Advanced Specialist Production Skills: Summary

Throughout the course of planning this project my idea of concept has vastly changed several times. First of all when I decided to re target my audience from that of middle aged people to that of adults aged sixteen to twenty five. I felt that this was an important development in my original idea, as it has allowed me to create a more exciting show at an audience that is easier for myself to relate to. The second big change in my original idea was to change the format of the show from that of a television pilot to a web series. I feel like this was the right move as it has allowed me to keep up with an evolving market and offered more freedom in the way I can create my series. I am now at a point where I have the theme and location of each episode in my web series however I still need to script each show in order to not stray away from the structure and appearance of each show. I want the series to come across with a professional appearance but also with a clear brand that is distinguished across the whole series and online content. I believe that by having this consistent branding and style I will be able to keep an audience returning and create a successful series. Whilst I am glad with the direction my project is now going in and believe that this will end in an overall more professional final product, I do wish that I had not consumed so much time having to tweak and alter my series as it has put a strain on the amount of work I still need to complete in order to be ready for filming. I feel that even though I have had disruptions along the way that these could of been more efficiently dealt with if I had a better time management plan at the beginning of the project. With the direction I am planning to now take this project in I feel like the skills I have obtained in website design will be greatly beneficial. I also have developed skills in being able to better pitch my work to an audience in order to sell the idea to them. I feel like having the insight of how they would view the project has given myself a better understanding in how to efficiently develop and proceed with the filming and production of my web series.

Week 7

As Christmas time is approaching I wanted to make sure I had a clear set of targets for the New Year and decisively knew what had been done and what still needed to be. I had already decided that I would be filming a kayaking episode in Cornwall however I needed to decide on three more activities to fill the other three episodes I would be releasing as the start of my series. I felt that rock climbing would be a great option for one and possibly some sort of mountain biking episode as these are both popular activities that I think would draw in a wide audience within my target range. As I was trying to appeal to a young audience which is always looking for new and exciting forms of adventure I also wanted to consider something a bit less conventional that might grab the interest of people coming across my content through social media etc. After some research I came across a place on the coast of Wales that offered the chance to do Zorbing, After trying to contact them I found out that they were closed over the Christmas/winter period but would re open early within the new year. As this is something I would like to include in my series I intend to hold out to find out if this will be a viable option mainly down to cost. For this reason it will probably be the last segment I film and the final webisode in my initial series. Another interesting avenue I have been considering is the idea of working with someone in the local area to that I am filming in that has a strong online presence in order to boost hype and interest in the show, however this is an avenue I will have to explore over the Christmas break and find out of it is a viable option for the series.

Zorbing Company on Welsh Coast

Week 6

Over the last week I have been doing research into similar projects and shows aimed at the same demographic in order to get a better idea of what my target audience are actively tuning in to watch. What I discovered is that there are a rising number of production teams creating web shows for projects that have a small budget and that the prime audience viewing this content is my desired demographic of young adults aged between sixteen and twenty five. As I already mentioned I would like to incorporate some kind of website or social media presence for my show and have decided that this would be the perfect direction to take my show in.  For this reason I have decided to now style my project as a adventure holiday web series that would consist of four web shows each between ten and fifteen minutes long. With two presenters each taking part in competitive adventure activities with the loser of each webisode having to do some sort of punishment or fore fit. The show would focus less on the historic and scenic value and more primarily on the adventure activities. However there will be aspects of historic and scenic content peppered in as to still promote the series as a travel show only now more targeted at a younger more adventurous audience. Alongside this I now realized I would have to build a strong online social media presence for my web series. I will primarily build this through hosting the series through a video-sharing site like Youtube and start to build up a online presence though accounts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. After this I will then extend it into a website that will host the web shows along with other content and information that fans can access. Whilst some of the web series will still be filmed in Cornwall due to locations I have already obtained but I will also feature shows in other coastal towns, as this will allow for me to widen my range of activities and create a more exciting show.

Week 5

As I had already done research into Cornwall and various locations throughout it I felt that it was important to keep the same location as to avoid any unnecessary difficulties. That is why I spent this week researching various adventure activities you can do throughout the area that I could turn into challenges for a competition style travel show, while still demonstrating the scenic beauty and focusing on some aspects of history in the local areas. One idea that I started with was some form of kayaking competition, as this is an activity I had already researched and witnessed while scouting locations. I also looked at some websites that offered activities such as rock climbing and cliff diving that would also work as potential activities to feature in the new show. As I mentioned in my previous post I would also like to change my hosts from one to two as in order to incorporate the competition aspect and also to allow for their personalities to play off each other. I feel like my original casting of Harry Walker is still viable for one of the presenters as he has a strong personality of someone who is well spoken and a little posh. Which is why I would like someone a bit more of a free spirit whose personality conflicts with Harrys but still someone who will allow them to play off each other in a friendship/rivalry scenario.

Kayaking in St Agnes

Changing the Target Audience

A couple of weeks ago I had spoken to Lizzie about how I would produce my show and if I though I had the right target audience and a specific opening in the market for something like I had planned. This is why I have decided to change my show in order to target it at a younger audience primarily in the demographic of people aged sixteen to twenty five. I went into my script-writing seminar this week with this in mind where I worked alongside someone studying scriptwriting.  The bulk of the seminar was focused on the pitching aspect to a project, which allowed me to look at my work from a different perspective and plan out how I would alter my original idea to target towards this younger demographic. The following bullet points focus on the direction I want to take my show in;

              Holiday adventure show situated on various costal resorts in the UK

•       Duo Presenter who get involved in various adventure activities every week, slightly conflicting personalities that argue and almost compete against each other - Possibly previous friends has a pair dynamic 

•       One that is set in doing things the proper way - very formal well presented. Other that is very laid back/ care free, always looking for the easy option (possible ways to cheat the game)

•       Each episode will focus on a different location along the coast of UK

•       Layout as three activities in roughly 10-15 minute segments with a 2-3 minute segment in-between activity 2 and 3 focusing on the history of the local area 

•       Inspires you not to go abroad and stay by the coast but also gives a sense of activities you wouldn’t usually get to do. 

•       Channel 4 / Discovery 

•       Low production cost and simple formula 

•       Self interest in costal locations 

•       Will include contributors who are ‘experts’ in their fields 

•       Intended to be light hearted and easy viewing 

•       Aired between 5-8pm on a weeknight 

•       Semi competitive - sense there is an overall winner but a lack of formal rules. 

•       Possible fore fit for ‘loser’ of episode 

•       Potential to move on to different locations after series/coastal locations exhausted 

•       Target audience 16-25 years old

I feel that everything I have listed above has given me a strong framework to re construct my project from and create a more viable final piece that is strong and professional in all aspects.