CHANNEL 4 -its journey

How has channel 4 programming and remit changed since the early channel 4 viewing?

Channel 4 is a terrestrial channel it is a parent company and owns such channels as channel4, e4, more 4 and Film4 .It is the owner of the independent film production company Film4.Channel 4.s ownership of film 4 productions so an example of a horizontally integrated company where they own more than one company but the proceeds will automatically come back to them.

Channel 4 and an independent film company are that both are working independently to fulfil the viewer’s pleasure. The first film that channel 4 showed in 1982 was Walter. Walter is an independent film starring Ian Mckellen. It was seen as one of the most shocking films about mental illness ever shown on British TV. It brought a lot of controversy due to scenes of homosexual molestation in a mental hospital, patients covered in excrement and suicide in a barber shop. Showing an independent film with such a distinctive meaning set the standard of what to expect from Channel 4.

Channel4 remit expressed that it should demonstrate innovative experiment and creatively in the form and contents of programmes By having programmes that shock and challenge the views this will appeal more to the public as they are watching programmes with a purpose. These types of programmes show society’s in a diversity by not being racially and ethnically biased.

Having programmes which portray real life issues conveys a positive message to the viewers and educates them into learning about society. This structure is similar to an independent production company. They are not afraid to take risks as they are not representing a company. There films are related more too everyday ordinary people, whereas on other channels such as BBC1 and itv their programmes are dramas and soaps. They both make and produce their own programmes/films on a lower budget than others e.g. for the film production Hollywood would differ due to its budget being much higher.

The move in 1993 to being a commercially motivated broadcaster has affected channel 4s acquisition and commissioning decision.Throughout the 80's channel4 developed a reputation as a broadcaster at the cultural edge of youth programmes with shows such as the tube and network. Since 1983-83 the era channel 4 developed a reputation as an innovator in news programming famed for the quality and depth of their news coverage. From 82 till present day channel 4 has been produced by ITN although there is a distinct difference in the style and content when comparing channel 4 news with ITN’s adaptation. Remit as on educated broadcaster channel 4 aired educational programmes designed to be shown in British schools everywhere. Channel 4 gained control of its own advertising sales and began shifting towards more mainstream programming. This included the acquisition of more pop programmes, Shows from America such as ER and friends which went on to become very successful in the UK and worldwide.

Channels 4 have always been an innovative channel. Compared to the other channels it tries to show a completely different viewing pleasure for the public. BBC would appeal to a middle class viewer whereas channel 4 would appeal different classes as it shows programmes which will educated and open yours eyes to the world around us.

However channel for has strayed form its original ethos from the beginning of its premier on our television to today. Its original remit included such values as it should exhibits a distinctive character, broadcast programmes from many independent production companies, including a high proportion from Europe and make a significant contribution to meeting the need for licensed public service channels to include programmes of an educational nature. Some of these conditions have remained the same for the channel 4 news is still the most factual and representational news programmes of all the channels. However the educational sector of the channel is controversial.

The sex education show teaches teenagers about sex and their bodies teaching hem valuable life skills and how to be safe and how to look after their bodies. Some will agree that this type of programme is teaching people good life skills. However some argue that this is not educating our society but encouraging the wrong message out to teenagers. Such programmes like wife swap and super nanny are meant to represent and show us an educational programme for our benefit. However only benefit the participants of the programmes, this makes it irrelevant to the viewer.

The content of the educational programming has gone down dramatically compared to its documentaries and films in the early years. They were more realistic and true to real life people and how they really lived their lives not just a close depiction. Documentaries are not for the viewer to get a feeling of how the person feels and relating to them but more of a freak show. Programme such as tree man and the girl with 8 legs depicts their difference in a negative way and not letting us really get into their feeling and if society really accepts them.

Overall Channel 4 remit has stayed the same throughout the 20years of the channel going on. It has changed slightly because of the programmes being shown due to change in the structure of the channel management and production. There are still elements were you will tell that this is a channel 4 programme due to its real life documentaries and the showing of films produced by film 4. Film4 have the advantage of being able to show their films on film4 and channel 4 making more money for their Production Company and channel4 as a hole. It remains an innovative and creative Channel showing us the best of British television and independent films.Channel 4 will remain a popular channel to watch if it continues to shop culturally and diverse society's, creative and innovating programmes it will interests different types of people into watching and discovering a new way of viewing pleasure.

here is an example of channel 4 news and how it has developed since it was first shown in 1983

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgb1BdPBZo

comparing this to bbc news and how each of the news reader differ in there language and depth of the stoires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6AnZLm2Zvg

Fantasting Film Making Part 1

This song will be the opening of the film sets a funny tone to the beginning of the film the characters could be listening to it miming of having a joke about it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keU5TQ7nkuM

Film Title: The Unexpected Heroes
The Production Company who will be producing our film is Little British pictures.They are subsidiary company allowing us to take risk with our story and keep to a budget which is just the right amount to create our film. We will be working with a Budget of 500.000 which will cover the costs of locations and sets, Actors,music,marketing and distribution.Any leftover money which has not been invested into these categories will be spent on the development or editing of the film any cost for expensive equipment and Overall management of the film.

The Scenario of the film is a buddy comedy about two British losers who become accidental heroes by saving the world from nuclear disaster.

Synopsis

The story follows to friends William and jack. They are typical school boy access cocky jokers who haven’t got anything up in there brains. They decide to bunk off school for the day in the local park. They stay there until Williams falls over and hits something hard. They both go and see what It is and it turns out to be a bomb. The boys don’t know what it is at first but find two geeky scientists students at school to check it out and they discover its a nuclear bomb. They find a timer on it saying that there is 24hours till it will blow up. They go on a journey to stop the bomb from going off and get into troubles along the way.Its a adventurous story filled with laughter and fun throughout,although the boys are seen as losers by them changing the world their roles in their community and society as a hole change for life leaving them as heroes.

Locations/sets
Location 1: Train station the cost of this location to film in will be 5000. It will be filmed on the platform so seats, maps and waiting rooms will be around. The scenes were it will be used is William and jack argue with a train inspector over there tickets.
Location 2: The park this will be free to use as there are a number of local park around the area. It will have the grass area, playground, skate park and pitch. It will be used in scenes were William and jack bunk off.
Location 3: Williams house (which would be filmed at my house) It would cost anything for the filming time. Filmed in the bedroom desk, bed making it untidy to show a boys bedroom. These scenes would be for when William wakes up and scenes with maybe with his mum or a sibling.
Location 4: The school. These would also be free as we can use our school. It would be filmed around classroom, playground and canteen. These scenes would be for when jack and William are in school during the day, coming in and out.
Location5: The TV studio. This would cost us 10, 00 but we would find a proper studio setting. It would have lights, camera, set and presenter. These scenes would be shot for when the boys are telling their story of how they saved the world.

Characters and Actors
William-He’s is cocky teenage boy sees himself as a joker and is always late for everything including school and his friends. We would use a C-list actor for this role preferable Nicholas Hoult the lead from Skins series 1.This would cost us 100,00 but we would be getting a known births actor who will deliver the role best.
Jack-Cocky teenage boy like William but very organised and always on time. We would use an actor from school e.g. drama student this would mean that it would be free but would give them a small some if the film is successful.
Train inspector-Old man grumpy and angry. This will be played also by a unknown actor e.g. a granddad/teacher this would be free no money would have to be given as it is a very small part.
TV presenter-Talkative on the ball asking allot of question. This could be played by one of the dram teachers as they will have experience with taking on a role. This would also be free.
Grace- William and jacks friend. We would use a D listed preferable Jamie Winston s she has good knowledge of taking on different role. This would cost us 10, 00 but would be worth the money.

Music
The type of music we will be using will be rap.
We will use unknown artists such as people who are studying music a level and MC well. This would cost anything and would be way of getting there music out .We would use Eminem to make and song and it would be played for the opening for the film,. This would cost us 100.00 but this is a great opportunity to personalise the film through song. We would also use a Beat for various shots and scenes were a song is not needed. This would be done on a beat maker from library music this would cost 100 which isn’t too much and would be used a lot.

Target Audience
The target audience we will be focusing on for the film is age rang between 16-30.The gender male/female but i think he film will interest the male consumers as it reflects there own types of behaviours making it appeal to them more.It will appeal to a multi cultural audience as the characters are all of different nationality.The locations are not set in London in a posh area were people cant relate to that lifestyle.It is set were people can relate to the east London lifestyle seeing this through the music, language and race.

Budget Review
Budget £500,00
Budget spent £ 215,100
Total cost for sets and Locations £15.000 This is not very expensive as most of these are being able to be accessed freely.
Total cost for actors £100.00 This money will be worth it as there will be experienced actors to take on the roles.
Total cost for music £100,00 Music will play a big part in the film and so a little more spending on it will make a difference in the long run.
Remaining Budget 284,900 this will be used on marketing and distribution of the film and equipment/locations which we may not of been able to access without the money leftover.Overall we stuck to the budget and have money left over to spend on various things needed for the filming and production process of the film.

Why does Our film depict the British Culture?

In my opinion our film represents Brittan as it is showing a relationship between two friends’s and how a hard situation can either bring them close or break their relationship up. In our Culture today friendship is a very important thing to a lot of people in communities all around Britain having friend’s acts as a support unit and a way of expressing your feeling without having to rely on families. The film also depicts the multi-cultural country which is growing in the number of different cultures rapidly. It wouldn’t be a true resemblance of Britain without different races, nationalities and religions. Having it the east end of London shows does just narrow down one type of class. It shows the w class and middle class living in the same area and how it can work. Using the schools and locals transport facilities shows the brutishness and how transport is very important to the running of people’s lives. Without buses, trains, cars how else will people be able to travel everyday. Being `British ' is changing because of the emerging of all cultures in one area typical British views are slowly disappearing. I think our films story reflects this as we try to show as many different races in the film. Having such issues as this draws the audience in and people feel united as a country as we are not depicting people who are white as the British culture but of lots of different cultures combining together. Our films shows how Britain is today and what we will expect of it in the future generation.

Edit workshop the package

The feedback I was given from my group

Digital technology-

It had a variety of shots, good use of angles and shot types such as match in action, over shoulder and close ups. Could of been improved by adding point of view shots to make the characters more realistic for the consumers perspective.

Creativilty(Storyline) It was good storyline simple but effeciive could tell it was set to the storyboard. Could of had dialogue between the two characters at the end of the film.

Post production- Could tell that i stuck to the storyboard god use of time and planning. Improve on editing maybe considering to use music for some of the scenes building up the tension and showing the relationship between characters.

Improvements

• Improve on editing cut some of the longest scenes
• add music to set the tone of the characters
• Use more variety of shots and angles
• Include more dialogue between the characters.

My target for my next project will be to include and improve on my editing techniques .I would also like to be able to use more camera angles and shots without hesitation and use panning and zoom to create a different tone to a scene.

Hollywood Vs Independent

Ownership of Hollywood studios would be majority conglomerates or multi national companies. Independent would differ as they are typically owned by the indivuals or small groups of people within a passion for small budget film making. Hollywood don’t want to get a bad impression e.g. the marketing of Hollywood would have a lot of press .Hollywood distributors have massive market they budget often as large as the cost of a film production, These are spent on massive advertising and pr campaigns and premieres. This leads to mass reviews in multiple cinema chains. Independent distribution will have very small marketing budget. They rely on the word of mouth from cinemas enthusiasts; they also do test screening which are often shown in small independent or anti-house cinemas. Having less marketing will affect box office success. Hollywood will have access to state of the art production including special effects faculties. Independent won’t have this as they will rely on the cheapest technology possible. A Hollywood will aim for the largest mainstream audience which can maximum over future success. Independent will target small niches or cinemas enthusiasts.

Napoleon Dynamite: Hollywood Filmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96DKZrrSbuw(napolean Dynamite tralier)
Production companies were Fox searchlight pictures they were also responsible for producing Lil miss sunshine, Paramount pictures also produced Brokeback mountain, weather man and get rich or die tryin staring 50centThe actors were not well known at the time but were upcoming newbie’s in the teen movie world. Jon Heeder who played Napoleon went on to do such films as with will Ferrell and his carer progressed from his performance in this film. The actors were not well known at the time but were upcoming newbie’s in the teen movie world. Napoleon Dynamite is a typical geeky loser in high school going for him living with his weird brother and wacky grandmother he meets Pedro who gives him the courage to take more risk and in school election shows the whole school who he really is. the character portray a typical all American high school e.g. segregated into different groups popular kids, geeks Goths etching like the characters as there quirky and funny in the unusual humour. Generally in Hollywood the script is usually quiet a dramatic storyline but a lot more scenes of action and effects. The dialogue stuck to the `Hollywood regulation' not to risky with the dialogue they used but stupid enough to pass humour through to the audience. In each scene there isn’t a lot of dialogue but the use of words and sentences portrays there emotions the music very much old school 80/90s music setting the comedy aspect all through the movie. It mellow and upbeat reflecting the simplicity of the characters lifestyle Editing- The editing and camerawork were basic cuts between each of the shots not a lot of movement for a Hollywood film. Some zooming and close up but generally long shots. This is to set the scene of the character as a basic geeky teenager not a lot going for him. The trailer has a lot of cuts going from scene to scene fitting and tryin to show all the main characters. There aren’t many locations except for the school, napoleons house and the area. Prop there would have lot of changes for each scene to look like another day. They would be expensive props including clothes, accessories, furniture, computer and electronic equipment. The trailer grabs my attention as it hasn’t got a set storyline but it lets the audience engage by following Napoleon (main character) through his life and how he changes and is influenced by the people around him.

Clerks:Independent Filmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNd8nvnmhyM(Clerks trialer)
The production companies’ involved were View Askew who also produced jersey girl the other production company was Miramax films who were also responsible for producing kill bill and scary movie 3.The actors were not well known at all they were either upcoming actors or friends of Kevin smith (the director) doing him favour to star in his film even Kevin played one of the characters this is were you see that the budget was very small. Characters are close to real life people and the story line rehearses this as well. The characters look similar to us.eg basic clothes not made up in lots of make up. The characters being real makes the viewer to be more likely to relate to it unlike a Hollywood were its fake and in reality it would always end happily ever after with al the characters relationship In clerks it shows real relationship with ups and down the characters Dante and Randall. There are much longer cuts between each of the scenes the camera shot is there for 4 minutes unlike in a Hollywood it would be for 4seconds.The camerawork is quite basic as there isn’t a lot of opportunity to have a variety of shot types as it is quite time consuming and expensive to edit They don’t have the right equipment for it. The sound and dialogue are very basic not to muck sound only firm background noise and begging the opening of trailer. The music reflects there day to day routine .The dialogue is were the film can shine as there is less emphasis on action and effects but more on what they are saying and how the characters react to one another. The film takes risk in what they make the characters do but these appeals to the audience as they aren’t restricted to a predictable story line. There wasn’t a lot of mise-en scene because of access to complicated props and lighting. There were only to 2 locations the video shop and the convince store al in which still made the film successful compare dot Hollywood were there would be more than 5 location. Overall the trailer reflects what the film is likely to be about no set storyline just following to guys through there day to day life and how they react to changes and the public when things go wrong. The trailer grabs the attention of the aundine and it is funny already so it gives you something to look forward to and see how the characters relationships progress.