Pre-Production Unit: Development

I spent some time researching different films and TV show concept when making my idea. When I had a meeting with my lecturer Simon, one of the best pieces of advice he gave me was that no matter the concept, think of something that I would find appealing and actually want to sit down and watch.

I thought about some of my favourite movies and The Truman Show came to mind, suddenly I was thinking about the concept of a Television show within a show. I then came up with the idea of a guy being filmed, except that everyone else around him is oblivious to the cameras. In my mind it became almost like a reverse Truman Show.

I scribbled down notes and thought about what plot I could use for such a concept and how to develop it into a fuller idea.

Truman show was a large influence on
developing the "show within a show"
concept, as was Big Brother and other
reality shows.

• I knew that I wanted it to be a post-modern comedy-drama
• Possibly a series or a feature length TV movie (75-80 minutes)
• Aimed at 18-34 year olds 
• Likely pitching it as a Channel 4 show
• Using elements of The Truman Show, Peep Show, Spaced
• A satirical comment on the medias ability to mold a false reality through brainwashing.

Developing The Story

A young character named Elliott is woken up one morning in a panic. He feels a sudden awareness that no one else possesses. He realises that he is on a Television show. After noticing that everyones he meets is oblivious to this he notices that everyone he knows is acting strange, almost as if they have been replaced by actors following a script(?) Elliott is however able to keenly predict some future events due to his knowledge of typical TV tropes and idioms. This leads to getting a reputation in the shows media at which point he starts getting followed..

Edgar Wrights directing style has
influenced how I want to develop this
concept.

Conflicts

At some point our character hits upon a few questions; is he real? If he isn't, why should he care about trying to help the people he cares about? What constitutes reality in his reality, and how does he know for sure he isn't just dreaming?

Designing Characters 

I know that I would like to put strong emphasis on designing interesting characters, especially since this idea is a high concept one. I have asked my girlfriend to design some drawings to my specifications for the idea. This is something I would like to include in the general aesthetic of the show. I will talk more about this at a later point.

Developing Style

 

When coming up with my concept I thought a lot about the tone I want to create. One thing i've always been a fan of is the style of Directing that Edgar Wright implements in his films, this means essentially fast cuts that can change to something unexpected at the drop of a hat. I feel that for my concept which is designed to be quite comical in a quite over the top way a quicker pace of Directing would stop it from getting too overly dramatic.