Preparing for the exam.
TV crime drama idea
Title: Unfinished business.
Characters: Christian Miller, aged 26 - Bi-sexual ex police officer (chief). - Protagonist
Paulo Avery, aged 27 - New chief - Villain
Pandora Darnell, aged 22 - Helps Christian/secret side kick
Series plot: Christian Miller is a bisexual man who is the Director of a police force bas located in D.C but whe sacked by the head of the entire Police Force, he is disappointed to find that he has been replaced by his ex-boyfriend, Paulo Avery. Christian soon uses one person from his team to keep him updated on crimes that Paulo is set to solve. Christian goes to all extents to solve the crimes before Paulo and puts himself into awkward situations. Christian does this as he believes he does a better job than him and he hates the fact that he is replaced by Paulo.
Pilot: You will see Christian getting fired as a result of this he argues and goes into work anyway causing trouble. It will show a couple of extents Christian goes through for example hacking security files even though he fails.Everything that he tries to do creates humour. The episode ends with Paulo being given the job.
Target audience: 15+ : Dangerous behaviour, sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail; violence; frequent use of strong language.
Hybrid: Comedy.
Sub-Genre: Murder/Mystery.
Time Slot/Channel: Channel 5, 21:00, Duration: 1 hour.
Twitter press release: "DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS SUMMERS NEW, HILARIOUS CRIME DRAMA; UNFINISHED BUSINESS ON CHANNEL 5! #UNFINISHEDBUSNIESS"
-Research different TV crime drama's currently being aired on popular channels; Watch, find webpage, find information on the internet (IMBD), familiar actors, typical story plots.
Top Boy is the new crime drama on channel 4.
Plot: A thrilling and raw four-part drama about young lives lived on the edge in east London - an honest and gripping rendition of inner city drug and gang culture.
Audience; The story is based on young adults meaning an audience including young adults so that the TV show can grab the viewers attention through personal relationships and surveillance. Also drugs and gangs stereotypically associate with young adults.
Production company: Cowboy Films.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/top-boy - Webpage
Shown on Thursdays at 10pm; making the target audience clear as young people (e.g. aged 13 or below) would be in bed before this time, so that older teens and/or adults can watch.
Top boy marketing; Top boy advertisement was shown on bill boards around the UK, created pages on Facebook and Twitter, the show even found its way in the Metro newspaper; all in which teenagers have interest and access to.
Use of actors who can be recognised for other teen targeted shows/movies and other crime drama's yet names aren't that well known;
Ashley Walters- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910180/
Kierston Wareing- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2446215/
Nicholas Pinnock- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0991979/
Prison Break was a TV show so popular it continued for 4 years (4 seasons).
Plot: Due to a political conspiracy an innocent man is sent to his death row and his only hope is his brother who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out from the inside out.
Audience; The show was certified at a 12/15 depending on the episode but the plot suggested that for better understanding of the narrative, the targeted audience would be 15+.
Production Company: Adelstein-Parouse Productions, Original Television, 20th Century Fox Television and Prison Break Productions.
http://sky1.sky.com/show/prison-break -UK Webpage.
Prison Break Marketing; The show used Posters and continuous series 'Promos' to get 'Prison break' into the mind out the public. They also used the social networking websites to do this; Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.
Well known Actors and actresses were used which have all experienced starring in drama, thrillers and other crime movie/TV shows;
Dominic Purcell- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0700712/
Wentworth Miller- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0589505/
Sarah Wayne Callies- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915637/
Bones is a US hit show which goes through the narrative of equilibrium to a disequilibrium back to a equilibrium in each episode.
Plot: A forensic anthropologist and a cocky FBI agent build a team to investigate death causes. And quite often, there isn't more to examine than rotten flesh and mere bones.
Audience; Due to Gory scenes, sexual references, drugs, drinking, smoking and intense scenes it is certified as a 15+. However teenagers might not find the actors or the personalities of the characters interesting or not being to able to connect or understand situations in different episodes so even though it is certified as a 15+ adult would probably find the show more appealing.
Production company: Far Field Productions, JosephSon Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television.
http://www.fox.com/bones/ -US Webpage
http://sky1.sky.com/show/bones -UK webpage
Bones Marketing; Bones has created pages on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for its fans. It has also created an iPad App for fans and a 'Text-Line' for Fans to get bonuses and extras.
Actors who have starred in a variety of other genres;
Emily Deschanel- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0221043/
David Boreanaz- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004770/
-Research E4; The Genre of shows, the suggested target audience, go on webpage, find/research popular shows shown on E4.
The 'E' stands for 'Entertainment'.
Shows that are aired suggest that the target audience is aged between 15-35.
Therefore the most popular genres aired on E4 are SitCom's and Drama's.
E4 shows (Favourites and Older)
90210 - Teen Drama
Beaver Falls - Comedy Drama
Being Erica - Comedy Drama
The Cleveland Show - Animation + Adult Comedy
Desperate Scousewives - Drama
Desperate Housewives - Comedy Drama + Mystery
Dirty Sexy Things - Reality
Glory Daze - Comedy Drama
The Great British Hairdresser - Reality
Hollyoaks - Soap Opera + Drama
The Inbetweeners - SitCom
Made In Chelsea - Drama
Misfits - Action + Drama + Science Fiction + Dark Comedy + Supernatural
One Tree Hill - (Teen) Drama + Sports
Phone Shop - SitCom
Playing It Straight - Reality
Rude Tube - Clip Show
School Of Comedy - Sketch Comedy
Skins - Teen Drama
Smallville - Action/Adventure + Drama + Science Fiction + Supernatural
Sorority Girls - Reality
Tool Academy - Reality + Game Show
The Big Bang Theory - SitCom
Allen Gregory - Animation + SitCom
Charlie's Angels - Crime Drama
Greek - Comedy + Drama
Happy Endings - SitCom
How I Met Your Mother - SitCom
My Name Is Earl - Comedy + Narrative
Perfect Couples - SitCom
Rules of Engagement - SitCom
Shameless - Comedy + Drama
Shipwrecked: The Island - Reality
-Research institutions; institutions that produce TV Crime Drama, institutions that produce shows on E4.
-Audiences; Who watches Crime Drama's, What do teenagers watch that is similar, Why do adults watch crime drama (questionnaire for adults)
Watching Crime Drama
NCIS
Narrative
It is a calm and quiet scene at the bank (EQUILIBRIUM) until a small child bumps into the bank security guard with his ice cream, making his shirt dirty. The security guard then goes into the toilet to clean his shirt; meaning he is distracted from his job (DISEQUILIBRIUM). When he's done, he goes back to see that everyone is on the floor with muffles screams in the background. He is spotted by the burglar and his shot in the forehead.BANK ROBBERY.
Characters
Protagonist/Main Agent - Agent Tony DiNozzo + (New) Agent Dwayne Wilson.
Helpers - Gibbs, Abby, Ziva, McGee, The FBI, Forensics and other agents.
Victims - Security Guard, the bank itself and people inside the bank during the robbery.
Villian - Robbers.
Iconography
Security guard uniform - Authority
Money - Banks
Guns - Robbery, Criminals, Police, investigators.
Office Cubicles
Cameras
Computers
ID Cards
Suits (smart but non-uniform)
Labs
Dead Bodies
Setting
Bank > Calm + Quiet + Typical Bank Environment
Offices > Quiet + Work environment + Cubicles
Comparison between British and American crime dramas.
It is quite obvious that American and British writers and/or director think quite differently when it comes to TV Crime drama. From watching different TV series, I found that British shows are more of the view point of the police; The metropolitan police to be precise and the audience solve the crime with the heroes of the show. However American crime drama vary from the view point of either the villain/criminal or police forensic scientist or the FBI. This has a massive impact on the audience as there is great use of dramatic irony.
For example; Life on Mars follow the cases and missions of Sam Tyler as a policeman of the Greater Manchester police, after he wakes up in 1973 after being in a car accident.
Whereas, in Prison break the story follows the beautifully twisted mind of Michael Scofield, who goes to prison only to carry out his planned escape with his falsely accused brother, Lincoln Burrows.
Two completely different narratives, yet both crime dramas.
