Intentions

Intentions

After researching into the audiences of TV science-fiction drama, that contained the same conventions as my own show, I concluded that my target audience is typically males 18-29. This statistic is based on the conventions of our show, such as mild violence and gritty themes, and the time slot of its broadcast. I saw this represented in the shows that I researched, such as Misfits and Dead Set. For example, their websites contain material only suitable for older audiences, such as blood and gore and references to community service and crime. These semiotics contain connotations that are usually associated with males as opposed to females, which allowed me to target males specifically.

My intention is to create a website that strongly appeals to males 18-29. To achieve this, I need to bare in mind the sort of conventions that will attract males in such an age category. Conventions such as solid colours, like white and black, male protagonists and violent imagery. To aid me with this task, I researched into successful science-fiction drama shows being broadcast on E4 currently, and shows that have already been and gone. Specifically: Misfits and Dead Set; both with a strong male audience following. I viewed their websites and analysed some episodes, this allowed me to pin point conventional styles and techniques that met the requirements of my TV show. I will replicate these styles into my own website to best adapt to the 18-29 market. After using their websites myself, I am able to consider the availability of its navigation and how easy it is to use. I set out to create a website that not only follows convention, but is simple and easy to use. I will accomplish this by including a lot of images and hyperlinks that are clearly titled, often with brief descriptions of the pages that they will reach. In addition to this, I will put tabs in place along the top of the page for quick access to the most important and demanded sections of the site. I intend for my website to include a brief synopsis of the show itself, as to immerse the audience in the show more, and make it more accessible to a wider audience market. I wish to include a character section of the site, this will not only immerse the audience in the show more, but it will give a broader outlook on the show and cast, that is good for gaining a larger following, and maintaining the current one. This page will include images of the cast and brief character descriptions, a conventional aspect of each site I looked at. There will be numerous other pages available, which ranges from a gallery to games. If the website contains these features, it will be a lot more interactive and therefore appealing for my target audience. Furthermore, these features are included in the websites that I researched, this means they are conventional and essential for the success and effectiveness of my website.

When creating my final product, I will ensure that the conventions that I analysed in the shows I researched are included and utilised in order to capture the 16-35 audience market. My show will contain weapons and scenes of very mild violence. The connotations of the weapons are strongly associated with males. Having this visible in the website and in the show itself will bring in that particular audience easily. However, having this considered, we also discovered that the institutions responsible for the production of Misfits, try not to just target one single audience. Our team member, Jake Hashdi [1], contacted the producers of the E4 show Misfits and they told him that they avoid targeting one audience and adapt their show to appeal to a lot more people of different age groups and gender, most often the lower class as they are more accustomed to the issues raised in drama programmes. As a result, not only shall we target the audience of males 18-29, we will also include conventional aspects typically tailored to bringing in a broader and more accessible audience bracket. Using the research that we have gathered, we intend to create a product that displays the conventions of a science-fiction drama but is also original and fresh for audiences to enjoy and appreciate. I researched into the equipment that we will be using, this will allow me and my group to develop a strong understanding of our equipment, allowing us to focus more on the filming and editing schedule as opposed to practicing filming.

My intentions are to create a product to the best of my ability, therefore I have to ensure I go beyond simply observing other shows and websites. By this, I mean I must apply my own knowledge of semiotics and present my own ideas for appealing to a wide and appropriate demographic for my show. I intend to accomplish this by revising my notes and improve my understanding of what is needed to make a good quality show. 

[1] http://mediajakehashdi.blogspot.co.uk/