Animatic and Storyboard

My initial storyboard can be seen on the first two pages, however I established that the length each of the shots were held for, was too long and while my intended time is acceptable for the genre, it didn't match with the length of the shots and this was fortified through feedback from the teacher. Therefore, I needed to add more shots to complete the time, and to make my opening more engaging and effective and I changed my storyboard and animatic by adding additional shots.



Feedback: I received positive feedback for my animatic - people were able to recognise quite well that it was a children's TV drama for young audience, which was said to be fortified through the background of the 'swirls' and the presentation of the characters. What's more, what interested people by watching the animatic was how the characters would be presented, for example would I use stereotypes or look at using characters of a different culture and race? Additionally, the audience were able to engage with the group of characters being a gang or a group of friends, which has encouraged me to name my piece 'Our Gang' to really allow the audience to understand the theme of the narrative.

However, I was informed that the editing style I used was repetitive that resulted in the animatic losing audience engagement, so for my final piece I will use a different editing style. In addition to this, the editing style resulted in the presentation of characters becoming quite similar, thus losing focus on the representation of the characters.

Conclusion and Evaluation of animatic:
Therefore, I am pleased with my final animatic; I feel that the feedback I received and from watching my animatic back will aid with my final piece and what I am going to change, and what issues I will develop - such as using stereotypes for my characters. Moreover, as making the animatic was an independent project that meant using the Adobe Premiere Pro software, which I struggled with at the beginning of creating the animatic, I now feel confident with using the software.

Furthermore, while I am pleased on the most part with the final animatic, I do feel that the style I used is quite repetitive and continues with the same theme, thus I intend on using, not just a different editing style, but also a different style of animation - with each character having animation and a background that reflects their characteristics and personality.

Final decision

I have decided to go with a teen sit-come drama, as I have collected some ideas and now have effective ideas to meet the codes and convetions, and to target the intended audience of 7-13 years old.

Codes and Conventions of the sitcom genre

Common codes and conventions:

- Diegetic sound is rarely used, only background music
- Main characters introduced central on screen
- Typically under a minute in length
- Action montage - e.g. The Addams Family and Malcolm in the Middle



I now need to decide whether I will subvert the codes and conventions or stick with them in my own piece.

Further textual analysis: The Addams Family

Format: Sitcom
Black Comedy
Created by: Charles Addams
Developed by: David Levy
Producer(s): Nat Perrin
Original run: September 18, 1964 – April 8, 1966



- Black and white scale represents the period of time but also connects with the genre
- Main characters introduced
- Background music used to fit with the genre, 'spooky' for the target audience
- Scenes from the drama used
- Comedic effect added through the character's facial expressions
- Diegetic sound also played in the shot that matches the non-diegetic sound - e.g. clicking of fingers and piano playing
- A family can quite clearly be established; the opening begins with a shot of the family together and also ends with the family together
- Located at one house, again signifies family orientated drama
- Establishing shot of the house at the beginning
- Title represents genre - the font/style adds to the children 'horror'
- Opening long shot of the family together then they are introduced individually, highlighting their separate roles in the drama
- Lyrics from the song (singing) only when characters are being introduced individually

Evaluation of further textual analysis:

At the beginning of my research, I chose to analyse a selection of texts from the children TV drama genre. This gave me an insight into the codes and conventions of children's TV drama, and what must be included to engage the target audience. The analysis of the initial texts was successful; it supplied me with initial ideas for my piece and the type of techniques and codes and conventions I would use and stay honest to. Nevertheless, when it came to deciding on my final piece, and choosing a more specific sub-genre of children's TV drama (sitcom), I felt it was necessary to extend my textual analysis.

I analysed The Addams Family, Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris - I found this extremely helpful in aiding my final decisions and how the sitcom genre is presented to a young audience. Each of these texts underlined the need to present the main characters and use them as the main feature of the intro. Everybody Hates Chris was particularly effective in enabling the audience to engage with the length of time that characters are shown on screen and the type of shot - most shots of the character were a mix of mid-shots and close-ups. Furthermore, Everybody Hates Chris highlighted the use of stereotypes within the sitcom genre; for example, the first character the audience see is wearing a tracksuit and there is a stereo/CD player central in the screen with the main title over. Thus, I was able to recognize the concept of using stereotypes to present the characters, and allow the audience to recognize the type of characters being presented - for instance, with the first character and the main title of Everybody Hates Chris it can quickly be established that the central theme is youth.

Further textual analysis: Everybody Hates Chris

I chose to do some further textual analysis on my chosen genre for children's TV drama, so I could have further knowledge on the codes and conventions of that genre. The dramas that I have chosen are: Everybody Loves Chris, Malcolm in the Middle and The Addams Family.


Genre: Sitcom
Created by: Chris Rock
Ali LeRoi
Producer(s): Adrienne Carter
Original run: September 22, 2005 – May 8, 2009



Everybody Hates Chris is an effective opening; it relies on a very small amount of action/movement, and instead uses still images with aninmation in the background to introduce the main characters.

- A lack of movement - keeps focus on the characters
- Characters introduced by a combination of mid-shots and long-shots
- Still shots of the characters used
- No dialogue, non-diegetic background music is used only
- Camera never stays still on one particular shot - zooms out from the characters and then pans to the next character
- Character's names appear at the bottom centre of the screen
- A street/neighbourhood setting - establishes location - suggests that there is a close a group of friends/family together, which is reinforced with the framed photo at the end
- Begins with a stereo with music playing out of it, also symbolises youth
- Youth/teenagers also symbolised through the graffitti and the skate park
- Small movement in the background, e.g. cars, leaves, clouds

Narrative - Structure

As the genre I am going to use is sit-com, I will centre my narrative on following the lives of group of young teenage friends - possibly in their final year of school. This will create an engaging narrative; as the audience will be able to relate to the friendship and events within the narrative, and also allow parents to engage and an older audience. An older audience will be able to establish the concept and meaning of the narrative and structure - especially as if they are in their final year of compulsory education, the emotional aspect will be of the group of friends maybe having to part ways. This would enable the verisimilitude of the intended narrative to be quite high, too.

Genre

From my research - especially textual analysis and audience theory, I have decided to use the sit-com genre for my children's TV drama. This will involve using young teenagers as the main characters, so these will need to be established in the title sequence, along with modern non-diegetic sound and other techniques to target my audience.