Tyrannosaur And Further Development Of Pre-Production

In class, we watched a film called 'Tyrannosaur' which inspired me to develop my pre-production even further by answering the questions below. Tyrannosaur focuses on strong character development and issues and dilemmas that make the characters who they are.



How can you enrich your narrative?
I will enrich my narrative by giving the characters dilemmas that would cause a disruption to the equilibrium of the narrative meaning it is essential for them to repair the problems they are having to face. This means that throughout my TV series, there will not be a consistent equilibrium that keeps the narrative stable and instead, there will be numerous disruptions. This will make my TV series more interesting because the events that occur will be unpredictable and the audience will not know what to expect, therefore creating tension within the different episodes.

What elements can you add to bring your characters alive?
I will use the stories of their past as a main element in order to bring my characters alive because it will help the audience to understand why the characters are who they are and for some of them, how their past caused a disruption to their lifestyle. For example, Clare (the wife of Jack) could have numerous scars around her body but of course, due to being wiped of memory, she does not remember where they came from. After the dreams that enabled Clare and Jack to understand that they recently got married (which is the reason the characters are in the hotel), Clare will have dreams much later in the series which show that before her and Jack got married, she was domestically abused by him which is the reason for her scars. This will cause further conflict within the hotel and is a major disruption of the equilibrium. The idea of abuse came from 'Tyrannosaur' in which the female protagonist, Hannah, was abused and raped by her husband, James.

I also believe that conflict and romance are very important elements which can be used to bring my characters alive because at times, it will bring out their true personalities and it will also make the series more realistic because it is only normal for there to be conflicts and romance when both male and female characters are trapped in a hotel together. The first romance is between Clare and Tyler which occurs before Clare and Jacks's marriage is revealed. Sean will also fall in love with Holly however this is mainly due to her looks and their personalities clash which results in their relationship not working out immediately because Holly does not feel the same way about Sean. There will be a major conflict between Max and Jack because Jack always wants to take control and believes that his plan of escaping out of the hotel is the only 'correct' plan. However, Max strongly disagrees with him because he is extremely fascinated by science and the supernatural so thinks they should use a different method to escape. The other characters are torn between who's side to take which causes further conflict.

How will you actively seek to serve your chosen audience?
Due to my TV series being based around the genres of horror and supernatural, I will ensure that I include elements that are likely to make my audience feel emotions such as frightened and I will also use scenes that provide a great amount of suspense because my audience should enjoy TV shows and films that leave them at the edge of their seats. I am focusing on ghosts as my paranormal creature because they are quite realistic due to many people believing in them. This in turn should help my audience to engage more with the TV series because the events that occur will be more believable, especially for those that already believe in the supernatural.

Further Development Of My Coursework Idea

Character development:

• Married couple are called Jack and Clare (they are the main protagonists). 
• Jack- aged 20. He is the smart character who likes to take control and he believes that he is always right.      He has serious anger problems and before the wedding, he used to abuse Clare which has left her with scars all over her body. Jack has anger issues due to his poor upbringing in which his step dad would abuse his mother in front of Jack; therefore he has been influenced by his awful behaviour. Jack's ethnicity is Irish and he is tall, muscular and pale skinned. He has dark, curly hair and dark, deep-set eyes with no sparkle to them at all. His beard has an un-trimmed look to it, making him appear ‘rough and rugged’. He has a tattoo of a skull on his right shoulder in order to show that he is violent and not easily frightened. When he wakes up in the hotel, he is only wearing a pair of shorts (the wedding suit has gone missing) and the only outfit he has taken with him is a pair of dark blue jeans and a white, three quarter length top.
  
  
• Clare- aged 19. She is a 'people pleaser' who wants to get on with everyone. However, she is easily freaked out and frightened despite how brave she attempts to be.   She is this way due to being bullied at school and being abused by Jack which has scarred her personality for life. She was brought up by both her English mother and father who were both very over-protective and were very strict on her until she fell in love with Jack meaning they had to let Clare gain her independence. She is reasonably short with long, straight, light blonde hair which gives her a look of innocence. She has large, blue eyes to portray vulnerability and her right eye has a very faded bruise circling it which was caused by Jack, she has numerous scars around her body and especially on her back. She wakes up wearing her nightwear and her wedding dress has also gone missing. The outfit she has taken with her to the hotel is a light blue pair of tight skinny jeans and a grey jumper with a white collar.  

• Holly- Clare's best friend, aged 18. She is the complete opposite of Clare and frequently gets into arguments with the other characters because she never wants to help out. Her parents were born in Essex and she was very spoilt when growing up, she would always get what she wanted and she never had to do anything for herself. She has a very stubborn personality and did not have many friends during her years at school as a result of this; she became best friends with Clare as they both struggled with making friends so ended up bonding very well. Holly wears a lot of make-up and straightens her jet black hair every day so her daily look is not ‘natural’. The outfit she brought to the hotel was a pair of black, skin-tight jeans, a black crop top and large, gold hoop earrings.
     
• Tyler- Jack's best friend, aged 19. He is the sporty one who puts a lot of time and effort into his appearance. Him and Clare eventually fall for one another before she realises that she is actually married to Jack. When Clare does realise this, it causes conflict. Tyler had a very normal upbringing and his parents were rich so he went to a private school and college that specialised in sport. His Father is Nigerian and his Mother is English. He knows he is good looking and at times, can be very full of himself however; he has a caring personality so gets on quite well with the other characters. He is very tanned and muscular with sparkling brown eyes and a quiff that has been dyed blonde which he clearly spends a long time styling each morning. The outfit he brought to the hotel was a pair of blue, skinny jeans and a white vest top which clearly ‘shows off’ his muscles.

• The twin brothers are called Patrick and Sean- their ethnicity is Welsh
• Patrick- aged 17. He is the shy one and is extremely smart but is afraid to speak out (wasted talent). The reason for this is because when growing up, Sean would constantly get all of the attention from their parents so Patrick was always left by himself. This meant he spent the majority of time alone in his room where he would constantly study which is why he is extremely smart. He is very well dressed and wears smart, black jeans with a red polo top and polished brown shoes. He has dark hair which is combed back and he has glistening green eyes which are hidden by his large, wide framed glasses.
  
  
• Sean-aged 17. He is the 'dumb' one however is very chatty so gets on well with the other characters.  Due to him being less academic, he would always be centre of attention with his parents as they wanted to help him as much as possible. The same applied to when he was at school as he would get a lot of attention from the teachers and he was also very popular with the other students because he has a friendly personality. He does not care about his appearance and he wears a full grey tracksuit with scruffy trainers. Like Patrick, he has glistening green eyes however, he does not wear glasses and his dark hair is extremely long and messy and looks as if he never brushes it.
  
  
• Kate- aged 19. She is a single Mother born in Croydon who has a baby daughter named Amelia. Kate is often very stressed and worried and her main priority is her daughter. Her boyfriend left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant so she was left to raise Amelia completely by herself. She does not have a job so struggles to live a healthy lifestyle and before she was pregnant, she lived off her boyfriend’s high earnings because he ran his own business. She has mousy, brown hair up to her shoulders, a large amount of freckles and dull, hazel eyes. She wears a tartan print skirt with black tights, a white t-shirt and a black cardigan. They are all poor quality clothes to represent how she has a low quality of life.

• Amelia- aged 5 months. She is the daughter of Kate and is the first character to become possessed in the series. . Due to her very young age, she does not yet have a distinctive personality but she tends to cry more than would be expected of a baby her age. When Amelia does become possessed, the characters notice strange things such as her floating above her cot and her eyes turning a bright, evil red colour. 

• Jake- aged 15. He is the geek who is obsessed with comic books and computer games and he forms a very close bond with Sean as they are both talkative. He comes from a Jamaican background and he grew up without a mother, as she died in a car crash when Jake was very young, so has a close relationship with his father who is a comic book illustrator. After he has the dreams which enable him to remember his Father, Jake becomes very homesick as he is one of the younger characters and he begins to miss his Father an awful lot. The dreams also enable him to remember his Mother which he is emotionally affected by because he knows that it is only within his dreams that he is given the opportunity to see his Mother. Jake wears a pair of black jeans with a blue, marvels top which expresses his passion for comic books. He has jet black hair which is plated into short dreadlocks and small, chocolate coloured eyes which hold warmth and kindness.
  
  
• Max-aged 16. He is passionate about science so is extremely fascinated by the supernatural forces within the hotel and is eager to discover more about them.  He has always believed in ghosts and claims to have had visions of them ever since he was young. Both of his parents are scientists so they encouraged him to focus on subjects such as biology, chemistry and physics at school so he could go on to study them at college. He often had a great amount of pressure on him to achieve perfect grades and would get shouted at and punished if he did not achieve the grades his parents expected of him. He was brought up in an Indian background and has dark, silky hair with mysterious brown eyes which hold curiosity. He is very tall and wears dark grey jeans and a baseball top in the colours black and white.
  
  

Patrick, Sean, Kate, Jake and Max are all close friends of Jack and Clare. 

The setting: The hotel itself is in an isolated, eerie area and it is surrounded by a creepy graveyard and an extremely old church which is rarely used. This is the same church Jack and Clare got married in at the very beginning of the first episode. The weather is generally dark and gloomy, there is barely any sunlight to represent how the characters are in a mysterious area. The inside of the hotel has long, empty corridors and the windows are boarded up.   The food and drink in order for the characters to survive is stored in the basement. 

Music: I would make use of dramatic, suspensive music that will build up during intense scenes in order to leave my audience at the edge of their seats. When the characters are creeping around the hotel, I would use quiet, piano music because it creates a sense of mystery.

The escape out of the hotel: The first ‘challenge’ the characters will come across is a mysterious, old, black, rusty door which has a numbered code they have to work out in order to unlock the door. The code is all their ages added together however, it takes a very long time for them to figure it out and Jake is the character who eventually realises what they have to do. Once they unlock this door, a long corridor which appears to be never-ending is revealed to which most of the characters are terrified by so only a few decide to venture through in order to find out what lies at the end of the corridor. A new challenge will not be found and instead they appear to be back in the original setting of the hotel so the characters have to search for the new challenge. This is so the dreams and nightmares can still occur and this process will continue until the end of the series with additional obstacles such as ghosts that will always attempt to prevent the protagonist’s from reaching their goals. The other challenges would include: crosswords which require the characters to know a great amount about their past; mazes and intense games which require skill, memory and patience. 

Episodes: The first episode would be called 'the discovery' and the audience will mainly be introduced to the different characters and will get to know more about them regarding their personalities. Within this episode, the characters will realise that they are trapped in the haunted hotel and they are yet to discover the way out. The first characters the audience are introduced to are Jack and Clare, followed by Kate and Amelia. The majority of the episode will consist of Jack, Clare and Kate finding and questioning the other characters and all of them are discovered in their individual hotel rooms apart from Holly. However, no-one realises that there is still another person to be found meaning their new focus is to try and remember their past, their main goal being what their name is; to which none of them succeed. Towards the end of the episode, the characters will hear the sound of a girl screaming which is coming from one of the hotel rooms which they did not spot in the first place. Jack immediately takes charge and leads a few members of the group (Clare, Kate who is still clutching Amelia and Max) to the room and as they get very close, Holly charges out. She is still screaming hysterically and when she notices Amelia, she frantically points at her shouting: “It was you! They’re after you, it was you, it was you!” This is the first ‘foreshadowing nightmare’ of the series which informs Holly that Amelia is going to be taken over by the supernatural forces of the hotel. However, the other characters and audience do not know this yet because the episode will end here as a lot of suspense has been built up meaning the audience will be left wondering what is going to happen next resulting in them wanting to watch the next episode.

The rest of the episodes will vary between certain main topics. Some episodes will focus purely on character development and looking into the characters dreams to discover more about their past and for some, their involvement with the supernatural. Some will focus on the nightmares which foreshadow deaths and possessions that happen within the hotel and the characters attempts to prevent themselves from dreaming them in order to stop the events from occurring. Some episodes will be about the characters escape from the hotel and the various stages within the hotel they have to complete in order to get closer to finding a way out. Of course, many of the episodes will contain a mixture of these main topics. As the episodes develop, new characters will be discovered but this will not be until later in the series in order to give the audience a chance of getting to know the original characters very well so they feel a connection with them.

Development Of My Coursework Idea

What TV shows or films are similar to my idea?

Lost- it uses flashbacks to show the characters past and in my TV show, dreams are used to show the characters past. The characters in lost are trapped on an island and the characters in my TV show are trapped in a haunted hotel.
American Horror Story- the first season, called murder house, is set in a haunted mansion which has several ghosts within it- this is a similar setting to my TV show.
The Shining- It is based in a haunted hotel, in which the male protagonist Johnny becomes possessed due to the supernatural forces within the hotel. As my TV series develops, certain characters will become possessed which has been foreshadowed in people's nightmares.

       

      Were these films/TV shows successful and if so, why?                                                               I have watched both Lost and The Shining and they were both extremely successful due to having well-known actors, outstanding character development and gripping narratives. Lost consisted of six seasons and each one allowed the narrative to develop to an even greater extent, with not one episode being ‘dull’ or ‘boring’. The shining attracted many viewers who are interested in thrillers/horrors that feature paranormal creatures and the film was truly petrifying at times. I discovered American Horror Story when looking through a list of horror TV series on IMDb and after researching further into it on IMDb, I realised that it was a very successful show that is still running which so far consists of four seasons, the first season being set in a haunted mansion.

      
      Who is my audience?

My audience is teenagers ranging from the ages 15-19 because the TV series is post-watershed so certain parts may be un-suitable for people below the age of fifteen. My audience should have previously enjoyed thrillers and horrors, such as the ones listed above, in order for them to enjoy this TV series and I have purposely made the characters young adults in order for the audience to relate and engage with them more. Additionally, my audience consists of both males and females because there is not gender dominance within my characters and the narrative is not aimed at one particular gender. 

What themes are in my TV series?

The themes in my TV series are: entrapment, escape, friendship, love, conflict, teamwork, determination, control and desperation. Entrapment is shown through the characters being trapped within the hotel and their goal is to escape by using teamwork however, love and conflict are major obstacles that at times, prevent the characters from achieving their goal. As the series develops, the characters become desperate to escape out of the hotel but determination is not all they need in order to help them succeed; they need to learn how to control their nightmares in order for deaths and possessions not to happen. Lost, American Horror Story and The Shining share themes that are very similar to these. 

What happens in the opening scene?

The opening scene will start at the wedding where Jack and Clare are saying their wedding vows as they stare lovingly into one another's eyes. After the elderly and quite creepy looking vicar says, “You may kiss the bride” the rest of the wedding will fast forward up until one of the characters wakes up in the hotel. The fast forward scenes will show the wedding reception and the ten friends walking into the mysterious hotel to stay there overnight as the other wedding guests drive home. The audience will firstly be introduced to the married couple, Jack and Clare who suddenly wake up lying next to each other, they do not know they are married due to being wiped of memory therefore are very shocked and disorientated and these emotions are shown by their facial expressions. The first line would be Jack who aggressively says: “who the hell are you, and where am I? Clare would then reply with: “how am I supposed to know, I’m as clueless as you are”.  They would then leap out of bed, apart from each other and slowly begin to investigate around the dark room, full of cobwebs and creaky floorboards and when Jack opens the door and stares down the long, gloomy corridor, they come to the realisation that they are in a hotel as they notice numerous doors with numbers on them. Before they explore any further, Jack and Clare acknowledge that they do not know each other’s names and Clare asks Jack: “So what is your name anyway?” to which Jack responds in an extremely panicked tone: “Damn! I’ve forgotten what my name is! What is up with this hotel, I can’t seem to remember anything”. Clare would then say: “we should probably get out of here right now before strange stuff starts happening”.

Jack and Clare would then slowly creep through the eerie hotel, in order to stay un-noticed, with Jack leading the way until they come across an exit which appears to be jammed shut, not thinking anything of it; they find their way to another exit which is also completely locked. At this point, they begin to panic, especially Clare who immediately begins to expect the worst,  be as they come to the terms that they may be trapped inside the hotel. Their next thought is to attempt to escape through a window so they cautiously walk into a hotel room, which to their dismay has no windows and is lit by a single lamp, to find Kate and Amelia (the single Mother and her baby daughter) sound asleep. Kate is very pale looking due to a rough night and when Clare notices her fully, she screams in terror which causes them both to wake up. Clare continues to scream which results in Kate screaming and Amelia begins to cry hysterically; this only lasts for a short amount of time because Jack shouts at the top of his lungs in a very angry tone: “just be quiet, all of you!” which almost immediately leads to silence. Jack fires questions at Kate, asking what her name is, how she got in the hotel and who Amelia is to which Kate knows none of the answers. Clare and Jack begin to understand that Kate has also lost all of her memory and she is also advised by Clare to: “look after the baby, there is no harm in doing so and we cannot leave her alone in this room”. Jack then suddenly realises that there may be other people who were staying in the hotel the previous night and is very eager to go and search for them in case they know a way out. When he suggests this to Clare and Kate, they are both very apprehensive and argue against Jack’s idea until he pressurises them, in a very forceful manor, to go along with him. He does this by firstly shouting at them, then by threatening them as he shakes his fist; Clare and Kate are frightened by what Jack is doing so reluctantly agree with his idea.The three of them slowly walk out of the room in single file, Kate is holding Amelia as close to her as possible; quiet music plays which is building up as Jack softly calls: “hellooo, is anyone there, hello?”...

I believe that this would be a very effective opening scene because firstly, it informs the audience on why the characters are in the hotel so gives them context, meaning they will be able to understand what is going on. Secondly, it effectively introduces the audience to the two main protagonists: Jack and Clare and they almost immediately get to learn more about their personalities, for example, Jack being aggressive and Clare being easily frightened. The audience are able to realise that the characters have been wiped of memory and are trapped in the hotel with no obvious escape, which in turn should keep them intrigued and wanting to find out more, resulting in them continuing to watch the episode and the rest of the series. Additionally, the setting of the hotel and the rooms within it are shown in the opening scene which gives the audience a clear idea on where the episodes are going to take place however also leaves them wondering if there are hidden places within the hotel as they are only given a small insight into the setting. 

Coursework- Initial Idea For A Teen Horror/ Supernatural Series

First thoughts:

Nightmare or paranormal nightmares: About a group of twenty completely different people who survived a shipwreck (the other people on the ship died) to find themselves washed up onto a haunted island. These people, little do they know, all have some involvement with the supernatural which is the reason for their unusual survival, however they do not know this and the only way they can discover their past is in their dreams. These first nightmares however are foreshadowing a death or possession that will happen to one of the characters and they are not aware of this until two have passed away. The only way for the nightmare not to come true is by not dreaming it, which is almost impossible and the characters have the immense challenge of trying to control their dreams to try and defeat the paranormal forces on the island. At the same time, they still need to discover about their past to understand why they survived the shipwreck and what they can do to help defeat these forces.

Development of this idea:

Instead of being on an island about twenty people surviving a shipwreck, the television series could be based in a haunted hotel. The reason they are in the hotel is because the night before, there was a wedding and the married couple and their closest friends all stayed in the same hotel that night (there were no other guests in the hotel). When they wake up the next morning, they are trapped in the hotel (all the doors are locked) and they have all been completely wiped of memory. The only way they can regain the stories of their past is within their dreams and as the series develops, they and the audience begin to understand that each of the characters have some involvement with the supernatural. However, there are times when a character has a nightmare which foreshadows something awful (e.g. a death or possession) that is going to happen to someone and when they realise this, the characters must find a way of controlling their dreams so the supernatural forces of the hotel do not overcome them completely. The main problem is that the only way for the nightmare not to come true is by not dreaming it but the characters still need to dream about their past to understand why certain things occur in the hotel. There are additional ‘obstacles’ within the hotel such as ghosts (which the characters at some point could be able to interact with) and as the people explore further into the hotel, they discover more and more secrets that lie within it.

In order to find an escape out of the hotel, the characters realise that there are challenges and quests that must be completed, for example, secret mazes and coded puzzles. During the completion of these challenges, characters are killed or they disappear but also new characters are discovered that have been trapped in the hotel ever since they last stayed there.

The title:

·         The title of my television series would be: possessed.

Genre:

·         Supernatural

·         Horror

·         Thriller

The characters:

·         10 characters at the beginning of the first season- all under the age of 25. I have decided that they should be of a young age so the teen audience can easily relate to them. One of the characters is a very young child or baby because people are emotionally affected by children. The receptionists that worked at the hotel have gone missing and later on in the series they are found to be dead or possessed.

·          New characters are found as the series develops, they are slightly older due to being trapped in the hotel for a longer amount of time. These new characters also help the original characters to control their nightmares.

·         Due to being wiped of memory, the couple do not remember getting married and they fall for different people. However, when they realise they got married when they dream about it, arguments begin to occur and there is a lot of drama between the characters.

·         There would be a mixture of both male and female characters- no dominance of one gender in order to make the characters relatable to a male and female audience.

·         We learn more about the characters through their dreams. The first episode will not begin with the wedding but with the characters waking up in the hotel, I am doing this so the audience can share their confusion and so they only know as much as the characters know, therefore helping the audience to engage with them to a greater extent.

Setting:

·         England, in a haunted hotel (called church’s yard hotel) which is surrounded by an old church and a graveyard. The lighting will be dark to create tension and suspense.

Music/sound:

·         During intense scenes, there would be quiet music that gradually builds up creating suspense and to make the audience feel more involved with what is happening. I would also use children’s nursery rhyme music because it is effective as teen audience would find it sinister.

·         I would make use of sound effects such as screaming to alarm the audience.

Technical aspects:

·         It would consist of two or three seasons, each containing 15 episodes.

·         Each episode would be 40 minutes long.

·         Post watershed (after 9:00).