Summer Project: coursework planning

 1) Research: Fantasy TV drama extracts

Watch the following fantasy TV drama clips and write an NCIS analysis of each one.

Clip 1: His Dark Materials

Narrative and genre: What is the story here? How is the narrative communicated to the audience? How does this fit the fantasy genre? 

The story here is about the man telling Mrs Coulter that he has abandoned the mission for finding Lyra and has an another mission of freeing everyone from supernatural things. He then talks about how the authority is not there to help people but to insert fear into people. The narrative is communicated to the audience by the plot getting more intense throughout the clip. This fits into the fantasy genre because Lord Asriel mentions fairy tales and there is also a mention of different worlds.

Technical codes: What camera shots do you notice and what do they communicate to the audience? How is sound used to create atmosphere? What aspects of mise-en-scene (CLAMPS) help to communicate meaning to the audience?

There are many different camera shots in this clip such as close-up shots. From 1.13 - 1.26 to show the emotions and facial expressions of both Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel. This shows the audience how they feel about each other. It also creates tension. At the end the music gets louder creating an intense atmosphere. The dark setting also fits in the fantasy genre.

Representations: What representations can you find in this clip - does it reinforce or subvert stereotypes? How? 

Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel are at the same level of power at the beginning but towards the end Lord Asriel starts to overpower her because after Mrs Coulter spat at him, he strikes back with more aggression which reinforces the stereotype that men have more power than women but can be more aggressive at times. However this is also a subverted stereotype as Mrs Coulter spits at Lord Asriel and treats him with disrespect. This is a subverted stereotype as women are expected to treat men with utterly respect. 

Clip 2: Charmed

Narrative and genre: What is the story here? How is the narrative communicated to the audience? How does this fit the fantasy genre? 

The story here is that there is a healer who can save people and his help is needed as people are dying from demons. One of the woman then shout a girl's name but then is attacked by a demon and kills them all. The narrative is communicated by the group talking about demons and saving people and then are attacked by a demon. This fits in the fantasy genre because there are only demons in the fantasy world and a healer who can save people from the dead.

Technical codes: What camera shots do you notice and what do they communicate to the audience? How is sound used to create atmosphere? What aspects of mise-en-scene (CLAMPS) help to communicate meaning to the audience?

The establishing shot at the beginning is a setting of a house. This makes the audience think that the characters are safe as the connotations for home is safety but later on they get attacked by a demon. The medium shot at 1.11 shows how powerful the demon is as they were able to kill the two women with ease. As the clip goes on, the sound gets more intense which creates a tense atmosphere.   

Representations: What representations can you find in this clip - does it reinforce or subvert stereotypes? How? 

This clip subverts stereotypes because the woman saves the man from getting hurt. This subverts stereotypes because the man is supposed to protect the woman from any harm.

Clip 3: Shadow and Bone

Narrative and genre: What is the story here? How is the narrative communicated to the audience? How does this fit the fantasy genre? 

The story here is that there is a woman with powers who has been captured and claims to be a map woman. Later on, a man with a sharp knife in his ring touched her arm with it and a beam of light shot out. A man tries to save her but doesn't make it in time. The narrative is communicated in an intense way as the man slowly approaches her and the music also creates an intense tone. This fits into the fantasy genre as the beam of light shooting outside of someone's arm isn't normal.

 

Technical codes: What camera shots do you notice and what do they communicate to the audience? How is sound used to create atmosphere? What aspects of mise-en-scene (CLAMPS) help to communicate meaning to the audience?

The over the shoulder shot at 2.03 show how terrified Alina is. The low angle of the man at 2.08 shows how powerful and dominant he is over the map woman. The man's movement as he is getting closer starts to create a tensed atmosphere because he is slowly getting closer to revealing the truth. The intense music also creates more tension.

Representations: What representations can you find in this clip - does it reinforce or subvert stereotypes? How? 

The representation of men have to save and protect women is a reinforced stereotype as men are expected to save women from any harm and protect them. Another representation that is reinforced is that the man has more power over the woman. This is because she does whatever he tells her to do.

2) TV drama planning 

Our coursework task involves coming up with our own idea for an original television drama that you have created. This must follow the conventions of the fantasy genre and show that you have thought about how to meet the brief and aim your production at the family target audience.

Fill in the following details:

Title: From The Unknown and Into the Abyss

Logline – one sentence that sums up the plot of your TV drama and hooks people in (25 words or fewer):

Two kids to one. What happened? says the mother of the kid who had the most gloomiest day of his life.

Other successful TV dramas are similar to yours:

 

Narrative – what is the main storyline in your TV drama:

The main story line in my TV drama is a kid trying to find his friend who has been kidnapped by mysterious people and take him to a strange place. The rift then closes off after the mysterious people go through it and the kid has to find a different way to save his friend.

Genre – how will your TV drama fit the fantasy genre?

 It will fit in the fantasy genre as one of the kids discover that they have powers and a big rift appears in the sky with powerful creatures coming out of it.

Narrative disruption – what will happen in your scene to develop the narrative? What will the audience learn about the characters or story?

After the rift is created three creatures come out of it and two creatures chase the two kids and only one kid is captured while the other one discovers that he has powers and stops one of the creature from capturing him but it too late to save his friend. The audience found out that one of the kids have powers and the story is about him trying to save his friend.

Information about the two locations/settings that you are using and why you have chosen them:

The locations I am choosing for my clip are a park and a street as they are good for a chase scene and a open area where a rift would spawn.

Information about the main character e.g character type (hero/heroine) their desires, the conflicts they encounter etc.:

Information about my main character is that he has powers and has conflict with the 3 creatures who kidnapped his friend. My main character becomes the protagonist.

Costume/props that you require for filming:

• Camera
• Energy gun
• Basketball
• Dark clothes

How you are aiming your product at the specified family target audience:

I am aiming my target audience as the audience could relate to the part of when the kid loses his friend and teenagers could relate to the kids as the kids are also teenagers.

3) Statement of Intent

On the same Summer Project blogpost, write the rough first draft of your genuine 300-word Statement of Intent for the two-minute sequence you plan to create. The final draft of this document will be submitted to the exam board alongside your fantasy TV drama extract and is worth 10 marks of the overall 60 marks available.

Guidance is provided by AQA in their NEA Student Booklet but we strongly recommend you also look at our Statement of Intent suggested content document too.

The title of my fantasy TV drama will be called From the Unknown Into the Abyss. My TV drama will be streaming on BBC iPlayer. My two minute clip will be quite close to the beginning because I will be introducing the storyline and characters to the audience. My show in one line will be "Two kids to one. What happened? says the mother of the kid who saw the gloomiest day of his life."

The narrative disruption in my extract will be that there is a rift in the sky and three creatures appear out of it. The audience find out that one of the kids has powers and tries to save his friend who was kidnapped by the creatures. One of the camera shots that I will use is a establishing shot. This will let the audience know what the setting is. Another shot I will use is the over the shoulder shot. I will use a over the shoulder shot in my clip to show how close the creatures are to the kids in a chase scene. I will also use a close up shot to show how terrified the kids are to see the creatures. I will use props to make the creatures seem more terrifying. I will use diegetic sound in my extract by adding wind noises after the rift is made and non diegetic I will use while the rift is being made.

My clip will have a representation of teenagers doing whatever they want. This reinforces stereotypes of young people has most teenagers do whatever they want to do.

My target audience will be a family audience. My demographic and psychographic group may be the Explorer as in my clip there will be a lot of exploring and the reformer as there is a teenager who doesn't listen. Teenagers may be able to relate to doing whatever they want to do (Personal Identity) and they might have a similar relationship with friends in my clip. They might feel entertained during the chase scene (Diversion).