Experience Analysis

(Summary at bottom)

'Finding Love Young' served as apart of my final A-Level coursework, in which I was tasked to conceptualise an original TV programme suitable for E4. As apart of this, we were required to create a 3 minute opening for an episode of the show, along with 2 pages of a website (side note- on the linked pages some of the keys were morphed in positioning upon publishing the site which cannot be fixed). We were given one day to film (8 hours) with a Canon HD DSLR camera, and outside of that another 2 weeks where we were free to record with personal equipment. For this I conducted in depth industry research for E4 and chose 'teen first dates' as my primary source of inspiration for the product. The show was intended to be a 16-18 year old dating show where contestants were given a budget to create their ideal date for them and their partner- aiming to engage the younger half of E4's 16-34 year old target audience. To appeal to the brief, I mediated all elements of film form across pre to post-production in order to appease the target audience, the genre, and the appropriate expectations of an E4 show.

Referred to as 'Generation-Z', the audience are of a statistically low attention span and can process information faster than other generations. Elements such as the selected music, coupled with the fast paced parallel editing cater to this fact. The song choice was specifically selected in order to allow for such a pace of editing, so that information was effectively delivered in an entertaining and engaging manner. I also aimed to engage the audience through various relatable depictions, such as the reference to social media (with 'Generation-Z' notoriously engaging with social media often), or the diverse cast of teenagers (providing relatable representation for a range of social groups to align and relate with) that operate on a budget (something relatable to many students and general citizens who struggle for money management).

For the nature of appeasing the expectations of an E4 show, the show is at its core a product of entertainment (aligning with the 'E' (standing for entertainment) of E4). The concept itself also manages to appease to all E4s stated pillars for commissioners. The show meets E4's 3 stated pillars for commissioners;

• Premium reality – a dating show ("still massively hot at the moment and is really universal") that has a scale/ purpose that can unfold over a long run.

• Lower-cost repeatable formats – a budget within $150k/episode, repeatable with new contestants, settings and scenarios. Producers can also add in twists or hurdles in later series as necessary.

• Character-driven factual series – an inclusive, diverse cast of young, relatable British teenagers.

To appeal to the genre, I aimed to keep the product in line with the expectations of Reality TV, elements of film form such as the cinematography and the editing work in a fashion that create the illusion of these events being able to occur in real time (e.g. handheld movements for a documentary feel, no camera angles in a location where the cameras position was filmed from another angle).

The most challenging part of this process was the organisation of it. Given my budget and early position of my career, I looked to peers to work within the product, and had to mediate filming times in order to work around their unique student schedules- proving difficult for moments such as filming within the main set that I only had access to for one day. However, I was able to build off of my experience of 'Decisions' and use this to more effectively manage and plan my time, thinking more logistically how scenes would translate into shooting time and thus keeping moments simple. The elements of the opening only aim to appear as if they were all natural for the product, but having complete control of the script for the characters gave me the opportunity to use their lines to transition between moments with much more ease, keeping the filmed shots far more time efficient.

The level of detail and planning that went into the product proved immensely effective. I found myself effectively able to apply analytical knowledge and use an eye for detail in order to construct a product that followed such a rigid regiment. As a result of the efforts within pre-production, the production and post-production processes followed without any particular issue. However, given the fact of how tight all the footage was, and the amount of planned content, it made the editing process fairly extensive, and sourcing a song that allowed me to keep such a pace whilst remaining free of copyright proved fairly challenging. Alas, I was able to complete the product on time for submission and received an A* grade, scoring 58/60 marks for the overall work. 

REFLECTION

The product served as a good introduction to the practices of filming for television as a concept on a smaller scale. The overall process allowed me to elevate practices of pre-production in order to ensure efficiency whilst shooting. I found the experience a valuable exercise in being able to translate my theoretical and analytical knowledge into the practice of shooting, teaching me how to research a brand and a product in order to translate it into my own work in an appropriate manner- particularly valuable for shooting more commercial based products. It also allowed me to test my ability to mediate elements all elements of a concept and its practice in order to efficiently work in conjunction of one another to achieve a specific goal- the goal being in this case, constructing an effective product that could reasonable serve as an opening for an E4 show.

However, if I were to improve upon the product I would primarily develop the quality of the graphic design. Although this wasn't something particularly relevant to the brief, as it was more conceptual, I do find my individual designs more plebeian in contrast to what I am currently capable of. Yet this just further shows how the experienced served as an effective academic exercise in order to introduce me to these notions.

SUMMARY

Equipment

• Canon HD DSLR

• Filming house where rooms could be rented (Castlefield Studios)

• Final Cut Pro

• No extra budget

Constraints

• One day filming (8 hours) with equipment

• 3 minutes maximum length

• Editing only during timetabled slots

Academic grade

• A* (A-Level)

Experience Learnt

• The effect of intricate pre-production

• How to effectively model an audiovisual product off an existing regiment/ style

Overall

• Very successful in what it needed to be. Certain elements could be improved upon in quality such as graphic design, yet given the budget and general constraints of the assignment I was satisfied with the result