PRE-PRODUCTION: Critical Evaluation

Now that this unit has come to an end and the project is completed, it is vital to look back over the work I have done over the past term. This is to be able to critically evaluate the unit, with reference to the successes and what worked well, along with the challenges and what I would improve on if I were to complete the unit again. This will then allow me to see what I have learnt, going into the major project for the second term, with this in mind.

I chose to undertake the Professional Pre-Production option for the unit, as opposed to the Major Project Pre-Production. The entailed devising a hypothetical, industry scale Pre-Production package that would not go into the stage of production. I made this decision because the concept of creating something of industry scale was unlike anything we have done previously on the course. With every other unit, I have completed the pre-production for a project that would then be made. This meant that I had to think realistically to a student sized project and budget, limiting me somewhat. Other factors regarding my choices for the Major project later on in the year, which will entail working on a stand alone project, also affected my choices for this unit as I wanted to have the experiences of working alone and working in a group in my final year. For the unit, I decided to create a Crime/Thriller drama series entitled 'Motherhood'. My choices for the genre of the production were based on research of Television programmes I enjoy watching myself, and was therefore based on my personal interests. I felt like this was an important decision to make because I wanted it to be of the nature of programme I am drawn to as a viewer. 

In terms of the successes for this unit, there are lots of elements that I am happy with. The decisions for each element of the package took a considerable amount of time and experimentation with, therefore I am pleased with most. Addressing the story line and central themes of the series first, as this went through a number of changes within the first few weeks. I started the unit with a basic list of the plot line. After a meeting with Simon, he suggested there was no theme or strong characterisation that would hold the audiences attention and keep them invested in the series. Struggling to come up with a substantial story, I took it back to some key themes of family, abduction and then later Motherhood specifically, before writing the character of Vivian who would become the main character of the series. Using these as a  basis to work with was really helpful for writing the story around for the synopsis, characters and opening script. Along with research and feedback from Simon, I managed to develop the story, and give it a purpose to be told. 

I am also pleased with my choice for the Broadcasting Channel in particular. There were a few early doubts from Simon about whether Netflix would be the most suitable choice. However, after going away and researching other channels, I was confident in my initial choice. 

The genres, characters, themes and initial branding for the series were all suitable for the platform and were created almost with the channel in mind. Given the audience choices, I also think that Netflix is the best option in terms of schedule and accessibility, as the audience are able to watch it in their own time, giving them more freedom. 

The branding and advertising has been successful, not only for its suitability for Netflix but I think in terms of its suitability to the series. This element of the package, I am particularly pleased with because Graphics are not my strong point. However, I wanted to challenge myself and really experiment with photoshop to achieve something that looked creative and professional. This was also rather a challenge as I didn't have access to the Actors and so had to rely on stock photography. This made it difficult to find the right kind of images and in good quality to use with photoshop. However, I am very pleased with the outcomes. 

Overall, I am very pleased with the overall look and content of the book. Using In-Design to create it, I was very particular about the presentation and content. I think the choice to do a book instead of a website was also a good decision as it became much more about the creative writing as opposed to the imagery, and therefore would not have worked so well as a website. 

The biggest challenges for me during this unit were the creative writing elements. This included the character development. I found it rather challenging to devise characters that all had a background and reasoning for all of their actions. I overcame this by thinking about each one in terms of their past experiences to make them more 3D and relatable. The casting choices were a challenge and some of them were altered. Writing for an industry scale production, but not a feature film makes it challenging to find actors that are not unrealistic. Therefore, my research for the casting included choosing actors of the appropriate ages and appearance and then watching some of their previous work to access their suitability. Although, this was challenging, I am happy with the final choices I have made and the decisions for each cast member, adding to the development of the project. 

During the process of writing the book, I decided that the content became much more of a focal point than the imagery and visual side of the production. Therefore, after talking to Simon, I changed the package contents to write an opening script instead of the opening titles. I made this decision because I felt like I hadn't properly engaged in the process of the opening titles and didn't want to make them a last minute element and not give them attention to detail. Having worked on my synopsis across several drafts, I felt like an opening script would be a suitable alternative and better the creative writing aspect of the project. Overall, I am pleased with this decision and the final draft of the script. 

To conclude with what I have learnt from this unit, I would say that research was incredibly important for this unit. As I was unable to do any primary research, I relied on online material to make the important decisions. Working with Simon in the tutorials was also beneficial to understand what ideas needed to be revised and what I could improve on to develop the project further. 

Although, I faced several challenges in this unit, and made some big changes, I am pleased with the book and the work I have completed in the short amount of time. This unit has been the most independent so far and really pushed me to work hard to complete each element of the package to a good standard. 

PRE-PRODUCTION: Motherhood Opening Script (Final Draft)

Here I have attached the final draft of the opening script for Motherhood. The final changes I made were to the storyline. Simon suggested that the audience do not find out much during the script, other than that Elise has been abducted and her parents are looking for her. I was deliberating over whether to show the audience what was going on behind Vivian's back at the park but decided that it would add to the storytelling and be a shocking reveal moment. During the Police investigation scene, I added some short flashback scenes that show the abductor creeping into the scene. Overall, I am pleased with the script and think that the changes have really added to it.

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Book Creation & Reflections

For the presentation of the work from this unit, I decided to create a book. This was the more popular option among students, however, other options including creating a website were available to us. I felt like a book would be the best option as I wanted to create something physical rather than online. I also made this decision as I felt like it would be more of a challenge and something I haven't had experience doing before.

I decided early on to create the book using InDesign which is an Adobe programme. I felt like this would be the best option as I would have total freedom with the placement of text and imagery. As I would also be working with Photoshop imagery, it seemed like a wise decision to use two Adobe programmes as they would be able to support each other.

Once I began to write the book, I realised there was plenty of information to write, confirming that it was the right decision to do a book instead of a website. The websites look best if they are visual based as it is not very exciting to read lots of text on a website. However, as a book, text is more suitable and easy to read. I had not used InDesign before but found it relatively simple and easy to use. In terms of the placement of imagery and text, it was very effective. You can zoom right into the pages and mark exactly where you want each element on the page, therefore I think in terms of the presentation, InDesign was the right choice.
Some challenges I faced with the creation of the book included online imagery not being crisp and in focus. With some images that are obtained from the internet, they will be of good resolution in a pdf file, but when placed on the InDesign programme appear to be pixelated and blurry. To overcome this issue, I had to research and find several suitable images and choose the ones that were of the best quality on the programme. There was also an issue with the arrangement of the text, as the programme will split the last word of a sentence and put the rest of it on the next line which looked rather unsightly. To overcome this, I would press the enter button to push the last word onto the next line so that none of the words were split. Although this was frustrating, I was able to alter this and set the layout to my preferences. Below are some screenshots of a few pages in the book on InDesign. The text and imagery was very carefully arranged to ensure that the presentation was of a good standard.

The Idea

Casting

Broadcasting Channel

Visual Style

Branding

In reflection, InDesign was a good choice to make for the book creation and I am very happy with the appearance and quality of it. However, some of the visual imagery has suffered due to the printed image not showing the exact colouring as on the screen. For example, in the branding imagery, some elements have printed very dark, where they are more defined on screen. This was a risk to take, however, as the book is more content based, as opposed to visual based, the work has not suffered too much, and I am pleased with the overall appearance and result.

PRE-PRODUCTION: Motherhood Opening Script (Second Draft)

Here I have attached the pages from the opening script for Motherhood (Second Draft). Simon gave me feedback after the first draft and suggested some changes to make for improvement for the second draft. The changes made include ensuring I am using American terms throughout such as 'Mom' instead of 'Mum' and using American titles for characters including Detective Reed, who I initially had titled 'Inspector'. Although, an Inspector is a titled used for the American policing system, I decided that Detective was much more suitable and recognisable to audiences. I have also added some more description for the locations, to set the scene. Another pointer that was flagged up was the use of the term 'neighbour', suggesting that it could sound too British. I had not thought about this prior to writing the script. However, I have since researched the term and the variations including 'neighbourhood' are in fact Americanised terms as opposed to British terms. Therefore, I have continued to use it for this draft and throughout the project. However, looking back now, I am still not completely sure about some of the story elements in the script, and think I would like to make further changes to some of the scenes to dramatise them a little more.

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Advertising & Promotional Material

Now that I have created the branding and posters for the series and had some imagery to work with, I have made some promotional material. This has been the most enjoyable aspect of the package so far, and I really enjoyed working with photoshop to bring the branding to life and document it in this way. I decided that I wanted to create some billboard adverts, of different sizes and variations that would demonstrate what the branding would look like in this format.

Billboards

Title Billboard

Billboards are a really effective way of promoting a television series or film as they tend to be very large in size and placed above busy motorways/freeways or in cities. A billboard should always have large text on it so that people can easily read it and should include a few small details regarding when the series will be released and what the broadcasting channel is. With these factors in mind, I went about using some of my branding material to create some billboard advertisements for Motherhood.
The first one here has the simplest design and just incorporates the title card.
The title card includes the cracked black wall background and the title itself. The other text I chose to include was the Netflix logo which is directly underneath in bold red lettering, contrasting with the black background. Other details include the Netflix Original label which is essential as this element is key and when the episodes are released so that audiences know when to look for it. I quite like this billboard even though there is no imagery on it as I think that simplicity can be effective, especially in advertising.

Mother Billboard

Simplistic Billboard

Other Billboards I have created include a portrait one which is of the Mother character poster that I have created. I really like this one and think that it the use of imagery is really effective because its still simple and not overly fussy or complicated. I also think that audiences will connect with this one as opposed to the title billboard as her pain and suffering is apparent on her face. Audiences should respond to this which will hopefully entice them to watch the series. The simplistic billboard has a more contemporary branding approach. Here I simplified the image of Phoebe Tonkin's profile to a two toned image. Although, I don't think that this poster is as fitting for the series as the others I have made, I think this one looks quite effective as a billboard. The fact that you cannot see her face in detail adds an air of mystery, which should attract audiences due to its contemporary appearance.

Public Transport

As well as the billboard adverts, I wanted to experiment with other platforms for advertising and decided to create some imagery for public transport adverts. Here I have photoshopped the Mother character poster onto a Bus stop. Bus stops will often have poster adverts, which are very effective as they will be seen by many people and should get people talking about it. As the broadcasting channel for this production is Netflix, I wanted the advertising to be widespread and be across several different platforms.

I have also photoshopped the poster including both Vivian and Thomas onto a bus. Busses tend to have very wide adverts due to the shape of the transport. Therefore, it was suitable to add this poster to this form of public transport as the dimensions were better fitted than the singular poster of Vivian. Overall, I am pleased with the promotional material I have created for the series and think that it is the right form of advertising to suit Netflix, who have used billboard advertising previously.

PRE-PRODUCTION: Branding on Netflix Platform

After creating some of the branding and posters for the production, I wanted to add the series to the broadcasting channel format so that I can demonstrate what it would look like to audiences at home when they look at the Netflix Homepage. As Netflix is an online platform, the programmes do not appear on a typical television guide. As a result, they have their own channel which has its own guide, displaying all of the material on it. It was important as part of my branding to create a page for Motherhood on the platform to a professional standard. I wanted to explore what it would look like visually so I could assess how well it suited the platform and the other material on there.

To create the image, I took the photoshopped image of Vivian's house that I had created for some of the poster branding and placed it within the rectangle below the series listings. The image was not wide enough to sustain the rectangle, therefore I looked at some of the other Netflix examples for inspiration. I noticed they often use a blurring technique or just fade the image out to the colour of the background before placing text on top. Following this premise, I added a path blur effect and dragged this across the edge up to a black box I had made which worked seamlessly. I copied all of the original Netflix icons including the 'play' button and season information so that it would have the same layout. I then returned all of these layers and added the title, a brief pitch of the synopsis and the title card which I added to the list of series at the top of the menu.

Overall, I really enjoyed creating this branding image and am very pleased with the results. Having looked at some of the other original series' on the platform, I decided the house poster would be the best option to not give away any of the characters and build up a sense of mystery and the unknown. I think that the branding here fits the branding used for other original series and displays its suitability to the channel.

PRE-PRODUCTION: Motherhood Opening Script (First Draft) & Package Change

An addition to my Pre-Production package is the opening script which is the first 10 pages. I had made the decision to write a script instead of doing the Opening Title sequence as the focus of my package changed. I felt like I had been focussing all of my time into the contents of the book and the planning process for the Opening Titles was beginning to become an after thought. I didn't want to leave the Opening Titles until the end of writing the book as I felt like this would not do the titles justice. I voiced to Simon about my concerns that the book had become very text heavy and was much more about the written content as opposed to visual imagery. Therefore, it made logical sense to me to focus my remaining time on an opening script instead. I felt interested in challenging my creative writing skills and attempting to write the first 10 pages of the pilot episode which should set up the episode. The series begins with the abduction of Elise and leads on from there. I found writing the first draft challenging but am pleased with the outcome of it.

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PRE-PRODUCTION: Final Episodes Synopsis

Since making some final changes to the second draft of the episodes synopsis, I have now completed the third and final draft which will be put into the book. The story has remained the same but I have moved some of the events around and given more detail to certain aspects to dramatise the scenes a little more. Although I found it difficult to keep each episode to a minimum amount of words, I allowed a higher word count for the pilot episode. I decided to do this to incorporate more of background to the episode and give the reader more insight to the series at the beginning. Other changes I made included giving some of the other characters more detailed scenes and input to the story so that the overall story had more complexity to it.

The ending is something that I spent a long time deliberating over whether to change it, however, I finally decided that I thought a tragic ending for Vivian was the right ending. Given her decisions throughout the series, I felt like the most realistic outcome was to have her institutionalised at the end, whilst still resolving the changes to her life and the way she feels about those changes. As I have now placed the synopses into book from word, I have included the screenshots from them in their final form. 

Episode 1

Episodes 2 & 3

Episodes 4 & 5

Episode 6

PRE-PRODUCTION: Branding Research & Creation

The branding for Motherhood began with some initial ideas regarding the colour scheme and font. It has been a slow but creative process and I am pleased with the final imagery that I have produced for the series. Every aspect of the branding has been carefully thought out in terms of how it will be received by audiences and the overall impression of the series regarding tone and the central themes.

13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why Poster

13 Reasons Why Title Card

To be able to explore some ideas for the branding, I needed to research some of the branding styles used for Netflix Originals. As Netflix is the broadcasting channel for this production, it was essential that the branding reflected the previous material on the channel and was suitable for the platform and the intended audience. The intended audience for this production is young adults and adults between the ages of 21-45, therefore the branding had to be appealing to this demographic.
Looking at some existing Netflix Originals, I came across some advertising for the series 13 Reasons Why, this series revolves around a young woman - Hannah, who takes her own life and leaves a box of recordings that explain why she chose to commit suicide. The series has some really tragic themes and these are reflected I think in the branding and advertising of the series. As seen here, the colour palette is very dark with tones of black and dark blues. The text is white which is prominent against the dark backgrounds and there are hints of red in the fonts, which connotes themes of violence and anger. I think that given some of the themes and plot of this series, it was important that the branding in particular was suitable. For example if they had chosen to use bright, lively colours and garish fonts and imagery, it would not be in keeping with the tone of the series. In terms of these influences on Motherhood, which also has some dark themes of loss and abduction, I have taken inspiration from this series' branding. I decided at an early stage that I wanted the colour palette to be largely monotone. Reasons for this included wanting to convey the serious tone of the production and reflect some of the locations and characters of the series. In terms of fonts and imagery, I am influenced by the first poster and would like to create some imagery with Phoebe Tonkin as the Mother to demonstrate the importance of her character in the series. I think it is important to choose branding that is going to represent the content of the production as well as the broadcasting channel and staying within their style guide.

Punisher Poster

The Punisher
The Punisher is a 2017 American web series created for Netflix by Steve Lightfoot and based on the Marvel comics. The series revolves around the character Frank Castle, who uses lethal methods to fight crime as 'The Punisher'. During, my research, looking at Netflix series in particular, I came across this series. Although, I haven't watched it, I was extremely taken by the branding which interested me. Like, 13 Reasons Why they have chosen a very dark, blackened colour palette. The image is almost entirely black with the only accents being a an image of Jon Bernthal's face who plays the title character and the bold, white font. In terms of inspiration for this production, I was predominately inspired by the font of the title. It looks as if its been spray painted onto the background, giving it this really earthy, cracked and dishevelled appearance. When thinking about the font for the title, I wanted it to have a cracked, decaying appearance, similar to the design used here. Other elements of the poster are simple and typical of the Netflix style guide. A short slogan of 'The truth must be taken' has been added underneath the title and the release date and Netflix logo are just beneath that. When designing the layout for some of my branding imagery, I thought carefully about the placement of all of the text to ensure it reflected the Netflix layout and style.

Motherhood Branding
I have spoken about the font development previously, so will be analysing my choices for the visual branding largely here. For the title card, I made several adjustments from my previous developments. I decided that a black background was more suitable for the genre and tone of the series, as well as reflecting some of the colour palette choices of the series I was inspired by. Rather than a plain background, I wanted to add to the cracked font I had chosen and emphasis this theme. I found some imagery of a real cracked wall, and made several adjustments to it on Photoshop to get the right colour and level of contrast in the cracks. In terms of the layout, I had previously looked at some of the Netflix title cards and poster layouts and decided to be quite limited with the text used. I simply added the Netflix logo to the image, either above or below the title and included the release date and stated that it was a Netflix Original Series. After developing these significantly from my early concepts for the title card, I am very pleased with the final outcomes and think that they are suitable for the production and for the broadcasting channel.

Title Card

Title Card Poster Variation

Character Posters

For the poster advertising, I wanted to experiment with imagery of Phoebe Tonkin who I have cast as the Mother Vivian in the series. The series is focussed around her completely and her life choices, therefore it was important to produce some branding that featured her alone. The initial character poster entailed finding an image of Phoebe Tonkin, I chose a profile angle. I think used photoshop to change the threshold and make it into a two toned image, blending the hair and features into the background colour. I then added text to tell audiences what the title and broadcasting channel was. Although, I liked this initial branding, I decided I wanted to complicate it a bit more and add detail. Therefore, I began by sourcing another image of her online. Out of all of the images I found, I liked this one the most as her facial expression looks serious. I also liked how the position of her body was facing away from the audience, but her head is turned so you look straight at her eyes. To edit the image, I added some darkness using the paint tool around her eyes to make her look tired and worn. I also changed the colour of her dress, keeping the colours dark to reflect the tone and keep a blackened colour palette. I then enhanced the background, creating more contrast between it and her so that there was more shadowing. The final step was to add the text including the series title and the Netflix branding. For the portrait addition, I added the tag line of the series to give the audience more insight as to what the series will be about, without revealing too much. For the last poster in this series, I added the character of Thomas. I think that this is fitting as he is also a main character in the series. However, the series is not actually about him and so I think that the portrait character poster is more suitable for the production branding. 

Simplified Character Poster

Character Poster 

Character Poster Variation

Character Poster Variation

House Poster

For another poster that I had in mind for using on the Netflix menu guide, I sourced an image for the chalet house that Vivian would be living in. This was the same image that I have used for the locations, however, I made some adjustments on Photoshop to fit the branding style I have chosen. I first made it greyscale and the added a posterising effect that gave it a slightly animated appearance that was more simplified than the original image. I also made changes to the background, making the sky look as if it were night to reflect the genre of the production and make it appear more harrowing. Final touches included adding a black silhouette in the foreground who I imagine to be Vivian. However, is it very subtle, adding to the mystery of it. Lastly, like the other branding imagery, I added the title and Netflix logos to give the audience more information about the production. 

Overall, I am pleased with the branding creations for this production and think that through the research I found regarding other Netflix series, I have been able to develop some imagery that is suitable for the series and reflects the key themes and tone, as well as having suitability for the broadcasting platform which was really important.