PRE-PPRODUCTION: Series Inspiration and Research

When devising the story for the series, I looked at some existing Netflix series to give me some inspiration for the plot and for character development in particular. When initially deriving the plot and themes for the production, I thought about some series in the Thriller/Crime genre and looked at what they did in particular to find any emerging patterns.
After having a tutorial with Simon regarding my character development, he suggested I looked at Breaking Bad and the character of Walter White. Walter White has a very particular back story that leads him to make certain decisions throughout the series, that he wouldn't be able to make without his past experiences. This was a huge inspiration for the character of Vivian as I wanted to make her as 3D and as relatable as possible. It became a point of interest of mine to write a background for her that would affect her motives and decisions later on in the series.  Breaking Bad was an inspiration for my story structure also as I have been writing the plot outcomes with a similar break down of events, to ensure that it has all of the necessary requirements for good storytelling, which is vital for a television series.
As well as Breaking Bad, I have been looking at Stranger Things, which is a Netflix Original Series. Initially I thought about the character of Joyce who is portrayed by Winona Ryder in the series as a strong mother figure. In the first series, her son Will, mysteriously goes missing and the other neighbours put their minds together to find him, and defeat the paranormal threat that haunts the town. Not only did I find this series as a thriller to be incredibly engaging and enthralling but I think the characters are very strong and relatable, even in the remarkable and very unrealistic setting.

As a child is abducted in my production, I will be looking back at Stranger Things more closely for the episodes synopsis to access how they have handled the character of Joyce and her actions after losing her son. This will be important for my production to ensure that I am taking the right approach. Not only were the characters and plot, points of influence, I was also intrigued by the branding and graphic imagery for this series. The colour palette is relatively dark but with some colour accents of red and blue which look almost animated. I think that the font and title branding itself is very well suited to the series which is set in the 70's, and almost looks like its from an old horror film. However, other design elements have brought out the paranormal, Science Fiction genre of the series to achieve something really unique and fitting, that is different to other series of a similar nature.
In terms of the inspiration for the book, I want to write about both of these series as I have found both of them to be important influences for my creative processes and decisions so far. I have not yet thought about my branding and title font too much but have some ideas in mind, after looking at the font for Stranger Things.