Task#2 - Mest Update

E4

Channel History

E4 began transmission on 18 January 2001 at 8.30pm with a night hosted by Ali G

New Girl - critical reception 5.3

First broadcast back in 2005, the countdown/clip show/special discussed twenty controversial moments in TV history.

Historical and drama programmes

Notable success:

•        The Inbetweeners
•          Hollyoaks
•          Big Brother
•          The Big Bang Theory
•          Friends

In 1996, Channel 4 purchased the broadcast rights to the popular American sitcom Friends. The series proved to be very popular amongst the UK audience

Target Audience

Demographic:

Age under 18s (63%)  18-24 (29%) 25-34 (5%) 35-44 (2%) 45-54 (1%) 55+ (0%)

Gender female (59%) • Male (41%)

Demographic means information the media uses to divide their audience into gender, age, race and other categories it also pinpoints potential audience. Every media product is targeted to certain audiences E4 viewers are predominantly young and between the ages 16-24 and dominantly females. They target this demographic because they broadcast good quality drama, comedy, features and having diverse entertainment formats making E4 and E4 +1's both have a very strong impact on16-34s.This demographic is mindful, sociable, connected, heavy internet users, they love going out and tend to use advertising as one of their many information sources.

BBC Three

Channel history

Their plan was for BBC Knowledge to be renamed BBC Four, and indeed this took place in 2002, and for BBC Choice to be renamed BBC Three.

4.2/4.1

Drama, comedy and documentaries

Notable success 

• Doctor who
• Eastenders
• Family Guy

The channel airs various dramas and comedies; one of its most popular sitcoms was Gavin & Stacey, which first aired in May 2007 and was written by and starring Ruth Jones and James Corden alongside Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, Alison Steadman and Rob Brydon. The sitcom was an instant hit, with subsequent series being moved to other BBC channels and the show being granted a Christmas special. Another example is Being Human, a drama in which a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a flat, which has become a success and heralded several new series. American programming also features, with American Dad! and Family Guy being the notable examples.

Target audience:

The channel's target audience is 16 to 34-year olds,  In 2008 it reached 26.3% of 16–34-year-olds in digital home. It has a  2.6% share of the 15–34-year-old audience and 1.4% of the whole population.

The channel needs to be disciplined about focusing on the young - its centre of gravity will be 16-34 year-olds: people who are young in spirit and mindset. BBC Three is ‘Never Afraid to Try New Things’ and that’s why we will continue to innovate with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intelligent factual formats. Our content needs to have potential to innovate across platforms. BBC Three should provide an environment for the development of new ideas and talent and for existing talent to take risks, becoming a genuine laboratory for BBC One and BBC Two

Mest2 Tutorial

•  Great idea – good concept, characterisation, scheduling etc. This can definitely work

•  Decide on whether you want a title sequence – the montage you’re talking about sounds like a title sequence.

• Watch the opening sequence of the Wire – it might fit the type of montage you want.

•  Research sounds good – perhaps add a film opening or two? Kidulthood or similar could help you (similar genre, characterisation etc.)

Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

This task should demonstrate a match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

The brief for my preliminary exercise consisted of making a short clip which involves filming and editing a character opening the door, walking inside and exchanging a couple lines of dialogue with another person with in the room. Overall I believe that my production met the brief correctly and working with a group meant that we had to allocate the planning resources separately; therefore Me, Shervin and Zubair brought all our unique ides into the production to make it the best we can.

As a group we concentrated on the brief and settled one main narrative which involved two characters meeting in a building to exchange dialogue. Me and Shervin played the main two characters. Shervin plays the character who walks to the block where I will already be waiting; and Shervin tells me that he has been a victim of a robbery by another character known as Doobz but he is not shown in this clip. We kept the dialogue limited in the script as we wanted to leave an aspect of the suspense in the production, as a result minimising what was said but leaving just enough for the audience to understand what has happened to Shervin. The storyboard gave us a guideline to the main shots we had to take and how and where we should take them, added to the fact that howl long the shot should be. in addition, this shot list helped me make the filming process faster and less time consuming which let me spend more time on the making the production reach its full potential.

In my opinion one of our strongest points of my production was the editing as it kept the narrative very fluent and straight forward for the audience. The slow pace of transitions in the beginning helped build suspense and cuts such as fade to black allowed the audience to understand that there is a passing of time in the clip. We also had a few good shots such as the extreme close up of my phone in the beginning which was well focused and the audience could clearly read the text on the screen which said "Come to the block". Secondly the match on action shot of me entering the block was extremely fluid and well paced making the production seem really professional. The 180 degree rule was shot successfully as well where the angles of the shots were correct and helped the flow of the conversation between me and Shervin. 

The feedback we got as a group after the production screening was very positive and as Mr Halsey said there wasn't much he could say about our production because it looked very professional and was edited perfectly. However we did notice one error in the clip which was the match on action for Shervin entering the scene, we noticed that it was slightly too early and it was noticeable for the audience once identified. Also there was another mistake I had found which was the 180 degree shot of my face while speaking to Shervin; this shot had a lot of extra framing in it which distracted the audience and not focus on what I was saying. This also made the shot look rushed and unprofessional but it can be prevented in the future where I can focus on the character by zooming in the frame to show only the character and not any distractions around him/her.

MEST2

Misfits

The narrative begins by introducing the five main characters of the cast. The cuts exchange through a selection of medium close-ups of the two female and three male actors as they dress in prison apparel. The location is identified as some sort of low-class changing room, presumably at some sort of rehabilitation centre as suggested by the costumes of the actors. The audience is exposed to the attitudes of the characters suggested by their arrogant facial expressions as well as the way they are presented getting dressed and looking in the mirror - an action which is the utmost of physical self-evaluation. The sound is quiet and irrelevant until the probation officer breaks the silence with dialogue, accompanied by a long shot of all five characters displayed from a low-angle to complement with their attitudes.

Youngers

This British comedy show opens with an instant acquaintance with the two main characters shown from a medium shot as they exchange dialogue in the midst of a suburban estate. Sound is focused on the three 'mandem' sat on a wall as they speak obnoxiously loud, after which a medium close-up is used to display one of the two main characters' facial expression - disappointed and annoyed. This introduces a sense of conflict in the narrative immediately which is further supported with the use of a long shot of the five subjects, out of which one is furthest away and continues to walk off after a discussion exhibited with over-the-shoulder shots edited rapidly into a sequence. 

The TV show Topboy begins by displaying various establishing shots of an urban setting based in a suburban London council estate. The non-diegetic soundtrack accompanies the sinister atmosphere of the environment and suggests reinforcement of the stereotypes associated with such a setting being linked with crime and violence - further supported with the sound of a police siren. The scene continues to display an over-the-shoulder shot showing a long distance surveillance over who the audience may assume to be the main characters of the forthcoming narrative, dressed in urban clothing associated with whom are referred to as 'hoodrats' supporting the stereotype of engagement in crime. The editing featured in the upcoming seconds is rapid to suggest development of tension and creates suspense for action to occur. This is validated with the sound of a ringtone suggesting an action code of accepting and replying to the call, thus raises enigma codes regarding the caller and the context of the conversation - answers to which remain a mystery at the moment. Nevertheless, the narrative reaches a climatic point when a black SUV is displayed speeding towards the male and female subject at the council estates, supported with cross-cuts exchanging between the locations of the characters' peers as well as himself and his companion who anticipate danger from the arriving car. Inevitably, the guns displayed within the frame afterwards validate the anticipated tension and create conflict for the narrative of the TV show to develop into a complex story.

Breaking Bad

This scene opens with medium to close up shots of the dessert which indicates that the setting will open up here. It then cuts to a slow motion scene of trousers flying from the air and then getting run over by a very fast moving caravan. We then see the inside of the van with a half-naked man with a gas mask driving aggressively. We see lots of chemicals and liquid drowning the van along with dead bodies and a unconscious male in the passenger seat. Straight away this questions the audience. Why is he wearing a gas mask? Why are they in the desert? Is that man dead? Who are they/he getting away from? Once he crashes the vehicle due to his bad driving he leaves the van and throws his gas mask away in anger. He then goes back into the van to reach for a number of props: A Gun from a dead body, his wallet and a camera. He then starts to record himself apologising to his family. this tells us that this character has previously been in a battle with some foes and tried to get away. The use of sound in this scene opens with a very fast paced action score. As the van reaches its end it turns silent, but gradually we hear the sounds of police sirens building up which brings in a lot of tension and may give a few answers from what he is trying to get away from.

Dependency theory - questions

• What do YOU primarily use the media for: entertainment or information?(or something else)

I personally use the media for entertainment and surveillance most of the time. Mostly I like to enjoy watching my soaps such as EastEnders or comedy shows such as Two and a Half Men or The Big Bang Theory. For surveillance I watch the news to keep up to date with what is happening around the world as well as keeping up to date with the daily politics. 

• To what extent do you feel we are dependant on the media?

I think that we are dependent on the media because most of the time an audience would relate their emotions to what they are watching. For example is someone is watching a movie and the disequilibrium upsets the character with in the movie the audience will automatically start to feel bad for the character and that will show a change in emotion and what decision they make. I can relate this to the hypodermic needle theory as well because similarly we watch other people review things such as games and we listen to what they say and make furthermore decisions on whether we want to buy the game or not. This supports the dependent theory because it clearly states that our decisions are based on what the people with in the media think. 

• Has our dependence on the media changed over the last 10 years? How?

I think that the dependence in the media has changed a lot over the last 10 years because of the new technology that has arrived and made it easier to watch media related things on the go. TV channels have also developed online services such as BBC IPlayer and BBC News online which means that you don't necessarily have to be in front of a TV to watch one of your favourite shows or even the news, you can also stay up to date from alerts via an application with in your phone which makes it even more easier.