P1 - Interpreting The Brief

Who are the BBC?

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British Public Service Broadcaster and is the world oldest national broadcaster. The BBC is funded by annual television licenses which is charged to all British household. The BBC broadcasts in radio and TV as well as online media through the channel BBC3

What is BBC3?

The channel BBC3 focuses their work on the younger generation. The topics their programmes cover are made to attract the young eye by talking about themes such as crime, sex, drugs and comedy. This is found in real life documentaries, interviews and comedic drama's which are available to watch on demand by the user. This is because from April 2014, BBC3 moved online so their programmes could only be watched on the internet. This was because their main target audience is younger people so moving online would attract a lot more younger people as a lot more young people watch content online rather than on television.

BB3 have made some very popular award winning British Original Drama's  such as Thirteen and Clique and British Original Comedies such as People Just Do Nothing, This Country and Cuckoo. They have also made many powerful documentaries such as Life and Death Row andStacey Dooley Investigates. An aspect which BBC3 is very good on showing to the public are provocative current affairs programmes which you may not find on the ordinary television. These include, Is This Rape?, Sex on Trial, and KKK: The fight for white supremacy

What is Television Drama?

A series of real life situations which are exaggerated yet relatable. This is to make a story more engaging to an audience so they will enjoy it more because it's not things that happen in everyday life. This is created through the use of themes, settings, issues in the plot and the narrative of the drama itself.

Some examples of Television Drama's:
-Game of Thrones (Uses themes of family the north and south divide we have in real day)
-Peaky Blinders (Historical drama based on crime families after the First World War, also touching on jobs, experiences and society)
-Breaking Bad (Modern day drugs and violence, in depth story and engaging characters)
-Orange is the New Black (Modern day women's prison in America.  Themes of friends, relationships, society of rank and troubles of women)

Who are the competitors of BBC3 and teen TV?

BBC3's main competitors have become far more prominent since their move to go online and scrap their television channel. Websites such as YouTube are a very big competitor for them as they have always been online only and many people world wide are familiar with it as well as using it for every range of video on the internet. There are also other competitors such as that of All4 who have an on,one website and app in order to watch on demand any shows that were missed on channel 4/E4  as
well as having the ability to watch other series which have been off air for many years such as The Inbetweeners. This is the same with ITV as their Hub is an online app and website in which users can watch on demand at any time. Not forgetting about the big movie network of Netflix which provides a mass of films for the viewer but as well as making their own film shows which are becoming more and more popular. In order for BBC3 to stay in the competitive race it needs to create new and exciting content which viewers will find enthralling and want to watch. A controller said that BBC3 is on target to be watched by 10 percent of all viewers aged 16-34 each week.

Viewing figures for shows -
-Cuckoo, has 1.15 million viewers in its 10pm slot.
-Gavin and Stacey brought in a 5.8 million viewer rate on it 9-9:30 slot.

What are the main conventions of a television drama?

The conventions of a television drama is how something is done and presented. For example, a medical drama. The main conversions will be the setting so the drama will be set in a hospital. Next are the characters who will go through a lot of stressful and gruesome inguries and operations within the programme which will all link somewhat to the overall plot and other smaller sub characters. The overview of a medical drama is that is teaches somewhat the audience life in a hospital but at the same time, dramatising it for the engagement of the audience.

The most popular drama genres for young people in this current age is Drugs and Crime. For example, Breaking Bad, one of the most popular television series ever with 67% of its 10.3 million viewers being young adults. Other examples include Narcos, a more recent series who have been incredibly popular being a Netflix original series.

Constraints for my ideas

From the brief. it is clear that the target audience for our product is young people. The constraints from this will limit the possible genres and themes I can work in. Some of mt favorite genres are historical however these are usually more favored by older audiences to the one we must work with. The most popular genre being drugs, I will need to adapt and fins ways to structure an original plot of a drugs series aimed at young people. Since the budget for the series is quite low as well, out ideas will have to be fairly tamed. For example, we can't budget for big CGI explosion scenes or car chases for drug money. The general representation for the series will need to be a low key drug themed series. The way in which we will gain audience viewings will have to be an engaging story and have lots of loopholes twists and potential red herrings. Any techniques we can use to enhance the story to make it engaging without having to use big money shots.