEN IS FOUND WATCHING. SHE LEARNS ABOUT WITCHES AFTER CATCHING THEM OUT.
3. LOTUS CALLS HER “MARSH” AND ALL THE WITCHES IN THE ROOM GET CAGEY, FEN IS KICKED OUT AND SO IS LOTUS - LOTUS DIDN’T SEEM COMFORTABLE IN THE MEETING. THE TWO HAVE A TALK ABOUT WITCHES AND FEN IS LEFT CONFUSED AT WHY HER NAME WAS SO POLARISING. THEY TALK ABOUT HOW MOSS, DESPITE BEING ADOPTED, IS VERY MUCH A MEMBER OF THE MARSH FAMILY.

• EPISODE 7    +

1. IT’S A NEW DAY AND, OF COURSE, MOSS IS MISSING FROM THEIR SHARED APARTMENT. FEN THINKS HE’S MAYBE GONE OUT EARLY AND MUSES ABOUT THE FACT THAT GEOGRAPHY, HIS CHOSEN ELECTIVE, SUCKS. THEN SHE FINDS A NOTE PINNED TO HER CORKBOARD THAT SHE HADN’T NOTICED. HE’S BEEN KIDNAPPED.
2. FEN HAS A TENSE WRITING CLASS - IN WHICH SHE HAS A TERSE CONVERSATION WITH LOTUS -  AND THEN SHE’S FREE FOR THE DAY. SHE BUMPS INTO ASTER ALONG THE WAY AND ASTER HAS NEVER SEEN HER PANIC BEFORE. SHE GOES BACK TO THE CATACOMBS, AS THE NOTE SAID, AND TREDGES THROUGH TO FIND HER BROTHER.
3. FEN FINDS HIM UNCONSCIOUS IN A ROOM OFF THE MAIN TUNNEL, SURROUNDED BY CLOAKED FIGURES WHO TURN OUT TO BE PEOPLE FEN KNOWS. ONE OF THEM IS OSCAR - HIS CAT’S AT HIS FEET - AND SHE’S VERY SURPRISED.
4. THEY TALK TO HER AND EXPLAIN THE PLAN.
5. LOTUS WALKS IN NEXT TO HER AND CLOSES THE DOOR. “FEN. THOUGHT I’D FIND YOU HERE” OR SOMETHING ALONG THOSE LINES.

• EPISODE 8    +

1. FEN TALKS TO THE GANG AND THEY CONFIRM THAT SHE’S THE HEIR OF A WITCH HUNTING FAMILY. SHE ASSURES THEM SHE WASN’T RAISED TO BE ONE.
2. TENSE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE MISSING PETS AND MOTIVE - FEN ASKS WHAT LOTUS’ MOTHER DID TO BE EXPELLED FROM THE COUNCIL. LOTUS DOESN’T KNOW - NOBODY WILL TELL HER, EVEN WHEN SHE BEGS. MOSS WAKES UP.
3. FEN TAKES CONTROL OF THE SITUATION, ACTUALLY ANGRY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A WHILE. SHE TAKES THE WHOLE GANG INTO TOWN TO THE COUNCIL TO ASK THEM PERSONALLY WHY THEY EXPELLED LOTUS’ MOTHER. 
4. THEY ALL BURST INTO THE MEETING ROOM AND EACH GROUP STARES THE OTHER DOWN. SHE IS RECOGNISED AS “THE MARSH GIRL” AND SHE TELLS THEM TO LET LOTUS KNOW. SHE’S ALSO SECRETLY VERY CURIOUS. 
5. FEN STARTS WANDERING AROUND AND ROOTING ABOUT IN THEIR STUFF “IF YOU WON’T TELL US, I’LL JUST FIND OUT”.
6. SHE FINDS A PICTURE OF A WOMAN THAT LOOKS LIKE LOTUS IN A DRAWER WHILST BEING YELLED AT, IN THE MIDST OF A DISBELIEVING ARGUMENT. MOSS CROUCHES NEXT TO HER IN SOLIDARITY. 
7. THE COUNCIL END UP TELLING THEM THAT LOTUS’ MOTHER WANTED TO DRIVE NON-WITCHES OUT OF NGAIO, BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED THEY SHOULN’T HAVE TO HIDE.
8. AFTER IT ALL, LOTUS STORMS OFF AND FEN FOLLOWS TO AWKWARDLY COMFORTS HER. THE REST OF THE GANG SHOW UP (LOTUS’ GROUP, BUT NOT THE COUNCIL) AND FEN IS SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE, BUT NOT ANNOYED.
9. SMALL TIMESKIP FOR THE END OF SEASON 1, FEN HAS WRITTEN THE STORY UP - WITH A LOT OF EDITS TO KEEP THE WITCH SECRET - LOTUS GAVE HER PERMISSION TO WRITE ABOUT HER. FEN STEPS OUTSIDE TO WALK WITH HER NEWFOUND FRIENDS (MOSS, ASTER, LOTUS AND OSCAR TAGS ALONG WITH HIS CAT, PANDORA). 

FIN

REPRESENTATION

ATB - ATTACK THE BLOCK, our case study film

REPRESENTATION
The way in which people are portrayed in the media - presenting something to an audience with a particular slant or agenda. Nothing in the media is wholly real and true - audiences are constantly shown imitations of reality and the world around them.
As media students, our job is to work out what agenda creators have and why we're being shown the things on screen:

• WHAT IS YOUR AGENDA?
• WHY ARE YOU SHOWING ME THIS?

HOW DOES THAT APPLY TO ATB?
Attack the block presents a certain number of situations, people and issues such as:

• SOUTH LONDON
• CULTURE
• DRUG CULTURE
• RACE
• CLASS

STEREOTYPES IN ATB
A key aspect of media representation. Stereotypes are used in ATB and then undermined later, implying that the film makers believe these stereotypes to be shallow and false. In the film, we can spot stereotypes such as:

• A GANG OF YOUTHS ATTACKING SOMEONE
• STONERS
• INNOCENT WHITE WOMAN
• SCARY DRUGLORD
• ALIENS FROM SPACE ATTACK EARTH

MISE-EN-SCENE AND REPRESENTATION
Mise-en-scene simply means 'what's on screen' - obviously, this plays a big role in representation. In ATB:

• SOUTH LONDON COUNCIL ESTATE REPRESENTED REALISTICALLY, NO GLAMOUR
• COSTUMES NOT GLAMOROUS, ACCURATE

NARRATIVE 2

ATTACK THE BLOCK
IN TERMS OF THEORIES

HAPPY ENDINGS VS. NEW EQUILIBRIUM
TODOROV'S THEORY

Todorov's theory tells of an ending called a 'new equilibrium'. At first glance this may seem like a happy ending typical of romance or fairytales, but in actuality describes a new normal for the characters in a story. These don't have to be a happy ending, just an ending with a new state of being. It provides either a sense of accomplishment or unease, depending on which direction your ending goes.

Usually, horror and sci-fi have less textbook happy endings as a convention - horror often has a new equilibrium in which things have changed for the worse (maybe a few people have died, the main character can never forget trauma).
The opposite to that could be romance, in which there is often some kind of positive new equilibrium at the end.

NARRATIVE

How stories are told
so what's your story? casual, love narratives
is life a narrative, is a day, a relationship
everything random but causality, we want to makee stories to make sense of the world
cave paintings!!!!! hunter goes out, finds animal, shoot
always, as long as able to ommunicate

fILM NARRATIVES
the way a story is told, how meaning is constructed to achieve audiences understanding
groups events into cause and effect - action and inaction
variation - different perspectives change the narrative, whose story is it
EVERYONE IN LIFE HS THEIR OW NARRATIVE, SAME THINGS HAPPENING BUT MULTIPLE NARRATIVES
not the same as story

we love causality - one thing is caused by before thing, helps make sense of world for brains, narratives organise stories so they can be understood
reality TV - Emma having a bad day, see her having a bad day - caused by something else. narratives are fictitious in reality tv because life is not a story
we like chronology
religion gives us a narrative - god, person has bad luck because they did evil thing - my crops failed because I didn't do the thing to make the thing happen, god pray etc

narrative voice - whose story
ATB - sams perspective we see Moses how she sees him!!! relatable narrative voice, not Moses perspective necessarily

NARRATIVE PLOT
everything audibly or visibly present

narratives are selective - film covers a week but
narrative plot is an hour - decide what to show
narrative story - everything that happens
narrative plot - what we choose to show of all the things

Brewis - story, not plot -- he's offscreen a lot

FAIRYTALES AS KIDS
RELIGION
SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH
CULTURAL PHENOMENA
NEWS EVENTS
DREAM,S

ARISTOTLE SAYS
a beginning, middle, end
over 2000 years ago
ATB INTO BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END - three act structure

beginning - aliens introduced
middle - getting to the weed room (rising action)
end - moses changes attitude, big explosion Moses running bit (climax), hanging from the thing and being arrested (end)

TODOROVS THEORY - disagreed with Aristotle
e q u I l I b r I u m - everything normal and fine
disruption 0 something bad happens to get ij the way of protag
recognition - characters recognise the disruption happened
attempt - characters attempt to repair the situation, put it right
restoration of a new equilibrium - yay everything is put back, new normal. character or situation changed but order is restored. not saying it has to be a good ending, just a new state of being

ATB -
equilibrium - normal robbing someone for the gang, Moses is a gang member and sam is avoiding dodgy people on her estate
disruption - meteorite falls
recognition - realising the gang weren't lying about aliens for sam, police van - her perspective
attempt - try to hide but then decide to kill the aliens, they do it in the end
restoration - some friends are dead but aliens are gone, back to being arrested like a regular criminal, normal life as a gang BUT Moses is a Nero on the block and sam, is a friend now
new equilibrium in a t b is that Moses reforms himself, different people in the block can talk to each other

VLADIMIR PROPP
studied Russian folktales and fairytales and decided that all narratives have a similar structure
shaped and directed by certain characters not actions
narratives are character driven - interactions between them
a function is a plot motif or event in the story
SEVEN CHARACTER TYPES - CALLED FUNCTIONS:

VILLAIN aliens, hi hat, the police!!! police win technically - as monstrous as aliens
DONOR pre[pares hero or provides a magical agent
HELPER
PRINCESS sought after person who marries hero or punishes villain
DISPATCHER sends hero off
HERO 
FALSE HERO pretending to be the real hero

hi-hat is like a false villain
a t b doesn't have clear cut roles which makes it unconventional
Moses is the hero?
helpers and dispatchers - Brewis realises the alien goop thing, sam helps, Ron helps,


CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS
studied myths and legends

we make sense of the world using binary opposites - narratives organised around these binary opposites. conflict, natural opposition has to happen or there's no story, makes it interesting, no narrative without conflict
good vs. evil
black vs. white
male vs. female
democracy vs. dictatorship

narrative is about what's shown onscreen, and we wouldn't't be shown the mundane boring bits
ATB:
not human vs. human
authorities vs. youth/hoodlums
old vs. young
strong vs. weak
hurting vs. healing (nurse)
lower class vs. middle class vs. working class
moral vs. immoral
action vs. inaction
knowledge vs. confusion
order vs. chaos