D1 - Requirements Met

 D1 - Requirements Met

Brief Recap

A Leeds-Based production company has secured the funding to produce a short dramatized sequence that can be used to promote the television drama you pitched in Unit 21.

You can decide which scene(s) would work best to gain interest in your series among its target audience, but the total screen duration must be between 10 and 15 minutes.

In this unit, you will generate ideas for possible sequences and then develop and write a screenplay for the chosen sequence.

The client's requirements for this unit contained four key pieces of information; I will create a screenplay for a short dramatized sequence, that can be used to promote my TV drama, to gain interest among its target audience, with a screen duration of 10-15 minutes. I will take each of these requirements and evaluate how I worked to meet them.

Short Dramatized Sequence

The first requirement was that I create a screenplay for a short dramatized sequence. This means that the screenplay would need to feel like a TV drama, otherwise it would not meet this requirement. Essentially, this boils down to ensuring that the script follows the general conventions for TV dramas, including any additional conventions of the sub-genre that the drama belongs to (in my case a crime drama).

The key conventions for TV dramas are:

Episodic Structure - The story of a TV series must be split into individual episodes that are viewed individually by a home audience, often one week apart from each other. A single episode of a TV series usually has its own self-contained narrative, but also serves to develop and support the overarching narrative of the series that flows between episodes.

In relation to my screenplay, this means that it should not tell a complete story, but instead present an extract of the story that can be viewed on its own, but ties in to a larger narrative that can be developed later on.

Todorov's Narrative Theory - The narrative of a TV series contains both the overarching narrative and the individual narrative of each episode. Todorov's narrative theory can be applied to both of these; The overarching narrative of the series can be broken up into 5 key stages (Equilibrium, Disruption, Recognition of disruption, Attempt to repair disruption, New equilibrium) that unfold slowly across each episode, but each episode also contains its own miniature stages that make up the narrative of that episode. The new equilibrium of one episode will often be the starting equilibrium of the next.

My screenplay, since it is only 10-15 minutes long, cannot cover all 5 stages of an episode's narrative so I instead chose to focus on the first two/three stages. The screenplay begins at equilibrium, presenting the world that Alex lives in and the nature of his current situation. Then, equilibrium is disrupted when Scorpio threatens Alex to keep working for them when he was about to quit. Additional disruption also occurs when Scorpio firebombs Alex's flat. Recognition of disruption would be when Alex is forced to act by fleeing his flat and escaping the fire. Since the screenplay's narrative does not contain the last two stages, repair and new equilibrium, it ends on a cliff-hanger of disruption, leaving the audience questioning where Alex went and whether he's safe.

Character Arc - A character arc is the inner journey of a character over the course of the story, where the character changes as a person, for better or worse, in response to the the events that occur in the story. In my TV drama, Alex, the protagonist, has two arcs throughout the series. His first is a Fall Arc, where he changes for the worse as he involves himself with cyber crime of increasing severity, harming many people. His second is a minor Growth Arc, where Alex partially redeems himself by moving to cease his criminal activity towards the end of the series (although the arc is still a fall overall as he refuses to confess to the police and tries to save his own skin first). 

My screenplay sees Alex at the turning point between his fall and growth, where he makes the crucial decision to stop operating the PHOENIX system and shut it all down. Before we see him, he ruined lives and destroyed businesses in the name of personal gain but after, he only seeks to destroy the network that he created, along with any evidence of his crimes.

Conflict-oriented Story - For a TV series to be considered a drama, its story must revolve around some kind of conflict - be it physical, emotional or a mix of the two. This might be in the classic 'good vs. evil' context but can also be more subtle, for example a character with conflicting emotions or feelings about something. Conflict is the driving force behind a drama's narrative, and is woven into every major plot point in the story.

In my screenplay, there are both kinds of conflict present: physical conflict, from both Scorpio and the Detectives physically threatening Alex's wellbeing, and emotional conflict, from Alex's inner battle with himself about whether to abandon his criminal activity or stay in it a bit longer.

Genre - The wider genre of the TV series is Drama, but there are many sub-genres of Drama that each approach the presentation of conflict in a different way. The sub-genre of my series is Crime, in which the conflict takes the form of criminals being pursued by law enforcement and/or other criminals, often containing more physical conflict than emotional conflict. Additionally, crime dramas usually contain themes of mystery/puzzle-solving and explore the morals of criminal activity.

My screenplay certainly fits this sub-genre, as it follows a criminal protagonist who conflicts with both the police and a criminal gang, evading capture from one and death from the other. The screenplay also includes themes of mystery and puzzle-solving, from the Detectives' investigation and through the deliberate withholding of information to keep secrets from the audience.

Promote my TV drama

The whole purpose of the screenplay is to promote the TV drama that I pitched in the previous unit, Boundless. This means that the content of the screenplay must represent the content of the drama, condensing its themes, characters and message into a 10-15 minute extract. Boundless is a crime drama about the dangers of cyber crime, as well as the criminal world as a whole. It is a story of Alex and his transformation from an undermined security employee to a notorious freelance hacker. As such, its themes are similar to the typical themes of a crime drama, as discussed earlier.

The events in my screenplay tie in to these themes, demonstrating that they are what to expect from the series. The audience are left with many questions on the specifics, but the screenplay shows them that Alex operates an online network that is responsible for a number of cyber attacks. We also see his involvement with some mysterious organisation that he reluctantly works for, and a demonstration of their power through the arson attack at his flat. This tells the audience just enough to understand that the series will be about the struggle between law and crime, order and chaos, with Scorpio on one end, the Detectives on the other, and Alex in the middle. This is also shows what kind of conflict the show will revolve around, as in what makes the series a drama.

As aforementioned, the audience is still left in the dark about many aspects of the show's content, which I have done deliberately for three reasons:

Firstly, in order not to spoil the whole series. If the promotional extract was just a synopsis of the series' plot, then the audience would have no need to even watch the series as they already know what happens. It is then necessary to exclude most of the show's story to give the audience a reason to watch.

Secondly, to intrigue the audience and leave them wanting more. This relates to the last reason, as it is important for a promotional material to actually persuade its audience to consume whatever is being promoted. The entire purpose of the screenplay is to hook the audience in, and withholding information from them is a great way to do so as they will want answers to their questions, like "What is PHOENIX?", "What is Scorpio's organisation?" and "Where did Alex go after the fire?".

Thirdly, it is also a convention of crime dramas to have a sense of mystery and intrigue. Keeping secrets from the viewer is a pivotal component of the genre, helping my screenplay to better conform to it and make the genre more easily identifiable by viewers.

Legal & Ethical requirements - Additionally, there are legal and ethical requirements to consider for the script, as its content would be broadcast on TV and there are limitations in what can be shown on air. The intended BBFC rating for the series is a 15, as that matches the target audience of 15-21 year olds. This means that the level of strong language, violence, drug use and sex in the screenplay should be appropriate for that rating. Thankfully, I do not need to look into this too closely as my screenplay contains no particularly strong language, no direct physical violence or harm (although there is threat from the fire) and no portrayal of drug use or sex. This means that the promotion sequence would comfortably fit the 15 rating. If not for the proposed content of the rest of the series, it could even be a 12. 

There are also legal factors to consider, such as defamation, libel, copyright infringement etc. I have deliberately not mentioned any real-world brands or people, and the groups that are represented in the screenplay, like the police & fire department, are not portrayed in any negative or undesirable way, so there is little risk of the aforementioned laws being broken.

Gain interest among its target audience

The purpose of the screenplay (to promote Boundless) cannot be achieved if it does not gain interest from its target audience. The themes, characters, locations and every other component of the screenplay's story should appeal to the target audience in some way.

The target audience of BBC3 as a whole is 15-21 year olds from the UK, and as such that was carried over as a starting point for Boundless' target audience. This was developed further, specifying the TA as young men interested in technology and the cyber world. This is a somewhat niche audience, which is expected of a BBC3 series as it fits with their existing roster of transgressive shows. 

As mentioned above, every component of the screenplay's story should work to appeal to the target audience of young men who like tech. 

First are the themes. Boundless' story revolves around cyber security and dark web activity, which anyone interested in technology would be intrigued by. The series is also about crime and conflict between criminals, which is exciting and typically appeals to a broad demographic of men. Finally, the theme of mystery and problem-solving, which links to the other themes and sews them together, appeals to young people as they often seek knowledge and enjoy discovering new things. When these themes are combined, the audience of young men interested in technology is clearly the best fit for the series. 

However, themes alone cannot effectively peak the interest of an audience. They also need characters that they can become invested in and identify with, either by aspiring to be like them or by using them to understand the flaws that they and the character share.

The character of Alex can, to an extent, apply to both scenarios. To the target audience of young, technically-minded men, Alex has both a number of admirable traits and undesirable flaws. The audience might hope to be as skilled in cyber security as Alex, but understand his desire for recognition and how it can spiral into desperation if left unaddressed. The audience would be inclined to try and be a better Alex, so to speak; to work hard about what they're passionate about, but not to do so at the detriment of themselves and others.

The final major component to discuss is the setting of the series. It's important for most of the locations to be somewhere that the TA would find familiar, otherwise they would not be able to connect with the series as well.

Boundless is set in Leeds, mostly around the city centre and surrounding areas. This would be at least somewhat familiar to just about any UK audience, as they would recognise the country as their own and perhaps individual areas as well. This is already a good starting point, as many shows are set in the US, where British audiences cannot connect with as much.

Alex's apartment could also be relatable to lower-income members of the audience, as it's a typical run-down flat that is certainly not worth a lot of money. Even if they don't live in the same situation, many people would still see familiarity in Alex's, where money is scarce and he cannot afford to properly maintain the flat. The exception to this is Alex's server setup, which is far more expensive than anything else he owns.

Additionally, the Uses & Gratifications theory can be applied to my screenplay to understand the audience pleasures that would be derived from watching the series, and whether the screenplay reflects that. The 4 audience pleasures are Surveillance, Escapism, Personal Identity and Personal Relationships. I think that my screenplay gratifies at least the first three of these pleasures, giving audiences plenty of reasons to watch the series itself.

Surveillance can be achieved from audience members wanting to learn more about cyber security and dark web activities as well as how the police track down cyber criminals. Both of these would be mostly portrayed realistically in the series, albeit not so much in the screenplay due to screen-time restrictions.

Escapism can be achieved from audience members engrossing themselves in the more exciting, unrealistic aspects of the screenplay, like the arson scene. The series itself would contain other exciting scenes that audience members can get lost in and forget about the real world for a moment.

Personal Identity can be achieved by audience members relating with the protagonist, Alex as previously discussed. They can envy Alex's skillset, but learn from his mistakes and flaws in the series to help improve themselves.

Potentially, Personal Relationships could also be satisfied by the screenplay as the mysterious nature of it could provoke discussion among viewers, hatching theories to try and guess the answer to the questions created from watching it. This might mean that other people watch it just to understand what they're peers were talking about, allowing them to join in on the conversation too.

Screen duration of 10-15 minutes

A screenplay should include everything that is seen and said on screen, and its length should reflect that. The client requested that the total screen duration of promotional video must be between 10 and 15 minutes, which roughly equates to 10-15 pages of screenplay, as I have used all the correct formatting techniques to standardise its length, such as only using 12pt courier font (See M1 for details). Since my screenplay is 11 pages long, it should translate to around 11 minutes of screen time, which meets the client's requirement. I also think that some sequences could translate to longer screen durations than their screenplay length represents, so the real duration could be closer to 12 or 13 minutes.

Client Feedback

The second draft of my screenplay was analysed by the client, and they provided some feedback to help improve my later and final iterations of the script.

What Went Well

I was praised on the quality of several components of the script, with accurate formatting, detailed and descriptive action blocks and snappy & natural dialogue. The screenplay was generally received highly.

Things to Improve

There were some specific sections of the screenplay that were criticised, mostly for the inclusion of unnecessary details like including too many parentheticals. Parentheticals are only needed when the dialogue's intended tone is otherwise unclear, and even then it could better fit in the action block preceding the dialogue. Additionally, some technical details like camera angles should be omitted unless it is important, as they are usually not needed to include in a spec script. Some additional clarity was also requested on the use of certain words, like the opening phrase 'urban area', since that doesn't give enough information to potential crew members for purposes like location scouting.

Actions

For the final version of the screenplay, I ensured to follow this feedback and iron out all of the points of criticism, which generally improved the flow and coherency of the script. I removed most of the parentheticals and specific camera directions, instead implying them through other details in action blocks. I also rephrased some of the vague or unintentionally ambiguous parts of the action block to clear up the questions that the client had about them before.

Overall, I think that the screenplay would succeed at its purpose for creating a promotional video, and satisfies each of the client's requirements to a good standard. It works well with the themes of Boundless and would definitely peak the interest of its target audience (young men interested in technology). The only thing that I think could've been improved would have been to slightly extend the length of the screenplay to make the most of the maximum 15 minutes of screen time, but I was unable to do that due to constraints on available time to write.