Cheyenne Joseph // UCA Television blog

I had the review of my first script draft with Steve Coombes on Wednesday and I really enjoyed it for a variety of reasons. One of which was the fact that he brought so many things to light about the script that I hadn't realised before. We spoke about how I could touch up on the character's traits. For example, Lillian felt a little too ahead of her time and so it wasn't really necessary for me to go overboard with making her seem very standoff-ish because that is already shown.  He reiterated the point that you need to show it not say it and although I thought I did a good job of that, he made me realise there were things that I could've done to further enhance that and it made so much more sense for me to do so. However, one of the things that I was a little bit hesitant about changing was the ending. Since I felt like the start and middle of my story was quite simple I wanted a more dramatic ending, something unexpected yet foreseeable which is why I originally h...

So, after starting off my initial idea which was to have the boy (Ray) show signs of previous abuse, who then continues to to show signs throughout the relationship until eventually lashing out on his girlfriend (Lillian), I decided that that idea was typical and predictable. It's been done before and therefore my version wouldn't be hard hitting enough to seem original.  Then I thought, well maybe I could put a twist in there somewhere and instead of having an abusive boy, why not have a boy who may have been abused before, gets into a relationship with a once seemingly nice girl who then turns into an emotionally abusive person after they meet. His challenge would be to either allow himself to stay in that situation or stand up for himself but then I felt like this wasn't really realistic or plausible however it did feel more original that the previous idea. My third adaptation of that idea was to completely scrap the idea of the boy showing signs of previous abuse (...

Bryan Elsley, Jamie  Brittain & Skins Skins is a British teen drama series which was broadcasted on E4 between 2007 - 2013. The series was written and created by Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain whom are both father and son. (pictured below)  Before taking his career towards the theater  industry, Bryan Elsley then went onto making short comedy sketches (Dusty and Dick) with Harry Enfield whom he met at university. Bryan continued to progress through his career after making a quite a few mini TV series but it wasn't until his adaptation of Lain Banks's 'crow road'  that Elsley received the recognition that he needed within the television industry.  Elsley has also written 'Dates'. A British mini series exploring all the possibilities that can occur whilst meeting someone for the first time. Dates have received quite high ratings overall and especially on IMDB. With an average of 7.8 out of 10 I think Bryan Elsley did a ...

180 degree rule During our 4th camera workshop with Fergus, we touched up on the "180 degree rule". This was important for us to explore as it is easy to forget and end up confusing the audience.  The rule is basically an imaginary 180 degree arc around the subject, and as long as the camera is placed within that arc, the audience wont get confused as to where your subject is placed. Another thing we had a look at was entering and exiting. If a subject is entering from the left side of the frame, it would make sense that they exit through the right side. that would heighten the idea of them actually exiting for the viewer. We then had to have a practice with this. We were given scripts and took it in turns to film a sequence using 3-5 different shots. I found this a little bit tricky as I went first in my group.  I wanted to have a mixture of shots to illustrate the important parts of the script. I wanted to have a wide establishing shot showing the settin...

Storyboarding Workshop with Simon I found the story boarding workshop to be really interesting. We took a look at all the different types of story board techniques that is used within the industry. There were a few which I found really impressive since I had never seen them before.  We went through all the different elements that can be included within the story board, we also discussed why a story board is important and thats because it provides a visual reference to the significant points within a planned scene etc. This is good because it helps everyone visualise, therefore creating more room for improvement. It was really interesting having a look at all the varieties because there were some which didn't require much detail and there were some that were super detailed.One of the ones I found interesting was the animated story board that was used for Indiana Jones. You can tell that the amount of budget you have can really aff...

The art of Screenwriting   In order to understand what makes good screenwriting, we must first understand the essentials within 'screenwriting', that of which being a script! but what is a script? and what is needed in order for a script to be a script? "Story is key to screenwriting, and the industry agrees that the story is everything. However, getting the industry to agree on exactly  what  is a good story is a different matter." - Freddie Gaffney, On Screenwriting, 2008) After reading   'On Screenwriting' by Freddie Gaffney, I gained greater knowledge into the depths of screenwriting and story writing. He made a point that sometimes it isn't the script that is a problem, its the timing and what you choose to show at that time can hinder how far your script is accepted. For example, a script about the truth of war and killing would probably not get that far with a Republican who would want to show war in good light. I honestly found his sta...

  Camera Workshop 3 With Fergus Sound experimentation The aim of our 3rd camera workshop with Fergus was to get a better outlook on how to maximise the quality of sound for our projects.  we had a look at the differences between the directional microphones and their attachments. First we had a look at the Rode directional Microphone. Fergus showed us how to correctly set up the mic to the right channel so you wouldn't end up selecting the 'internal' mic. External mic should always be selected once using the Rode mics. After experimenting with the 'Dead cat' we then went onto using the "dead wombat' on a boom pole. The boom pole was very fiddly at first and I still believe I need more practice with it because when I first set it up, It was unsturdy and kept sliding down. Ferg later illustrated the correct way of securing it and it turned out I hadn't been tightening the right part. After this, I then went onto practicing with m...