The client has asked me to produce a screenplay for a promotional extract to the TV drama that is 10-15 minutes long to gain interest from viewers aged 15-21.
The conventions of my screenplay fall under the genre of a TV drama under the sub genre of a horror drama since it is reminiscent of slasher films from the 80s and 90s with a masked killer and a group of teens however it is adapted to be more appealing to young British audience. Conflict is clearly seen between the protagonists as well as between the hero's and villains of the drama as they fall under Propp's character types. The conflict present in this extract is physical and emotional since while the protagonists are in physical danger, they experience the loss of a friend that they care about as is shown in the opening of the extract. My show falls under the conventions of TV dramas being episodic and available to home audiences being on BBC 3 and is linked to an ongoing narrative that is present in this extract.
In this extract, the storyline is shown at the point in Todorov's narrative theory of the disruption as this is clearly the first time the characters have experienced the antagonists since it has they are not seen to have any knowledge about the villains of the show up to this point. Using this point of Todorov's narrative highlights the innocence of the protagonists since it is clear that there is a lack of experience of dangerous situations as seen by the way they act in the extract when faced with the disruption. This is also helpful to show the audience how evil the antagonists are as they are seen to have no morals or care for who they are targeting. This section of extract will not include a resolution/repair since, to stick in line with the brief, it ends on a cliff hanger. This will be beneficial to the promotion of the extract since it is more exciting and tense
The theme of my TV drama is the loss of innocence that the protagonists experience as emphasised by the disruption stage of the narrative I have used. The theme is presented across my script with the obvious disruptive event where their friend has a near death experience which exasperates the loss of innocence due to it being such a huge dramatization of the experiences and normal life they have prior to the disruptive event, this is shown in the beginning stages of my script where a stereotypical teen life is shown versus the contrast of the gory conflict seen later in the extract. This will be the main character arc for the protagonists across the entire show creating a falling character arc. This character arc and theme are stereotypical to the horror genre and are present in most horror films and TV shows, this will make it useful for promotion since the demonstration of the theme in this extract is conventional and therefore known to the target audience of 15-21 year olds as well as being exciting to the viewer as there is a level of relatability in the show that will interest the target audience. The use of young characters to emphasise the theme in my TV show will also be useful for promotion since it similarly gives a level of relatability to interest the views.
Conflict is presented in my show in a gritty and mildly gory way due to the genre of the show being horror. The hook in my extract is the ending where the protagonists are cornered by the two antagonists creating an exciting ending where there is a raise of the stakes to create an impossible situation for the protagonists which excites the viewer.
To meet the brief, I made sure my script met legal and ethical requirements for the BBFC age rating of 15. To achieve this, I made sure that there was not copious use of swear words which could be deemed as too mature for certain audiences. As well as this, the use of drugs in the script is not present since it is not needed in my script and it would similarly be too mature for certain audiences if it is shown too explicitly. Violence is shown in my script in once scene, however this falls under the BBFC 15 classification which states that violence should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. This is in line with the 15 rating since the violence shown is not overly detailed with a use of close ups and it does not include torture. As a whole, the extract is not slanderous or copyright infringing meaning it meets legal and ethical requirements.
The target audience of my TV drama is a niche audience of 15-21 meaning they have specific needs that the TV show must satisfy their needs. My TV drama satisfies the needs of escapism and personal identity under the uses and gratifications theory due to the entertainment as well as the characters that are shown in the show which are relatable therefore giving the audience insight into personal identity. The characters in my show relate to the target audience by the use of authentic dialogue to make the characters seem real. The key events in the extract similarly make the characters relatable by showing on screen conflict between friend groups in the form of arguments which is authentic to real world relationships therefore making the characters relatable in order to gain viewer interest and satisfy their needs. The setting used in my TV drama gains viewer attention by being recognisable to develop a comforting narrative in order to gain interest. I used the setting of a British woods in my TV drama since this is a recognisable setting in which my niche target audience find relatability in, this comforts the viewer making the show easily watchable. The contrast of a comforting setting to an unsettling setting by the use of the house in the woods in the final act of the extract peaks viewer attention making the extract entertaining and conforming to viewer needs of escapism.
The layout and format of my script conforms to conventions of traditional screenplays through the use of alignment and 12 point courier font meaning that a page of my script will be roughly a minute therefore making my show approximately 10 minutes long which meets the brief requirements.
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