The document discusses the media student's plans for their TV drama opening sequence and accompanying website. For the opening, they will use the crime-horror genre with settings of a dark room and bedroom. Characters include kidnapped twin girls and their captor. The sequence aims to be mysterious yet entertaining for its target teenage audience. The accompanying website will continue the black, red, and white color scheme. It will feature character bios with social media links to encourage fan engagement across platforms and promote convergence. Both the opening and website aim to immerse viewers in the crime-horror world of the drama.

1. Q1. How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to
communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief?
● Genre/sub-genre
The sub-genre I am focusing my TV Drama on is Crime-Horror. The Horror aspect of it is a
lot more subtle and mainly focuses on the crime conventions. The theme is based on a
kidnapping and has typical themes in it such as a mainstream anonymous man who's taken
them, and two 'victim' girls. This follows the TV Drama convention of shows being
'over-exaggerated' which is perfect for the fun-loving audience that's watching the show.
Making it over-exaggerated adds towards the pre-watershed aspect as it makes it less
realistic and more appropriate.
● Setting
The main setting of my TV Drama opening is in a dark room (Studio 3). I decided to use this
as it is the most simple room and will create an isolated atmosphere. There will be two chairs
in the middle of the room and a lamp in the corner to give a little bit of light to the room. The
second setting is a room which looks like a bedroom (Studio 2) where the boy and the girl
will be sat discussing the disappearance of the girls. This makes the show seem more like a
TV Drama as other normal characters are involved and it also gives it a sense of realism.
● Characters
The first two characters introduced to the TV Drama are the two girls (twins) which are held
hostage with paper bags on their heads and have masks on. During this scene, we also
discover the figure that has supposedly kidnapped them. However, we soon find out that he
is wearing the same masks as the girls and they know who he is. This changes them from
being victims into being mysterious and potentially an evil character, just like the figure.
● Narrative themes
The theme in firstly the title sequence will have a crime- horror theme to it. I am using the
American Horror Story Murder House opening as inspiration as I am going to make a
montage of little aspects to do with the show, such as family photos, pin boards,
newspapers, hand sliding down window, doors slowly opening, lights flashing, paper bags,
masks, money, newspaper on floor, paper with symbols etc. The branding of the font will be
shown when the black screen flashes up at the end of the title sequence showing the name
of the show ‘Endless’. Then this theme continues in the first scene with the kidnapped girls, it
will make the audience concerned and on edge, like a crime-horror sub-genre should do.

2. However during the second scene, the genre briefly continues but we see more of the drama
side of the show, as the twin girls friends attempt to find where they are.
● Representations
Within my TV Drama, the first representation is very stereotypical, because the girls are the
victims, which is very mainstream for any TV or film productions, especially following the
whole 'damsel in distress' theme. The anonymous figure is also stereo typically the
antagonist, which is shown very clearly in the first bit of the scene as the girls are struggling
and he seems to intimidate them. However, the stereotypical aspects change when we
discover that both of the twin girls are wearing the same mask and he explains that he's
been expecting them. This instantly changes the representations of each character as we
realise that the girls may not be victims and the anonymous figure may not be as intimidating
as he seems. Van Zoonen's theory about representation is initially shown in my TV Drama
opening as the gender's are firstly represented as the typical ideas portrayed in media texts
such as social media, TV and films. She also believes that females are commonly shown as
the weaker gender and need to be saved, and men have a sense of masculinity and are
usually dominating and strong. This theorist also believes that women are objectified in the
media which plays a part in my opening as the girls have paper bags over their heads and
seen to be vulnerable and unnamed. The representations are suitable for the pre-watershed
'fun loving' audience as we can see it has small elements of drama and thrill within the
crime-horror genre, which entertains any audience, but this targets the age range as
teenagers are involved in the acting and use elements that this age will understand, for
example the reference to the show Top Boy which is used in the opening. I also included
objects that this age range are a big fan of, such as Domino's pizza and Pepsi max. All these
small things help engage the target audience and also make it appropriate for the
pre-watershed time, as no inappropriate language or representations have been used.
Q2. How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge
and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production?
● Website conventions
For my website, I have decided to remain with the black, red and white colour scheme to
emphasise the crime-horror genre. On the homepage, I originally decided the hero image is
going to consist of a background which correlates to the opening title sequence, and
therefore will have trees in the background, with the writing in red printed over it, saying
'ENDLESS'. However I changed this and decided to just put the title on. black background
with trees to emphasise the isolated atmosphere. This will be written in a serif font, which is
different from what I originally planned, but I decided that this gives it a more eerie look. The
homepage will also include a header, which will include four different options which includes
Home, News, Casting and Shop. Just above this to the right will be a search bar and a social

3. media bar. Due to the mentioning of Pepsi Max within my opening, I decided to put this as
the sponsor as it will attract the target audience of 16-25 year olds.
● ​Character representation
The casting page which is found on the header is going to include each of the characters ,
their real names, their role in the show and information about their character. This will be
accompanied by a photo of each character which will also include their social media so that
fans are able to keep updated on them. By including social media it will be linking
convergence into the website as other social media platforms will be available on the
website which will potentially make their social media accounts grow and the target
audience, who are known to be absorbed in social media, will be able to remain more
updated. Things such as EndCom are going to be advertised on the website, and this is a
planned convention for the show where fans are able to meet their favourite character and
be absorbed into the crime-horror world. I have used the ITV2 Love Island website as
inspiration for my website, and I am going to use the skills I practised when creating the
website. The branding within the website will correlate to the opening I created as the font
will remain the same, the colour scheme will and the genre will be continued throughout.