FMP Week 2
Crit with Alys
The first day back we began with a preliminary crit just to get a sense of what our ideas are and what we should consider doing next. I explained by new idea that was a situational comedy style web series that was based on my own friendship group. When discussing research I explained that I had been watching Bollywood films about friendship, Alys suggested that it might be worth making a key theme in my series my ethnicity. She suggested that my own unique perspective could be that of a British Indian female and that I should use my project as a chance to subvert any antiquated stereotypes about my culture, such as pressure from parents, misconceptions about arranged marriages and differences in cuisine etc. She also pointed out that whilst drawing inspiration from my own friend group is a good idea I should be weary not to alienate my audience and that humour is subjective and I need to make it as inclusive and universal as possible. To do this she suggested I look into comedy writing podcasts and videos. So I began by watching this Ted ed video about comedy which gave me a basic introduction to the principles of comedy. It breaks down the theory behind observational comedy, and how it is the details in sitcoms that make them funny, it also explains character archetypes and how it is good to play up a characters flaw or perhaps put them in situations that are the complete opposite of what the character is used to.
Experimenting with ideas about being Indian and why I won't use them
After Aly's crit I decided to start looking at how portrayals of Indians living abroad has changed over the last couple of decades. I looked into widely recognised films such as Bend it like Beckham and the depiction of Apu in the Simpson's. I then compared these to more contemporary shows like Aziz Ansari's Master of None and Hasan Minaj's stand up show 'Homecoming'. The older films portray Indians in a strange light where there only character trait is that they are simply Indian and often that is the punchline of many jokes. Whereas newer shows such as Master of None are actually written by second generation immigrant Indians and give a much more holistic perspective into what it's like being Indian. They show complex people whose situations are no different to people's of other ethnicities and when their heritage is mentioned it's only a small part of who they are their culture is celebrated. I have really enjoyed how Indians have reclaimed the narrative in recent years by writing themselves characters who have character traits beyond their ethnicity and if I were to emphasise my experience as a British Indian I would be going against the progress I so much admire in other shows by Indian writers. For this reason, whilst I still intend to feature a British Indian protagonist, I won't be looking any further in Aly's suggestion. One idea that I did like from watching Master of None was how Aziz Ansari and his friends all starred and took turns between writing, directing and producing different episodes. Whilst I wouldn't depend on my friends to star in my show I am interested in asking my friends to contribute ideas and be able to depend on them for feedback.
Potential Idea that I won't Use
A theme that was very common in the films and series I mentioned above was this idea of a double life or that Indian teenagers behave one way around their families and another in front of their friends. Playing on this idea I had an idea for sketch type film called 'Nayonica vs Inku' (inku being the nickname given to me by my Indian relatives). That looks at the differences in my behaviour around my family and at uni.
Getting a sense of dynamics within the friend group
In the crit Alys also suggested I draw up a diagram of all the people in our friendship group to identify any archetypes. I started looking through several pictures of my friendship group in my sketchbook. I also started asking members of my friend group for suggestions for characters and storylines. We also looked at shows like the Inbetweeners and Fresh meat simply because they dealt with the characters of the same age who met through the same circumstances. The characters and their rough personality traits we eventually decided on were (we still haven't decided on the premise for the show just the characters)
Charlie- Working class, plays rugby, is more metrosexual than he lets on, his name is short for Charlotte
Will-
Max-Charlie's best friend, is in a bromance with Charlie
Tilly
Tiff-Very sarcastic speaks once an episode to be sarcastic
M-People think it's em short for Emily, she is Charlie's girlfriend we never really meet her except via text message
Bernaliya- British/Indian, privileged background constantly argues with Charlie but they are also very good friends.
Sitcom and Web Series Tropes +Starting to think about my own characters and my Audience
I also began looking closely at other forms of series such as well as common tropes amongst sitcoms and I also revisited various children's TV shows because they are often under under 20 minutes long and often feature good examples of surreal shows so I thought I would study them as a means of learning more about short form stories. I looked specifically at Phones and Ferb and 5 minutes more.
I also started looking at various types of comedy and sitcom tropes such as laughter tracks and fourth wall breaks. One trope that I am very keen to use in my own series is the one central location where everything takes place. I think this would be interesting to do because it would require me to use the space available to me very economically in order to tell develop a narrative. I was inspired by the kitchen table series by Carrie Mae Weems which is a series of photographs that follow a family's home life centring around a kitchen table. I also looked to shows such as grandma's house, as the bell rings and The Big Bang theory which all feature one location where the cast often convene. As a result I decided that the premise of my show since it is based around university aged children should take place in the common room of a university halls of residence.
Web Series
I also started watching several mini web series that take a similar format to the one I am hoping to create. I noticed that a lot of them deal with similar sorts of topics such as unemployment and what's it like to be an ethnic minority or a woman. I concluded that they often deal with similar issues because they are written by people under 30 who have not yet been able to create content on mainstream avenues and therefore have used the web to distribute their. content as a result the topics presented are often relatable to people of a similar age demographic. It is also worth noting that web series are still predominantly being watched by the 14-25 demographic and this is the audience I am going to be aiming my own web series at.
The first day back we began with a preliminary crit just to get a sense of what our ideas are and what we should consider doing next. I explained by new idea that was a situational comedy style web series that was based on my own friendship group. When discussing research I explained that I had been watching Bollywood films about friendship, Alys suggested that it might be worth making a key theme in my series my ethnicity. She suggested that my own unique perspective could be that of a British Indian female and that I should use my project as a chance to subvert any antiquated stereotypes about my culture, such as pressure from parents, misconceptions about arranged marriages and differences in cuisine etc. She also pointed out that whilst drawing inspiration from my own friend group is a good idea I should be weary not to alienate my audience and that humour is subjective and I need to make it as inclusive and universal as possible. To do this she suggested I look into comedy writing podcasts and videos. So I began by watching this Ted ed video about comedy which gave me a basic introduction to the principles of comedy. It breaks down the theory behind observational comedy, and how it is the details in sitcoms that make them funny, it also explains character archetypes and how it is good to play up a characters flaw or perhaps put them in situations that are the complete opposite of what the character is used to.
Experimenting with ideas about being Indian and why I won't use them
After Aly's crit I decided to start looking at how portrayals of Indians living abroad has changed over the last couple of decades. I looked into widely recognised films such as Bend it like Beckham and the depiction of Apu in the Simpson's. I then compared these to more contemporary shows like Aziz Ansari's Master of None and Hasan Minaj's stand up show 'Homecoming'. The older films portray Indians in a strange light where there only character trait is that they are simply Indian and often that is the punchline of many jokes. Whereas newer shows such as Master of None are actually written by second generation immigrant Indians and give a much more holistic perspective into what it's like being Indian. They show complex people whose situations are no different to people's of other ethnicities and when their heritage is mentioned it's only a small part of who they are their culture is celebrated. I have really enjoyed how Indians have reclaimed the narrative in recent years by writing themselves characters who have character traits beyond their ethnicity and if I were to emphasise my experience as a British Indian I would be going against the progress I so much admire in other shows by Indian writers. For this reason, whilst I still intend to feature a British Indian protagonist, I won't be looking any further in Aly's suggestion. One idea that I did like from watching Master of None was how Aziz Ansari and his friends all starred and took turns between writing, directing and producing different episodes. Whilst I wouldn't depend on my friends to star in my show I am interested in asking my friends to contribute ideas and be able to depend on them for feedback.
Potential Idea that I won't Use
A theme that was very common in the films and series I mentioned above was this idea of a double life or that Indian teenagers behave one way around their families and another in front of their friends. Playing on this idea I had an idea for sketch type film called 'Nayonica vs Inku' (inku being the nickname given to me by my Indian relatives). That looks at the differences in my behaviour around my family and at uni.
Getting a sense of dynamics within the friend group
In the crit Alys also suggested I draw up a diagram of all the people in our friendship group to identify any archetypes. I started looking through several pictures of my friendship group in my sketchbook. I also started asking members of my friend group for suggestions for characters and storylines. We also looked at shows like the Inbetweeners and Fresh meat simply because they dealt with the characters of the same age who met through the same circumstances. The characters and their rough personality traits we eventually decided on were (we still haven't decided on the premise for the show just the characters)
Charlie- Working class, plays rugby, is more metrosexual than he lets on, his name is short for Charlotte
Will-
Max-Charlie's best friend, is in a bromance with Charlie
Tilly
Tiff-Very sarcastic speaks once an episode to be sarcastic
M-People think it's em short for Emily, she is Charlie's girlfriend we never really meet her except via text message
Bernaliya- British/Indian, privileged background constantly argues with Charlie but they are also very good friends.
Sitcom and Web Series Tropes +Starting to think about my own characters and my Audience
I also began looking closely at other forms of series such as well as common tropes amongst sitcoms and I also revisited various children's TV shows because they are often under under 20 minutes long and often feature good examples of surreal shows so I thought I would study them as a means of learning more about short form stories. I looked specifically at Phones and Ferb and 5 minutes more.
I also started looking at various types of comedy and sitcom tropes such as laughter tracks and fourth wall breaks. One trope that I am very keen to use in my own series is the one central location where everything takes place. I think this would be interesting to do because it would require me to use the space available to me very economically in order to tell develop a narrative. I was inspired by the kitchen table series by Carrie Mae Weems which is a series of photographs that follow a family's home life centring around a kitchen table. I also looked to shows such as grandma's house, as the bell rings and The Big Bang theory which all feature one location where the cast often convene. As a result I decided that the premise of my show since it is based around university aged children should take place in the common room of a university halls of residence.
Web Series
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