Media Studies A Level Coursework

Below are my final pieces, with a brief description of the thought processes behind each one. (When we do the evaluation, I'll put it in here.) Magazine I'm overall fairly pleased with how this one turned out. I decided to use Helvetica for the main font, as it gives the retro-modern feel that I love so much. I chose to have the whole cover in monochrome with yellow accents, which helps the important text to catch the eye of the reader. I went with quite a minimalistic, upmarket, GQ-esque men's mag kind of look, purely and simply because I like the style. In keeping with this, I actually prefer the below version without cover lines: ...as I feel it looks much less cluttered and more focused. This would make sense for a special edition like my magazine is, and in fact has precedent when one interview is the absolute focus, but cover lines get me marks, so cover lines it is. Spread   I'm relatively pleased with this one too. I decided to continue the mo...

As of Sunday I've finished shooting, with my last scene (DS Sullivan running towards the location) now ready. I've moved into editing in full swing, with my rough cut well underway.

I've started the process of writing my magazine copy, which I'm doing as I edit my audio-visual piece. I've decided to format it as a Guardian-esque Q&A-style interview, like so , as opposed to a more in-depth article piece like this . This is partly down to space constraints - there's quite a lot I want to fit in, covering all the topics I can't get across in three minutes of out-of-context extract. I'd like to discuss diversity and representation of different groups, and how it's changed over recent years on ITV; why the show has been such a hit; the move ever towards 'anytime, anywhere' streaming over traditional TV, particularly in millennial markets such as the one the show is targeting; as well as other, more filler-y things, like you get in a genuine interview. This would be a lot to fit in if it was fully fleshed out into article form, which is why I chose the Q&A style.

Today marked my first day of access to my primary location, and thus my first shoot. I managed to film over two thirds of my footage, meaning I'm happy I'll be able to finish off tomorrow. Here are some photos from the shoot. I also decided to experiment and see how I'm going to grade the footage. The strong green grading is going to be one of the things that ties my extract and my magazine piece together stylistically, and as such I thought I'd try it and get a feel for how the final piece could look. My first test is shown below - it hasn't been stabilised or sound edited yet, so ignore the squeaky dolly.

I now have official permission to shoot in my primary location over half term, which is definitely good news. I've completed a risk assessment for the shoot, which is as follows:

Learner Name: Jack Larkin Word Count: 499 words My drama will emulate the cinematic, Scandi-noir feel of many of ITVs greatest successes, such as Broadchurch, by using a range of media techniques. The show will be heavily graded, emphasising in particular the greens and blues, while still keeping the colour palate fairly muted. As the scenes from my extract are quite intense, with a lot of strong emotion on display, the shots (particularly those of the DS running to the warehouse) will have handheld-style camera movement and a shallow depth-of-field, alternating between medium shots and close-ups on the faces of those involved, or important props. Regarding characters, the lead DCI and DS will be male and female respectively, reflecting many modern ITV crime dramas, providing cross-gender appeal, and upholding ITV’s commitment to gender parity. The reason I’ve chosen a male DCI is because the audience are more likely to believe that a male cop could be a corrupt crime king t...

Aside from the audio-visual piece, I also have to create a front cover and double-page spread about my show for a lifestyle magazine. As such, I've been looking at several of these magazines to see how they're designed and laid out. One thing I've noticed is that practically all the covers are more about the star than the show itself. Take the following examples: All of them have a celebrity taking centre stage on the cover, usually with their name in the strapline or main cover line, always either looking into the camera or slightly off into the middle distance, surrounded by several cover lines promising to drastically improve your life, entertain you, or both. As this format is shared by practically every lifestyle magazine under the sun, this is the format I'll use. Originally I was planning to have a cinematic-looking still from the show as my cover, perhaps the opening shot of DCI Griffin tied up in the chair, but that's not really right for lifestyle ma...

Learner Name: Jack Larkin Word Count: 407 As a fan of many of the highly-cinematic, high-budget-feel crime dramas that ITV and the BBC have put out in recent years, I’ve decided to do one myself. My drama will emulate the cinematic, Scandi-noir-esque feel of many of ITVs greatest successes, such as Broadchurch, by using a range of media techniques. The show will be heavily graded, emphasising in particular the greens and blues, while still keeping the colour palate fairly muted. As the scenes from my extract are quite intense, with a lot of strong emotion on display, the shots (particularly those of the DS in the car) will have handheld-style camera movement and a shallow depth-of-field, alternating between medium shots and ECUs on the faces of those involved, or important props. Regarding characters, the lead DCI and DS will hopefully be male and female respectively, reflecting many modern ITV crime dramas and providing cross-gender appeal – however, this depends on who I can c...

Over the weekend I visited the likely location for my warehouse scene, and took a few photos to help me stage the shots in my head, which can be seen here . I've chosen this location because a) it looks the part, especially if I board the windows up, b) there's plenty of space for filming, and c) I have easy access to it as I have a set of keys from my job there cleaning. A walk around framing shots in my head confirmed that I feel it might be the right location. As a bonus, when turned on the overhead lights give a fantastic flickering effect and 'plinking' noise, demonstrated in the video, which in a well-constructed shot and with a little tweaking could look fantastic. My other choice at the moment is a basement owned by my friend's dad, but as it is in London I haven't had a chance to scope it out yet. I'm also not sure how I'd work the outside scene with that location, which is something I'll have to think through should I go down that route. ...

Title: Dead and Buried Logline: A crooked cop with a dark past gets out of the crime game after a horrible tragedy. Fifteen years on, he thinks he's put his past behind him - until the life he'd left behind comes back to bite him. In fear for his job, his reputation, and his life, he's got to catch a killer before the killer catches him. Genre: Crime drama - partly whodunnit, a tad of modern gangster, but not really any one established subgenre. Audience: Quite general and broad, late-night viewing slot is ITV's 'true drama' slot. Mostly adult/young adult viewers. USP: The main character is simultaneously trying to catch the killer, and derail his own investigation as to not reveal his dark past. Shows like Line of Duty have placed a cop as the guilty party before, but this is different in the fact that there is another killer out there who the cop is trying to catch, it's just that they're trying to do so without uncoverin...

Treatment Sheet Working Title Dead and Buried Genre Crime Drama Premise DCI Nicholas Griffin is a cop with a dark past. Fifteen years ago he was the ringleader of a small crew that pulled off big crimes in places all around the UK - money laundering, drug pushing, armed heists, and even hits on criminal targets. Griffin worked from inside the police force to divert attention away from him and his circle, steering convictions instead towards gang rivals and competitors. Despite this violent lifestyle, his crew made sure that truly innocent victims were never caught in the crossfire - until bad information caused tragedy. A recently-sold house they thought was empty was torched by Griffin's hand as a distraction for a hit; however, as he found out when the report landed on his desk the next day, a mother and her three young children were still inside. Griffin instantly disbanded the group, and they never saw each other again. Griffin went on to have a successfu...

The following is a textual analysis of some shows that are similar to those I'm looking to produce. I've tried to find scenes that contain one or more of the narrative points my sequence is supposed to be based around. If you haven't watched one or more of these shows, run away now: there are spoilers ahead. Broadchurch (Court Scene) Narrative point demonstrated: This clip shows Joe Miller, murderer from series one and husband of one of the leading detectives on the case DS Ellie Miller, being given a not guilty verdict after a long and intense court battle. Safe to say that it was definitely a key turning point in the show. Some of the techniques used: Shots start off long and slow, but cuts increase in pace as we get closer to the verdict, helping ramp up the tension. Non-diegetic sound in the form of a dramatic swell also serves to heighten your blood pressure. Small depth of field and dramatic focus pulls cause the viewer to focus on the reactions o...

Millennials* are perhaps the first generation to have grown up in a truly digital age, and as such, have media consumption habits completely unlike other generations. For example, one third of millennial TV viewing is done through means other than traditional TV, compared to only 11% from adults over age 35 - see the diagram below.  While this data is from a US study, the figures are much the same over here too. Source: https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/millennials-on-millennials-a-look-at-viewing-behavior-distraction-social-media-stars.html This diagram doesn't take into account other forms of video media that are slowly but surely taking the reins from traditional TV, either - think Netflix or YouTube. In response, broadcasting companies are having to change their tactics. Most channels now offer VOD (video on-demand) services, which have in recent years stepped up from just being for catch-up, often also having exclusive behind-the-scenes clips or ...

Looking at the TV listings for ITV and Channel 5 exemplifies the differences between the channels. ITV airs a large range of shows for a wide array of audiences - from live sports to Loose Women , Emmerdale to Endeavour (a prequel to the famous Inspector Morse ). Football in the UK has a predominantly male following - an estimated 67% in fact - while Loose Women is aimed squarely at women, in particular stay-at-home mums or housewives, which is why it has it's daytime slot. On the fictional side, soaps such as Coronation Street share much of the same audience as Loose Women , with YouGov polling showing a "very strong" correlation between the audiences of the two shows. Dramas such as Innocent have a broader audience with cross-gender appeal, and their late-night post-watershed slots mean they can afford to be darker and perhaps more gripping than their dinnertime soap counterparts (this late-night slot is likely the one my show will be taking, as it usually hous...

Having more-or-less decided that ITV is the channel I'm going for, I've decided to take a closer look at it. ITV owns the largest commercial family of televsion channels in the UK, comprised of ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, CITV, ITVBe, and (briefly) ITV Encore, before it closed . In addition, ITV plays host to a few on demand services - mostly the ITV Hub, but also the North American streaming service Britbox, in partnership with the BBC. ITV is a public service broadcaster, and as such has a list of values which they follow, shown below: They're a member of several different groups of publishers - including the Albert Consortium , the Responsible Media Forum , and the Creative Diversity Network - which work together to use their vast media influence to actuate social change, in particular when it comes to diversity and environmentalism. Each channel has a different target audience: ITV1: General, varied, airs shows that have cross-generational appeal. Usually family vi...

I'm happy with the brief we've been given - it's broad enough that we have free reign over what sort of direction to take our piece in, but also provides some specifics to keep in mind. I'm leaning towards a drama at the moment, likely a crime drama, as it strikes me as the most interesting genre to tackle from a creative perspective. As such, my show will probably be for ITV, as they seem to have a better reputation for such shows - the name 'Channel 5' brings to mind a combination of Neighbours and overly-dramatic American dashcam police chases, neither of which are exactly my cup of tea. Stylistically, I also like the cinematic feel of certain ITV shows such as Broadchurch and Marcella, almost Nordic noir-esque in the way that shots are constructed and colours are graded, and this is likely the sort of style I will aim to replicate. These shows are popular with the 18-35 demographic, in particular the latter half, and so I feel like a piece along those sorts ...