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Welcome to my blog!

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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TV Listings



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 houses shows with the kind of plot and style I'd like to replicate).

Channel 5 on the other hand has a less wide-ranging repertoire. The vast majority of its programmes are factual in nature - to the extent that I struggled to find even four fictional shows in the week I looked at. Those that are fictional are almost exclusively imported - usually from the US or Australia (Neighbours and Home and Away being two of Channel 5's biggest Aussie hits). Many of the network's non-fiction shows are home-grown, however, with The Gadget Show and Big Brother (not broadcast on the week above) being notable hits.

As my show is likely going to be a) fictional, and b) British in origin, it doesn't seem to be a good fit for Channel 5. ITV on the other hand has a fantastic worldwide reputation for producing award-winning dramas, and as such seems like the network for me.

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