Introduction
This term we have been learning about all the things related to “Media Studies”. And in order to show all our work showcased we made a “Weebly” site. This website includes all the work we do in class or class discussions. However, our main interest this term was to study and analyse T.V Crime Drama and in order to do this we looked at BBC drama ‘Out Of Control’. Out Of Control showed the lives of three teenagers named Sam, Danny and Dean, who all end up in trouble and then finally end up as young offenders living in a prison, their paths collide and then finally Dean is driven to suicide because of extreme pier pressure from one of the other pupil in prison. The main purpose of this drama was to warn young offenders to not commit crimes around the streets and not lead to a violent life. We also looked and concentrated on another Crime drama called ‘NYPD Blue’.NYPD Blue was an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan. Each episode typically covers a day and intertwines several plots involving an ensemble cast. The reason why we looked at NYPD blue was to compare the two crime dramas and look at the different and similar conventions they both share.
BBC Cracking Crime Day
Cracking crime day was a day of programming aired on the BBC (British broadcasting company) that was dedicated to crime programmes, from Inside out, to Out of control and to catch a thief. These programmes were organized to warn people not to do crime on the streets. The point of the day was all about informing people about the problems with crime.
BBC also has objectives while making or producing a crime drama, a list of “public services” (which are considered its main aims):
Ø Promoting education and learning.
Ø Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence.
Ø Representing UK, its nation, religions and communities.
Ø Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK.
BBC tries to promote education and not just entertainment own its own which has a massive impact on the audience as they learn from the drama; they know what the consequences would be if they did a certain type of crime. This would put off them from doing crimes.
Realism VS Hollywood
When crime is portrayed in Hollywood movies the main purpose is to entertain and thrill. Hollywood always has over budgeted conventions like the explosions of cars, people chasing with guns and shooting on streets which is totally unrealistic however its matches with what they want, which is to entertain and thrill the audience. BBC productions are contrast to Hollywood as they focus on realism and not just on the effects and animations like the Hollywood movies. BBC don’t waste their money on classy scenes however they spend time making them look as realistic as possible.
In BBC productions they make their crime drama look as realistic as possible by showing the six points of realism which are:
Ø Verisimilitude - when something is very similar to the real world
Ø logic - Giving a deceptive impression of the truth
Ø Presentation - How it is seen by the audience
Ø Plausibility - Giving a deceptive impression of truth or reliability.
Ø Believability - How well the programming is compared to the real world
Ø Relationship - A condition or fact being related. (Not too many coincidences)
All of these points are not shown in Hollywood movies as it’s not their main purpose however it’s the rule BBC to indicate these points of realism in their programmes.
‘Out Of Control’
Out of Control is a TV crime drama which is a production of BBC and its cracking crime day. Out of Control is a realistic drama about three teenagers who all end up in prison of under 18’s called ‘Young Offenders’. It all starts by two teenagers Sam and Danny robbing a shop and ending up caught and sent to young offender’s prison. Dean another teenager who was involved in robbing a car because of pier pressure by his friend called Charlie boy, was also caught and ended up in prison as he tried to escape from the police. And then at the young offender’s Danny realises his fault and wants to have a family with her girl friend while Dean is also upset and wants to return home. However Sam is not able to cope with the other teenagers their and then tries to be a big man which turns him to a bully which is seen when he attacks Dean till he is driven to suicide; and doesn’t worry about life outside the prison as he doesn’t share a good relationship with his parents. It basically tries to show how lives of teenagers in London are today and has a dry tone which makes the drama look realistic and imitate the idea of the real world. The drama also has an impact on the audience has its related to the educational side (tries to warn people not to commit crimes).
I think characters in this drama were very realistic representation of:
Ø Teenagers as the language they spoke was very similar to how teenagers speak in London and the way they dressed up for example hoodies.
Ø Families as they cared about their children’s lives and were emotional about what had happened to their children and the way they reacted to the situations was quite realistic.
Ø The crime was very realistic as robbing and bullying are common crimes in London today.
My Script ' In Control '
As part of the Crime drama section I had to write a script which was the second episode of Out Of Control called ‘In Control’. The script includes all the camera angles, crosscut scenes, diegetic and non diegetic sound along with stage directions. My script links back to Out Of Control as Danny and Sam come out of the prison however Sam is still continuing to be a bad man and this time he decides to rob a shop with Charlie boy who is now part of his gang as he is scared of the revenge Dean’s mum going to take about his son’s death. The shop they decide to rob is Danny’s but they don’t know that however they still attack on Danny but Dean’s mum Sandra is also present in the shop and attacks Charlie boy from behind; which allows her to snatch the gun from him which then results as Sam and Charlie boy being shot.
My ' In Control ' DVD cover on Photoshop
Another part of the crime drama section I did was the DVD cover I made, on the made up second part of out of control called ‘In Control’. My DVD cover basically tries to show a crime scene and I thought this because I wanted it to relate exactly to my script and the photos on my DVD cover are all linked to the second episode for example the gun and teenager. It also includes a blurb which gives background information on the episode. However these all pictures and graphics along with my DVD were edited on Photoshop CS4 to make it look professional and practiced.
Conclusion
In this whole unit I think I have learnt quite a lot for example Photoshop CS4 a software which is used to make pictures or graphics look professional. Me throughout the unit have improved my skills in this software and am really pleased with what i have come up with on the whole. This unit has not only improved my skills in software but the way of imagining and thinking of my script including the DVD cover.
