The document discusses using costumes, props, and locations to effectively establish characters and their personalities in television shows. It provides examples from the British sci-fi drama "Misfits" of how each character's costume conveys information about them. It also discusses how the locations chosen for scenes in shows like "Lost" help set the mood and make the story feel more realistic. The document emphasizes how important these elements are for low-budget student films in building believable characters and worlds without large budgets.

1. TV CREDITS EVALUATION
The task we got given to complete over 6 weeks was to create the opening
sequence for A new original SIFI/fantasy British television drama which would air
on BBC3.
We had to get into groups of 2 so that we would have help and support in
producing the final video, I chose to go with Kristie as I think we are on the same
level and would help each other in the process.

2. COSTUMES
Make-up and costumes are part of the “Mise en scene," in film and television. They
are a vital part of the pre production and production as they help establish the
overall look and mood of the piece of media. As we knew that it was very important
my partner and myself took great care in choosing the characters outfits and
making sure they fitted the role in a way that the audience could sense what
personality they were presented with before any words or actions had been taken
by that character.
An example of where costume is made effective is in the British television Si Fi drama
Misfits which is written by Howard Overman
In misfits they represent each different character through their costume very
effectively, because just from the opening section just from looking at the characters
you gain a clear understanding of the disposition of their character therefore can
predict what they will be hold for the series, which is important when making a
television show because you need to keep viewers and the only way to do that is to
keep the audience happy.

3. Below I have I labelled the understanding which
I received from each character before I got to
know them.
SIMON: He comes across as a shy
character for many reasons which are
shown in the opening. Firstly his
appearance, he has his hair all to one
side, with a perfect parting, he also
has his orange suit buttoned up to the
top and sleeves all the way down his
arms, this shows he likes everything
to be covered and neat. He also
stands in away which would suggest
that he is not confident, hands in
pockets and slouched back, keeping
himself to himself unlike many of the
others. His peers pick of this as well
and call him ‘the weird kid’.

4. • KELLY: She comes across as a
quite aggressive and disrespected
member of the group because of the
way she behaves, talks and dresses. I
would group her in the class of a ‘chav’
as she has all the stereo typical
elements which that would
represent, including having her hair
scraped back into a pony
tail, accompanied by large gold hoop
earrings and Adidas trainers with her
orange jump suit. The way she is
choosing to stand also helps the
audience get this social image of her
because she has both her elbow
leaning backwards onto the bar, this
represents to the audience that she's
ready for anyone and anything. Overall
she comes across as a strong and
powerful character.

5. • CURTIS: Everything about Curtis
reflects the fact that he doesn’t want to
or even think that he should be in
community service. This outfit shows
this because he has it jump suit tied
around his waist, while wearing a grey
vest top which is only half his uniform
whilst everyone else is wearing it up
on their top half, Because he is in the
vest top it shows how muscular he is
which makes you believe he sporty
and enjoys working out. He does
come across as a confident character
because of the “i shouldn’t even be
here’ which shows he thinks he’s
better than all the other young
offenders and this is demonstrated in
his body language when he is leaning
away from everyone else on the bar.

6. • ALISHA: For the most past Alisha
comes across as a stuck up, girly girl
flirt. Everything she does in the opening
scene reflects this assumption. Her
appearance for example, she
accessories her orange jump suit with a
variation of things which will also
compliment her figure more, she has
the buttons undone so she can show of
her cleavage and then a belt around the
waist to give her some shape and finally
she rolls up the ankles of the bottoms to
make them skinny on her legs. The flirty
side of her is represented while she is
playing with her hair the whole time in a
seductive way. She picks up her phone
half way thought the opening and
completely ignores the support working
orders to hang up, this shows she's
stuck up and cheeky because of her
obvious disbandment of orders.

7. • NATHAN: Nathan all the way
though the opening comes across
as a cheeky, confident and strong
character. He does this with all of
his remarks and blatant answering
back and trying to cause trouble
within the group. He is also
represented as the main character
because of the editing of the
shots, nearly every shot goes back
toward him after each others of the
different misfits. His appearance
doesn’t really give away that much
to do with his character apart from
not really caring, because he has
his hair which his messy and curly
and his jumpsuit which is done up
nearly to the top, he is also standing
in the middle of the group with a few
people on the other sides of
him, this makes him seem to the
audience as the main character.

8. • We wanted to create the same detail in our own sequence so we
looked at costume in great detail. An example is with our
character Tyler who is played by Tomas Mantle. He is wearing a
Jack Wills rugby shirt, this gives off a number of impressions to
the audience. One of them is that he is from a privileged
background as Jack Wills is a expensive brand and is known for
having a high class representation. Also because it is a rugby
shirt it makes the assumption that he plays and enjoys sports
which would put him in the stereotypical category of jock. He has
also got neat hair and looks clean and tidy this shows that he
takes pride in his appearance and cares what other people think
of him. He is boat shoes which are a common fashions item
which allows the audience to see that he have money to keep up
with fashion trends.

9. PROPS AND LOCATION
• Props and location are often over looked when making a low
budget project because they seem minor compared to script
and other more important aspects of the production. However
Kristie and myself did not want to over look props and location
as they can really make a mark on your video for positive or
negative. In preproduction when looking at where, when and
how to film certain shots we always looked for the best
location to make the scene appear as real as possible, we
also always tried to bring in as many props to help add
atmosphere to the scene, for example when we needed a
car, we used our connections and had a car at college which
we were free use willingly with access for as long as we
needed. Examples of how we used our props and location
scouting are below.

10. In this scene when the character Grace
is packing her bag up, the location is key
because she is in a bedroom which is
styled perfectly for her personality. She
is on a single bed which implies that the
room is small and has a tatty second
hand science textbook which both could
imply that she has not come from a
particularly wealthy family. The
wallpaper and bed sheets both have
flowers on them which gives us the
impression that she is rather girly and
sweet which also leans into the naïve
part of a possible personality. The
location of this room is actually in my
house, it's my older sisters room and it's
actually much bigger but you can't see it
with the angle and the framing that we
have done, this location was easy to get
to but it looks effective rather than filming
it at college, which looks nothing like a
actual room would look like.

11. • In this scene the character Alexa
who is played my myself, Lucy
Taylor, is spraying perfume in her
room as she gets ready for college.
There are a number of props scene
which I feel makes the shot more
effective and real to the audience in
reflecting the personality of Alexa.
For example there are photos on the
wall which shows that she
young, popular and proud. The wall
which the photos is on is green
which bright which reflects her
outgoing personality. She is spraying
perfume which is a something that
we wanted her to do as one of the
actions in the opening because it
exhibits her girly and self obsessed
attitude towards herself.

12. An example in the media of location is the SIFI television
series LOST which is about the survivors of a severe plane
crash which ends up on a remote island.
The parts of the lost that are filmed in present
day, which means on the island and not in a
flashback to the characters past were filmed in
the Hawaiian island of Oahu. However the
producers of the show make the show look
effectively like a remote island.
The location for lost is very important because the audience need to see
that the island has no human life and will be a struggle and challenge to live
on, and you wouldn't get that effect if it was all filmed in the middle of a New
York street. Of course some of it was filmed its various studios and green
screens across America for the most part it was filmed on natural habitats
and locations.

13. • Construction of character is when the audience gets a image of what
the character is like and knowing what there life entails. You do this
by showing parts of the personality to the audience and opening the
characters life up to them, so it seems like they know the character
personally. In a opening you need to especially build up a character
because if they like the first part of the series maybe the first
episode then my will continue to watch and build up a supportive
audience.

14. • In our opening we tried to construct
our characters as much as possible so
we tried to include scenes which could
drop hints of what would follow in the
upcoming episodes. One example of
this is in the scene where the
characters Tyler and Alexa are
hugging and laughing. This shows that
these two characters will in future
episodes be getting very close and
may even have a love story between
them. This makes the audience
hopeful and gives them something to
watch for as in our survey that we took
one of the aspects which they wanted
to see in a programme was a love
story.

15. The Simpsons is a great example of character
construction because in there opening you get
to know the personality of each character
through the actions of them getting home.
• The one which I am going to focus on is Bart
because in the opening you get to know
him really well, first is him writing lines on a
chalk board which makes us believe that he
is badly behaved at school. We also see him
skateboarding through the town, dodging
people and being inconsiderate. People in
the town also recognised him which shows
that he is popular in the town for being a
menace. All this information you get for
very short clips which make up a big picture
of this one character.

16. NARRATIVE
• In television shows opening its important to show a clear narrative of
what the show will include and hint at some of the storylines of the
show. This is because when watching the opening it should
represent the programme in short thus make you decide whether
you want to watch it or not. Many programmes don’t do this they
simply just have a short credit sequence which shows the name and
a little bit of motion from the actors.
• Such as Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries and HEROES

17. A great example of a show which displays clear narrative in it’s opening
sequence is DEXTER.
Throughout the opening a man which
you presume is Dexter getting ready
for the day. However whilst doing
so, everything becomes very violent
and crude. All of the actions become
vulgar and make you feel uneasy
because they seem to relate to murder
As he cuts a grapefruit up, it is made
to seem like flesh and the blood when
he is shaving is portrayed as he is
cutting himself. All this relates to the
narrative of the show which is that
Dexter is a serial killer. So from the
opening you get a clear idea of what
the show is going to represent.

18. • In, our opening we wanted to also
just like DEXTER, show what our
series narrative clearly. We did this
by using a overlay effect in final cut
to show the characters swapping
bodies. We did this for all the
characters together and then two at
a time, this gave a clue to the
narrative that it would just be the
four of them swapping.
• Another narrative hint in this shot is
that they are at college/school
because of the computers and work
posters in the background.
• I think it is important for this to
include the narrative in our opening
because otherwise it would just look
like a teenage TV drama like skins
or Waterloo Road and nothing like a
SIFI drama.

19. • In the process of making our credits
we knew that we wanted something
different to what is on Final Cut or
Photoshop, so we went to
www.dafont.com and searched
techno. Our search came up with a
few and to really see which one
looked the best we typed our show
name and compared on a sheet.
• The one which Kristie both decided
we liked best was TECHO LCD
• For all the names of the
actors, actresses and production team
members it was perfect.

20. However for the logo for the show ‘Switch’ we
wanted something a bit different, so it would stand
out and look for SIFI themed. So we decided to put
a glow effect so it would better relate to a
space/science effect.
On the switch logo title I created a new
canvas and used the bucket tool to paint
the background black. I then went onto
the to text tool and I typed in ‘Switch’. On
the layer of the text I right clicked and
selected blending options. A window then
appeared and I started to play around
with the settings that were available. I
added an outer glow, inner glow, bevel
and emboss so the text looked like it was
glowing. After creating the title I saved
them on a transparent background on
‘save for web and devices’ and later
imported them into final cut.

21. The friends credits are a inspiration to
me because everyone knows the font
is to do with FRIENDS when they see
it, this type of recognition is something
which you can only get with a great
long running television show. With
friends they also cut between original
clips from the first season opening and
Another great thing about the then to current season clips
FRIENDS opening credits is that the
font is the same throughout, so credits
of the actors and producers is the
same as the font, this font is called
Gabriel Weiss’. This works well
because it makes the whole opening
come together more as a whole and
looks more continuous.

22. EFFECTS
In the E4 show MISFITS
all the characters gain
supernatural powers and
Simons is that he can turn
himself invisible when he
is feeling ignored. The
effect that is created
when he is doing this to
do with overlay on final
cut on this face.
This looks effective because it means that you can no longer see his face in the
mess, he is also pulling a screaming face to show that he is in pain and doesn’t
know what is going on. This looks good to the audience because he feels just
as confused as he looks. It is sped up as well which makes it seem harsh and
abrupt I also like that it doesn’t happen to the whole body and just the head is
effected because that is where he is feeling ignored in his mind.

23. In our opening we wanted to use
the same sort of effect to what
happens to Simon in MISFITS
because we really liked the way it
left the audience feeling confused
as well.
However we did need to change
the effect slightly as we wanted it
to effect the whole body instead of
just the head.
To do this we used Final Cut and created many of the same clip and
overlaid then on different video tracks and them moved all of the them
slightly along to cause a delayed video which over crossed each other.
We also played around with some of the video filters to make the effect
look slightly more trippy. The one which we decided on was just colour
correction and only slightly made the 2 of the slips brighter so they
clash with the others. Unlike MISFITS we kept ours the same speed
because we wanted the audience to be able to see them effect clearly
as it is not on screen for a long period of time.

24. FRAMING OF CHARACTERS
In this key frame you can see Alexa
and Grace having a conversation
with each other. The ‘over the
shoulder shot’ is used to remind the
audience that they are having the
conversation with each other and
not other characters in the series.
The shot is looking at Grace’s
reaction to what Alexa is wearing
because its not what she would
usually dress herself in. This shot
works well because it is a
conventional shot for any film or
television show, therefore it does
not look out of place.

25. TYPE OF ACTION
Throughout our video you can see that the type of action is drama and
humour, there are several hints at this including two characters hugging
on the field which hints at a romantic relationship between two
characters which from our focus groups and surveys found out this is
wanted by the viewers and audience. More drama is shown when Tyler
throws a paper ball at Edwards head, this would cause conflict which
always results in drama between the group that you see forming in the
opening. Humour is reflected when Tyler has been put into Alexa’s body
and looks down her top, this is funny because this is what most teenage
boys would do if they had the chance to so they can relate to the action
on screen.

26. The most enjoyable aspect for me was the research. This is because I
have never really been interested in watching SIFI shows because I
don’t believe in supernatural or space. So this discouraged me to taking
a interest in any of the shows which I have seen be advised.
Before we started this project the only SIFI media that I ever watched
was a few episodes of LOST, Twilight and Harry Potter.
However from researching shows such as MISFITS, HEROES and
Vampire Diaries and finding our that there is more to SIFI than just
Doctor Who and Star Wars I have really opened myself up too other
types of TV shows other than the normal ones which I watch for
example How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory.
So this project has helped me find my section of SIFI which I enjoy and
I think that it has been reflected in the television show that we have
created as I think it has the same audience as MISFITS rather than
Star Trek, because of the light science fiction and teen references.

27. • I found editing the hardest because in the past projects at in this
course where we have had to do editing we were always working
alone so if we came into a conflict we could solve it easily and
quickly. But when you ate working with another person you have to
check everything with them to make sure they agree otherwise they
may not like it and then you have to go back and change it later on
which is counter productive.
• The editing is also difficult because although you can both sit at the
laptop with earphones, but only one person can be in control of the
laptop this means the other person just has to watch and this can be
very boring and tiresome. So the other person always ends up
getting distracted and losing focus which makes it hard for the editor
to consult them on the progress and changes throughout.
• One way which we did help this situation is that while I was editing
Kristie made all the credits on the desk next to me and so she was
doing something instead of just wasting her time and she was still
next to me so I could talk to her about the editing process.

28. • During pre-production, production and post production Kristie and
myself faces a number of difficulties and problems but we managed
to overcome them all.
1. One of the first problems that we uncounted during pre-production
is that neither Kirstie or myself had really watched any science
fiction TV shows so we we’re stuck with what to type of show to do
it on. To solve this we decided to watch a few that night that the first
episode in order for us to gain a better understanding for us to
actually make our own. It did really help because I gave us a idea
of what counted as Science Fiction genre.
2. The biggest problem that we faced in production was that after we
had filmed a few of the scenes with Doug who was supposed to be
playing Tyler he fell sick and could not continue filming the next day
when we needed all four of the actors. This caused huge stress
because we only found out the morning of the day we were
shooting.

29. To solve this huge problem we spent some time on the phone to
our actor Thomas who was originally meant to play Edward but instead
had to play Tyler. Then we had to try to find someone else who could
play the role of Edward and we asked another boy called Harry but he
was not free when we needed him because he had a lesson. So in the
end we had to use one of our class mates Ed. However he was also
busy making his own project so he could only film for a short space of
time. So everything which we filmed with him was quite rushed and he
was wearing all the same clothes which was something that we really
did not want to happen. Luckily Thomas had more time available to film
the parts which needed re-filming because Doug being unavailable, this
made things less stressful and brought the quality of the video up
slightly. In the end we did manage to get all of the stuff filmed on the
planned day but it was a pain doing because of the cancelations
3. One of the last problems which Kristie and myself faced was that
in post production we realised that we really did not have enough clips
to make the video long enough to fit within the boundary. So during
lunch that day we went out and filmed a few extra scenes that we could
think of which included the both of us that would help us tell the story
better. This worked quite well because I think we managed to get some
strong clips which actually work really well in the final video.

30. • Working in a group of two had many positives but it did have its fair
share of negatives as well.
• Some of the positives were that if you were ever stuck for ideas or
you needed help someone was always there to help you figure what
is missing from it or how to solve the problem.
• Another positive is that you could always share the work, so it got
done much faster and still to a high standard. If there is part of the
whole project process that you do not like or feel that its not your
strongest part, odds are the other person will be good at it and enjoy
it. So during the process with another person most of the time you
get to do the bits which you are strongest at
• However there are some negatives. One of them being that you
have to consult your partner about every part of the process and if
you have a idea and you love it your partner may not which means
that the idea has to be scrapped.

31. • Another negative is that you have to spend large amounts of time with
your partner and if you don’t always get on with them that can cause
difficulties because of the lack of communication
• One more negative is that if the other member of your group is absent
you are quite often stuck for what to do because maybe they haven't
brought the work in simply just haven't done it. That’s another problem if
your partner is lazy and doesn’t have time to do the work, luckily that
wasn’t a problem with me because Kristie is a very dedicated student like
myself.
• Organisation with two people is easier because you can fit into into each
others free time, however with Kristie and myself we both have very
demanding jobs outside of college working all weekend and good number
of nights during the week so we found organisation. So we found that
sometime we had to give up some of the free time during lunch and after
college to make ourselves available to meet up and do more planning to
help us end up with a final product that we would both be proud of
• Over all having a partner was better than working alone because of all
the help you can get and communication really isn't that hard between
two people as long as they get on good together but I would not have
wanted to work in a bigger group than 3 people it would have been too
hard.

32. As Kristie and myself get closer towards the draft copy of our edit, we
bot decided that we needed to start thinking about which music was to
be included in our opening credits and intro.
We wanted the same style of music as Bands such as Green Day and
Oasis, so in the genre of American punk and British Rock. This is
because of the energy that this type of music gives off. We also wanted
the music to seem upbeat but not the pop upbeat music which you hear
in American sitcoms. I knew a band which sung, recorded and
performed this style of music, that their name is Sterling, they have a
MySpace and Facebook page which they post their latest music and
performance dates.

33. I listened to all their available music
and found two which I thought would
be appropriate for the opening and
style which we want to create. I
showed both to Kristie how was at
the time busy making the shot list
and she liked one but not the other.
The one which we both liked was
Historia. The next step that I took
was I contacted the lead singer of the
band, Dale Taylor. I know him
personally because I went to the
same school and he used to teach
me guitar, so I sent him a email via
COPYRIGHT:
Facebook. “the exclusive right to make
This was perfect because we got a copies, license, and otherwise
exploit a literary, musical, or artistic
great song that we really liked and work, whether
suits the TV show perfectly and we printed, audio, video, etc.: works
granted such right by law on or
got to use it without breaking any after January 1, 1978, are protected
copyright laws. for the lifetime of the author or
creator and for a period of 50 years
after his or her death.”

34. Its important that we got permission before we used the song
because, using someone else's content without their permission is illegal if
they have not given creative commons on it.
Another ethical consideration which we needed to take into account is to
make sure that we had a range of ethical backgrounds in our cast list to
avoid being open to being judged for racism and other prejudgments.
We did not purposely take action, however it so happened that we avoided
having a all British white cast by having Kristie Cheng who is Chinese play
the role of grace.

35. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
During this whole project I have used a variety of different computer
systems, some of which I have used before and have learnt more from
and others which were completely new.
One of the software that I used was Final Cut Express which I had used
before in other college units and at home but during this unit I learnt
some new skills which I feel will help me with future projects and tasks.
One of the skills that I learnt was how important video filters can be to
make your video more interesting to add some variation to the clips to
make it more exciting and interesting. Even if it is just a slight bit of
colour correction it can make a lot of difference.
Key framing was a vital part of our production, because it is what
created the effect where they changed bodies and without that effect
the whole opening would not have any meaning towards Science
Fiction, it would just be a teenage drama like SKINS.
One software that I had never used before was NEED TO FINISH

36. The target audience that we got given to create our product for was the
audience of BB3 which is:
MALE- 17
SHOPS: TOPMAN, RIVER ISLAND, ARK, URBAN OUTFITTERS.
FOOD: NANDOS, REDBULL, DORITOS, MCDONALDS, SNICKERS
TVSHOWS: MISFITS, INBETWEENERS, FAMILY GUY, CLEVELAND SHOW.
FILMS: STEPBROTHERS, ADULTHOOD, ROLE MODLES, HANGOVER
GAMES: TEMPLE RUN, CALL OF DUTY, FIFA.
INTERNET: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE FEMALE -17
SHOPS: TOPSHOP, ZARA, H&M , URBAN OUTFITTERS
FOOD:NANDOS, WAGAMAMAS, MCDONALDS AND STARBUCKS
TVSHOWS: THE ONLY WAY IS ESSEX, SKINS AND MISFITS
FILMS: MEAN GIRLS, WHITE CHICKS AND DEVIL WEARS PRADA
GAMES: TEMPLE RUN AND ANGRY BIRDS
INTERNET: FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND TUMBLR.
Overall based on the target audience I feel as though our show based on the
opening is too young for the target audience and channel which we had to
base it on. I think a better channel for it too be aired on would be CBBC, as it
reflects the younger audience more. If I could change it I would make the
whole opening darker and more gloomy to make it seem more like a teenage
Science Fiction such True Blood or Heroes and less like the Sarah Jane
Adventures. If we did this and also included a few more conventional teenage
aspects such as parties, drinking and drugs we would gain a few years onto
the target audience and bring it up to BBC THREES target audience.

37. The strengths of our opening are that the music is very power and has a
catchy guitar hook which would get in people heads. Also a lot of the edits fit
it with the music which is something we got advised to include as it makes
the opening seem very clean cut and effectively sharp. Even though we
muted the background sound in order to hear the music better it doesn’t look
like a music video which is a success because that was something which we
were nervous about
Another strength I think is that all the clips are off good quality, and look as
they have been thought out before shooting. We produced a good variation
of camera angles which stay consistent and do not strain the eye whist
watching.
The credits which we produced looked great and suited the style of the
opening perfectly, most of them were placed in parts which were easy to read
and for the right space of time.
From feedback I have learnt that in the first section of the characters getting
ready it is easy to determine between each character and their different
actions which they are doing in order to get ready for college.
One of last strengths in a certain part in the editing when Grace is arriving at
college, and she bumps into two boys because she is too preoccupied with
her phone and it switches from a side view to a long shot just as they knock
her this gives the audience a feeling of being knocked as well and is
extremely effective I think.

38. The first of our weaknesses with our video is that we struggled to use many
filters during the editing because we ran out of time and inspiration. I think
this makes the opening seem boring and dull because most of it is in the
same light and looks as though it had been filmed one after the other even
though this is not the case.
Another weakness is that at the end of the opening the music and text just
cut off, if I could change it now I would fade both to give it a smoother and
cleaner ending rather than the abrupt one it has now.
The last weakness is that the opening lacks shots of the boys and
especially Edward. Most of the shots are of the girls interaction with each
other, this is because shooting with Kristie and myself is easier than figuring
out when the boys are free and then taking them away somewhere to film. If
I could change it I would have given us more time to film all of the scenes
instead of just a week given us two weeks because then we could have
recorded more with the boys and involved then in more of the shots.

39. Our original idea was ‘teenagers swapping bodies’ and I think that we stuck
with that idea very well. At first we wanted to make it much like skins, which
parties and drugs being a main aspect but that soon changed when we
wanted it to be more family friendly and we may have gone a bit far with the
family friendly as now its very clean of all that teenage stuff but we still have
stuck to the same simple idea and with the same high school character
conventions which we took inspiration from places such as ‘The Breakfast
Club’ and ‘Mean Girls’.
In conclusion I am very happy with how our final product turned out and am
proud at how hard Kristie and myself works to get it too the high standard
which we believe that it is at.