Updated shot list

Here is the final shot list for my media coursework. If I film from 4:30-7:30pm then that gives me 10 minutes per shot - this is quite ambitious, but might be doable. If I don't get everything done tomorrow then I'll arrange another day to finish filming. I've highlighted in yellow the vital shots for each scene so that (in theory) I could film just those 6 shots and still cover everything necessary. I will try to film these shots first so that if I run out of time on a particular scene, I still have these shots done. By far the two most ambitious and difficult shots are numbers 6 and 7, which are profile lateral tracking shots of the two characters running. I will try to get these by filming out the window of a moving car, however this will be very challenging and may well not work. However, if I don't manage to get these shots, I should still have enough coverage for the scene to work and (hopefully) be exciting.

My location

It's a dead end!

This location and the surrounding area will be used for the chase and stand-off scene in my project. I scouted the location, and think it is perfect for my show; it has a grungy, urban aesthetic (typical of crime dramas) and is in a quiet area with very few passerbys and not much background noise. It also works with the story, as it leads to a dead end which is necessary within the chase scene. The only problem is that there may be some background noise from the cycle bridge which runs overhead, however this should be manageable - I could try to film the standoff scene (which includes dialogue) either before or after rush hour so that there are less people passing by.

Pitch for my TV drama

Title
Partners


Logline
After the murder of an anti-LGBT campaigner, an enigmatic detective teams up with a young, flamboyant officer to solve the case.


Genre
Social issue-based crime drama.


Audience
18-35 year old millennials, mostly male, ABC1, liberal-minded.


USP
A gay romance between the two main detectives.


Convergence
Branding - the same title/logo across different platforms.
Tagline

Aims and intentions sheet

Here is the first draft of the aims and intentions sheet for the video portion of my coursework:

Storyboard & shotlist

Shot setups

Scene 1:

1. Extreme long shot of park (establishing shot).

2. Extreme close up of beer bottle being opened.

3. Medium long shot of Dave & Michael on park bench.

4. Medium shot of Michael (dirty).

5. Medium shot of Dave (dirty).

6. Close up of Michael putting his hand on Dave's.

7. Medium close up of Anna (dirty).

8. Close up of Dave.

9. Close up of Michael.

10. Close up of computer screen (dirty).

11. Long panning shot of Dave chasing Michael.

Scene 2:

12. Long/medium panning shot of Dave chasing Michael through alleyway.

13. Medium shot of Dave chasing Michael down street.

14. Long shot of Michael hiding behind bush.

15. Long shot (from behind) of Michael hiding behind bush.

16. Medium long shot of Dave (dirty).

17. Medium long shot of Michael, handheld (dirty).

18. Medium close up of Michael, handheld (dirty).

19. Medium close up of Michael (in flashback), low angle, handheld.

20. Medium close up of victim (in flashback), high angle, handheld.

21. Medium close up of Dave (dirty).

22. Medium close up of knife falling on ground.

22 setups is a lot, and it's more than I would ideally like to do (as I'd rather spend more time getting the perfect take for one setup rather than getting ok takes for lots of setups), but I think it's necessary in order to meet the exam board's criteria to use a "Wide range of camera shots, angles and movement, to establish locations, narrative/topic and representations". To compensate for this (and save time), I will sometimes do multiple shots (e.g. a medium shot and a close up) one after the other, without moving the camera at all and only changing the lens. I will make sure to group shots like these together when I make my shooting schedule. I will also think about which lenses I will be using for particular shots so that I don't have to keep constantly changing lens. I will definitely alter the shot-list slighty, particularly in the chase scene, as I feel that section is very boring at the minute. Stylistically, I opted for a less-is-more approach, and tried to avoid having elaborate, stylised shots merely for the sake of it (which I felt was a weakness of many of the past coursework projects I watched). On set, I'll make sure that I get all master shots and other completely necessary shots first so that if I run out of time for a particular scene, I have these as a backup.

'PARTNERS' script - first draft

PARTNERS
by
Neil Thomson

     EXT. PARK, DAY

     DAVE and MICHAEL, a pair of young police detectives, sit on a
     park bench with the top buttons open on their shirts,
     relaxing and basking in the sun. A gentle breeze blows and
     the sound of birds can be heard in the distance.

     Michael uses a pocket knife to open a pair of beer bottles.
     He hands one to Dave.

                          DAVE & MICHAEL
               Cheers!

     They clink their bottles together and both take a swig from
     their drinks.

                          MICHAEL (CONT’D)
               It's nice here, isn't it? I used to
               come here all the time when I was a
               kid.

                          DAVE
               Me too.

                          MICHAEL
               I had a look online at some
               holidays - I thought maybe we could
               go to Greece together? Now that
               we've closed the case.

                          DAVE
               I don't know about that.

                          MICHAEL
               Oh come on. Don't you think that we
               could give it a go again?

     Michael moves closer and puts his hand on Dave's.

                          MICHAEL (CONT’D)
               You know... you and me?

     Dave moves his hand away

                          DAVE
               I'm sorry, but I can't. Something
               just feels wrong about it.

                          MICHAEL
               There's nothing to be embarrassed
               about.

                          DAVE
               I know... but I just can't see it
               working while we're working
               together in the force.

                          MICHAEL
               Well... maybe you could quit?

     Dave laughs.

                          MICHAEL (CONT’D)
               No, I'm serious. I mean we don't
               both need to be working if we're
               together.

                          DAVE
               You know that I could never give up
               my job.

                          MICHAEL
               Not even for me?

     Before he has time to respond, Dave's phone rings. He puts
     down his beer and takes the phone out of his pocket.

                          DAVE
               It's Anna.

     He picks up the phone.

                          DAVE (INTO PHONE) (CONT’D)
               Hello?

                                                 INTERCUT WITH:

     INT. POLICE STATION, DAY

     Anna, a young police officer, sits at a computer whilst
     talking to Dave on the phone.

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE)
               Dave, where are you?

                          DAVE (INTO PHONE)
               I'm just at the park with Michael.

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE)
               Dave, you have to listen to me,
               now.

                          DAVE (INTO PHONE)
               Anna, this really isn't a good ti-

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE)
                    (Interrupting him)
               Peter wasn't the killer.

     Dave looks confused.

                          MICHAEL
               What's she saying?

      Dave shushes him.

                          DAVE (INTO PHONE)
               What? Yes he was, we found the
               gloves in his house.

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE)
               They were planted there. I looked
               at footage on a CCTV camera from
               outside his house...

     We see CCTV footage on Anna's PC monitor.

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE) (CONT’D)
               ...and at 3:25am on the 10th
               September, a car pulled up at his
               house and a person got out and
               broke into his house.

                          DAVE (INTO PHONE)
               Could you see the person's face?

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE)
               No, but I tracked the licence plate
               of the car.

                          DAVE
               Well whose is it?

     The PC screen switches to a tab which shows a car
     registration number alongside a young male. Anna pauses for a
     moment.

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE)
               It's Michael's car.

     Beat.

     Dave sits there, stunned, not speaking. His heart pounds.

                          ANNA (INTO PHONE) (CONT’D)
               Dave, are you there?... Dave, can
               you hear me?...

    
     END INTERCUT.

     Dave puts down the phone. He pauses, then turns to Michael.

                          DAVE
               Michael, you're gonna have to come
               with me.

                          MICHAEL
               Why? What is it?

                          DAVE
               Don't say anything. Just walk over
               to the car and get in.

                          MICHAEL
               Dave, what's going on?

                          DAVE
               Please. Just come to the car, and
               this will all be over sooner.

                          MICHAEL
               What?

     Dave doesn't respond. He stares at Michael. Suddenly, Michael
     leaps up from his seat and launches into a sprint, but is
     quickly pursued by Dave...

     Michael is faster than Dave and runs out of the park, into an
     alleyway...

     EXT. URBAN STREET, DAY

     Michael runs through the alley and turns left at the end...

     Dave runs into the alley...

     He reaches the end and looks both ways...

     He spots Michael to the left in the distance and pursues
     him...

     Michael looks back as he runs and spots Dave, so speeds up...

     He turns another corner and runs away, but reaches a dead
     end...

     Finding himself cornered, he hides behind a bush, waiting for
     Dave.

     Dave catches up, but can't see Michael...

     Michael springs out from behind the bush, brandishing his
     pocket knife, threatening Dave...

                          MICHAEL
               Stay back!

     Dave puts his hands up.

                          DAVE
               Put the knife down Michael.

                          MICHAEL
               I can't go to prison Dave, so you
               either let me go now, or I'll kill
               you first.

                          DAVE
               Why did you do it Michael? Why did
               you have to kill him?

     BEGIN FLASHBACK:

     INT. HOUSE, NIGHT

     We see flashes of Michael strangling a young man, but the
     sound is muffled and inaudible.

     END FLASHBACK.

                          MICHAEL
               He was a drug dealer. It was his
               drugs that killed my sister. All I
               did was take one scumbag away from
               the world.

                          DAVE
               He was just a boy. He didn't
               deserve to die, Michael.

                          MICHAEL
               Look, we can put this behind us. We
               can run away and be happy together.
               We can forget about this.

                          DAVE
               No, I can't. I can't put anything
               before being a detective. Not even
               you.

                          MICHAEL
               Then I'll kill you.

                          DAVE
               No you won't Michael.

                          MICHAEL
               I've done it before and I can do it
               again.

                          DAVE
               Not to me you can't.

     Tears form in Michael's eyes. He drops the knife to the
     floor.

This is the first draft of the script for my TV show clip. Some of the dialogue may be tweaked (including on set), but apart from that I am fairly happy with the script. It's very cheesy and melodramatic, but that seems to be the way with some ITV shows, so hopefully it should fit the brief in that respect.

Updated TV show treatment

Working title
Narrow-temple

Genre
Crime

Duration
2 minutes 30 seconds - 3 minutes

Plot outline
Two male detectives, Dave and Michael sit in on a bench in a park - they are both happy as they have just solved a case involving the murder of a young man (which has been the focus of the series). We see that there is a potential romance going on between the two and that the solving of the case may allow them to get closer. Dave, the main detective, gets a phone call; Anna, another police officer informs him that they have just found a new piece of evidence revealing that the person who they thought was the killer was, in fact, an accomplice. The real killer was none other than Michael (dun dun duuuun). Dave asks Michael to come with him, but Michael realises what is going on and breaks into a sprint. Dave pursues him.

The pursuit takes them to a quiet urban area, and Michael reaches a dead end. He hides behind a bush, waiting for Dave, then springs out, brandishing a knife in threat. He tells Dave that he'll kill him unless he lets him go. Dave asks him why he killed the young man and he says that he had sold drugs to his sister which had killed her. He tries to persuade Dave to run off with him and to forget about what he did, but Dave says he can't forget it. Michael cannot bring himself to kill Dave, so drops the knife.

Characters
Dave - the protagonist, a detective (and a bloody good one) who is obsessed with his work and has a tough time balancing it with his social life. He likes to appear hard and toughened but has a hard time expressing emotions.
Michael - Dave's colleague/lover who seems charming at first, but has a tragic past and a rarely-seen dark side.
Anna - another police officer helping with the case.

Visual elements
High key lighting for exterior, more low-key/noir-ish lighting for interior (the police station).

Audio elements
Non-diegetic music; happy at the start, then dramatic, then tense/melancholy near the end.

Themes
Work and personal life, LGBTQ+, good and bad, what is morally right.

Requirements and resources
3 actors (2 male and 1 female), a swiss army knife, some beer bottles, clothes which detectives would wear, a park, an urban location and an office location, a camera, an audio recorder and microphone, a tripod, possibly a dolly, stock music, editing software.

Audience
18-35 year old millennials, ABC1, liberal-minded, cross-gender appeal

I decided to change a few aspects of my drama; firstly, I removed the part where the killer slits their throat as, while this kind of Tarantino-esque gore may appeal to me, I can't imagine it on a mainstream channel like ITV and think that it would put off a lot of the more casual viewers which they try to attract. In addition to this, it would be a lot of effort and would require me learning to use software like after effects and, if it looked bad, it would be very distracting and could come off as comedic. Secondly, I made the two police officers male, rather than female, simply for the reason that I know more male actors than I do female (but wanted to keep the gay romance). To compensate for this, I made the police officer on the phone female as I want my show to have a cross-gender appeal, so want plenty of gender variation (and, as Katz and Blumler say in their 'uses and gratifications' theory, one of the reasons which people consume media products is for identification, hence there must be a variety of representations for people to identify with).

I also thought that it would be a better opportunity for drama if the killer threatened the main detective rather than a random passer-by, as it adds a heavier emotional weight to the situation to see someone turn on their partner (also it saves me from getting another actor). I also added in a reason for why Michael killed the victim, as I felt like it was important to know this and be able to understand his motivation. It also adds depth to this character and gives Dave more of a moral dilemma as to whether Michael's murder was justified.