Media Strategies Unit: Commercial VS Non-Commercial Operators

	BBC 1	ITV
09.00	Breakfast/ Wanted Down Under	Lorraine
10.00	Home under The Hammer/ BBC News and Weather	Jeremy Kyle/ This Morning
11.00	Doorstep Crime/ Cowboy Trap
12.00	BBC News/ Bargain Hunt	Loose Women…
13.00	BBC News/ Regional News/ Doctors	…Loose Women/ ITV News and Weather
14.00	Escape to the Country	Dickinson’s Real Deal
15.00	School for Stars/ Winging It/ OOglies…	Alan Titchmarsh Show/ Weather
16.00	…OOglies/ Dick and Dom/ My Life	Midsomer Murders
17.00	News Round/ Pointless	The Chase
18.00	BBC News/ Regional News	Regional News/ Party Political Broadcast/ ITV News and Weather
19.00	The One Show/ Rip Off Britain	Emmerdale/ Live UEFA Champions League…
20.00	Waterloo Road

Commercial VS Non-Commercial Operators

After looking and comparing the schedules of BBC1 and ITV we have found that Commercial operators tend to air longer programmes to enable more use of advertising, through more advert breaks. Also, the bigger the programme, the more likely it is to get a sponsor, unlike the small, short programmes on a non-commercial operator.

We have found a difference in audience, which results in different length of content to suit the target audience.

Commercial operators also commonly use competitions to gain revenue within their programmes.

Story Telling Unit: The Meeting Idea, Pitch and Synopsis

THE MEETING

Genre: Drama

           

Theme: How far parental love can take you.

Setting: Police Station // Family home. 

Characters: Policeman - Colin, 40 years old, family man.

                 Hooded Boy - Max, 17 years old, troubled teenager.

The Idea: A policeman that is put on a case is forced to face the reality of his

              son’s behavior when, after a police chase and struggle, the boy is

              revealed to him as his son. In a high intensity and fast paced drama, 

              a father’s love is put to the test to protect his son.

PITCH...

A short film that captures the desperate fight a Father goes through to protect his son after he finds him in a dark place and running from the law.

SYNOPSIS...

The Meeting is a short film, following a man and his son and the strains on their relationship when it is pushed the the edge in an energetic drama based in a contemporary urban setting. 

The film opens switching from the strategic steps of a police officer and the nervous movement of a boy escaping from the law, both worlds collide and force a fast-paced chase and struggle, when the policeman is hit by the shock and reality that the boy is his son.

The policeman has to put everything on the line in a desperate attempt to protect his son and their Father and Son relationship is pushed to the limit through trust and love.

The Father manages to cover up the assisted escape of the boy, but is questioned at work. A problem and worry of whether this lie can be carried on erupts in a loud, blown-up argument and fight between Father and Son.

The fight between the law and the protection of his son proves a struggle, but Colin shows his parental instinct, expressed through a high-intensity ten minute drama.

Story-Telling Unit 9/2/2012

Today's task was to gather an idea for a 10 minute film from a newspaper headline, this is what Gem and I came up with...

Newspaper Headline:

                            RADICAL MUSLIMS TARGET YOUNG INMATE IN PRISON.

Title:                             The Jail House Rocks.

Genre:                         Factual Drama / Documentary

The Idea:                     Muslim extremists corrupt the minds of young, vulnerable, petty criminals in the attempt to train them in terrorism.

Theme:                        Terrorism / Fooling the system.

Setting:                        Belmarsh - High security prison.

                                     Present day.

Characters:                  Abdu Hamza (main enforcer of terrorism within the prison)\

                                     Abdu’s followers X3 (Shah, Miaha and Mohammed)

                                     Inmate 1

                                     Inmate 2

Story:                           Following a story of two parallel lives of terrorist extremists beside petty criminals which come together when put in the same cell under a series of events and pressured circumstances.

When the two inmates are put into a cell with Abdu Hamza the scenes become darker with a feeling of fear. The cell is a dark, damp room with little space. As soon as these characters are introduced the drama begins, Hamza starts to question the new inmates on their life and beliefs, the men are soon pressured to keep to Hamza’s rules and life style. At this point it is very clear that Hamza dominates the cult within the prison. Quickly Hamza and his men work on convincing the two men, pressuring them into his own beliefs to fulfill Hamza’s secret task. The actual events of the task are kept secret to the audience until later on but audience witness training and teachings of highly religious content.

This is where the dramatic scenes close and the factual documentary kicks in. News scenes are shown and the death of two young men who recently left Belmarsh prison is announced in a suicide bombing.

Interview with Hamza follows. Hamza defends the attitudes and performance in belief of working for Allah and the Qu’ran.

Finishes with ‘Based on a true story and actual events.’

Story-Telling Unit... 6/1/12

Today we were introduced to our Story-Telling Unit!

We watched two episodes of 'Spaced' (1999 sit-com starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg) and worked on breaking down the make up of the content. 

We also learnt about a selling pitch (what to include and how to approach when pitching) and how a synopsis is constructed.

My Pitch for Spaced...

Spaced is a slapstick, situation comedy with five intertwined, distinct characters, following their progressive relationships and life adventures in a contemporary urban setting. 

My Synopsis for Spaced...

Spaced is a unique situation comedy with 5 twenty-somethings who are brought together through unexpected friendships, shared issues and accommodation. The content follows a mixture of styles and sub-genres, including Drama and Sci-fi. Episodes last 30 minutes each, in a six-part series. 

The story of Spaced follows the characters and their progressive relationships as they take on their own life adventures. Spaced is fast-paced, relevant and contemporary, with wild moments of surreal followed by realistic moments.

The series begins following Tim and Daisy’s fails in life and relationships in parallel lives, resulting in meeting each other in their local cafe where their friendship is born and starts to grow. They soon move in with each other, where Marsha, Mike and Brian are introduced. The shared accommodation of a London flat, keeps characters based throughout their progressive lives. Characters individual personalities are portrayed through slapstick humor along with pop culture comparisons and references.

Five intertwined individuals showing contemporary, quirky life and friendships with a difference.