Studio Ideas.
For Studio Production, I will be required to develop three ideas for a 30 minute studio programme, pitch one, and then work as a crew with the rest of the class to create a show that's chosen by the tutors.I began the project by thinking of as many genre examples as I could. I brainstormed examples (which I will later analyse) to get a better idea of what's possible within a studio.
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| Image 1: Studio Production examples |
I broke down the examples into genre as this will make it easier to understand where programmes fall under the most, what's already been done, and visualise cross-overs between genres.
As for my own programme ideas, I took 4 forward onto a separate mind-map so that I could develop some of them further.
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| Image 2: My first ideas |
Development 1. 12/01/19
After trying to develop ideas further and then running into a mind-blank, or figuring that it would be too complicated, unrealistic, or expensive such as the audience participation idea, I took my planning back to basics when I realised I was getting too swamped in the details too quickly.
SpaceTeam
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| Image 3: Example of the screen-view for each player, SpaceTeam |
I was inspired by an app game that my family play called SpaceTeam, where players have to use communication skills and go against the clock to fly a spaceship, using 'controls' they have on their phone screen. Both players have to use their controls to follow the instructions of the other player, whilst simultaneously calling out the instructions that show up on their screen.
I thought of a 'plot' for the show that would add backstory to the games. It would be based upon an alien that has made a mayday call to earth and needs help flying their ship safely to earth. Government official (presenter) Mr. Brown has selected some contestants to help with landing the ship safely.
I considered that Spaceteam could work as a game show game if it was made on a bigger scale. As the game is fairly basic, I knew it would have to work as a segment of a game show and so I began to develop ideas for other games that could be played. Along-side a game based on SpaceTeam, I came up with 2 other games. One is a bit like Battleships: they are given a short time to remember where asteroids are on a board. The asteroids are then hidden and they have to remember where they were in order to 'fly the ship to safety'. The second game is a puzzle-like game, where the contestants have to rebuild the 'landing pad' for the ship. This game is against the clock, and their performance in the other rounds affects how long they get on the clock.
I considered that Spaceteam could work as a game show game if it was made on a bigger scale. As the game is fairly basic, I knew it would have to work as a segment of a game show and so I began to develop ideas for other games that could be played. Along-side a game based on SpaceTeam, I came up with 2 other games. One is a bit like Battleships: they are given a short time to remember where asteroids are on a board. The asteroids are then hidden and they have to remember where they were in order to 'fly the ship to safety'. The second game is a puzzle-like game, where the contestants have to rebuild the 'landing pad' for the ship. This game is against the clock, and their performance in the other rounds affects how long they get on the clock.
Vaporwave Inspiration
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| Image 4: '80's graphics-inspired set idea |
I had the idea that it could be interesting for the characters and the set to be based on a Space theme, with inspiration from 1980's graphics for the set and style of the show. I initially got this idea from my interest in the 'Vaporwave Aesthetic' where I found image 4. "Vaporwave is a musical sub-genre and art movement that emerged in the early 2010's from internet based sub-genres such as seapunk, witch house, or chillwave." (Wikia).
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| Image 5: Further 'Vaporwave' art examples |
At the Crux of our haunted culture is vaporwave, an internet-born electronic-music microgenre that consistently divides critics and listeners alike with its singularly strange aesthetic and guerilla methods of production.
(Grafton Turner, 2016).
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| Image 6: Crystal Maze |
The style of the art is largely revolved around bright colours, neon lights, 80's TV show and computer game graphics, statues, Japanese writing, anime and other cartoons such as The Simpsons (which also has its own sub-sub-genre of art style called Simpsonwave), and with references to the Apple Macintosh.
I'm not necessarily going to be using all of these features in my ideas as most of them are irrelevant to the programme, but I like the idea of using the art style as a reference for the mise-en-scene for the show as it has futuristic/ space elements mixed with the bright colours and 'lighting' effects of the familiar 80's graphics that will work well on a studio set. Image 4 looks complicated but I think it can be made simple enough that it can be built and work well as an eye-catching set. It's fun and colourful, and the colour theme reminds me of Crystal Maze (as seen in image 6), which is one of my inspirations for my programme.
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| Image 7: 1985 Arcade game Hang On, designed by Yu Suzuki |
The particular reference images that I'm looking at are reminiscent of 1980's horizon-chasing arcade racing games, such as Hang On, designed by Yu Suzuki (Scullion, 2015). The games had the recognisable 16-bit graphics, meaning that the colour palette was limited (but not as much as 8-bit graphics like PacMan!) giving the familiar appearance of the games from that era as seen in image 7.
Development 2. 12/01/19
Game changer
I've changed the games that will be played on the show after a tutorial with Helen, where it became clear that there were some impracticalities in my plans for the games. It would be too complicated to do a game specifically based on SpaceTeam as it would require electronics and programming for the game to work on the set. However, I thought about the story behind the games and have come up with a few more brief ideas that will need developing, but are more achievable. I wanted to keep the asteroid game and the puzzle-style game as they're simple but exciting. However, the first game has now changed to a communication-based game: one team-mate is blindfolded and has to navigate an obstacle course with the guidance of the other team mates in order to collect as many ship parts as possible.
The 3 games all work with the style of the show but I'm concerned about plot holes. I've began to work on my presentation but after breaking the show down it's revealed some issues to me.
I'm firstly concerned that there is going to be a lot of work with makeup and costume for the alien character. I also want to aim my show towards a young adult audience but I'm concerned that the show needs a lot of suspension of disbelief especially for the live audience. I'm considering changing the audience to a much younger audience and trying to make the show more educational, but I'm concerned that it may be difficult to have to work with the younger audience and also needing young contestants.
The 3 games all work with the style of the show but I'm concerned about plot holes. I've began to work on my presentation but after breaking the show down it's revealed some issues to me.
I'm firstly concerned that there is going to be a lot of work with makeup and costume for the alien character. I also want to aim my show towards a young adult audience but I'm concerned that the show needs a lot of suspension of disbelief especially for the live audience. I'm considering changing the audience to a much younger audience and trying to make the show more educational, but I'm concerned that it may be difficult to have to work with the younger audience and also needing young contestants.
Development 3. 21/01/19
The Pitch
I've been working on my pitch and after looking into my show I've made some changes to the plot and the games. To tackle the problems with the alien being a difficult character to follow through, I've changed it to 2 presenters in the form of astronauts. Also, instead of the contestants working from 'earth' to help the astronauts, it makes more sense, and will also be more interesting, to have the show set entirely on the spacecraft where the contestants are helping the presenters to fly their ship back to earth. I'm still concerned about plot-holes, especially with the live audience supposedly being in space, but I'm hoping that if the set is good enough and the presenters are good characters, this will hold the show together and people will simply be more interested in the games rather than the story behind them. It might make more sense to make the plot more of a background aspect of the show rather than something that is made prominent by the script, as this will direct more focus onto the games and the contestants.
Games
I've updated the games to their final form for the pitch. When writing the running order, the time fell short, and so I knew that I needed to add extra factors to the show. I decided to add another game involving quiz questions.
All of the games revolve around this idea of finding and winning back the engine pieces in order to rebuild the ship and fly it home. Currently, they are:
- Mission 1: Collect the pieces of the ship from one side of an obstacle course and bring them back to the other side, against the clock.
- Mission 2: For every piece that they fail to collect, they have to answer quiz questions to win them back. If they get questions wrong, more asteroids are added to the board in mission 4.
- Mission 3: Rebuild the engine. In a puzzle style, the team-mates must rebuild the engine as fast as they can using their communication skills to find the places for the pieces.
- Mission 4: Contestants have to memorise a board of asteroids in order to remember the safest route back to earth. The asteroids then disappear and the team have to direct the ship to safety.
Mission 2 and 3 affect the gameplay of mission 4. If the contestants win they get more 'rocket fuel' (time) for mission 4, however, if they lose, more asteroids are added to the board.
The VTs are based around a character called OBIC (On-Board Intelligent Computer) that is an AI-style character with a computer-generated voice, that guides the teammates through the games by explaining the rules of each game.
Audience
My initial plan was to aim for a young adult audience in order to have contestants similar to the contestants on Crystal Maze. However, after considering the content of the show, I'm aware that it appeals more to a younger audience, and it will also be good to introduce educational factors to the show. I had planned for the show to be broadcast on Dave as it fits in with the other gameshows on the channel, but I've now changed it to CBBC as this is the right age that I want to be contestants on the show.
Development 4. 27/01/19
First meeting
As a class we had our first production meeting where we set ourselves our first goals but we also made developments to the show already.
Games
The games have changed after a discussion with the team as I wasn't completely happy with them and felt that they weren't exciting enough. I brought this up with the team and they suggested that we need to add more aspects of tension to the show. We also changed some of the games that weren't unique enough to something that creates more of a 'direction' to the programme.
As detailed on my first meeting post, we changed the games so that they flow easier into one another and create a journey through the spaceship. Beginning with the obstacle course immediately makes the idea of the ship being broken down clear. Following that with having to get through the ship door then reinforces the idea of being on an actual spaceship, which makes the scene fully set for the following games, where tension can be increased. The third is now the puzzle game, and the final asteroid game is still set. One problem is how the asteroid game will actually work but I think there are options and it would be good to discuss it as a team in order to maximise feedback.
VTs
My initial plan for the VTs was for them to be entirely graphics but now I'm aware that this doesn't use everybody's roles appropriately. They have now changed and will most likely be play-throughs of each game by the presenters but I'm hoping that Ollie and Ebony will be able to make them into something that is fun and interesting and can still work with OBIC's voice as the narration.
Live Audience
I brought up concerns about suspension of disbelief for the at-home audience with the live audience being on the programme, as it doesn't really work for there to be a live audience on a 'spaceship'. I discussed this with the group and had some great suggestions that would involve either the ship being a passenger ship (and so the audience are passengers) or that the audience are other background members of the team working on screens, almost like air traffic control.
References
12/01/19
- Wikia. (N/A) Aesthetic Wiki: Vaporwave At: http://aesthetic.wikia.com/wiki/Vaporwave (Accessed 12/01/19)
- Turner, G. (2016) Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts. Hampshire: Zero Books.
- Scullion, C. (2015) '7 Best Arcade Racing Games Ever' In: Redbull [online] At: https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/best-arcade-racing-games-hang-on (Accessed 12/01/19)
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