16.3/4 CASTAWAY

Treatment for the series

This is a detailed version of Episode one: The series starts with a shot of a young girl (Maree) playing outside. The footage has an orange colour to it to resemble an old film camera so that it looks dated.  Maree would be running around, picking flowers and making daisy chains. There is then a shot of Maree being given a necklace from her grandmother. The necklace has a purple gem in the middle of it, with a gold chain. Her grandmother passes the necklace. ‘Maree, I want you to have this necklace. You are the most important person in my life and I hope it looks after you’. It then cuts to a shot of Maree wearing this necklace to her first day of school. This would be shown by a head shot of Maree walking down the hall of a school. Lockers would be on either side of her and she would be wearing school uniform consisting of a yellow and blue tie, a grey wool looking blazer with the school crest on, white button up shirt underneath with formal black trousers. In the shot, she would walk up to the bathrooms, where she would stand in front of a mirror and fiddle with her hair and then the necklace. A close up shot of the necklace would then be shown.  You then see Maree wearing the necklace at her graduation. She would walk up to the principal of the university and receive her degree scroll. In this scene she is wearing a blue graduation gown, with a matching graduation hat. Her hair is down and quite long to show her youth. There is a shot of the crowd cheering loudly and clapping. It then quickly changes to the next shot which is at Maree’s house where she looks very distressed. She is wearing jeans and a purple top, and her hair is up in a ponytail. She is looking through all of the draws in her room. The room looks quite messy at this point. You then see her run into the room next door which is her office room, where she tries to continue looking for the necklace in draws. She then runs back into her bedroom, where she looks inside her wardrobe to try and find the necklace. You then see her look behind her bedside table and she finds the necklace. There is then a shot of her face where she looks very relieved and she’s holding the necklace close to herself. It then cuts to a shot of her out for a meal with James. The restaurant looks quite fancy and the waiter is at their table.  There is again a close up shot of the necklace that Maree is wearing. You then see Maree and James walk out of the restaurant while holding hands, where he then takes her near the river Thames. He then proposes to her. Maree hugs him while crying. It then cuts to a shot of Maree and James getting married. The shot is of Maree and James saying their vowels. 

Outline of Form: My TV series will be a Long Form TV original series with themes of crime running through it. It would be released all at once on Amazon Prime.

Content and Style: The genre of the series will be a crime drama, with themes of family, loss and mystery. The series will have taken inspiration from another crime series produced by BBC One called 'Cuffs'. 'Cuffs' used quite a lot of handheld shots to put the audience amongst the action and drama and I thought this was very effective and would therefore want to use this idea in my series.

Product Potential and Market Position: Amazon Primes' biggest series is its original drama 'The Man In The High Castle' therefore this would be a competitor as it already has a large audience. In terms of programmes that are similar, The Bridge and Luther are big competitors which both feature on the Netflix, the biggest competitor to Amazon Prime. However I think there is room in the market for my series as it combines the feelings and emotions of the family, with the action of trying to find out who committed the crime. I also think the age and type of people that watch series like 'Man In The High Castle' would enjoy this series as they both have quite a lot of action and adventure in them.

Target Audience: I think the main age range for my series would be 25-40 year olds, as the series would feature some scenes that may be distressing to a younger audience. For example the scenes with strong emotions and anger between Maree and James. I also think a younger target audience may not completely understand what is happening in the series, as well as a younger audience tend to go out on the weekend and therefore wouldn't have the time to watch a series like mine. I think that both genders would watch my series, but i think more females would watch it because they could make a personal connection with the character of Maree and therefore would return to watch all of the episodes.  For example, 'Luther' which is another crime series on Netflix had an average of 405,371 streams online after 4 weeks of airing ending the 10th January 2016. This obviously shows that there are people who like to watch crime series and who would probably like my series too.

Powerpoint used in pitch

Initial title sequence

https://vimeo.com/151447044

16.3/4 OAK STREET

Treatment for my series (the first episode is written is more detail than others to give an idea of how it might look)

Powerpoint used in the pitch

Initial title sequence

https://vimeo.com/154715649

31.3/4

I did this shoot on a Cannon EOS 600D, the camera was set to manual with manual focus. I mostly just altered the aperture to achieve the right shot. Some examples of this can be seen on IMG_9913/IMG_9914 and IMG_9935/IMG_9936 and others. I altered the aperture to get the right amount of light in the image so it wasn't too dark or too washed out. 

Selections

IMG_9928 - The model in this photo is supposed to be James Canning from Oak Street, he's dressed roughly how i picture James to look in the series. In the photo he is standing on a bridge quite far from the camera. I like chose this as i think the leading lines on the bridge go towards him which when used in the title sequence will show that he is a key character.

IMG_9943 - This photo was taken from the top of a multi-story car park. Like most of the other photos from this shoot it is used to set the scene and mood of the series. The main reason I chose this image is that I like how they lower half of the picture is very dark and the top half is a fairly plain sky so the main focus of the image is the two fat buildings. The sky is a bit too blue for the look that i want but it will be easy to edit in photoshop to achieve the right colour.

IMG_9951 - I chose this image as I like how the leading lines almost act as a one point perspective type thing and makes it feel as if the building is towering in a threatening way which will set a mood for the programme. Again the sky is the wrong colour but will be simple to change in photoshop.

IMG_9964 - I composed this image to have a frame in a frame also leading towards the end of the tunnel. Again the purpose of this image is to give a feel of the setting for the series. It give a very urban feel.

IMG_9967 - Similar to the previous one this image is to set the scene for the series. I think the fact that its a standard telephone box gives it a more realistic feel of an urban area in England. When i edit this i will tone down the pink/purple in the background to give it a darker feel.

31.2 Photoshoot Planning

These are various planning documents for my photoshoot. The images that I take on the shoot will be used in the title sequence of my series 'Oak Street'.
Synopsis: Set in Surry area of England. Ex Super Intendant Laura Chambers hires herself out as a bodyguard to keep busy and earn money during her retirement. After being a bodyguard to a wealthy 26-year-old James Canning for 3 years she discovers that he’s the head of a multinational trade of high quality ecstasy. Knowing that she’d go to prison for being involved in the business, she decide against turning him in and subsequently gets deeper in the drug trade. Shortly after her discovery she gets called back to the police force to help investigate the death of a man who had taken an overdose and. By using her knowledge of the police tactics she avoids arrest and carries on working in the force.

My shoot will take place in Stevenage to give an urban/sub-urban feel, shots will include residential areas which will give it a more realistic mood of an English setting. The shoot will be conducted with natural lighting although when i edit them i will make them a bit darker to set the mood for the series.

This is a basic costume idea for my model during the shoot:

Release forms:

16.3 OAK STREET

Set in Surry area of England. Ex Super Intendant Laura Chambers hires herself out as a bodyguard to keep busy and earn money during her retirement. After being a bodyguard to a wealthy 26-year-old James Canning for 3 years she discovers that he’s the head of a multinational trade of high quality ecstasy. Knowing that she’d go to prison for being involved in the business, she decide against turning him in and subsequently gets deeper in the drug trade. Shortly after her discovery she gets called back to the police force to help investigate the death of a man who had taken an overdose and. By using her knowledge of the police tactics she avoids arrest and carries on working in the force.

Ex Super Intendant – Laura Chambers – 53 – Was very good at her job in the police force, generally follows her gut but right about most things and very quick to make decisions and conclusions. No family as both parents recently passed away, lives quite a solitary life apart from when she’s with James who she begins to see as like a son.

Drug Lord – James Canning – 26 – Very smart, had a bad childhood so has been involved with drugs since a very early age. Dresses quite smart and, you wouldn’t expect him to be part of a drug trade from looking at him. He is respected by a lot of people he works with and has a lot of power in the trade, he feels very protective over Laura despite he being his bodyguard. Spends money wisely to avoid detection from police.

Target Audience: 18-40 year olds, of all genders. Probably fans of series’ such as Breaking Bad.

UNIT 16.2: Idea 2

*Title*

Main Characters:
Runaway/Male/16-20
Stepmother/Female/40-50

Theme: Death/Friendship

Main Story line: After years of mental and physical abuse, during a fight a boy murders his father and runs away from home before the body is discovered. Stepmother (who was also treated badly by the boys father) finds the body. She immediately knows that it was the boy and feeling immense sympathy and understanding towards him she also flees the scene in an attempt to find the boy and hide with him from police. The series will follow the the runaway as he tries to survive on the street getting into serious trouble and his step mum trying to do the same. Set in a run down part of a city where there is quite a bit of crime and not really a safe place to be living on the streets.

 

UNIT 16.2: Idea 1

*Working Title*

Main characters:
Ex-cop/Female/50-60
Drug Lord/Male/20-30

Themes: Drugs/

Basic Story: Retired superintendent becomes involved in a large scale drugs business to gain money for family. By using knowledge from the force to avoid getting caught and keep the business growing into a multinational trade of a new drug. After getting called back into the force to assist an investigation into the death of what she discovers to be her long lost brother who has taken the new drug. She is caught up in her own morals but unable to leave the drug industry behind. Probably set in a large city, Manchester or somewhere similar.