Media Studies A Level Coursework

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...