George Wing Television Blog

Today I showed Simon my first edit for 'Far Gone', in order to gain some constructive feedback with as to what I can work on. I didn't find any of his points unfair, and they were definitely elements I could work on. Firstly, he picked up on my use of titles throughout, and how they were too 'forced'. I could understand where he was coming from here as they did seem unnecessary. The idea behind the trailer is to show and not tell the story. By having too much writing would be telling too much. Besides from this it was almost as if the writing was trying to say "look at this! Keep Looking, feel emotion" which wasn't the intention, but how it comes across. I then went onto removing most text and keeping it simple with my film company logo, the name of the film and the credits; the rest was unnecessary. Another piece of feedback was the overpowering music that distracted from the radio audio. Because the music contained vocals, it didn't really wor...

Sam Bain is a British comedy writer. He is responsible for some of Britains funniest sitcoms including the likes of Peep Show and Fresh Meat. I have enjoyed both of these shows greatly, without realising they were actually written by the same person. It therefore had me questioning: what is it about his writing style that really appeals to me? When researching into both shows I came to realise that Sam Bain isn't a solo operation. Him and his friend/partner Jesse Armstrong are both responsible for these two television sitcoms. After realising this I became instantly hooked; its very rare for two screenwriters to be close enough, and share the same sense of humour to want to collaborate on projects together. In fact, most of their work is a collaboration. Peep Show's high standards and reputable quality have remained consistent throughout, and has if anything got better over the years, as the characters developed further and the programme budget got higher. Unfortunately ...

The Bill The Bill is a British Police television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama,Woodentop, broadcast in August 1983. Objectives: Analysis of the crime drama as genre Codes and conventions of crime drama genre Some possible critical approaches.  The Bill is set in a fictional London Police Station  Longest running UK Crime Drama Originally 12X60min episodes   Changed its form in the way it was run- From 1988-2005, became year-round twice weekly serial. Went from being a classic crime drama series into a soap opera Peak audiences of 11million viewers in 2005 rivalled Coronation Street . What is the crime drama genre?   Evolved from literary detective fiction In TV, often police procedural sub-genre- 'realistic' investigation of a crime by law enforcement teams.  A ' whodunnit ' (enigma to be solved)  A ' Howcatchem ' Crime Drama-Te...

The art of Screenwriting is one of great skill. Screenwriting is the art of being able to tell a story, and should usually be based on what we know. To some extent, stories are how we learn. Our existence on this earth is told as a story whether be it a religious belief or scientific. Parables were told by Jesus in order to educate people. I myself as a child used to thrive off stories, usually from books and films. I feel its important in screenwriting, when the idea has been established, to know exactly what it looks like on screen in your head. This helped me personally to write my script because I was able to actually visualise what I wanted to see on screen. However, television is passive in many respects. We can start and stop it at any point. If we leave the room at a fundamental part of the story, the television will continue to tell the story.  Screenplays are the basis for most dramatic films, the essential work from which all other filmmaking flows. The rollercoast...

Before shooting my trailer, I decided to create a storyboard win order to make it easier to shoot all my scenes, and various specific shots i want to include. I wrote a short description for each of the boxes, giving a little more detail because it was difficult to capture details in just the pictures. I found this to be a useful addition to my storyboard and despite the drawings not being the best, they still showed me exactly what I needed to film, which was important when it came to shooting. This also helped me with the risk assessment because I had more of an idea as o what I would be filming, therefore taking all risks into consideration. Just to make sure I took note of the scenes I would be filming in my shoot list and looked through the script to see where I was filming and the potential hazards/risks. Storyboard When completing my risk assessment I wanted to be sure I had every last detail on there to prevent potential accidents from happening and to ensure the...

Title: Joy Director: Bart Frank Narrator: Jude Lovick Nee Frank Length: 6:11 In my research I decided to watch a short film called joy, based on the dementia story of a Joy Frank narrated, by her daughter. Although this short film was produced in a different style to mine, with its documentary -like style, it was still an inspiration to my piece. This is actually a true story, so is biographical whereas mine is fictional but based around what I know on dementia. As soon as the film is introduced we are given this narration which carries on throughout the piece. We are shown picturesand  told  these  stories  about joy and her husband, and its so well told, the audience can  picture  in their minds what i happening. The lengths of detail create this like with 'The Three Bells' pub.  Even the name is mentioned rather than just being a 'pub'. The film footage of the pup adds to this to again, make us really picture the scene.  ...

John Sullivan's style of screenwriting has become more than iconic. Throughout his career, he had written a number of side splitting comedies including Citizen Smith, The Green Green Grass and not forgetting of corse one of his best renowned pieces, British comedy sitcom Only Fools and Horses. So how does he do it? And how has it developed? Well, Sullivan writes most of what he does based around his own experiences in life, and stories that he's heard. If you’ve seen the famous ‘chandelier’ scene in Only Fools and Horses (of course you have), you may not know that this was actually based on a true story told to him by his father. Men he used to work with made the same fatal mistake, except it wasn't funny. Men lost their jobs, which in that current economic climate, couldn't afford to do. John still found it hilarious, despite his father telling him otherwise. Eventually it was written in, and his father watched the episode he said “yeah you're right it was funny”....

Television Drama Review- BBC Drama Life on Mars  Title: Life on Mars Director(s): S.J. Clarkson...(6 episodes, 2006-2007) John Alexander...(2 episodes, 2006) John McKay...(2 episodes, 2006) Bharat Nalluri...(2 episodes, 2006) Richard Clark...(2 episodes, 2007) Andrew Gunn...(2 episodes, 2007) Writer(s): Matthew Graham Tony Jordan Ashley Pharoah Chris Chibnall Mark GreigGuy Jenkin Julie Rutterford “ Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time” Life on Mars is a BBC television drama set back in time to 1973, after Police Sargent Sam Tyler suffers a severe car accident in the present. After watching the entire series back to back, I discovered that this enthralling piece has been an inspiration to my own project in multiple ways. The most important thing to note about this series has to be the characters/actors and how well they bounce off each other. The relationship between Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt is one of love/hate, with a begrudging admiration. Given policing ...

In terms of finding locations I did struggle to begin with. I wanted to film some scenes in a church, a house and of a care home but unfortunately, after contacting Kent  Film Office it became apparent that I would  be charged quite a lot to film in such locations. I therefore needed a change of plan. I could either change my plan completely and not film in any of these locations or I could travel back home and use resources I have there. The resolution was obvious. To ensure I could definitely organise these locations before I went back, I got in touch with the local church White Ladies Aston and ended up speaking to the vicar. He said he was happy with it but needed to contact the Church Wardens first and after speaking to them I received an email to confirm that I can film there. I then got in touch with a nearby care home, where I knew the manager. I got my mother to speak in person for me just to explain the details in persona and shortly after I received a co...

After creating my first script draft,  I've began thinking about how I'm going to film a two minute trailer based off the script. I wanted to ensure I could get actors before I focused on locations, and it was just as well I did given my locations ended up having to change. I discovered this website called 'Casting Call Pro' which allows filmmakers to put up posts and advertise acting roles and actors can chose to apply and send in a CV, showreel of previous work etc. This was useful to me in helping to decide on the best actors for this role. When setting off I imported my film company logo (Yager Films) which was just from my YouTube channel where I upload short films etc. that I make in my free time, and explained it was a student project to prevent any confusion when it came to people applying. I was pleasantly surprised to find after 24 hours I ave several applications in already, one of which had played dementia roles before. E ended up with two applications ...

After speaking with Steve Coombs I noticed I had several elements of my script that I needed to change. Once I got any formatting errors out of the way as pointed out in the first draft, we brainstormed some ideas. The brainstorm flowed well, and we were both able to come up with some really interesting ideas with as to how I could improve my script. For example, we discussed the idea of George taking William back to the home. Every care home has its escapist, and William could be that one, and George knows he is in a home. The numbers '6363' could be used throughout, and have significance. The audience hear these numbers in different situations but its never revealed the meaning behind them until a nurse asks how he escaped when the doors were locked. He then follows George back to the church and types in the code on the door 6363. An example of where this set of four numbers comes about could be when buying the newspaper in the shop. He asks if the paper and rice comes to £63...

Soap Opera Soap storyline writers may look pack at past episodes for inspiration Eastenders Set in fictional Lodon Borough Initially broadcasted twice a week Audiences would see melodrama- always have villain and damsel in distress. It would primarily deal with family and emotional issues. All soap operas share common codes and conventions There are also other soaps like coronation street an Emmerdale. Technical Conventions Multi-Camera Limited sets Diegetic sound Live episodes are rare with Eastenders but happen for novelty episodes Early Soaps transmitted live or recorded 'as live'. Set has been rebuilt and modified over the years. HD technology has required more 'realistic' sets. Episode Format- typically 30 minutes per limit. Open ended storylines with episode cliff hangers (to sustain audience). Repetition-relies on stock characters and location for each episode. Resolution- Serial form mean constantly evolving; soap plots may take, weeks, m...

The second shoot day was relatively straight forward. I simply needed to film some indoor house shots. It was Williams morning routine and some establishing shots to gain an insight into Williams personalty; someones home says a lot about them. So I set off filming a dripping tap into a dirty sink, and packet of food with faces on them. I shot William coming down the stairs and putting his clothes on (Vicar attire). Shots like this just gave an insight into Williams character. I didn't film a radio shot in this shoot, but when I had to re-film after my work got deleted, I included a radio shot. After filming this I was fortunate enough to hear a broadcast on life and death which was really fitting to the piece so I recorded it to test if it would add to the piece. Filming the radio shot was made really effective by having William press the button but the shot would be from behind it. At first this didn't look effective because there was no visible button, but I decided to...

Today, I finished filming my film trailer. We started at 10:30 which was when the church was booked for and started off filming William walking down the road. I wanted it to be lighter outside when it cam to filming in the church and it was a dark morning. This worked in my favour as the natural lighting let in by the large windows made scene look less 'fuzzy' compared to the artificial lighting.  I did think this through before filming, and wanted to bring some bright LED lights, but with travelling on the train I felt it to be too much of a risk, incase they got broken given their fragile build. Luckily it did brighten up and by 11:20 I was able to film inside the church effectively. I did attempt to film a tracking shot around William for the final scene, but unfortunately despite filming several times it didn't look effective. This was disappointing as I felt it was a key shot, depicting how the church was once full, and is now empty. It was only ineffective as a result...

Vodka Diary's -Pilot Episode  Mise EN Scene   How many Locations? Real or Studio? Reflect Characters Camera and Sound Single or Multi-camera Audience laughter? Diegetic or non-diegetic Narrative and drama Humour or physical? Written by a 25 year old female which is visible in its style through humour and character trait's. What is genre? Group you would categorise. They are a type or class of texts that share common codes and conventions Historical/social/political How texts emerge as commercial products from an industry Genre audience contract with text. Codes and conventions dominant in deciding the form of a film or TV Programme Technical (SEEN) Camera Sound ]Editing  =Narrative Symbolic (UNSEEN) Mise En scene   Sit(nation) Com(edu)- sub-genre of comedy  What defines a sitcom? Traditional studio sitcoms  Multi-camera  Edited 'as live' Audience laugh track Often have Audience laughter E...