Filming

Using my partners video camera, we recorded most of our project. I placed the camera in different areas around the room to create some fly on the wall shots. We also used medium close-ups and long shots. At the moment I am editing the photos for the title sequence using Photoshop as I need to make some of the photos darker to make it looks more like night time. When my partner has sent me the videos I will also edit them to make it look darker/lighter and put it all together as well as adding voice overs.

Basic Script

[Cold open. HOSTS are in front of the outside location in their "daytime" costumes. Medium close-up]
Alex: 4 Contestants
Sanny: One week in a haunted house
Alex: Who will face their fears?
Sanny: For a chance to win £13000.
Alex: Who goes? You decide.
Sanny: What happens when the lights go out?
Alex: Welcome to After Dark

*** Title Sequence ***

[HOSTS are in front of the outside location in their "daytime" costumes. Medium close-up]
Alex: We have searched the country for our perfect contestants
Sanny: They are fearless, brave and up for anything
Alex: ...Maybe they're not the perfect contestants then
Sanny: Let’s see what happened when they met for the first time in the living room.

[CONTESTENTS are gathered together in the indoor location. They all shake hands and exchange names and pleasantries. Fly on the wall shot]
Voice Over: In the living room
Ashley: There is like nothing in here! I don’t even see a mirror!!
Lucy: Well yeah it’s not a 5 star hotel!
Sienna: What do you think we will be expecting from this competition?
Lucy: I don’t know but I hope it’s fun!!!
Sienna: Yes well...as long as there are not spiders involved it should be splendid.
Lucy: Of course there will be spiders, it’s a scary show!
Mason: What the hell have we signed ourselves up for? People have just gotta pull their weight and it will work!
Ashley: I'm with that Sienna girl; I’m not going anywhere near spiders or anything that will ruin my make-up or hair.
Sienna: God forbid!
Mason: You look good though.
Sienna: That’s because she is caked in make-up...
Lucy: Haha that is true
[ASHLEY runs off.]
Sienna: [sarcastically] was it something I said?
Mason: This is gonna be 50 shades of cray

[Image of the moon is shown to show that it is dark. HOSTS are in front of the Church in their 'night time' clothes. Long Shot]
Alex: Lets see which of our competitors will be doing the first task
Sanny: This will help you to decide who to vote out later tonight
[HOSTS walk towards the church]

[HOSTS enter the room with the CONTESTANTS. Everyone is now in their 'night time' clothes. Very long shot]
Mason: Here they comeee
Alex: Hello all!
Sanny: This first challenge is called Garden Of Terror
Alex: Alright folks, this challenge will test your speed as well as your hunting skills. You will be collecting the five items around the garden, but be warned...you will be chased by the crazy caretaker.
Sanny: You will be looking around the garden for five envelopes; each will contain a luxury that will make your stay here a little more comfortable and a little less basic.
Alex: Well, as comfortable as you could get here.
Sanny: The two contestants completing the first challenge are...
[5 second pause, extreme close up on each contestant per second]
Alex: Sienna and Ashley.
[ASHLEY is shocked]
Sanny: We will see you in one hour.
[HOSTS leave the room]
Mason: Make sure you get the envelopes!
Sienna: Oh don't worry, I intend too.
Ashley: What if there are spiders and cobwebs or if something falls in my hair, I don’t want to do it!
Lucy: Well you have to!

[ASHLEY and SIENNA are sat in the Diary Room in their "challenge" clothes. Medium close-up]
Sienna: We will complete this task effortlessly
Ashley: What??? Are you kidding?? I don’t even want to do this task!!!
Sienna: Well we have to for the good of the team; it's just searching around a garden. Shouldn't be hard.
Ashley: I'm not going anywhere near mud! You can shove your snobby nose into it but I’m not!
Sienna: Well I say! How dare you insult me like that! Just because I am far more intellectual than you!
Ashley: Intellectual?
Sienna...clever
Ashley: At least I’m pretty! It looks like you've just come from a Halloween party!
Sienna: Brains before beauty. I'm going to complete this task while you will be sitting there screaming like a big cry baby!
Ashley: Shut up I'll find the envelops before you...I just need to avoid the spiders. Hopefully one of the luxuries will be some hair straighteners
Voice over: Coming up after the break

[Preview of ASHLEY and SIENNA in the garden completing the challenge. Fly on the wall shot]
Sienna: I've got one! Go get that!
Ashley: No there’s spiders!
[CREEPY CARETAKER starts chasing ASHLEY. ASHLEY screams and falls over]
Sienna: Oh My Goodness!

***Title Break***

Character Profiles

We went to the outdoor location of a church that I decided for our reality show and using my high quality 720p camera I took pictures of all of the characters ready for the title sequence. I chose these actors and actresses as I feel they are best suited to the role and I know them well so it is easy to communicate with them as they will not get embarrassed. I was in charge of sorting out the girls and their costumes and my partner was in charge of sorting out the boys. We did have a second boy however he dropped out so we had to compromise so I tried to fit his characters profile into the other boys character.

These are the characters that we will be including in our project:

Sienna Parnell is one of our female characters who is 17 years old. She is of an upper class and has a high demographic profile (A or B whereas the rest of the characters are no higher than a C) therefore is more posh than the others hence she believes that she is better than everyone else and tends to pose judgement on others. 

***

We will start a conflict between Sienna Parnell and Ashley Jenson as part of the Uses and Gratification theory as an audience tends to get entertained when they see others arguing therefore this will bring them satisfaction. 

Ashley Jenson is a 17 year old character that we are stereo typically representing in our show. She is an archetype as she is a typical blonde who wears short clothes and lots of make-up as she feels her looks are the most important factor therefore she is not as clever as most. We will over exaggerate her role and make her too scared to do any challenges and always over exaggerates little things (much like Helen Flanagan off of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 2012) and she tries to do as little work as she possibly can (like Amy Willerton off of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 2013). 

Our final female contestant is Lucy Right (we were hoping for someone who was short as short people can be stereo typically seen as being annoying however the actress is not short but she can do everything else to fit the role). She can be annoying at times when she talks loudly but she does speak her mind (and therefore may be saying what the audience is thinking) therefore she is liked by some but not by all. She is 16 years of age.

Our final contestant is Mason Cole. He is the "class clown" and therefore keeps the other contestants (and audience) entertained as he is the funny one. He is athletic and the good-looking one. However he likes to show off as he thinks that he is the best so he tries to take control. When things do not go his way he is easily tempered so anything could set him off. He is 18 years old.

Finally we have our hosts. Sanny Hoskins (on the left) and Alex Black (on the right). A lot of good reality TV game shows have two hosts as they can work well together to entertain an audience. They have good chemistry and are funny therefore the audience will not get tired of watching them. They will also be voice overs in some parts of the show. They are both 17 years old.

Questionnaire

We will distribute the questionnaire to people from different ages and personality's (such as students, older parents, teenagers etc..) and with the results that we will collect from these questionnaires, we will be able to identify the most appropriate demographic and psychographic audience for our Reality TV show.  

***

This questionnaire will help us decide what audience is better fitted towards our new Reality Tv program. Please answer as best you can.

1. What gender are you? Please circle one:

Male          Female         

2.  What age range are you? Please circle one:

10 or under          11-15          16-20          21-25          26-30          31-35         36-40          40+

3. What time are you likely to stop watching TV? Please circle one:

Earlier than 5pm          5pm          6pm         7pm          8pm          9pm         10pm          11pm+

4. What age range of film/tv do you most often watch? Please circle one:

Universal          PG          12          15          18

5. Do you enjoy horror/thriller films? Please circle one:

Yes          No

6. If you watch Reality TV shows then why do you enjoy watching them? Please circle all that are applicable:

I don't watch Reality TV          To spend time watching it with my family

To talk about it with my friends          I find them funny          Other (please state why):

..........................................................................................................................................................................

7. What social networks do you use? Please circle all that are applicable:

Twitter          Facebook          Tumblr         YouTube    BBM

Other (please state what):
.....................................................................................................................................................................

RESULTS

We surveyed a total of twelve people with an even number of males and females. We tried to expand the age range however due to accessibility a large number of our participants were teenagers (between the age of 16-20). We surveyed a young girl and a boy in the age category of 11-15,  a man and woman in the age range of 40+, a male and female of the age range 31-35, and the rest were adolescents.

Findings: We found that all age ranges stopped watching TV at around 9pm on weekdays (as they have work/school the next day) and 11pm on weekends, apart from the two 11-15 year olds who would stop watching after 9pm on both weekdays and weekends. The majority of participants watch 15+ rated media texts the most and 12+ second most. When asked if they enjoyed watching horror/thriller shows, the majority that picked yes were those ages between 16-20 years of age. For question 6, all of the 16-20 year olds said they watch reality shows because they are funny and everyone else who took part (other than one of the 31-35 years olds who said they watch them to spend time with their family and one of the 11-15 year olds who said they watch them to talk about it with their friends) said they watched reality programs because they are funny. Everyone other than one person in the 40+ category has Facebook, the majority of the 16-20 year olds have Twitter, and the other three vary.

Conclusion: In conclusion we found that due to most of the 16-20 year olds having two social networks (facebook and twitter) meaning that word about our show can spread, them enjoying reality shows because they are funny and they enjoy horror/thriller (meaning the genre of our show can be comedy thriller which has never been done with reality tv before) they would be the most suitable age range. Our show will be 15+, genre of comedy thriller, and be shown at 8pm as most people tend to go to bed around 9pm on weekdays due to early starts in the morning.



Research Into Genre

The genre of our reality tv show is thriller. The main elements of thriller are:

• Suspense
• Tension
• Excitment

They stimulate the audiences reactions and moods towards what will be shown giving them a high level of:

• uncertaintity
• surprise
• anxiety
• terror
• adrenaline

"Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, uncertainty, anticipation, tension, and anxiety. " - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)

Sub-genres include:

• Psychological thriller
• Action thriller
• Crime thriller
• Horror thriller
• Comedy triller

etc...

The one that we are aiming for is comedy thriller

"Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy, thrillers, spy, science-fiction, action, horror and suspense. They include a disproportionate amount, relative to other genres, of humor." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy_thriller

Examples of comedy thriller in film are The Lady Killers, Project X and Mr and Mrs Smith. I have not found any comedy-thriller reality tv shows which is good because part of our brief was to come up with a new original and creative show.

One of the main aims of thriller and of any tv show is to keep the audience watching and wanting more. We are only showing the begining of our show up to the first break and our aim is for someone to want to keep watching, for someone to want to know what will happen next.