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Hi. My name is Jack, I'm 17 years old, and I'm taking Media Studies at Hills Road. This is my coursework blog. I've been tasked with producing a cross-media piece, consisting of a 2.5-3 minute audio-visual sequence, and a double page magazine spread and front cover. The video piece must be from an ITV or Channel 5 show of my creation, either factual or fictional, with a target audience aged 18-35, and containing either 'a key turning point, a point of significant conflict, or a resolution', while the print elements will contain interviews and promotional materials relating to the show. I haven't yet decided which channel, genre, or direction my piece is going to take, but I'm excited at what lies ahead. I'll be keeping my blog up-to-date with all my progress, so feel free to stick around and have a look!
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Pitch

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 uncovering the links he has to the victims. The show focuses more on the lead cop than on the investigation itself, differentiating it from more straightforward whodunnits.


Tying in with the Cross-Media Production:

The extract mainly takes place in a warehouse/basement. Stylistically, and taking into account the Nordic-noir influences that I have, I imagine this shot to be quite heavily graded and dimly lit, vignetted to draw attention to the subject, and strongly tinted to an emergency-lighting green colour. This would make an ideal cover image - an easily recognisable scene with the main character foremost in shot, and a background that's fairly dark and mostly one colour, making it easy to overlay (light) text upon it while still keeping it readable. As for the article, the show has a lot of backstory that I can't really get across in three minutes, so this would be an ideal place to give an insight into that.

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