PRODUCTION: structure

STRUCTURE 

 My choice to include the day and time throughout the series came after writing the first draft of my pilot script. Because of everything being set within the one house, it could become to keep track of where we were time-wise, jumping from room to room, sometimes staying in one for long period of time. The decision was inspired by Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia (20th TV, 20005 - ), which starts each episode with the day and time, then occassionally callback to update if days have changed or great periods of time jumped. This technique helped keep track of the story and became a potential for comedy, showing large periods of inaction for example, highlighted by expanding the period of time between each cut. 

Tried to use 5 act structure to  follow and keep moving, having burnt out with previous stories due to lack of direction. Prefer over three-act as control-freak in me re-assured by added acts, providing "stronger structure, creates regular gripping turning points that increase narrative tension and in turn eliminates ... the often hard to follow second act." (Yorke, J.)  In future, need to look at act symmetry more - what goes up must come down, seeing symmetry pleasing as writer and audience member. 

 My series is split between four episodes set solely within the walls of a student house, and two episodes set externally. I immediately liked the idea of a student show set in a student house as its where people are both comfortable but also learning how they approach homelife away from the family, maintaining facades in front of peers they want to be accepted by and try mould a future path for themselves. I am a big fan of shows like Fresh Meat, but my heart drops a little bit when they leave the house because I find those scenes so relatable and reflective of the university experience. 

 As my series developed and I decided Sarah and Jack would both confront their fathers, I decided to split this across two episodes, giving Sarah an episode to solely focus on her as my main protagonist and then giving my final episode to her housemates. I also wanted to set these two episodes out of the house, feeling that the solely interior story so far was a very strong stylistic choice but by that point, audiences would have grown comfortable with it. I chose to set these episodes away from the house to disrupt this comfort, as Sarah tries to take control of her life and shake herself from her comfort, so must we as an audience. As the audience, we now explore a new town WITH Sarah as she returns to her hometown. 

I realised at one point that why story had followed a very naturalistic and linear progression. While I understand that is isn't a problem and fit the tone and genre very well, it also grew and grew on me that shaking this up could help the show stand out. I decided to include flashback in episode 5, growing throughout the episode as Sarah is reminded piece-by-piece of the night she and her mother left her father. At first, the memories appear positive, as Sarah and her father play games but these quickly sour as Sarah realizes her father's true character until she finally remembers his alcoholic and angry past. While only a small step in disrupting the linear approach of the show, I also feel that this helps to upset the status quo of the show, increasing audience tension in reflection to Sarah's growing turmoil. 

If approaching this story again, or perhaps when considering other stories in the future, I did consider quite late into the writing, the idea of non-naturalistic, visual representations of a character's mental state, similar to the stylistic moments in Rocketman (Fletcher, D. 2019). For example, when Sarah feels all of the eyes in the pub turn to her, having the lights turn out instantly and all of the eyes shine and blink at her in the darkness. 

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. (TV Programme) 20th TV, 2005 - Ongoing 

'Rocketman' (2019) Fletcher, D. Rocket Pictures, UK 

Yorke, J (2014) Into The woods. Lonon, Penguin Publishing.