Genre and initial ideas

For my coursework, I have chosen to make a sequence from a crime TV show for ITV. I have chosen this as I feel that it is do-able with a shoestring budget and can be tailored to fit the coursework brief. Also, ITV have made several highly popular high-quality crime dramas in recent years such as Broadchurch and Marcella in addition to classics like Prime Suspect and The Professionals. I also, personally, enjoy crime dramas, which I think is important as it means I have motivation and an understanding of the genre.

As for specific ideas, I haven't got very far yet. I have made some lists of ideas for characters and concepts in order to get me started.

Ideas for unique selling points

• The protagonist is a teenager - maybe a rookie officer?
• Some kind of hybrid - possibly horror/thriller?
• The protagonist has some kind of physical/mental disability e.g. mute, blind, etc.
• We never find out who the killer is.
• Set in a rural area.

Ideas for filming locations


(The idea for this list revolves around the idea of reverse budgeting, i.e. working out the resources you have available and building a story around it).

• The guided busway: fairly quiet, interesting urban location, could make for a good chase scene.
• Hills road (especially classrooms/offices)- could involve an interrogation with a teacher or something along those lines. Or could be made to look like a police HQ.
• My house - endless possibilities, practical (not too far from Hills).
• Cherry Hinton chalk pits - very nice-looking and cinematic location, quiet. Does look very rural, however, which goes against genre conventions.

Ideas for moments in the story

• A chase (cross cutting between the chase itself and a police HQ).
• The moment when the killer is revealed.
• The opening - could be the first killing, a police officer arriving at a crime scene, a person going about their day-to-day life (or a mixture of these).
• A fight scene - would probably have to be a fist fight as it would be a bit dodgy to carry around knives or fake guns if it was in a public place (although could do it on private property). It would be very ambitious to pull off as it's very difficult to choreograph fist fights and make them look realistic (I've tried before).

Ideas for characters