Feedback and Conclusion

We pitched our idea to a panel and had so very positive feedback. They all seemed to like our idea and said that our video was impressive as was the amount of research and planning we had done to create our pitch. The only thing that was suggested was maybe to introduce something unique to tell the story – Social media was suggested. Also we were advised to find something in the public eye that gave reason for the issue to be chosen.

I feel that this whole process from developing the original idea through to pitching has been very successful and has taught me a lot. I now know how to research without purely just going on the internet. Through interviewing different people I have also developed my communication skills.

By fully researching child abuse I feel this helped us to fully understand what actually happens in a real case. This benefited us because we were able to include as much realism as possible within our idea.

Handout

Bottled Up

Pitched to you by Rachael Maxwell and Amy Stringman

v  Bottled up is a 6part drama based in a state secondary school in the North of England.

v  The main character Sinead Hickman will appear in all 6 episodes.

v  It starts with the audience seeing a sudden change in the behaviour of 15-year-old Sinead; as the series continues they become deeper and deeper involved with the character as they discover that there is something more serious behind her change in behaviour. Her stepfather is sexually abusing her.

v  Each episode will continue the story but we will look at this tragic event through the eyes of different characters – from Sinead herself, all the way to a charity organization.

In connection to the storyline, we have spoken to:

·         SallyAnnMiddlehurst who is the Safe Guarding Officer at Salford City College. She was able to help us in clarifying the correct course of action after a case of abuse has been reported.

• A focus group with a group of students aged between 16 and 18 to see what they thought of our idea.

We have come up with an estimate of £250,000 based on a 2 week long shoot with 3 weeks editing time.

Including employment of:

• 4 main cast members
• 20 extras
• Director
• Producer
• 2 runners
• 2 camera operators
• 1 sound operator
• 3 Assistant Directors
• 1 Production secretary
• Costume department & Hair and Makeup staff
•  3 Chaperones
• Catering staff
• 1 Offline Editor & 1 Online Editor
• 1 Post Production Co-ordinator

Script

Presentation speech

 

-         [A] Hello, and welcome to our pitch. I’m Amy…

-         ..and I’m Rachael

-         [A] Today, we are here to pitch a drama idea. We wanted to create a programme that was different to everything else on TV at the moment. Something hitting. Something informative. Child Abuse.

-         It is something that happens behind closed doors all over the world and very few people know the signs. We feel that this needs to be addressed. Therefore, our idea is a 6 part drama – each episode from a different point of view – about child abuse….

-         … Welcoming – ‘Bottled Up’

-         [A] Sinead Hickman is a 15 year old school girl. Captain of the netball team. Popular. Think of your ‘American highschool cheerleader’.

-         She’s a passionate young athlete and she uses that fighting spirit to bring the programme to life.

-         [A] For the type of character Sinead is, we would be looking for a leading actress such as Holly Kenny from Waterloo Road or Melissa Suffield from Eastenders.

-         Here are some examples as to why we would chose an actress like these

                        -         [A] Sinead needs to be both strong and aggressive, as well as weak and vulnerable.

-         So there is our main character – now on to supporting characters.

-         [A] In Episode 1, as well as being introduced to Sinead, we are familiarized with Gemma. Gemma is the sports teacher at the school, a friendly face for Sinead if ever she needs help. Gemma is the one who first begins to realize that something isn’t right with Sinead.

-         In Episode 2, we are introduced to Sineads family life, this includes the Step-father that is abusing her and a mother who is non the wiser about what is happening under her own roof.

-         [A] Episode 3, invites the audience into Josh’s world. Josh is Sinead’s boyfriend and his world is turned upside down when the truth surfaces about his girlfriends problems at home. Then he has the task of dealing with the fact that his girlfriend is pregnant but is unsure who the father is.

-         In Episode 4, the audience can see the process surrounding the police investigation take off.

-         [A] In Episode 5, we look at the counseling stages, as well as looking at a charity.

-         Episode 6, is the feel good episode. The audience sees how Sinead is rebuilding her life and relationships – every cloud has a silver lining.

-         [A] We held a focus group to share our ideas with a percentage of our target audience – teenagers aged 16-18. The focus group was presented with everybody’s ideas – during feedback with Catherine, they said that they would be most likely to chose our idea as they feel there is space on the schedule for it and also, it contains a subject they feel needs to be portrayed more on TV.

-         [A] We spoke to safeguarding officer Sally-Ann Middlehurst to find out what the legalities are after a child abuse case has been reported and how a school would deal with it.

-         No dramas made either BBC’s or ITV’s top ten on barb for week of 13th May 2012 showing there’s a gap in the market for dramas.

We spoke to a number of colleagues at ITV and here are some quotes stating there opinions on gaps in the market and our idea:

"Drew- Edit assistant - I think your idea is a really hard hitting idea and would do very well as a drama i feel there is always a gap in the market for issues to be explore through dramas. Especially if they are about issues in thepublics interest."

-         [A] We feel that this series would have 6 hour-long episodes, each showing at 9pm on Sunday night on ITV1. This was also agreed with our focus group.

-         Thankyou for listening to our pitch. We would like to welcome any questions you may have.

Locations

Pitch Presentation

Costing

ITV Pitch trailer/preview

ITV pitch Survey Question results

ITV Pitch Mood board

ITV Pitch Surveys 25/04/2012

 Name:                                           Age:

        Gender:                                       Occupation:

1.     What kind of television programmes do you like to watch?

2.     How many hours of television do you watch a night?

3.     Have you watched any of the following dramas?

Scott and Bailey   

Bedlam   

The Syndicate

Accused

Silent witness

4.     Do you watch television dramas and if so which ones and what do you like about them?

5.     What do you like about dramas and why?

6.     What do you think is the best way to engage an audience of a drama?

Storyline   

Characters  

Situations  

Other (please state)

7.     Are there any topics that you think shouldn’t be discussed in television dramas?

8.     Are there any issues that you feel are under- represented on television?

9.     Do you think child abuse is something that could be explored more through TV dramas?

10.  If you were to watch a television drama based around a story of child abuse what time would you expect it to be aired?

ITV Pitch research 18/04/2012

“BOTTLED UP”

PLOT

A television drama set in a secondary school. Focuses on the irrational behaviour of one pupil- Sinead Hickman.

·        Sinead is a 15 year old who is passionate about sport and netball imparticular but has problems dealing with her emotions, she says what she feels without actually thinking about it and has a problem with anyone who doesn’t care about winning. Sinead is always in trouble for her behaviour and is at risk of loosing what she loves (her place on the netball team) if the teachers do not get to the bottom of what causes her to loose it.

·        Gemma is the schools PE teacher and the coach of the netball team in which Sinead is captain and her relationship with Sinead is very strong they have a firm understanding of what each other want and need leading to them getting on well.

Minor characters

·        Phoebe is a member of the netball team who is on the wrong side of Sinead’s anger problem.

·        Referee of the netball match with be featured for a few lines of dialogue.

·        Mr Johnson is the science teacher in whose class Sinead looses her temper to a severe level.

·        Josh- Sinead’s boyfriend who is a bit too forward for Sinead’s liking.

When Sinead looses her temper during a netball match we see her struggle to regain control of her emotions. The story will show how a mainstream secondary school fail to see the vital signs of an unstable home life resulting in the emotional breakdown of a vulnerable young pupil.

 BEGINNING

Netball match. Sinead is angry because the other team members are not showing the passion she does and in her opinion are letting the team down. Sinead ends up being dragged off the pitch in order to stop her doing something that she would regret to a fellow team member.

MIDDLE

Sinead is given a final warning and put on report to try and regain control of her behaviour. When somebody insults Sinead during a science experiment she flips and throws a Bunsen burner across the classroom- this looks like the final straw and yet again Sinead finds herself in Gemma’s office trying to explain her behaviour.

When Sinead tells Gemma she can’t play for the netball team that night it becomes obvious that there is something more going on in the young girls life. After questioning why she is limping Gemma notices an unusual bruise on Sinead’s leg and foot, which seems like a touchy subject with the girl who refuses to give a reasonable explanation. With Sinead facing permanent exclusion Gemma is determined to get to the bottom of her behaviour, which has only just become out of control and unveils a horrible secret that explains everything from her irrational personality to her badly bruised leg-Her stepfather is abusing her.

END

With the secret now out we will see Sinead battle her emotions and the torture she goes through when trying to bring herself to talk to the police to get some help. Gemma’s role becomes even more important in Sinead’s life when she realises the extent of the abuse this young girl has been a victim of. Will Sinead ever be able to put this behind her and get back the life she used to live, forgetting the people who have hurt her and focusing on those who care? Josh’s commitment is tested when he becomes aware of what’s been going on and has to stop himself taking matters out of the polices hands. 

Current ITV dramas /Red productions dramas

·        Bedlam

·        Scott and Bailey
 Scott & Bailey (ITV1) is a huge advance for women. And for viewers, as Janet, Rachel and Gill are by far the most compelling cops on TV. The second series ended with Janet being dumped by Adrian and Rachel going on a bender and finding herself under suspicion for murdering Nick. It turned out to be her idiot brother wot dun it and the mixture of shock and horror in the final scene as she finally met her mother (Who is she? Was the brother there too?) left us with a pleasing cliffhanger for the next series.

·        Exile

·        White Chapel

·        Eternal Law

·        The Syndacite
  The Syndacite(BBC ONE) The lines have a directness that subtitle the paradoxes of sudden fortune, as when Jamie exultantly tells Stuart to stop worrying about the police investigation: "We're millionaires! Nobody can touch us now." You feel too that the characters behave in ways that will make the plot run smoothly, rather than in ways that are entirely plausible.

Schedule

Post Water shed because of the explicit nature of the topic.

Probably 9pm-10pm. It would probably be  a three part series.

It would be going up against other dramas on BBC and C4 such as The Syndicate, Silent witness ect.

Focus groups

·        Teenagers

·        Teachers

·        Writers

·        Professionals

·        Parents

No dramas have even made the top ten on ITV's viewing figures on BARB which suggests that there is a gap in the market for a hard hitting drama. With silent witness and The Syndicate on BBC One making numbers 7, 8, 9.

Apple Market Research

Audience Profiling mood board Scott and Bailey

Production research- Big Brother Talking Heads

Mini Research Project with bibliography

Influence of Television on boys and girls attitudes and behaviours.

In November 2009 four young people from a school in the west midlands and another six at a school in Hertfordshire were taken into hospitalisation after they drank ethanol in replace of alcohol. This was reported to be “copying a scene from the BBC drama Waterloo Road” The storyline saw one the characters Danielle Harker rise to peer pressure in order to ‘look cool’ drink a large amount of ethanol that another student had mistaken for the chemical name for alcohol resulting in her reacting very badly and being admitted to hospital with ethanol poisoning. The influence this school based drama has had on these teenagers suggests they are easily influence d by the characters they watch on television “A BBC spokesman said: ‘Last week’s episode clearly showed the dangers of using ethanol and did not glamorize it in any way” The episode aimed to raise awareness of the dangers involved with both alcohol and ethanol poisoning and made it known that it would have a negative effect and could potentially cause harm to anyone who should try it. The aim of BBC’s Waterloo road is to realistically portray a typical comprehensive secondary school with real life situations and school based scenarios.

   “Television can be a powerful entertaining and educational tool for children given the right programming. However, studies have shown that television, and media in general, can also have a very negative influence” In this report I am going to investigate the influence that certain storylines and plots have had on boys and girls. I will focus on two main stories that made the newspapers because of the media’s influence on the behaviours demonstrated.

 Another huge example of when the media of reported to have had an influence on audiences is in the case of Jamie Bugler’s murder. The murderers reportedly watched the film child’s play 3 and imitated a scene in which saw a victim being splashed with blue paint. This case lead to the amendment of the video recordings act in Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994). Although there is little evidence to prove that this was the reasoning behind the horrendous murder there is no proof that it did not. After looking into both John Venables and Robert Thompson’s recent activity at the time of the murder and the last film that they both took out and watched together was ‘child’s play 3’ and because the nature of the violence that they committed is similar to that in the scene this suggests that it could have been an influential part in there behaviors.

  The way swearing is scripted in television today has also been said to influence the attitudes and behavior of the audiences.” [1]A new survey commissioned by the Daily Mail has found that most people believe swearing on television is behind an increase in swearing by young people” This suggests that by broadcasting certain uses of language and ways of behaving can be heavily influenced by what people watch on television.” Forty-eight per cent said they felt swearing on TV before the watershed was a problem, a figure which rose to 54 per cent among women and 59 per cent among the over-55s”

Ofcom have received complaints about many acts of behavior seen in our very popular soap operas saying that the way the characters are speaking is offensive and could lead people to believe certain ways of speaking/behaving are acceptable.

In conclusion” Individual, environmental, situational, and media-related factors interact in a unique way to influence whether or not individuals will mimic criminal behaviour they see in the media and popular culture” This shows that the individuals who choose to mimic what they see on television has an effect on their behaviour but everybody has the right to choose and has control over themselves. Therefore the television programme or film is not entirely responsible for this as it is an artificial representation of storylines and has an intended purpose to either inform, educate or entertain an audience and this is why they portray certain real life situations

Bibliography

http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/mediaviolence/violence.php?pageID=child

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229140/Four-schoolgirls-seriously-ill-drinking-ethanol-second-copy-BBCs-Waterloo-Road-episode.html

http://www.squidoo.com/influence-of-media-on-children

http://lang-8.com/56711/journals/259147

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/pcb41

 [1]http://www.christiantoday.com/article/tv.swearing.is.bad.influence.on.young.people.survey.finds/26086.htm

Criminal behaviour- Jacqueline B Helfgott-13^th March 2008 SAGE publications