Target Audience and Relevant examples in script
Sheffield Live! prides itself in being a community focused group which actively involves local volunteers to help create the shows and run the channel. The station helps organise events, create education, employment and training opportunities in the local area and advertise and promote local businesses. They believe that all its content should be beneficial to the community of Sheffield and shine a positive light on Sheffield's events and companies. It was important we reflected this in our script and so that was why we were asked to add a section talking about local game developers (Sumo Digital) as well as national news.
In the UK, according to The Guardian (above), more than a third of gamers are between the ages of 8 and 24; over 15 million are between 8 and 44, more than half of UK Gamers. For the script we have created, we are targeting those between 18 and 34 due to the content being more applicable to these ages. We wrote a topic reviewing 'Dark Souls: Scholar of the First Sin' which is an 18 rated video game. This game can't be played by younger viewers of the show, which we expect to have watching due to the 8-17 age demographic having the greatest share of 22%. The Games Corner will be shown during daytime television pre-watershed meaning viewers of any age can access the show. To cater for younger audiences, we added a section reviewing a game appropriate for all ages, 'Disney Infinity 3', which has a 7+ Rating. This particular topic is furthermore is the product of Sumo Digital, a local games developer, which satisfies Sheffield Live!'s local target,
Client's Likes and Dislikes
Vicky particularly liked that the script had the correct format; 'Overall I really like the style of the script - I kept wanting to read!'. This shows that our attention to the script detail and it's 'timeline/running order' worked really well and was appropriate for the show. Vicky also replied to our question regarding Target Audience; ' It was very much suited towards the correct target audience and will be easy to understand for a variety of gamers'. This proves we had selected and aimed at entertaining the correct target audience in terms of demographic and interests. The only suggested improvement was that the script should bring attention to local and indie developers. This is so it would have a strengthened link with local viewers who may have interest in the work of Game Developers in and around Sheffield.
Changes Made
Based on our Feedback, we concluded that we needed to add a local themed topic as well include a topic looking at gaming on other platforms (PC/Tablet etc.) and the work of indie developers. In our updated script we will be adding a segment talking about the latest work from local gaming developer, Sumo Games, based in Sheffield, who are currently working on creating Disney Infinity 3's racing mode. This satisfies the local aspect and indie developer suggestion made by the client.
Script Analysis
1. Style, Content and Layout
Following the examples of scripts I have analysed in LO1, I decided to type this script in Courier font size 12. The content selected for our script reflected news that would be relevant and recent for the week of release for the particular episode of the Games Corner. Our script's first draft was completed for the 3rd of April 2015, meaning we looked at Games to be released around that week (Project CARS etc.) as well as gaming events immediately prior to that episode (e.g. EGX Rezzed). The topics also reflected the target audience as we used the proposed audience profile and mood board to influence the scripts' content. The layout and format of the script follows the conventions of a script, where dialogue and the person speaking it is positioned in the 'justified centre' of the script. Directions for the camera, visual descriptions and scene expositions have been aligned to the right, separated from dialogue.
2. Language
Due to the informal nature of the show, the script reflects some informality to make greater connection with the audience; for example, a host makes a joke and both of them of laugh:
'Nintendo are hoping to make an official release announcement early next year.
CUT TO STUDIO
JORDAN
Not too long to wait then.
(HOSTS laugh)'
There does have to be a certain degree of formality to convey that the news is genuine and to resemble the standard conventions of a Television news segment. This is done via clear and concise descriptions of each story; e.g 'The ‘FromSoftware’ and ‘Bandai Namco Games’ creation was released on the 2nd of April. The main changes of the next gen upgrade are the 1080p and 60FPS capabilities, making the game much more detailed.'
3. Mode of Address
This script has both an educational and informal mode of address (peer to peer and teacher to pupil), due to the use of language. There are instances where the hosts talk to each other in the 'peer to peer' mode which shows how the program wants to communicate with its audience.
4. Shooting Script Conventions
There are certain 'conventions' that we need to put into in the final draft, which we didn't add to the first draft in order to achieve a full 'industry standard' script. These include more camera directions (angles, framing, motion etc.), visual and audio transitions as well as a location and time description for the studio broadcast.
Ethical and Legal Considerations
As we had a review for an explicit rated game, 'Dark Souls', it was important that were no explicit visuals or swearing shown due to the possibility of audiences under 18 watching it. We made sure that overall, the content of the script included no swearing, portrayal of offensive themes or visuals that may be distressing to younger audiences (gore/sex etc.).
The Games Corner will be shown during daytime television pre-watershed meaning viewers of any age can access the show. As I mentioned, we will ensure there will be no expletive language or offensive themes within our script.
In terms of bias, we think the script is balanced well between the opinions of the hosts, as they have an equal share of dialogue, but there are no 'extreme' examples of outright opinion which could provide bias towards or against a particular topic. This is very important to maintain the professionalism of TV news broadcasts and furthermore it limits potential offence that may be made towards viewers if the hosts 'oppose' a particular topic. The informal factor of the show means that there can be some discussion of opinion in order to keep the flow of conversation as well hook the interest of the viewers. An instance of this would be when the hosts introduce the 'Spotlight Review' of Project CARS; because they, and many viewers anticipate the game to be great, the game is shown in a positive light. Specific examples include 'potential to become the greatest racing simulator' as well as the hosts trying to promote the game by enticing viewers to get the game by revealing details of free content available for players, 'Players will be offered additional free content for having to wait for the delays, as well as free cars every month.'
The topics that will be discussed by the hosts of the Games Corner are properly credited because they will say the companies responsible for developing and publishing the game (e.g. after introducing the first news piece about Dark Souls 2, Jordan states the game was created by FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Games). In order to use visuals and audio from games we will have to reference and give credit to the copyright owners in the shows credits. According to the Copyright Hub, as long as permission is gained by the original author of the copyrighted content, then it should be okay for broadcasting on TV as long as it is not being used for commercial profit. Sheffield Live! TV owns a license allowing for the use of said visuals and audio provided they are used in a educational format, which is what they will be used for; to provide information in The Games Corner.
Libel means 'false information', so we ensured that all facts were correct to the time of the episode. We used reliable and trusted sources from a range of websites to ensure that a particular story was correct. For example, we selected Project CARS as our Spotlight game review as we initially thought the game was to be released on the 2nd of April. Using IGN and Wikipedia, we found out that the game was being delayed and due to this, players would receive free content for waiting; 'Players will be offered additional free content for having to wait for the delays, as well as free cars every month. The first of which will be the Lykan Hypersport'. This news influenced our script and visuals. Because the news was from a reliable source, IGN which is a leader amongst videogame sites, it was viable to put this content in the script.
