AS Media Studies Report

Content:
Aims & Objectives
Genre Research
Audience research
Regulatory issues
Technical issues
Pre-production analysis
Production analysis
Conclusion

Aims and Objectives:
The aim of this media project was to produce a shooting script for a teen drama, a front cover of a TV listings magazine, and a double page spread. Each piece needed to appeal to the target audience in order to be successful – my audience is young females aged 16-24. To be able to achieve this aim, research was carried out into the teen drama, alongside regulatory issues, the target audience and magazines.
Genre Research
Prior to writing the script, research into the genre was vital in order to identify the typical codes and conventions of the teen drama for example: most teen dramas incorporate many different sequence of events at a fast pace – this technique is used because the target audience are more likely to engage in a TV series or music videos (usually on MTV) if there is a lot going on at once compared to a crime series which unfold slowly. Another typical code and convention of the teen drama which is used frequently is the use of non-diegetic sounds – This technique is used when there is a scene or mood change so then the audience can adapt to the atmosphere of the scene.
This research involved me watching a variety of teen dramas: Skins, The OC, 90210, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. My immediate reaction was that even though the styles of the shows were all completely different, they all had the same basic plot and stereotypical characters. This was that there would be a school/college all the characters attended, friendships and romances would form, a disruption would occur to friendships/romances and then the relationships would be rebuilt. This narrative theory1 consists of equilibrium, disruption and finally a new equilibrium.
I noticed that there were elements of sport in most of the shows too; however it was mostly evident in One Tree Hill. Sport may have been included into the TV series in order to broaden the audience to not only just females, but to young males too. This is because stereotypically, males are known to engage in sporting activities whereas females like to see relationships forming between characters. Therefore, incorporating the idea of sport into the teen drama would not only make the show more entertaining, but also extend the audience range.
“Genre is a way of categorising a particular media text according to its content and style”2. Audience is an important concept throughout media. All texts are made with an audience in mind, i.e. a group of people who will receive it and make sense out of it – teen dramas including relationships will inspire teenagers to engage with it to connect to the text, and even identify with a character/s3. Even though research into the teen drama helped encourage a few codes and conventions and provide me with useful information, my shooting script was going to be for an opening scene. Therefore watching only the first few episodes of TV series would be beneficial. From doing this, it allowed me to see how the characters and the setting would be introduced.
Audience Research
Therefore researching what would appeal to then was a necessity for both my pre-production and production pieces. The best way to find out what the target audience would want within the teen drama would be through the use of a questionnaire. Since the teen drama is aimed at young females aged 16-24 I thought I could utilise the people within my class to reflect the intended audience. The sample size used was 15 people.

Above is a graph showing the results from the questionnaire I handed out in class to show what channel my TV show should be broadcast on. As seen above, the channel that got the most positive response was E4. This may be because E4 has an existing fan base from other TV shows aired on it such as: Skins, The