A bit of everything.

This post consists of a back story for my Character Al, a mood board for general concept of the character and research that I've done toward marketing the TV show; its competition, ideas for humor and quirks and a little look into the music.

Character Synopsis 

My character is named Al, this character is widely known amongst the other characters as the 'arsehole' of the production company. He's new to this line of work, straight out of university with his bachelors degree and as can be expected thinks he is gods gift to the industry and work at hand. With this 'attitude' he finds it hard to socialise with the others, trying to make everything his own way it causes unnecessary drama and awkward situations with Steve 'the stoner'. Coming from a highly educated family, he feels the pressure and must have everything perfect. This character is quite different to my actual personality, I am quite a quiet, socially awkward person, so describing and playing a character with these qualities is relatively easy as its an 'outside looking in' type character. I feel this character will give the show a darker side of comedy; causing commotion and rivalry within the group.

Competition for the show


With the way we are presenting the TV show; Like 'How I met your mother' telling the story of previous events I found that there was quite a bit of similarities with other shows.


30 Rock (2006 - present)

Synopsis - Liz Lemon, head writer of the sketch comedy show 'TGS with Tracey Jordon', must deal with an arrogant new boss (similar to the character Al) and a crazy new star, all while trying to run a successful TV show without losing her mind.

Tagline - 'Enjoy the ride'

Genre - 'Comedy'


The office (2001 - 2003) (UK)

Synopsis - The story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary film crew follow staff and the manager Brent as they continue their daily lives.

Genre - 'Comedy' & 'Drama'

Film similarities

Fan boys - (2008)

synopsis - Star wars fans travel to Skywalker ranch to steal an early copy of 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace'

Tagline - ' To theaters, it will come'

Genre - 'Adventure' 'Comedy' & 'Drama'

Zack and Miri make a porno ( 2008)

synopsis - Zack and Miri are two lifelong platonic friends who make an adult film to pay the rent of their apartment. With the help of their friends the couple set out for auditionees for their porn film.

Tagline - 'A poster for everyone who finds our movie title hard to swallow'

Genre - 'Comedy' 'Drama' & 'Romance'

Ideas

I've noticed that within all of this competition the use of a female counter part is used, this causes a new level of comedy, one of which might not be noticed in an all group cast. So the idea for a female character to be implemented into the script and production company may be a good road to take into consideration. The settings for each of them are more or less the same, with the exception to film. Within an office space, computer labs and work stations. Having the characters embark on an adventure like setting will bring the characters out of their comfort zone, the stereotypical 'nerd' or 'geek' is often a a shut in, scared of the outside world which is always humorous, this is seen countless times in 'The IT crowd'. Whilst shooting in Swansea I feel there are a few places ideal for shooting; within our homes 'out of work lives' and how the group socialise then. Out drinking in the pubs of Swansea mentioned earlier by Marc, having the group indulge in normal society.

Marketing

I found a few helpful links relevant to television marketing.

• www.thinkbox.tv - This link offers information on most things such as 'TV effectiveness', 'Getting started on TV' etc. Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, in all its forms. Its shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and UKTV, who together represent over 90% of the commercial TV market in the UK. 

• www.audiencelabs.com - They offer articles and publications of their work in to their own research.

• www.beyond30.org - Becoming a member will allow us to see into the research they are working on right now. They are currently looking at trying to understand the future of advertising in television, particually from the standpoint of the audience.

Poster

This was just a quick mock up of what a poster could look like, I noticed with The IT Crowd, 8bit images are used as part of there introduction to the episode. I figured a similar simplicity might also be effective.