Into Another Reality - Assignment Example

Into Another Reality Logline: A single-mother pushes her dreams of stardom to her son, and after several failures he finally had a big break. But what happens next was something she was not prepared for, and now she has to make a choice. Series synopsis: Millie Ross, a single mother and frustrated singer constantly brings her son Derrick, a musical prodigy to talent auditions, hoping for him to be discovered and turned into a star. After several rejections and no call-backs, just when they were about to give up, a talent-scout advised Millie to let her son audition for a talent audition to be broadcasted on a major television network the very next day. Things actually went well for Derrick, and his singing had him chosen to compete for the finals, making Millie plump up her feathers after many years of efforts. However, after hearing several groups of people comment negatively on her son’s abilities which, in turn affected his motivation and singing during practise, as well as his attitude towards her, Millie comes to the realisation that she now has to face even more things than just failure, and that she has to make a final decision: choosing between her dreams and her son’s happiness. Story Outline I. Inciting incident A. Millie Ross pushes her son, Derrick into numerous talent searches and auditions, but failed in all of them. She was about to give up after their last audition. B. Mr Isaac, a shady-looking talent scout notices the child’s potential and tells her to audition to a talent-search in the next studio the next day, giving Millie more hopes for her son. II. Rising action A. Derrickwins a spotfor the succeeding episodes of the talent search, delighting Millie in their newfound fortune. But several weeks into their new “reality”, Millie sees the dark side of stardom as tiring and unrewarding. Still, she deems everything fine as long as Derrick sings and wins. B. Numerous rumours about Derrick and his mother starts circulating the internet, affecting Derrick’s performances and nearly losing the top three spot. His mother was not immuneto the effects of the gossips either, but instead of talking it out with him, she takes out her frustrations on her son, causing their relationship to grow distant. C. Just when Millie was about to scold her son’s shortcomings in his last performance, Derrick starts sobbing and telling her that he wanted to go home, back to his school, and just stay in one place, after all, “This is your dream, not ours, and not mine really.” Millie shuts him out completely, calling him selfish and ungrateful. D. Derrick sings beautifully in front of audiences, but she knew then that he was not singing for her anymore. Millie feels the loss but still remains distant. E. A confused Millie consults Mr Isaac about Derrick’s well-being and future. He justreminds her that he may be her own flesh and blood, but his self and choices are “completely his own.” III. Climax A. Derrick fails to win the top spot in the competition. But Millie apologises and asks about his happiness.Derrick simply wants to sing and make people happy, and Millie agrees to it, after hecompletes the contract requirements of the show. Though doubtful, Derrick complies. IV. Falling action A.After several months on the road and after finishing the contract agreements, Millie starts getting offers from various recording companies to take in Derrick and develop his skills. But she politely declines, saying that her son’s reality is elsewhere, and she supports his choices and happiness as well. B. Millie tells Mr Isaac about her plans, with a bit of regret. But seeing her son smile happily made her feel like the choice was worth it. Mr Isaac thought Derrick’s talents would go to waste, but in the end he just let the kid off without any other unkind words to prevent his past mistakes he did with former talents. V. Denouement A. Millie goes back to their old town, allows Derrick to rest and go to school in September, after finishing his promotional tours. The simpler life made them grow happy and content, with their relationship back as it was before. As for Mr Isaac, he just moved on to the next big thing: dancers. Why the Idea is Original The idea of a stage mum pushing her child to stardom at all costs is something the audiences are familiar with. Many of these mothers are shown through pageants or other shows were tots have to wear fancy clothes, smile and wave at the audiences and judges, or if they feel uncomfortable, simply cry on the stage for their mums. However, despite common knowledge about such exploits by some mothers in pushing their children into the spotlight, the fact that there have not been many shows or series exploring the reasons why so many parents treat their children the way they do compels some viewers to ask why. In addition, there has been a steady rise of reality shows and talent search shows all across the UK, and no doubt there have been so many child talents amazing the audiences and wowing the judges but after all that show, it ends there. The stories of these young star-wannabes and their families are not fully touched in detail and it is possible that there are reasons other than wanting the prize money involved in these exploits. The life and exploits of a stage parent who pushes the child to perform onstage in front of so many people due to many reasons can be a novel idea for some audiences, who are already familiar with other vocations due to dramas and soap operas such as doctors, teachers, lawyers, blue collar workers and other kinds of careers (Bignell, 2012, p.130). Since having a talented child that participated in a contest one way or another is a part of reality that most viewers may not be knowledgeable about, letting them peek into the life of a stage mother could interest them due to the drama potential of the situation, and can be a very good conversation starter for many people apart from the child’s talent, or lack of it (Gauntlett and Hill, 2001, p. 130). In addition, this also puts an idea to audiences that not just child contestants, but most of the people auditioning in talent searches have other motives in joining such contests, and these same people may not even be aware of such motives or choices at all. Such knowledge gives greater depth to the performances of the contestants, since at the very least audiences can learn from the show the different ways by which these talent search contestants get motivated to perform, or who or what keeps them going despite the hard life of pitching their talents and performing their acts over and over again to different kinds of judges or audiences. The Idea’s Potential in Drawing in (Targeted) Audiences Television has always been a strong part of family tradition, which creates a social culture of togetherness and familiarity to most people, proven by age groups 25 years and older that consider watching the telly as important as spending time with friends and family (Seddon, 2011, p.3; Williams, et al., 2009). While there has been an observed decrease in TV sets bought by households due to the advent of the internet and the availability of missed programmes or shows online (catch-up), there was still a steady increase of linear or live television viewership, from 2% in 2007 to 10% in 2012 (Office of Communications, OfCom, 2013; Thinkbox, 2013). In addition, there has been an estimate of 25 million television licences in force as of 2012, which disproves an otherwise high prediction of television watching to be surpassed by home internet or mobile internet usage (Cha, et al., 2008; TV Licensing, 2013, p.5). This means that even if there will always be a preference to watch programmes online, there is still a large potential market that televised shows can reach out to, keeping shows viable and running(Bellman, et al., 2010). This is also a window of opportunity to sell viewers a new type of family drama for them to watch, as well as other products through potential placement of advertisements. Women viewers not only watch dramas and soaps, as they also watch other shows such as talent searches (X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, among others) or reality television for a variety of entertainment (TV Licensing, 2012). But with respect to the number of viewers, soaps or drama are most-often watched, with viewers mounting up to millions per episode (Conlan, n.d.). In relation to this, family-oriented dramas always had an appeal to most viewers, especially with C2DE women due to the variety of therelationships between the characters, as well as the gossip-quality of the plotlines (Gauntlett and Hill, 2001; Thinkbox, 2013). This allows viewers to express their thoughts and emotions, as well as to observe how the characters change throughout the show’s season. Most of these women viewers also build their own social identities by relating to the characters that they see in the show, as well as define their own selves by differentiating themselves from the characters portrayed (Gauntlett and Hill, 2001, p.131). By making shows that speak to the ideas or feelings of the general viewers, this essentially draws the audiences in and allows them to engage, especially when new concepts for drama become introduced to them. In launching the idea coined in Into another Reality, the scenes between the main protagonist and her child can be seen as a digestible behind-the-scenes look at what talent search contestants go through, how they felt with each rejection or whenever their talents get noticed or praised. For most C2DE women viewers especially those with children, a new type of drama that reflects on what happens in the mother-child relationship of child prodigies can also engage them and make reflect their attitudes towards their own children with their respective abilities. Into another Reality can also turn the viewers to think retrospectively about their attitudes toward their own children, siblings, parents or other people that they felt like they give their support to, and for women to compare their treatment of their own children with the main protagonist and her son (Bellman, et al., 2010). This can be an additional form of engagement for the viewers, apart from the emotional impact expected from family-dramas, and the fact that the characters portrayed have age groups similar to their own or have thought-provoking situations (Redfern, 2011). While not exactly reality TV itself, the emotions that the characters in the drama Into another Reality will portray to audiences such as building or losing the trust of important persons or people close to them, feeling jubilant on triumphs, the pain of defeat or failures after doing one’s best, or the squabbles or quarrels happening between family members are still part of the experiences of most people and the viewers, even without the glamorous bit scenes evoked by talent shows. With the inclusion of the concept of talent searches, the show’s novel approach could also appeal to viewers outside the target range, and can provide them with alternative entertainment. Also, despite the target audience being adults aged 18+, the family drama will be designed in such a way that there will be no too-embarrassing moments for anyone who wants to watch it with younger children. This is in order to address the issues between some audiences on soap operas or drama shows being unwholesome for family viewing due to depictions of many themes not deemed suitable for children, as well as the portrayals of some fairly “unrealistic” scenes (Conlan, n.d.; Hargrave and Gatfield, 2002). This show aims to bridge that gap by not solely focusing on the main protagonist’s predicament, but also the situations that her son must also face, and in this case both adults and children can find a common ground with the characters that they can watch in this drama. The Idea’s Potential in Appealing tothe Distributor As of 2011, it has been observed that the age of viewers is proportional to the number of hours spent on viewing the television (OfCom, 2013; Seddon, 2011). This means that the older a person is, the more likely this person would spend free time in watching television. Also, the more free time a person has regardless of age such as housewives or pensioners, the more time is spent on watching television in comparison to people with less free time such as the fully-employed (Thinkbox, 2013). Lastly, women watch more television with men, as well as having a better engagement with the shows since these viewers tend to use whatever show they just watched as a fodder for socialising or to start communications with other people, whether online or not (Thinkbox, 2013; Williams, et al., 2009). This makes television watching more often of a social activity since anyone who has an idea on what happened in the shows being talked about can blend in and chip in their own opinions. It is important to choose which channel will be the distributor or stakeholder for a proposed drama show, since how the show will be produced and accepted by the audiences will depend on where it will run, and larger networks can have a greater advantage over smaller ones basically with regards to budgets, sponsorship and audience reach (Gauntlett and Hill, 2001). The Independent Television (ITV) company is a major television company, earning the second top spot next to the BBC group of networks (Broadcasters Audience Research Board, BARB, 2013). It is able to pull in audiences up to 97% based on the BARB quarterly reach reports, with particular attention to adult viewers of various ages and socio-economic status (BARB, 2013). While the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) still remains to be a strong force with regards to providing audiences with various kinds of programming for all ages, due to the much-edgier shows that ITV presents to its viewers, it makes for a better vehicle to show audiences something new, in line with the company’s image. According to the ITV website (2013), the television company is quite open to any kind of program and accepts many kinds of scripts, as long as the audience and their interests are put in front of the line. Since ITV aims to have variety and depth in their productions, a relatively novel idea of mixing family-drama and some stints of talent-search shows can call their attention, and can give Into another Reality an edge over other dramas that simply echo mainstream or the company’s flagship dramas, such as Coronation Street or Emmerdale. This is because the main selling point of Into another Reality is not just the different concept about parenthood, but the complex dilemmas that happen inside each character, and the reality that people who risk so much just so they could enter talent searches have to give up on so many things, be it the solidarity of their family, their prestige, schooling or whatnot. The show’s genre goes well with the greater viewing public, as statistics show that female audiences watch more television more than their male counterparts, and in essence will reach more female viewers than men (Thinkbox, 2013).Also, since the intended audience encompasses a very broad demographic and watch television quite often, the show can engage many audiences from various walks of life, especially those who have been trying to cope with various kinds of struggles, intrinsic or extrinsic in nature (Le Roux, et al. 2008; Thinkbox, 2013).By breathing life into drama’s novel context, ITVcan provide an interesting but not unintelligible kind of programming appealing tomany viewers, which not only keeps up with the company’s image of being independent and different, but also combining innovation and engagement among their avid viewers. Bibliography Bellman, S., Schweda, A., & Varan, D. (2010). The importance of social motives for watching and interacting with digital television. 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Class and cultural division in the UK. SAGE, 42(6), pp. 1049-1071. Office of Communications, 2013. The Communications Market, London: Author. Redfern, N., 2011. Age, gender, and television in the UK. [Online] Available at: http://www.academia.edu/3259846/Age_gender_and_television_in_the_UK [Accessed 16 August 2013]. Seddon, C., 2011. Lifestyles and social participation, London: Office for National Statistics. Thinkbox, 2013. Audience Profiles. [Online] Available at: http://www.thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav.914 [Accessed 16 August 2013]. TV Licensing, 2012. Report Reveals latest UK watching trends. [Online] Available at: http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/media-centre/news/report-reveals-latest-uk-tv-watching-trends-NEWS35/ [Accessed 16 August 2013]. TV Licensing, 2013. Telescope: A look at the nation's changing viewing habits, s.l.: Author. Williams, D. et al., 2009. An emergent role for TV in social communication. Leuven, ACM. Read More