Saturday 6 June 2020

M3 - Understand feedback and respond to questions

THE QUESTIONS
WITH MANY OF THESE QUESTIONS, I WAS INSTRUCTED TO GUIDE 
THE PROFESSIONALS THROUGH MY PRESENTATION. I'VE 
ADDED SOME QUESTIONS THAT SEEM APPROPRIATE.
My additions after the fact are in italics.

1. WHAT IS CROAK ABOUT?
It's about a girl who goes to university who finds out about a kind of 
secret society of witches and then that kind of unravels from there.
2. GIVE US YOUR STATEMENT OF NEED.
On BBC3 there aren't any shows that deal with anything other than real life
so I thought it would be interesting to have a story about something that
relates to real life but is really weird and not real at all.
My main characters all have weird names and the pets have weird
names - things like that.
3. WHAT KIND OF LOOK ARE YOU GOING FOR?
It's not set in the 80s, but it has an 80s aesthetic. It kind
of leads to the fact it's not real life, but like real life.
Croak is supposed to imitate life rather than tell a story of
it.
4. WHY AN EIGHTIES AESTHETIC?
The reason for the aesthetic is because a lot of conspiracy theories, 
which inspired the story, are a part of the 60s, 80s and 90s They're
based on the fear of the unknown, usually religious.
The 80s are also really popular nowadays, so that made my decision.
Also we're competing with Netflix which has shows like that.
5. SO IT'S NOT A PERIOD PIECE?
No.
6. HOW LONG WILL IT RUN?
The duration is half an hour, which is as short as Netflix
dramas rather than BBC3 dramas, to compete.
7. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
I thought 700k sounded like a good idea at the minimum
because it's not a lot of money necessarily. 
Budget was something I found difficult to work out.
I did try to find some other shows with this amount of
money but I couldn't - it's really difficult to find
8. WHAT PRODUCTION COMPANY DID YOU CHOOSE?
I've chosen two brothers pictures. They made Fleabag and
Back To Life. Back to life was the drama I watched for inspiration.
9. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INSPIRATIONS ON YOUR MOODBOARDS?
At the top left we have the show Pushing Daisies which is really good,
it uses bright colours (over exposure) and it's a really cool aesthetic.
On the right we have Dirk Gently which is - again - weird and vibrant.
Ashes to Ashes is a show set in the 80s as well, it's really good.
10. WHAT IS THE ENVIRONMENT OF YOUR SHOW LIKE?
I wanted to contrast a really bright, pop-y environment above the
ground and on campus with dark tunnels underground (which you see in a
couple of episodes). It works with the theme of fearing the unknown.
11. WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER DESIGNS LIKE?
Again, I wanted to go for something bright and kind of messy. Something
movable and casual (mostly for my main character, Fen) to fit with the
aesthetic.
12. WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
Fifteen to twenty-one year olds (because that is the BBC3 audience),
I've also gone with females because it appeals to me personally.
However, it i not so directly aimed at a female audience that 
it would not attract any other sorts of audience members. There
is also casual representation of minorities - just because we can!
It's good for people to experience this representation (in the media
specifically). Then I've also included fans of mystery and weird
shows - people seem to like being surprised on TV.
13. THE SOUNDTRACK?
I didn't want any lyrical songs but I did think that with
the 80s theme, you could have 80s themed music.
No Offence is a good example of a show with a non-lyrical
theme that works really effectively.
I'm thinking upbeat music to give the show more of a
lighthearted feeling and make it seem less like a
gritty drama.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

Additional Delivery feedback:
Positives
 Your PowerPoint gave a
  1.      sense of the intended colour scheme
 You were able to answer
  1.      questions in a mature, professional manner
 You responded positively
  1.      to feedback and suggestions
  1.  You were organised
 You were well presented
  1.      and looked professional
Room for
improvement
 The delivery would have
  1.      benefited from more “selling” of the idea
I didn't give a proper sense of the story, which is
definitely an area I could improve in.
 Although your logline
  1.      was effective in conveying your show in a nutshell, you didn’t read it
I would definitely change my wording given the chance to pitch my show again. 
 Avoid yawning to help
  1.      emphasise your passion for the project
The yawning was a way of breathing to calm my nerves, as when
I get anxious I find it hard to breathe. It’s definitely something to work on,
but amounts to the bigger problem of calming my nerves about sharing ideas.
 From your supporting
     documents, I can see you have thought your ideas through, but those ideas
  1.      were not all explained clearly enough in your pitch
Again, the story is a vital part of the entire process. I didn’t include
enough of it for the pitch to have a real sense of story, leaving it all quite
vague. If I did this again, I’d add some slides on character and story arcs.
 Your pitch PowerPoint would
  1.      have benefited from an abbreviated version of your Character Profiles.
I’ll keep that in mind - character is very important in writing a story, they drive the plot forwards. 
Content
feedback
Positives
 Your idea was quirky and
  1.      interesting
 Potentially good fit for
  1.      BBC3
 Excellent range of
  1.      supporting documents that enhance the idea
 As a supporting document
  1.      your script was helpful in setting the scene nicely
Room for
improvement
 Budget of £700,000 per
     episode is too high an expectation for a “low budget” BBC3 drama – you are
  1.      unlikely to get more than £200,000 per episode at most.
With more time, I would have researched more into the budget. It’s something
to take forward and something I struggle to figure out.
 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
I was thinking that a limited number of characters to dress would make this a
lot easier, so perhaps - in that case - we could set the first series of Croak at a
university break, so that only a few students are there. This would give more of
a spaced out feeling whilst keeping the cost down, I believe.
 Explain how magic will
  1.      be visualised in your show – will there be a need for special effects?
As I’ve mentioned previously, there won’t be any magical effects. I was
thinking that any spells that happen could be offscreen, setting up a potential
series 2 to explore magic. Despite that, magic is likely to be less done with
effects and more done with props, such as potion-making or rituals.
 How did you plan on
  1.      visualising the witches? Do they just like ordinary humans?
I want the witches to be a community, just like humans but secretive - t
hey’re just a group of people with a potentially dangerous secret. The witch
council are all regular people of the town who have jobs and families.
They usually marry other witches to save telling their secret, and bring
up their children secretly as witches whilst maintaining the front. 
 Is the title “Croak” a
  1.      play on words? Is there a death or murder?
The title ‘croak’ is a joke - it takes something serious, like dying,
and makes light of it with a silly word. There isn’t currently a murder.
If, in future series, there was a murder, it wouldn’t be a source of
doom and gloom for the viewer. Croak takes serious topics and
twists them on their heads, that’s my concept.










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