Monday, 16 March 2015

LO 1: Understanding and scripted elements in a range of media products

A script is something that outlines audio, visual and behavioral

Style and content 

Every script you look at should be done in courier font and font size 12. This is how professionals do it, its expected of a scriptwriter.    

The reason scripts have a character description is so that the scriptwriter can get his/her vision of the character across, the things that will be described are gesture and movement. For a TV/Film script there will be a character description this is so the people who cast the film or TV show have somewhat of an idea of who to look for, but also they can look at how actors can give a performances. A game will have this as well if there is a set character to play as, that you cannot change such as Bioshock Infinite, but other games like Fallout will not. This is because in a game such as Fallout you make you own character so there could not be a character description as there are to many options and ways it could go. Radio dramas also has a character description but this is not for an actor. This will be read aloud on the radio so that the listener can get a clear idea of what and who a character is on a radio drama.

A computer game script will have a flow chart because you can change the course of the game and the flow chart would show where it changes the story and what it changes into.

In all scripts a character/presenters lines of dialogue will be justified center in the script, in the font courier and size 12. The reason this is done is to the text as clear as possible to read.

Video games' script will feature a synopsis of gameplay; this is because they can’t give specifics like in a film script as it is up to the player how it happens. So this is how the game script tells you what happens in any of he action scenes.

Scripts will have stage directions this is to inform the actor or presenter where to stand and what to do on set, For example in the script to Pulp Fiction Vincent and Jules, their long matching overcoats practically dragging on the ground, walk through the courtyard of what looks like a hacienda-style Hollywood apartment building." this is an example of an action in a script. It is placed to the left of the script to differentiate between the dialogue and stage directions.

Scripts for a News TV Broadcast change depending on the story that they are reporting on, for instance if the story is on something like natural disaster, terrorist attacks or missing persons the script will be very formal and serious. an example of this in the script would be when it talks about a young teen age girls being killed in a car crash.  If the script's topic is about more light hearted subject matter. For example if they have an interview with someone most of the time it will be more casual and informal this is so that the conversation will be more free flowing and the viewer can get more involved in it. The format for a News script differs from the others in that it outlines timing for visuals, video content as all as the dialogue from the host and interviewees. The house style for a News script is like a table, the dialogue is on the right half of the page,  the time codes and video descriptions are on the left half of the page. At the top of each section of text is the name of the person who says it . If the letters VO (Voice Over) are next to the name it means that there person is talking over footage. This is done when a reporter is covering something and they are showing establishing shots. The mode of address for pretty much all TV News broadcast scripts will be teacher to pupil as it is informing you on trending and important matters      

The mode of address for these will be peer to peer this is between friends, student to teacher and parent to child. The TV drama and film can be peer to peer and teacher to student. Peer to peer will be for films like comedy and teacher to student for when the film is trying to teach you something, A TV Drama will be the same. A TV News script this will be teacher to student because it has to be formal and needs to inform you about current events. A games script will be a mix of peer to peer and teacher to student this all depends on the story. something like Bioshock is a mix of all three because of the character development and story.    

Narrative structure 
Computer game and Radio Drama are single stranded and have a linear structure. A single Stranded narrative is when the narrative is from one point of view. This is not true for all computer games but it is for the majority. (An exception would be a game like Injustice Gods Among Us.) They are linear in that they have a beginning, middle and end. They have an order to there narrative. But the other media like film, TV drama. Both of these can be a non-linear and multi-stranded. An non-linear story is one that is not in order, where a the beginning, middle and end are not in order for instance the beginning of the Braking Bad script is the end of the story for the first episode. A very good example of this is Pulp fiction as the films chapters are in the wrong order as the opening is somewhere around the half why point in the story and the film ends at this point as well. Both of them are multi-stranded by this I mean both of them are from multiple points of view from different characters. In Breaking Bad its Walter White and Jesse Pinkman and with Pulp Fiction there are 4 points of view. A TV News script doesn't have a narrate structure instead it has a running order of headlines.           

 Audience 
The target audience for the Pulp Fiction script will The core target audience for Pulp Fiction is males had an 18 certificate, Other audiences that would attracted to this film script are fans of the actors and actresses, fans of the director and those who are fans of the particular genre’s (gangster, crime, thriller, action and violence). This films audience will have a wide range of social grade/spending power, it will be A, B, C1 and C2. They can afford to go due to a large disposable income. In an interview Quentin Tarantino said that he thought that a younger audience would benefit from seeing his around the ages of 15 and up.   

The target audience for the Breaking bad script will be very similar to that of Pulp Fiction even thought they have different themes and genre that they are tackling. This is because of the big difference that is will not have any of the big time actors, as in braking bad the biggest actor/ most recognizable was Bryan Cranston who had not been in anything for a long time. The other major factors are all the same gender, age, social would be the same. The main two themes with in both scripts was crime and drugs and they would be the main draws for people. The age range for Breaking Bad is 18 and upward and it would be the same for Pulp Fiction. The reason I say that these will be some what the same is because of the main theme, they look at the same them but in different ways Pulp Fiction looks at the criminal aspect of drug dealing and what could happen from taking drugs, Braking Bad on the other hand looks at the impact on family life on ones family life and the benefits and negatives of being a drug dealer.  

The script for WBA newsroom is very different to the first two scripts as it has a very different script. There will be a near even slit for the gender. This script will have a high age rang then the other scripts; the age range for the TV news will be 15+. There is such a large age range because of the fact that nearly every one watches the news but it tends to be an older person who watches the news as a younger person does have much of an attenuation span for the news. The social grade for the news will be every one as it is meant to inform every one.  

The script for the Bioshock Infinite is very one sided as it is nearly entirely male. The age range is 18 - 35. Also the people who will have an interest will also be into gaming over all, as this game had a lot of hype and then went on to win multiple awards so it was a game that most gamers played. This game already had a fan following from the previous games two games of the same name. The games script will have a social grade of A, B, C1 as this game has some what of a complex story so it is aimed at more educated people.

The radio drama Shamed has a slightly more male then female, because of the dark subjects of society the show is focused on it is for a more mature and older audience overall. I would say that this show is for people of the age 18+. The social grade for the show is A, B, C1 this can also be attributed to the subject matter of the show.                    


Genre
All of these scripts except form the news script are fictional. This is because if the news script was fiction it would not be the new it would be made up.  

Links

Film = http://screenplayexplorer.com/wp-content/scripts/Pulp-Fiction.pdf

TV Drama = http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/splaylib/Screenplay-Breaking_Bad-Pilot.PDF

TV News = http://www.wbanewsroom.org/newsroom-tips/this-is-what-tv-news-scripts-look-like/

Games script = http://videogamestoryplotnarrativeandlore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/video-game-dialogue-script-bioshock.html

Radio Drama = http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/Shamed.pdf