BARB ratings - comparing Us and Uk drama, and their ratings

Uk Drama Tv ratings for week commencing 27th december 2009:

Us drama Tv ratings in the Uk:

Through comparing the tables, Us drama appears to not do aswel in the UK, as Uk drama, as the highest viewing numbers reached were 6 million, compared to eastenders 11.67 million.

Thriller Locations

When deciding our locations, we had to consider:

• Suitability, does it fit our storyline/ genre?
• Distance from where we live, as we cant go too far away just for an ideal location, due to cost, time and lack of transport.
• Easy to acces, it would be hard to shoot in a completly overgrown woods, a house thats about to fall down, due to safety.
  
  
  

Locations we chose:

We only needed one location, as our opening takes place on a train. So we considered local train stations we could use. Such as Norwich, Brundal and Whymondham.

Norwich Station:

Brundall Station:

Whymondham Station:

For our final location we chose Norwich station. We made this decision as it is bigger, and overall a nicer looking station. It will also help establish the fact that our character is going on a long journey, as trains to london only come from norwich. It is also all of the people in my group, and is easily accessable.

We deciced to use a train station for our location, as it signifies a long distance journey, compared to a Bus station, Plus it is easier to film on a train, as we can get off at an earlier point, due to frequent stops, unlike on long journey buses.


Trains and train stations are also used in other thrillers such as "The Third Man", in which the opening of the train doors, and the main character exits, this represents a new place for the character, and a new start. This is what we need to achieve in our opening.

Shots of train stations are also used in "strangers on a train", mainly low angle shots, of the characters feet, as they are trailed through the station, showing the two different lives, that meet on this train, and collide. We felt this would work well in our opening, so we are also using Train stations, and low angle tracking shots of our character, to reference this film.

Thriller Costumes

We only need costumes for two character, the girl on the train and the male stalker.
Girl's costume, is going to be casual, with a hoodie, skinny jeans and trainers. something comfortable, that will show she is travelling, or has got dressed quickly.

Female Costume:

The clothes used have to represent teenagers of today.

This outfit would appeal to our audience, as it is something teenagers would wear, and although mainstream, the costumes used are not expesive, thus fitting with our independant film genre.

In the clip the girl is wearing a pink top, this works well as the colour plays on her feminity, and makes her seem innocent, and perhaps younger than her actual age, thus making the audience automatically sympathetic to her, and her situation. However the T-shirts slogan "Death pays all debts" Suggests she is not as she seems, and has darker undernotes.

Male Costume:

The stalkers costume needs to be mysterious. This is why we used Black as a key colour for his costume.

Although our film is not Film noir, the black trench coat is a classicaly film noir, thus making our film link in with another sub-genre of thriller. It is also mysterious and can sometimes be quite intemidating, and fits in well with the males character, and suggests he is a sterotypical stalker.

Thriller Props

1. Cups of tea/coffe, packet of crisps, magazines, sweets, and a mobile, on the table seperating two seats, on the train.
   


2. Train ticket
   


3. Duffle bag, containing clothes, and toiletries.



4. Ipod

When the camera shots to the girl sitting on the train, the table is going to have refreshments, such as tea/coffe, crisps and sweets. It will also have a magazine, we were going to use a book, however we realised, that if she had left her house in a hurry, to escape, it would be very unlikely that she had time to get a book. Either next to her on the spare chair, or in the over head holder, will be a duffle bag, containing clothes, that have been shoved in hastily. we considered these props while thinking of the mise en scene, as we feel it will give the impression that she is going on a long unplanned journey.

We will also have a train ticket placed on the table, we will use a close up shot, so that the viewer can see that she is travelling to london.

Thriller Storyline (new idea)

After re-thinking our initial idea, we decided to change our storyline. We decided this, as our original idea would be very difficult to shoot. Not only would it be hard to shoot, but it would also be difficult to make it look believable, and well shot. It was also extremly difficult to find realistic actors to play the main parts, as we could not play the parts ourselves, and no body knew of anyone, who fit the character discription. We decided to change our style of thriller too, from film noir, to independant British gangster.

New Storyline:
Tells the story of a teenage girl, who is on the run from a stalker. Who has been following her, and threatening her. The story begins with the girl boarding a train. The camera then cuts to the girls stalker, reaserching and making phone calls into her dissapearance. It then keeps cutting between the two, as a male voice over plays, which is the stalker, speaking eerily about how much he loves her, and "if he cant have her no one can".

Other thriller films that have influenced are idea, are "strangers on a train", and "seven". As we are going to choose shot types from both films. Such as low angle shots of the girls feet walking in the train station, as used in "strangers on a train".

Thriller Planning - Characters and Costumes

Original idea:
Thriller style - Film Noir, 1940s




The Initial storyline, for our thriller opening:
Our story begins with the female lead, Sapphire, moving a body. As she is trying to cover up the murder of her father. Who is a well known rich banker, and socialite.




Characters:

• Sapphire (main character, femme fatale)
• Man One (Sapphire's father, unnamed, as no lines, and is dead)
  

Character Profile - Sapphire:

• Tall and glamourous.
  
• A socialite.


• Daughter of a rich Banker.
  
• 23 years old.


• un-married.
  
• Loves to shop - would be called a "gold-digga" by her enemies.


• Is well off, due to her fathers wealth.
  
  
  

Charcter Profile - Man one
•Is a Rich Banker.
•Father Of femme Fatale Sapphire.
•He’s 55 years old.
•Widowed.
•Is murdered by his daughter for his money
•Slightly Overweight- likes to indulge in rich foods.

Sapphires Costume:

Vintage, glamourous clothing of a 1930s-1940s socialite.

Man One's Costume:

Will be concealed either in a body bag, or whatever Sapphire is trying to hide her fathers body in.

Film planning

Before filming, my group did a lot of planning. First of all we had to choose what was going to happen in our video, it had to include someone walking through a door, and sitting down, it also had to include some conversation. So with this in mind we chose to shoot in school, as it would be easier not to have to go off site. And we could easily find a spare classroom, to film in.

We chose to have the male character walk downt the school corridor. we didnt use any close ups on this character, until he reached the door. We then did a close up, of him opening the door, and entering the room, (we used the media editing suite).

Our storyline for the task, involved the two characters, transfering something. In the clip, we didnt specify what, however we decided they were most likely to be swapping gig tickets.

We mainly used close ups and long distance shots. we would of used more, if we had chosen to use more locations. however I think we should of used more types of shots.

when filming we made sure that we stuck to the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule, is a rule used in filming, which means that the camera has to keep the same left to right relationship, and shouldnt cross the imaginary axis. This is to stop the viewer becoming confused. The 180 degree rule, is always used when filming sports, such as football or rugby.

Shooting map

This is my shooting map, for the continuity task. its shows are characters, where they walked, where the camera was, and some of the shots we used.