P4 - Final Draft of Script

 Final Draft of Script:

P4 - Third Draft of Script

 Third Draft of Script:

Third Draft of Script Feedback:

The feedback I received for the third draft of my script was primarily based around correction punctuation for instance changing "its" and "ill" to "it's" and "i'll" so these were easy corrections and there were no formatting issues.

D1 - Requirements Met

Scenario:

The client of BBC3 asked me to produce a screenplay for a short dramatised sequence from my TV series in order to promote my entire TV series and gain interest amongst the target audience of 15-21 year olds. The client specified that my dramatised sequence should not be longer than 10-15 minutes so from this I know I need to write between 10-15 pages of script, excluding the title page.

Conventions of TV Dramas:

TV Dramas are episodic programmes made for home audiences, for my TV drama it will be aired on BBC3 which means it will only be available to home audiences online, via BBC iPlayer. Conventionally the episodes within a TV drama are linked by an on going narrative which may have multiple sub narratives in each episode however conventionally there will always be one overarching narrative. BBC3 has a specific ethos they follow when choosing a TV show to produce, and typically a BBC3 TV drama must be representative of all people and focus on a social issues that is affecting the country. For instance in my TV drama I have focused on the issue of drug abuse with teenagers and the problem of peer pressure within friend groups as well.

The genre of my TV drama is a mockumentary as this is a relatively new style of TV filming and is popular with young adult audiences, which is my target audience.

Todorov's Theory:

The extract I have written is only a 15 minute extract from one episode of my TV drama series which in full is an episodic drama contain six episodes fitting into the sub-genre of a mockumentary. The main disruption across the whole of my TV drama series is the discovery of a bag of unknown substance which the protagonists take, then my extract is taken from the fourth episode of the series when the protagonists are trying to decide what to do with the bag of drugs. Using Todorov's narrative theory which is pictured below:

I can identify key events in my short dramatised extract which are as follows:

   - Establishing an Equilibrium, when the protagonists are entering Leo Thomas's house.

   - Disruption, when Ben Boondock and Harry Williams try the drugs.

   - Recognition of Disruption, immediately after Ben Boondock and Harry Williams take the drugs

   - Second Disruption, Ben Boondock and Harry Williams breaking Leo Thomas's neighbours fence

   - Left on a cliff hanger for how the protagonists will fix the second disruptions whilst till undergoing the first disruption

Character Arcs:

Throughout my entire TV Drama series there are different character arcs happening, character arcs refer to the change that may happen to a character throughout a period of time, how they develop and become someone that is different to how the audience first saw them. There are three different types of character arcs, a transformation arc, a growth arc, and a fall arc. A transformation arc is when a character completely changes, for example in fairytales when a normal person becomes a hero, however a transformation arc is usually a good change but it can be a bad change. A growth arc is when a character grows from within and is not a compete change like a transformation arc but a change in their personality is noticeable but not as extreme as a transformation arc.

Cadwell Walker undergoes a transformation arc where he realises that money can't buy everything and becomes a different person by the end with this new realisation. Harry Williams and Leo Thomas both undergo growth arcs. Harry Williams loses his sense of responsibility and grows from within by accepting his devilish desires instead of upholding himself as a model student. Leo Thomas experiences a growth arc as he grows from a timid, shy boy and becomes more confident in himself and the decisions he makes. Both Miles Elland and Ben Boondock have a flat character arc as they do not change throughout the programme and do not develop from within.

In my extract it shows the breaking point for Harry Williams in his character arc, this is when he takes the drugs; this is the breaking point for him as this goes against his built up persona as a model student and citizen, resulting in his growth arc where he becomes less responsible and loses his model student persona. The extract I have chosen also shows the beginning of Cadwell Walker's transformation arc as he sees Harry Williams and Ben Boondock taking the drugs that he wanted to sell for money and then the negative affects that the drugs cause. Seeing the negative affects from a product he wanted to sell, causes Cadwell to realise that selling anything and everything for money he can may have negative's aside effects once the user consumes the product he sold. Within my scripted extract we also see the progression of Leo Thomas's growth arc as he is being more assertive within the extract, however the extract does not include the start or end of his growth arc it just covers the continuous develop of Leo becoming more assertive.

Vladimir Propp Character Types:

Vladimir Propp was a folklorist researcher, which means he analysed folk and old fairytale stories, and came up with seven narrative characters that all folk stories, and fairy tales have which are:

- The Hero, this character main not be the main character, but is the character that fights against the villain and is normally lead by the donor character.

- The Villain, this is the character that goes against the hero and is the person that challenges the good in a narrative.

- The Helper, this character typically aids the hero throughout the narrative and typically has the characteristics of intelligence, determination and courage.

- The Donor, this character gives the hero something in order for them to be able to defeat the villain

- The Dispatcher, this character usually appears early on in the narrative and has the role to send the hero out to defeat the villain.

- The Princess, this is an obvious character role and is the character which needs saving by the hero and is often held by the villain.

- The False Hero, this character is one who is pretends to be good at the beginning of the narrative but then turns out to be evil.

Vladimir Propp's character types were based off fairy tales and folk stories which unfortunately do not fit as well to modern day screen play dramas, however I can still try to apply Propp's character roles to the characters in my TV drama. In my TV Drama series the hero is all five of the main protagonists, Harry Williams, Cadwell Walker, Miles elland, Leo Thomas and Ben Boondock, as they are all fighting against the villain/force of evil in my TV series. The villain in my TV series is the education hierarchy and authoritative body which tries to restrict the freedom of the heroes. The helper in my TV series could be assigned to the character Amy Anderson as she motivates Cadwell Walker, who is a hero, which then aids him to defeat the villain. There is no character in my TV series that has the role of the donor, however it could be argued that the role of the donor is an intangible force stemming from the villain, as the villain gives the heroes reason to fight back. The role of a dispatcher cannot be applied to any character throughout my TV drama series as it is the collective decision of the heroes to defeat the villain. Stephen Joseph is the character that has the role of the princess as he is seen to be stuck in the education system and under the grasp of authority, restricting his freedom to extents he does not realise. The false hero in my TV drama series is Miss Josue as she appears at first to try and befriend the heroes and help them succeed in the system however as the series progresses her intentions become less pure and it turns out she is only trying to restrict the heroes.

Appealing to the Audience

My TV show appeals to the target audience set by the client, of people between the ages of 15-21 years old. As my TV drama series will be shown on BBC3 iPlayer which is an online platform with the aim of informing, educating and entertaining their audience I will need to tailor my TV drama content to meet these requirements.

My TV Drama has elements of drug abuse which is a serious problem amongst young adults/teenagers meaning that the target audience may find this issue relatable as they have encountered it themselves or know someone who has encountered it. To further appeal to my audience I need to create characters that they will find relatable in order to satisfy their needs of personal identity, to do this I made sure the five main protagonists all had different personalities that would allow the audience to relate to at least one of the main protagonists this will appeal to the audience and draw them in to watching my TV drama as they would see themselves in a character and wonder how they themselves may react in the same situation.

As my TV drama is being released on an online platform I have the choice to release all my episodes at once or to release one episode a week in order to build suspense for the audience and have them coming back to BBC3 iPlayer every week. I have decided not to take this approach as it is no longer conventional in the media industry and releasing an episode every week, to give people time to talk about it and satisfy their personal relationship needs, is no longer want the audience wants based of the growing trend of binge watching.

P4 - Second Draft of Script

Second Draft of Script:

Second Draft of Script Feedback:

For the second draft of my script I received feedback which followed a similar theme to the feedback I received from my first draft and involved me just adding in more detail of the setting that the characters were in and to describe the action of characters more. I also received feedback about my dialogue and just writing the dialogue in the way the characters would actually speak for instance writing "cos" instead of "cause".

M1 - Script Conventions

A script is transcription of what happens and what is said in a media product, it describes all the action that happens on screen and the dialogue that happens between characters. Scripts are used in lots of different types of media from their most known use in films and TV series but they are also used in video games and radio shows. As my script is being used to generate funding for the production of my TV show it is a spec script rather than a shooting script, this means there are limited camera instructions but precise language and action.

There are four key parts in a screen play:

Scene headings, introduce a new scene/setting for the action and dialogue to take place on, they have have specific layout: INT/EXT - Location - Time of day. The location refers to the place that the scene will happen in, the time of day is usually either in the from of MORNING, DAY, EVENING or NIGHT.

Actions blocks, are the description of the action that happens within a movie, they describe the characters actions or any specific movement that happens within a scene and action blocks have to be written in present tense; typically they should be no longer than three or four lines, this means the author of thew script has to be concise with their wording of the action. Any important props that are essential for the action that takes place on screen should be in bold, as shown below:

Dialogue is the words that characters will speak on screen and is written in the way that the characters will speak it, for example writing gonna instead go going to as it is how the character will actually say it.

Characters are an important part of the script as they describe the actors you will need to hire and will also help the actors learn their lines as character cues are in bold above the dialogue they will have to speak. The first time we see characters on screen and therefore in the script their name is in bold and there is a short description of what they look like.

Layout and formatting:

The layout and formatting of a screen play is vital this is because in production one page of script approximately is equivalent to one minute of screen play. This is why in script writing the font is always 12point courier font.

Different Types of Scripts:

There are two different types of scripts, both with different attributes that are unique to them: A Spec Script and a Shooting Script.

A spec script is aimed at the reader and not a director so it tends to flow more in order to impress the reader, which tends to be film executives when pitching for your film to be made. The action in a spec script should be a descriptive as possible whilst also being as concise as possible in order to sell the product.

A shooting script is aimed at the director and is more of a production document that the director may use to aid the production of the media rather than the spec script. The shooting script contains more technical instructions that are used in production such as camera angles, camera movement, shot types, editing instructions and any soundtrack information. My script is a shooting script as the client briefing said to write 10-15 minutes of screenplay in order to get my TV series produced, therefore the aim of the script is to impress the client which means a shooting script is more appropriate.

Three Act Script:

Most scripts follow a three act structure hence the name "Three act script" this simply refers to the script having a beginning, middle and end, however some scripts don't follow this structure as some script stories may want to end on a cliff hanger therefore removing the final act, the end, of a three act script. My TV series follows a three act script as a whole with a beginning, middle and end; however the extract I have written my 10-15 minutes of screen play on does not follow a three act script structure. 

Angle of the Article:

The term article just refers to the script and the angle of the script in simple terms means how the audience will see it, for instance third person or first person. My script is written from third person so the audience is watching the characters as a bystander observing the events that unfold; in my script the angle of the article is third person as the audience is an observer to the action which takes place throughout my TV series.

Multi/Single Stranded:

A script can be multi-stranded or single-stranded. A multi-stranded script will have multiple narratives that cross over each other whereas a single stranded script only has one narrative. My TV series as an entire series is multi-stranded script as throughout the whole series the audience follows the different narratives of each character and the character development which occurs, however in the extract of my script it is single-stranded as all the characters are together and it is a single strand of narrative story telling.

Linear/Non-Linear

This refers to the time progression within a script, for instance if the script has flash backs or scenes that don't follow a chronological time line then in is counted as non-linear. My script is non-linear as there are scenes within it, such as the character talking heads which are non chronological compared to the order within the script.