There are three different types of formats, these are a Series, Serial and a Single Drama.
Series - This follows the lives of all the characters throughout every episode, however, with a series there will be a new story every episode. The stories will change while the characters will stay. An example of this would be the TV show Friends, as it follows the life of the main characters, but each episode counts as an individual by not linking.
Serial - A Serial is a show that will have an ongoing story throughout many episodes, the story can begin and can last sometimes over ten episodes. A serial will also follow the same characters throughout each episodes, but unlike a series, the tasks facing a character last a longer period of time in a serial, unlike a series, where the story will always conclude within the same episode it starts. An example of a Serial would be Breaking Bad, this is because it follows the main characters throughout each episode, but the main stories continue through many episodes.
Single Drama - An example of this could be transformers 4, this is because it concludes within the same film. Meaning that the story ends at the end of the film. A single drama also is usually only broadcasted once and can also sometimes be based on real life events.
Narratives:
Non Linear - This is a narrative structure that is used to show that a story does not run in a straight line, non linear means that there will be flashbacks and flash forwards used to make it more interesting for the audience and to keep them entertained. Fight Club would be an example for a non linear narrative, this is because it bounces around from place to place, not always linking and the audience do not know what will happen or what is happening until the pieces are fitted together at the end. As there are flashbacks used.
Linear - This is a narrative structure that is used in a straight line, there are no flashbacks and the story will run in its correct order from the start until it concludes. An example of a linear story is the film up, this is because the story is told in one long ordered line.
Realist - This is where a story is realistic for the audience, films that would be realist would be films that are based on true events, such as a war film, whereas a film such as Alien, is not realist as the audience know that it can never happen.
Anti Realist - It is not based on real lifer situations, the audience know it is not real, however are still drawn in to the story.
Single Stranded and Multi Stranded - A story that follows one character, getting the story from their perspective, whereas multi stranded will follow the point of views of multiple characters whilst staying within the same story.
Closed and Open Narratives - A closed Narrative will conclude at the end whereas an open narrative may leave it open and not finish at the end. A closed narrative can be a soap opera, such as Coronation Street, as the story will continue for a long period of time, this makes it exciting for the audience as they are looking forward to the next episode.
Single Camera and Multi Camera Productions: Single camera productions are usually done for films, whereas a TV show, such as the Jeremy Kyle show, is shot on multiple cameras. A multi Camera Production will always be used mainly for live shows with an audience.
The Jeremy Kyle show is shot on multi cameras because it is a talk show, it must be captured through different shot types such as close ups and mid shots, it also must be shot from other angles, so there will be different camera set ups around the focus point. If this was shot with a single camera, then it would not be able to capture all of the right footage, by using multi camera, it ensures that one camera can focus on the close ups of the guests and the host, other can focus on the long shots, master shots and many others.
A TV show like Doctor Who, would be shot on a single camera, even though it is a TV show.
This would be used with a single camera as it would be cheaper to make for the writers, it will also be done because in a show like Doctor Who, as it is a single drama and an anti realist show, they will shoot with a single camera so they can portray the full landscapes to the audience so they will get a better feel for the show and will become more interested in it. It is also done to capture all of the expressions on the characters faces, this is done for the audience to begin to feel more emotional attachment towards them, for this, they will use close ups and extreme close ups much more often than a multi camera production would.
Chat Shows (talks shows)
Like Jeremy Kyle, this would be a multi camera production, this is for many reasons, as it is a live show, they will only have one shot at getting it 100% correct, although, it is easier to cover a mistake up more than it would be for another live performance, such as a football match or a Glastonbury performance.they will use multi camera to make sure they capture all of the guests and the star, there will also be a camera being used to capture the live audience, to show there expressions, there will, like Jeremy Kyle, also be cameras specifically used for capturing close ups and extreme close ups, so the viewers at home do not get bored and so they will see more, also a camera to get the full shot of the studio with the audience, panning over to the guests and host, this is done for effect, usually at the start, to introduce the show to the viewers in an entertaining way.
Live Performances
This will also be multi camera, as it is live, there will only be one shot at performing and capturing it correctly, this would also be the same for a football game, they would not be able to redo anything, with a live performance, you will also have different camera set ups all over the place, for instance, there will be one for a master shot, it would generally be placed on a crane or something high, this is to capture the full stage and fans for the people at home to feel the excitement, allowing the viewers elsewhere to also see it better, there will also be other cameras near the fans, also done for the viewers at home to feel as though they are actually there, there will also be close ups and mid shots of the performers on the stage, to show the audience at home, again making them feel part of it and also allowing them a better view of the performers even though they are much further away.
Utopia - TV Thriller
This would be shot with a single camera, this is to once again allow the audience to feel something for the characters shown, whether it will be good or bad, depending on the character, single camera will be used to capture the individual shots, such as close ups and extreme close ups of the characters faces, to ensure the audience feel interested and mysterious about the character and their personalities.
Come Fly With Me - Comedy
A TV Programme such as come fly with me will use single camera production, this is because the show is filmed like a documentary and many of the shots are taken as interviews for the audience to believe that it is set in an airport. Single camera is used to fully portray to the viewers the expressions of the characters, to make them all believable.
Advantages of Single Camera: There are many advantages when using single camera in a production, most films use single camera techniques, this is because it can be cheaper to do so. By doing this it allows the crew to capture footage several times, allowing them to gain shots that they may not have intended to use in the first place. By using single camera, it allows the viewers to be able to capture all of the individual shots and angles used in the show, there will be more of these shots because the makers will be able to focus on single characters at a time, setting up in a different place for any shot that is based on a different angle, or of a different person, whereas different shots of the same person, such as mid shots, close ups, extreme close ups and long shots can all be shot in the same position, the camera does not need to move.
It also allows the crew to use a variety of shots, this is because by making it a single camera production, it ensures that the crew will end up getting many different shots more than once so they can get the best shot possible, with a single camera production, the crew that will be needed will be much smaller, for instance, there will usually only be one professional cameraman to film, when on location with a smaller crew, there are less things to be concerned with, as you only need one cameraman at a time, other people can be allowed top focus entirely on locations and especially continuity, focusing on continuity is extremely important as it allows the story to flow correctly in the right order, linking clearly for the audience to understand.
By shooting with a single camera, you can also focus in order of the most important shots to do first, such as the master the shot, there are many advantages on beginning with a master shot, these are, because it establishes to the audience where the characters are, the master shot shows everyone in the scene with the whole background, quite like an establishing shot. It also has to be done from a long shot or wide angle, to show the audience who and what is in the scene. As it is a single camera production, it will allow the crew to film it not in any specific order, they do not have to shoot vier the script or storyboard, although it is best to start with the master shot to get the full view for the audience so they understand where the characters are and who is at the location. You are also able to focus especially on the characters emotions, helping gain the audience members emotion towards that character.
Advantages of Multi Camera: There are many advantages of filming with multi cameras in a production, this is because it allows them to capture all of the shots together, allowing the viewers to enjoy it more, by doing this, there will be cameras set up in different areas, each there to capture a shot of a specific meaning to the audience, it will generally be used during live performances, such as a football match and it will allow the audience to see what is going from the players perspectives, as well as the manager, allowing the audience to see there facial expressions from long shots to close ups, also having the master shot, like an establishing shot to capture the stadium, fans and player all at once, showing the viewers the full picture top make them feel as though they are there in the stadium.
Disadvantages of using Single camera in productions: It will take much more planning for the writers, the script and the storyboard will have to be written before hand, even though they do not have to be shot in that order, a full story must be established before any filming begins.
It will also take much longer to complete, this is because obviously there i only one camera being used, making all of the shots longer to shoot. It also means that you will be left with many more outtakes, this is because there will be many mistakes made and the camera will keep picking them up, so this will come back to take a longer time during pre production when the editor is editing, you can also end up breaking the 180 degree rule, this can easily be done by not shooting a different camera shot from the same angle as the previous shot, this breaks continuity laws and the 180 degree rule, because it is not understandable for the audience.
Disadvantages of Multi Camera: With multi camera productions they are extremely expensive to make, this is because the are multiple cameras used so the cost for all of the camera crew will amount up. The costs for all of the lighting equipment will also be expensive.
The purposes of using multi cameras is to get the shots all from different perspectives all at the same time whereas with single camera, the purpose is to focus on each character carefully, showing their expressions to the audience to help gain the audiences emotions.
Our Single Camera Production
When we were filming our production, we did it with a single camera, this was so we captured all of the correct angles and shots for our audience to understand what was happening, such as close ups on the pills to easily suggest to the audience that the character has overdosed, a close up was used here to grab the audiences attention by ensuring that they gain emotional attachment towards the character before really knowing them.
We found out many disadvantages of filming with the single camera also, this is because we realised that during the editing, we had to search through many outtakes and mistakes to ensure we had the right footage. This however allowed us to discover other footage that we originally did not intend to include, allowing us to make the story better by using some of these shots.
Extreme Close Up - This shot is done to portray characters emotions and facial expressions and to emphasis what is happening in the scene, following their eyes, judging what is happening within the scene, this also looks with a pan shot, as the pan scans the room, you could then cut to an extreme close up of the characters eyes following it.
Wide Shot - This is used to allow the audience to clearly see the character and their surroundings, this could also link with an establishing shot as it can show to the audience where the characters are.
Pan - The Pan is used to show to the audience the surroundings of a character, for instance, in a room, the camera can pan along the whole area of the room, to capture all of the objects and subjects within it.
The 180 degree rule - This is done to ensure that the continuity of the scene is correct, so it links with the rest of the story and so the audience can follow it easily, by breaking the 180 degree rule, you are not allowing the audience to fully understand the situation of a character within a scene, it could be broken by shooting different shots of the same thing, such as one close up and one mid shot, the character must be in the same position to allow the story to flow.
Building a sequence of Shots - By doing this, it links different scenes together, this means by showing a mid shot followed by a close up at the same time, showing the same events from a different shot type, this allows a story to be told, linking the different shots, showing the events form a different shot. It builds up a continuing sequence.
Blocking (intimate and distance) This allows the audience to understand the relationship of certain characters towards each other, by the way the have been placed in the scene, if they are place together, standing next to each other, it shows that they are close, whereas if they were standing far away from each other within the same scene, they would be classed as not being close. If it is too characters moving closer towards each other, it shows to the audience that a relationship is being built, allowing the audience to follow it and start to feel emotion towards the character.
Shot types - Close ups are used to show the audience suspense of a character, creating dramatic effect and mystery for the audience.
A long shot shot is done to establish a background and to show the audience where the characters currently are, quite similar to a Master Shot.
Lead Room - For any dramatic energy to be directed at.
Head Room - This is done to show the shot of the character and not cutting some of their head out of the shot, it is done to see the full shot.
Dead Space - allowing the character too much head room.
The master shot shows everything within a scene, by showing all of the characters in the scene, next to there current environment and background, by doing this it establishes to the audience where the characters are. The master shot is important to shoot first as it is the main shot, because it explains to the audience where the characters are
180 Degree/ Rule of third / Match on Action/Shot reverse shot
We broke the 180 degree rule during two scenes that linked with each other. This was because two scenes were shot from different angles that were meant to show the same position. The character was shown at two different positions, not allowing a clear jump from one shot to another.
This made the continuity of the scene not flow and made it difficult to understand for the audience to following.
During the beginning scene, we used a tilt shot and a point of view shot when showing the house, this was done to show to the audience a vertical angle of the house, to create a sense of mystery because nobody knows who is in there or what is happening at this time, it is also a point of view shot because we see the camera move as though it was a persons moment.
This is also done to create mystery for the viewers because it may suggest that there is someone outside of the house looking in, linking to the thriller conventions of showing dramatic effect.
This is a close up The close up was used here to create a dramatic effect for the audience, this also creates mystery, as the viewers do not not what has happened, the close up is done here also to emphasis the events that have occurred, to portray to the audience that the character has taken an overdose, this is clear for the viewers and done for the audience to feel and emotion towards the character already.
The Pan
A pan is used to show all of the objects and subjects within a room, in this scene, we can see that the pan is used portray all of the objects on the floor within the room, suggesting that there has been trouble here, this is also done for dramatic effect, as it makes the audience ask questions as to what has gone on.
Point of View
This shot is done from a Point of View perspective, to show to the audience the events that are taking place from the characters perspective. Creating mystery for the audience as they do not know who it is or why it is happening.
Many of the shots that were taken on the exterior setting were during the dark evening, to help the audience understand there connections with each other and also, as it is a thriller and it must have thriller conventions, it creates a sense of suspense and terror for the audience because it is dark. By using low key lighting in these scenes, it allowed a good contrast between them and the light scenes, allowing them to link correctly.
As we were using one camera, we had to set up certain shots individually, this helped make the webisode more entertaining for the viewers as it enabled us to focus of the scene and to try and make the audience feel tense throughout them. It took more time to shoot each scene as there was only one camera, although this allowed us to gain further footage that we did not intend to keep, allowing us more footage and more shots to use. If this was done with multiple cameras, the shots would not have taken as much time to shoot, this is because one camera would focus on certain shots, such as close ups, whereas others would focus on other shots, allowing the cameras to capture all of the footage they need.
To create a sense of realism for the audience during the webisode, we used the Point Of View shot o show the events from the characters perspective. We also used the pan along the room to create mystery for the audience, by asking them the question as to what had happened, creating a dramatic effect and therefore allowing the audience to feel involved with the story and the characters.
We had a long sequence of shots to put together during the edit, this was so we could build all of the close up, mid shots and other shots in other scenes around the main shots that were taken, to establish where the scene was, such as the master shot. This allowed the audience to understand where they were.
High Angle - This is done to make the audience believe that a certain character who is place higher than another is weaker. Suggesting to the audience that the higher character is dominant and the character below them is more vulnerable. The high angle is placed above the character to portray to the viewers that the character is completely powerless.
Low Angle - This is done to suggest to the viewers that the character standing above the height of the camera is more dominant, suggesting to the audience that the low angle portrays strength and power for a character as the character is standing over them, showing the other characters weakness compared to the dominance of the other.
Tilt - This is quite similar to a pan, although the tilt moves vertically, either up or down, this is done to portray the main significances of a subject, for instance, a shot of a house or a building, a tilt shot would move vertically along the subject to show all of it. It can also be done to show the character, to show them in full detail.
Dutch Tilt is used for dramatic effect and is used by moving the camera angle to a specific side, making the audience unsure why and also causing mystery doing this.
Master Shot - A master shot is one of the most important shots, like an establishing shot, it will portray the whole scene with all of the subjects within it, it is extremely important as it establishes to the audience where the scene is set and where the characters are.
The master shot is shown here as we see the whole scene, with all of the characters and the background.
The Master shot should always be the first shot you take, this is because it provides the setting to show where everything is. Without it, it would be confusing for the audience because they would not no what was going on. - Other shots would be taken afterwards, such as close ups and mid shots.
This is a web serial because it has a small amount of
characters to follow and the characters story links through different episodes
and it does not just conclude after the pilot. The show will be a non linear production, as their will be flashbacks and flash forwards used to cause wonder and mystery. It will also be single stranded as it will follow the life of one main character with others around him. Being single stranded will cause the viewers concentrate their attention on the main character and to begin to understand his origin and story.
Sources of Finance: The areas of finance would be equipment
used, if I was going to hire a camera crew, this would cost for the time of the
crew, sometimes the camera crew will not bring their own equipment so it is up
to me to provide it.
The equipment that will be used is basic for the web serial
to work, but as we are at college the equipment is free for us to use.
Further Budget Requirements:
·Locations manager – To scout the locations that
will be used.
·Director
·Researchers
·Transport
·Talent
Transport would cost money but as we are at college, we do
not yet have to pay for public transport and the transport could cost up to £1350 if you were to bikes or taxis.
Locations:
The location fees to go and take still photos and video
footage in the media industry will cost £1800. If you wanted to film a video in the bleak
house it would cost £200,000. You will need a locations manager.
However with locations, you would have an extremely limited
amount of time, this is because you are on a tight schedule and working to a deadline
and the money to the camera crew will go to waste because there would not have
been enough shots taken, this would result in being sacked by the director.
Timing:
Schedules and Deadlines: You can organize the deadlines, for instance when you want to film, write the script, and have lunch and by doing so, given the pace if you complete it before the deadline you may have enough time left over to give it the final look and to help improve it.
Availability of Equipment: As we are in college we can easily book the equipment for free, whereas if we where doing this in the media industry, there would be prices for equipment.
The Crew: It will consist of the amount of people in the pitch, (groups of 4) I will be behind the camera, a role will be assigned and each person can practice it. The talent are the main focus point on the screen, (the actors) these actors will be the main source of funds, as they are the talent, they will be paid the most.
The researchers will look for the availability of crew members, such as the talent and the camera crew. They will be used to research the true events of a story if they were hired for a film based on real events, so with a fictional story, they may be used to research how much he costs will be for hiring the crew. Transport could cost up to £1350 if you were to bikes or taxis.
Facilities: The facilities that will be used for production and post production. For the production, it is the set up that will be needed for the facilities, such as setting up the cameras ready for use, This also includes the lighting, For instance, this means that the lighting needs to be balanced for the audience to be able to watch it clearly. The lighting being done properly is also important because there are no shadows that are wanted within the scene.
For post production, equipment for using editing software will be needed, this is to make it appeal to the audience and to give it a dramatic effect. The editing software that will be used will be Final Cut Pro, this will allow us to put all of the footage that has been taken and to put it in to sequence.
The materials used for the web serial will be copyrighted and in the film industry you would have to pay to use the music in the film. In order to distribute a film - web serial you will need to have clearance from the BBFC (British Board OF Film Classification)
Codes of Practice and Regulations: Video Recordings act 1984-2010, this allows them to pay special regard for content that will otherwise undermine society, so with a thriller there will be violence in it and behavior that could be copied certain people.
In terms of locations, you have to outline anything risky, for instance a building with poor lighting such as a warehouse or cabin, this would be hazardous because people cant see where they are going and may have an accident by bumping in to sharp objects.
