Understanding the client brief

Chanel 4 is a British television broadcaster founded in 1982 which is free to air and available all over
the UK. It has ‘All 4’ which is the biggest free streaming service in the UK where you can access any
of its twelve tv channels such as, E4 and Film 4. Channel 4 is funded by the public through adverts
and is not for profit. Any work produced by Channel 4 must be regulated by the public service remit,
which is a legislation agreed by parliament. The Channel 4 remit applies to all services (More4, Film4
etc) and any digital projects. Some popular shows aired on Chanel 4 are ‘It’s a Sin’ which had over 16
million views and ‘The Great British Bake Off’ which had 11.5 million views.

E4 is a subsection of Channel 4 which was a pay television channel when launched in 2001 until it
became free to air in 2004. It has a target audience of 16-36 years old and aims to entertain through
its range of both American and British shows. It has aired shows such as How I Met Your Mother,
Scrubs, Skins and The Inbetweeners. One of it’s most popular shows that has been aired is
GoggleBox which had a total audience of 3780,000. You can access E4 via the All 4 app which is
available on a smart TV or a firestick.

Some examples of the main competitors of Chanel 4 are the BBC, Sky, PBS America and ITV. These
are all competitors as they offer similar aspects as Channel 4 such as original TV shows,
documentaries and airing films (both original and other). Due to this, the different TV channels are
competitors to have the best quality of certain aspects- to ensure they have the highest number of
viewers possible. Channel 4 also competes with streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime
and Disney+. These services are competitors with E4 first run shows as they will want original
Channel 4 shows to be watched over Netflix Originals, however after they have been aired streaming
services can be useful as they will buy the rights to Channel 4 originals, creating revenue for the
company. These are competitors to Channel 4’s catch up app E4.

Conventions of a TV Drama:

Stereotypes: This is the perception of a person or a group of people who would typically act a
certain way. In TV a stereotype is usually exaggerated to make the characters personality clear which
will help the audience understand them. By using stereotypes, it allows the audience to predict and
identify what the character will be like and what will happen to them. A common stereotype in TV is
a nerd, typically they would be very studious and serious. For instance, in Derry Girls the character
Jenny Joyce is a nerd, evident through her hardworking mentality and her interactions with the
other characters. For example, Jenny always keeps her uniform pristine and neat. Another example
of a stereotype is Barney Stinson from the sitcom How I met your mother, he is an exaggerated
stereotype of a ‘womanizer’. This is shown through his manipulative attitude towards women and
the fact he always wears a business suit. Stereotypes allow us to understand a character through
small details in the character, for instance the fact Barney constantly wears a suit is representative of
a typical ‘bachelor’.
Locations: There are two types of locations: on-set and on location. An on-set location is when you
will build one set and you can reuse and repurpose this for multiple scenes. This has many
advantages such as, a lower budget and helping the audience build a relationship with the show. By
this I mean, if a show has one or more rooms/settings they repeat over the series it helps ensure
that it doesn’t become confusing as the locations are recognisable as soon as they appear. For
example, in How I Met your mother, every episode there will be at least one scene in McLaren's Pub,
this makes the audience feel close to the characters and form a connection with the location as it
now has sentimental value.

On the other hand, an on location filming set is when the crew will go to different destinations to
film the scenes. This is good as it makes the scenes more realistic however it can be expensive to
move everything and rent the space. For example, in Derry Girls they often go to different locations
around Ireland as it would be very difficult to recreate many settings E.g., the episode where they
travel to the amusement park.

Episodes: In television, each series is split between episodes which are normally short and form one
part of the story. Each episode will have its own title and a plot and are either thirty minutes or one
hour but a few minutes of this is lost to adverts. Sometimes the episodes are standalone but
typically episodes will follow on from each other, telling the main storyline over multiple parts. With
this layout each episode has to be interesting and should help form part of a bigger storyline, to help
move along the storyline. For example, in How I met your mother the first few episodes of season 9
are all about Robin and Barney’s wedding, they follow on from each other telling the story over time.
On the other hand, episodes of Derry Girls have their own stand-alone plot, most the time when the
episode ends the story does as well. However, there are some exceptions to that for instance, when
Clare’s dad died.
Storyline Continuity: This is when a story is followed throughout a show, in each separate episode.
Without this the show would become confusing and the audience would lose interest, decreasing
the number of views. If a TV show doesn’t follow storyline continuity it can make the show look of a
poor standard so it is vital that all aspects are considered, no matter how small, such as the use of
nicknames or the interests of a character. Additionally, another example that can arise with storyline
continuity is when actors leave the show and new actors play the same character- which has
happened in the past. Although Derry Girls has standalone episodes, it follows storyline continuity as
important plots are followed throughout all episodes, for example the fractious relationship
between James and his mother. In How I met your mother, an example of storyline continuity is the
‘slap bet’ between Marshal and Barney. This bet is established in season 2 but is referenced and
explored continuously until season 9. This is cleverly done to keep interest in the shows as well as
preventing the show from becoming confusing.

Issues Raised: The issues being raised are there to help the audience understand certain issues and
show how people cope with them, for example: sexuality, sexism, bullying, bereavement and
relationships. The issues raised must be suitable and relatable to the target audience to ensure it is
relevant. The issues raised are there to support the audience through showing them how to handle
issues and they act as a viewpoint from different perspectives. When including certain issues you
must be aware to not offend anyone and that anyone information included is accurate, to achieve
this any issues must be researched extensively. In how I met your mother, when Marshals dad
passes away the show explores bereavement and dealing with the loss of a loved on. Similarly in
Derry girls Claires dad also passes away and similar themes are explored. Both shows aim to show
how difficult it can be dealing with sudden, unexpected grief and losing a parent at a young age.
Length: TV shows are typically either around 25 or 55 minutes long, however they will have 30
minute or 1-hour long slots on channels to give time for adverts and introductions/credits. If a series
has short episodes, they will on average have 10-20 episodes per season, excluding the first season
which is shorter in case it is not very popular. Shows that have longer episodes typically have less
episodes, ranging from 5 to 10 episodes per season. Each target audience have a preferred time slot
and length of episode. Some examples are TV shows for adults will be on at night as then they will be
finished with work or shows for elderly people will be on in the afternoon as they are retired. The
target audience can also influence the length of a show, for instance a children’s show would have a
30-minute slot as children have shorter attention spans. How I met your mother is typically 22
minutes long and similarly Derry Girls is around 22-25 minutes long. This inspired me to have a
relatively short episode length when creating my TV programme.

Characters: Each TV show will have 4 to 6 main characters who will feature every episode and have
the story centred around them. There are typically no more than 6 to ensure the story does not get
too confusing and to allow the audience to get to know the characters well and build a relationship
with them. Additionally, by having a small group of main characters who are shown every episode
the audience can develop favourites and preferences in the group. To guarantee the characters are
relatable to the whole audience the cast must be diverse; this could be different genders, sexualities,
ethnicities and disabilities. It is important that the characters are relatable to everyone as it allows
anyone in the audience to build a connection with the characters. For instance, Derry Girls has a
diverse group of main characters such as Claire being a lesbian. This is a theme which is explored and
develops as the series goes on which allows many members of the LGBTQI+ community to
understand and perhaps relate to the character and what she goes through. Additionally, in how I
met your mother the main group of characters is of mixed gender, once again tailoring for a wider
audience. Many shows also have secondary characters to help make a show more diverse, these are
recurring characters that the audience are familiar with but aren’t in every episode/ the main plot’s.
Secondary characters are needed as they help create familiarity with the audience and make the
audience feel like they understand the show well.
Titles: Titles can be shown three ways: straight away as the show starts, the first opening minutes of
the show are played then the titles or a short recap before playing the title. Titles often include the
name of the series, clips from the series, the name of the actors and the characters they play.
Normally they also include a theme song which should be catchy and original, helping the audience
associate the show with the song. When choosing or creating a theme song, copyright and other
legal issues must be considered. In How I met your mother the theme song is a section of the song
‘Hey Beautiful’ performed by The Solids. As this song plays, we see clips of the main characters with
their names and the names of the actor which plays them. On the other hand, Derry Girls has a title
image that pops up after a few minutes of the show has been played. It doesn’t have a theme song
repeated during every episode, instead a different song each episode which is associated with the
era/storyline.

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