Drama Research

What came to mind when we looked at some of the Dramas in session was Webisodes. Shot drama series made only to be seen on the internet, they could be stand alone productions or the can be made as a spin off of an already popular TV Show or used as a way to introduce or Test characters that may be used on a networks more popular show. Examples include Eastenders: E20, Quarterlife, LonelyGirl 15. Though ours was going to be a one off Drama piece and had a lot more restrictions I think it's interesting to see character development in Webisodes such as E20 were the running time of each episode was between 3 and 16 minutes and only had 6 episodes in a season. The webisodes were used as a platform to establish new characters on to Eastenders by focusing on making them appeal to a certain age group through the use of music, age, language and style (15 to 19)



Shows Like LonelyGirl15 had a more direct address approach and the deception it had on the audience for three months in making them believe it was based real life really caught my attention. It's single camera set up and realism is what made people not question its fictionality. It would be good to make a realistic drama piece, as it's all in the scripting and mannerisms of the character. I hope that the piece we make has a certain realistic approach though I think this will be quite hard to achieve.

Drama Project: Character Development

Character Name: Sadi
Age: 23
Appearance: Middle Eastern, living in Germany, wears a Pinstriped Navy Blue Suit.

1. What do you know about this character now that s/he doesn’t yet know?

-He is Going To Help Someone

2. What is this character’s greatest flaw? 

- Perfectionist

3. What do you know about this character that s/he would never admit? 

- He Has A Daughter

What is this character’s greatest asset?

-Gold Bar

If this character could choose a different identity, who would s/he be?

-His Father

What music does this character sing to when no one else is around?

-Sean Paul

In what or whom does this character have the greatest faith?

-His Daughter

What is this character’s favourite movie?

-Aladdin

Does this character have a favourite article of clothing? Favourite shoes?

- Pinstriped Blue Suit

Does this character have a vice? Name it.

-No

Name this character’s favourite person (living or dead).

-His Dog Winston That Died When He Was 6

What is this character’s secret wish?

-To Be With His Daughter

What is this character’s proudest achievement?

-Having A Daughter

What is this character’s greatest fear?

-His Father

Describe this character’s most devastating moment.

-The Unexplained Death Of His Dog Winston

What is this character’s greatest achievement?

-Graduating At A Higher Level Than His Father

What is this character’s greatest hope?

-To Find His Mother

Does this character have an obsession? Name it.

-His Quest To Find His Mother

What is this character’s greatest disappointment?

-Being Compared To His Father By His Mother The Last Time He Saw Her

What is this character’s worst nightmare?

-Finding Out That His Quest To Find His Mother Will Lead To A Dead End

Whom does this character most wish to please? Why?

-Nobody, Though On The Outside It's His Father So That He Can Take Over The Business

Describe this character’s mother.

-Sweet and Confident, Won't Stand For Injustice But It's Ironic Because Of The Man She Married

Describe this character’s father.

-Dictator Like, The Successful Business Man That Won't Allow Any Man Woman Dog Or Child Stand In His Way Or Tarnish His Name

If s/he had to choose, with whom would this character prefer to live?

-His Mother, But Circumstances Were Not In His Favour

Where does this character fall in birth order? What effect does this have?

-He Is The Youngest Of Three. Regardless Of Being The Baby Of The Family He Is The Only Boy So has The Biggest Weight Of Responsibility

Describe this character’s siblings or other close relatives.
-His Sisters Are Very Different, The Oldest Taking After Their Dad But Having A Little More Humanity, Loves Her Brother but Follows Whatever Her Father Says. The Middle Sister Was Both His and His Fathers Favourite, Allowed To Do Whatever She Pleases With Minimal Consequence, Free Spirited and Currently Living In Australia Selling Real Estate.

Describe this character’s bedroom. Include three cherished items.
-A Painting Of A Busy City, -An Alarm Clock With A Secret Compartment -Winston's Collar

What is this character’s birth date? How does this character manifest traits of his/her astrological sign?

-August 10th. He Hates The Sun And Prefers Winter.

If this character had to live in seclusion for six months, what six items would s/he bring

-His Collar, His Pin Striped Suit, 

Why is this character angry?

-Because Of The Hold His Father Has Over Every Bodies Life.

What calms this character?

-The Picture Of The Busy City, His Dream of One Day Being Able To Get Lost In The Crowd

Describe a recurring dream or nightmare this character might have.

-Him looking Into Those Big Eyes Of His Daughter The Day She Was Born Before Switching To The Image Of His Father Sitting In A Prison Cell With A Rocking Chair Holding His Daughter. When He Looks Up At Him He Puts A Finger To His Lips and Says "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

List the choices (not circumstances) that led this character to his/her current predicament

-Deciding It Was His Duty To Put An End To His Fathers Tyranny.

List the circumstances over which this character has no control.
-The Death Of His Dog, The Disappearance Of His Mother and Being Born.

What wakes this character in the middle of the night?
-The "Shhhhhhhhhhhhh" Of The Man In His Dreams

How would a stranger describe this character?
-Focused

What does this character resolve to do differently every morning?

-Not Loose The Will To Stop His Father, Though It Gets More And More Difficult Not To Give Up Everyday

Who depends on this character? Why?

-His Daughter Who Thinks The People She Is Living With Loves Her, Not Knowing She's Part Of A Plan For A New Age Of Tyranny 

If this character knew s/he had exactly one month to live, what would s/he do?

-Kill His Father

How would a dear friend or relative describe this character?

-His Father Has Nothing To Say About Him.

What is this character’s most noticeable physical attribute?

-A Single Dimple Though He Never Smiles

What is this character hiding from him/herself?

-There's A Fast Way To End Their Fathers Reign But Is Convinced There Is Another Way As Sadi Doesn't Want To End Up Like Him

Write one additional thing about your character.

-His Baby Mama Is With His Mother.

Drama Project

The next brief is to create a 5 minute drama film about a Journey and as per usual to give us and idea of what we could create in the time frame given we looked at a number of different piece all varying in length, style and audience appeal.

A Brief Summary of the drama piece we were shown:

Sign Language by Oscar Sharp
Pudding Bowl by Vanessa Caswill
About A Girl by Brian Percival
Audio Tour by Stephane Kass
Rite by Michael Pearce
I Do Air by Martina Amati
Le Miroir by Ramon and Pedro

The two piece I am going to talk about in more detail are:

Rite by Michael Pearce



I felt that Rite actually seemed like I was watching a movie. Though it was a lot longer than the piece that we have to make I though that character development and overall story understanding was at the right pace and gave you enough time to bond with characters and understand their situations from early on in the film.

I Do Air by Martina Amati.


I-Do-Air_Clip from ama on Vimeo.


I enjoyed the minimalism in the piece and how the point still came across, though I didn't like the effect they used in the locker room where the girl acted like she was underwater. I thought it didnt match the dynamic of the piece at all and look more horror than childhood fantasy. I thought that the sound throughout worked because in a way it was the mumbled nothing you can hear when you yourself are underwater. It was overall a good piece that told a story in a short amount of time.

Also in this session we got into groups and picked our roles which were as follows
Director: Mark, Producer: George, Camera: Fraser, Sound Recordist, Luke, Editor: Joe Sound Editor/Designer: Jen

I thought it would be a nice change to do sound as I had already tried my hand at Directing, Producing and Editing and Sound isn't something that I am very familiar with or have fully grasped the concept of. This I figured would be a great time for me to learn to do so.

Overall Evaluation (22/02/2012)

In the end I was one of the key editors/co-producer as well as being Director but I wasn't to bothered as I felt that in a way it was all part of the role of the Director. I enjoyed my role as Director and feel that I did a really good job in terms of being the main organiser, both during the production and post production stages,in terms of scheduling and making creative decisions throughout the course of the project as well as taking everyone else's thoughts into consideration. Being the forefront when it came to conducting the interviews and getting release forms signed etc whilst still managing to direct the Camera and Sound elements though Alex and Hannah both took a lot of their own initiative when it came to there job roles.

I think that overall what we achieved as decent, though I felt it could have been a lot better than how it turned out. The points made by the tutors I felt were reasonable as well as understandable, though points to do with the stage lighting in the Cavern Club was out of hands and was something we couldn't have changed on the day if we wanted to.
When thinking about the editing style I think  the phrases "Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth" best describes it. Due to scheduling conflicts with the main editor who couldn't make enough days and times to make sure the piece was finished in time the group ended up splitting itself into two. Alex Hannah and I doing the bulk of the editing and Clarice and Sophie pitching a few hours here and there when they could. Though we considered the creative comments made by Clarice and Sophie, I think the rest of us felt as though, because we were putting in the most amount of hours we should therefore have the final say. We did have a third party evaluating the editing process on the last day who took an objective view to the sequences Alex Hannah and I had edited in comparison to what the others had done.

I think in the end that working in such a large group was a shock to us all but I did enjoy being Director and I would happily play that role again.

Post Production (21/03/2012)

Today was the last day of editing so me Hannah and Alex got in an early start. Alex hadn't been around for a few days so he had a good subjective eye in watching some of the sequences that me and Hannah had edited in comparison to the same sequence but edited differently by Clarice and Sophie. We managed to merge a few sections to trying to use both ideas.
The main thing to work on was audio levels, transitions both filter and picture wise to fill jumps in the way that the interview had been cut. As well as this there was also some colour correction that needed to be sorted out. Finally though me and Hannah had previously put together a rough outline of what all the sequences would look like on the same timeline both shot and time wise we still needed to fit all the pieces together.

We also came to the tough conclusion over a debate we were having about keeping in the Museum of Liverpool sequence, deeming it too short, and the content not really providing any solid or unique information. In the end we scrapped it.

Putting everything together took longer than we anticipated and the hours just kept ticking off, by the time we knew it the three of us were finally exporting the finalised version pretty late.

Post Production (19/03/2012 - 20/03/12)

On Monday during our workshop Hannah, Sophie, Clarice and I went through what had been done so far and what left to do, fixing little things in each sequence but mostly concentrating on the longer Cavern Club sequence, after the session me and Hannah stayed to try and work on how we could make the sequences flow into each other.

On Tuesday Hannah and I came in, in the morning to finish what we had started in terms of how to link the shots, then later on in the afternoon we swapped over with Clarice and Sophie to take over leaving them with a list of shots to consider and where the fades and transitions needed to be added in the different sequence we had added.

Post Production (17/03/2012)

Today I feel like I did a fair amount that would put us back on track when it came to finishing the editing for Tuesday/Early Wednesday. I managed to put a tight edit on the Cavern Club interviews as well as putting together the best parts of the interviews from the Beatles Gift Shop and the Liverpool Museum, all that was left was to find substantial cut aways to interject between the interviewees as well as pulling together all the answers from the Vox Pops. Happy that I cam in today as I now feel a lot better about the edit process and hope the other two like what I've put together.

Editing the Cavern Sequence:

The first section of the interview

Adding Cut Aways

Playing with the sound levels

The Beatles Gift Shop:

Leaving spaces between cuts for cut aways

The Liverpool Museum:

Picking out the best part of the interview and adding a rough guide of where cut aways are needed.

Vox Pops:

Getting them together and giving them a sort of flow.

Research

After considering The Apology Line I started to think of different subject genres that documentaries can be used in, The News is a form of documentary, informing you of different events within each segment. As a whole on the other hand it may prove harder to justify.

Music Videos can also be documentaries, such as them showing be hind the scenes footage, sometimes juxtaposed with them performing the song but mostly not, if anything adding a few elements to jazz it up.

Two examples include

McFly: Baby's Coming Back

They keep just to the performance element mixed with a few behind the scenes shots

and

Paramore: Hallelujah

They go for the more stylised option.

Both I feel are in a way documentary styles music videos, as it chronicles and tells a story about the characters real lives, and the audio can be described as the basis of the narrative for the piece.

Post Production (16/03/2012)

Alex Hannah and I came back to the edit suit in between classes to see what the others had done the day before. We decided to work a bit more the section we had been dealing with the day before which was the intro, correcting a few things that Esther had picked up on during the tutorial. We decided to call it a day after that and went off to our next session hoping that one of the others would turn up to edit later on in the day. Regardless I had volunteered to come in tomorrow to edit the Cavern Club section as well as pulling out the most important parts of the other interviews.

Tutorial/Post Production (15/03/2012)

After showing Esther what Alex and Hannah had edited the previous night she also helped us decided on some kind of structure for the piece and made a few comments to do with the aesthetics of the piece: Colour, Framing,  and general flow as well as giving us a few things to think about for when we got back to editing. The three of us then went straight from the Tutorial to the Edit Suit where we touched up a few things that Esther had mentioned as well as coming up with our own structure for the edit.

Clarice and Sophie showed up in the afternoon and took over from us, we discussed what we talked about in the tutorial as well as giving them the edit structure we came up with, telling them which sequences to work on.

Post Production (14/03/2012)

Hannah Alex and I came in to do some editing, firstly we had to sort out moving all of our footage from the old mac to the new one which took longer than expected, then we went about trying to come up with a rough edit guide but everything we tried just wasn't working or didn't look as good as we had imagined it to. Then before we knew it, it was 17:00 and we had to leave because there was a class on until 20:00. I had other unavoidable plans so couldn't come back after the class was over but Alex and Hannah edited together a few possible options in order to show Esther for our tutorial tomorrow.

Post Production: (13/03/2012)

Today Me and Sophie were supposed to upload the second tape and start editing. After waiting around a bit I decided to just get started on my own but sadly the computer that Alex had uploaded everything on was in use by someone else who when asked said they would be there all day, I went to see if I could book it out for another day but they had beat us to it and it wasn't free till Friday. I then decided to instead upload what was on the second tape and export it as a quick time and call it a day. Especially as it was only 12mins and only contained a few Vox Pops and some music from the Cavern Club. I later called Alex and explained what had happened we decided it was best to get the footage from that mac and move to a more accessible one.

Liverpool: Day 2 - Production (06/03/2012)

The Plan for the day was as followed:

Liverpool Plans for Blog

Everything ran smoothly, a few things on the list got switched round, due to which ones we thought would be the easiest to film and therefore get out of the way so we could focus more on the more important one/ Ones we thought would take the most amount of time.
We also got a tip whilst we were getting Vox Pops to head over to The Grapes because the man who used to manage T he Beatles was over there, sadly we missed him by a few minutes but it provide a good change of background to get a few more Vox Pops. Though a few things ran over and a few things went quicker than expected the Schedule was very useful in helping us keep on top of things, and we ended up being finished a little earlier than anticipated.

A few production stills...

Liverpool: Day 1 - Pre Production (05/03/2012)

The Group was as as follows: Jen (Director) Alex (Camera) Hannah (Sound) Clarice (Producer) Sophie (Editor). Once we had all arrived and settled we had a little meeting to decide how to split up and where we should go to do a little more recceing, Clarice had already been in Liverpool and helpfully knew her way around. Clarice and Sophie went to talk to the two museums, The Beatles Story Museum and the Museum of Liverpool as she had been emailing them in regards to our being allowed to film there tomorrow. That left me Alex and Hannah to go to the Cavern Club on Matthew Street to ask permission to film inside as well as a few of the acts. On the way down there we passed a Beatles Gift Shop and I thought it was worth a go asking if we were able to film inside and perhaps get an interview.

Once we had finished our respective research we all met up by the docks and walked back to the Hostel. On the walk back Clarice and Sophie said they didn't have much luck with the Story Museum as they said they needed at least 3weeks notice and Clarice had only giving them a week and a half (Due to when we got the brief and decided upon an idea) Luckily The Museum of Liverpool were a little more lenient and allowed us to film though we hadn't given two weeks notice, though there were a few minor restrictions such as: No putting down a tripod and not disrupting any other visitors. Me Hannah and Alex were a lot more fortunate as the Cavern Club and the Beatles Gift Shop allowed us to film in their establishments tomorrow.
Back at the hostel Clarice, Hannah, Alex and I sat down and made a plan discussing times of meeting, what we would film, and in what order as well as how long it would take.

Sophie joined us for the tutorial where we told Esther our Ideas and Plans for the next day, all of which was discussed during the production meeting we had had beforehand. That brought the first day of in Liverpool to an end.

Pre Production: Ideas and Treatment (01/03/2012)

After we got into groups we then had to come up with a documentary idea. Each of us went away and looked at various liverpool specific sources to gather any information we thought we could make a documentary over.
The original list had stories to do with Liverpool Football Club, A Jewellery Shop Theft, Desperate Scousewives, 50th Beatles Anniversary, Style and Culture across Liverpool, Volunteers cleaning up Speke Hall

In the end however we chose the story of how Desperate Scousewives wasn't being renewed for a second season and the anticipation for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Beatles.

I was leaning towards doing the idea of the Desperate Scousewives story because I thought the Beatles one would be to common and a little obvious.

I went away and did the Treatment for the Desperate Scousewives Idea my angle being about how the show has effected the people of Liverpool, is it a stereotype or is it a true likeness of their personalities. Then to branch off and talk about the style of liverpool based on another article we had found Liverpool Style and Culture in the Liverpool Echo

Alex did the treatment for the Beatles 50th Anniversary celebration, the angle for this basically being about what the locals were planning to do to celebrate.

Treatments:
Treatment (Desperate Scousewives)

Treatment (The Beatles 50th)

In the end Esther thought the Beatles Idea was the most solid and the majority was in favour so we stared planning and preparing for that idea. Clarice had already gotten in contact with the Beatles Museum and the Museum of Liverpool so we were just waiting to hear back.