'The Lost Child'*

The Lost Child is a book written by _________________ which was serialised in The Daily Mail in early 2009. They featured extracts from the book, the son's response to the book, the mother's justification for writing and publishing the book, experts' opinions, public opinions and further comments.

I found that the son's POV was quite simillar to that of my peers... TBC

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1160085/Mum-did-obscene-The-son-Julie-Myerson-kicked-smoking-pot-tells-story.html

Comparison of Drug Representations in TV Dramas

‘90210’
Drugs are represented as serious with stresses on the punishments in the episode. Further episodes show that Adrianna gets her life back on track easily which is pretty unrealistic. But the portrayal of how drugs can ruin a life is realistic, it also shows that adults aren't needed to kick a drug habit (as seen in Waterloo Road). This demonstrates a high level of responsibility and teenagers can relate to certain situations.

‘Skins’
Despite its far-fetched, pushing boundaries approach, Skins is quite realistic. Teenagers can remember, or at least relate to, situations shown and the characters are approachable in a way that many teenagers aren't in TV dramas.

‘The OC’
The OC glosses over drug use immensely and is therefore the most unrealistic in its approach. There is no drug use actually shown on screen it is only implied, and then the effects are too OTT for anyone to relate to.

'Waterloo Road'
Waterloo Road plays along the storyline that only adults are able to (or responsible enough) to help with drugs. They also see it as an inherently bad habit which isn't present within many pupils, using the character you would least expect (and would never do it in real life) to be the person using drugs. This makes it unrealistic as the characters who are involved in the storyline are not believable as ever wanting to use drugs.

Drugs in 'Waterloo Road' (4.5)

In episode 5 of series 4 of 'Waterloo Road' there were 81 references to drugs verbally or through images. Below are some points I picked out/quotes to show the attitude of the show towards drugs:

- Banner of "Waterloo Road says no to drugs" outside was changed to"Waterloo Road says more drugs please"
- "Are you ready for the drugs awareness day?"
- "It's not like we're trying to label the kids as a bunch of dopeheads"
- Marley (head boy) lights up a 'spliff' with paper
- "Treating us like junkies, for what, a bit of a smoke at the weekend?"
- Gotta go to this drgs thingy"
- "Don't want messages like this [banner] going out to the pupils do ya?"
- Secret taker"
- "Right rebel"
- Drugs & alcohol awareness leaflets
- Drugs awareness campaign
- Drugs education classes
- "Life of crime"
- "The only people having fun with drugs are the dealers"
- Sting of teacher with drugs
- Cheek swabs
- "When you live with someone who gets off their face every night, you'll see"
- "they'll pack you off to drugs awareness sessions"
- "Legalise Drugs Now" picture with teacher holding banner (in 70sish)
- Questioning Steph (French teacher) about drugs
- Banner at the end (55mins)

Drugs in '90210'

- Drugs are mentioned at the end of the catch up clip which starts the show "welcome to the big league" (drug dealer to Adrianna)
- 4:34 Adrianna putting drops into eyes when Naomi comes over to her
- 5 mins Naomi implies Adrianna has a drug problem (a continuation of what had been building up from the previous episode)
- Naomi says "I hear thing, I know things" to Adrianna when confronting her
- 7:30ish Adrianna messing up lines when practising for her audition, 7:36 shows her using cocaine to settle her nerves

• She takes it from the lipstick container & wipes it over her teeth after sniffing it
• She has no problem doing her lines after she's taken drugs

- 13:47 Adrianna in a car when her mother says she's celebrating getting her film part, it's assumed that she's doing drugs
- 21:10ish Kimberly says to a guy in detention "so, detention, bad kids...any idea where a girl can score some party favours?"
- 21:46 Naomi picks lipstick case out of Adrianna's bag

• Find out Naomi used to do drugs - "I know this lipstick container" to which Adrianna replies "I know, it was yours"

- 22 mins Naomi says "I experimented then I stopped"
- 22:25ish police do a drugs search
- 22:34 Adrianna admits to Naomi "You're right, I'm using but it's not like I am addicted, I can stop whenever I want, I'm just like under so much pressure from my mum..." when the search starts
- 22:46 Cops pull weed from a guy's locker

- 22:50 Adrianna panics and says "I'm gonna get busted, I'm gonna get kicked out of school, I'm gonna lose the movie, I'm gonna lose everything"
- Naomi takes the drugs from Adrianna to save her friend
- 23:15 Shows Naomi putting drugs down the toilet and flushing before police come in

• See Naomi being led away in cuffs to a car

- 22:33 Cop says to Harry "the coke was in the lipstick"
- Harry defends drugs bust by saying "I don't want drugs on this campus"
- Harry accuses Ryan Matthews of defending drug dealers when he said Harry's actions were a bit extreme
- Harry said (on the students having rights) "they don't have the right to bring drugs to campus"
- Annie saw what happened and said "those weren't her drugs Ethan"
- Adrianna talks about the C & C Club when Annie & Ethan confront her, which turns out to be the cocaine & champagne club, which Naomi initiated her into
- According to Ethan, Naomi "realised how stupid it [taking drugs] was"
- Naomi's mum raids her room to look for drugs
- Naomi sees her dad as being able to "make it [drug charges] go away " with money
- 27:20 Naomi, whne talking to Adrianna, who gets upset, says "hey, maybe it [rehab] coudl be a good career move"
- Scripting reveals drugs make it harder to go to collage, get a job & likely to go to jail/juvenile detention
- Undercover cop (Kimberly) being used to try and catch a dealer or supplier
- 39:24 At the end see Adrianna on the floor with paramedics, intercut with Naomi leaving a message on Adrianna's phone, as Adrianna had overdosed
- Episode ends with Naomi saying (in a message to Adrianna) "you're dead to me"

Drugs in 'The OC'

There's really not that many drugs in The OC even though I picked an episode where they are mentioned.

They come mostly towards the end (31 mins) when Trey takes what is assumed to be cocaine using his key, which had been hidden down the side of the sofa. The shot is cut before you can see him taking it, it's assumed he does before he attempts to rape Marissa. There's no focus on teh drugs as it's a clean cut US teen drama.

Institutional Information

90210
Episode: "Hollywood Forever" (series 1.7)
Broadcast date & time: 02/03/09 at 9pm
Channel: E4
American - sold to UK, Australia (cancelled after 4 episodes), India, Ireland & Finland

Skins
Episode: "Chris" (series 1.4)
Broadcast date & time: 15/02/07 at 10pm
Channel: E4
British - sold to Ireland, Australia, France, New Zealand, USA

The OC
Episode: "The return of the Nana" (Series 2.20)
Broadcast date & time: 31/05/05 at 8pm
Channel: C4
American - sold to Britain, Canada, Australia

Waterloo Road
Episode: 45 (Series 4.5)
Broadcast date & time: 04/02/09 at 8pm
Channel: BBC1
British

All dates, times & channels UK

Representation

Representation of the following is important and must be accurate:

• Gender
• Ethnicity
• NHS & hospital management plus other services

It must be challenging and questioning to the audience too

Realism

The concept of realism is as follows:

• Characters & storylines are plusible to provide the effect of reality for the audience
• Mise-en-scene is vital in creating the effect of reality. It suggests representation issues and appeal to the audience
• Camerawork aims to convey realism despite being stylised
• Sound, the use of predominantly diegetic sounds adds to the realism

BLK discussion points

1. Focus group planned for Saturday - check questions in advance with one of us
2. Think through theoretical concepts of realism and representation. Use 'easier' text books to pin these down rather than academic books which can be too detailed.
3. Institutional context - find out facts, production co's, broadcasters, international network rights etc

Focus Group Questions

Below are some questions/areas I want to talk to my focus group about:

I want them to think back to the TV they watched when they were younger (if they can remember) and name issues that they remember being represented in them, specifically drugs
Do they relate to the drug use in the clips?
How they see the drugs being represented in each clip?
Do they think the representation is realistic?
Can they relate to the relate to the representations?

Questionnaire

Here's the results of my questionnaire, which I will update as I get more results

Key:

‘90210’
‘Gossip Girl’
‘Skins’
‘Shameless’
‘The OC’
‘Waterloo Road’

Age (please write): 17, 18, 18, 17, 16, 17, 17, 18
Gender:
□ Male xxxxxx
□ Female xx
Which platform(s) do you use to watch TV? (Please tick all that apply)
□ Terrestrial TV xxx
□ Freeview xxx
□ Virgin Media xx
□ Sky xxxx
□ Internet streaming xxxxxx
□ On Demand service xx
□ BT Vision x
□ Other (please specify)
- P2P
Did/did you watch any of the following TV programmes? (Please tick all that apply)
TV Programme
Every Episode xx xx xxxxx xxx x
Every Second Episode xx
Less Regularly xx xx x x
Very Rarely x x
Never xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xx x
I used to watch it, but don’t anymore xx
Why do/did you watch the following TV programmes? (Please tick all that apply)
TV Programme
I enjoyed it xx xxxxx xxxx xxx
I liked the characters x
I relate to it
My friends/family watch it xx xx x
There’s nothing else on at the same time x xx x x x
Do you watch any of the following TV programmes at times other than their original broadcast date? (Please tick all that apply)
TV Programme
+1 Service (eg C4+1, E4+1 etc.) xx x xx xx
On Demand (eg. 4OD, BBC iPlayer etc.) xxxx x xxx xx
DVD Boxset xxx x
Downloaded x
I recorded it x x x x
Repeat xx x x
Do any of your friends take drugs?
□ Yes xxxxxx
□ No xx
□ Prefer not to say
Have you ever taken drugs?
□ Yes (go to 9) xx
□ No (go to 10) xxxxx
□ Prefer not to say (go to 10) x
Why? (Please tick all that apply)
□ I was curious x
□ Peer pressure
□ It looked cool
□ It looked fun
□ I was bored
□ Everyone else was taking them
□ I saw it on TV/in a film
□ Song lyrics inspired me
□ Other (please specify)
- "it fell into my mouth whilst taking a well earned nap"
Have you noticed the use of or reference to drugs in any of the following programmes? (Please tick all that apply)
TV Programme
Yes, seen them used xx xx xxxxxx xxxx x x
Yes, they were mentioned x x x x x
No, they weren’t mentioned
No, they weren’t used
I didn’t notice x xx x

Drugs in Waterloo Road

Series 1 episode 5
Broadcast 06/04/06 on BBC1 at 8pm

Zak is seen with a pharmacy bag emptying pills into it before throwing away the jar/pot. Because he's late and has no homework his teacher, Grantly Budgen, mocked him with animal noises and said he must've been "too busy smoking crack" .

There were prominently displayed 'Talk To Frank' posters in the young offenders phone area.

Budgen says later "if you ask me, he's [Zak] a little junkie"

Zak shows symptoms of drug abuse - he's sniffing and wiping his nose - which leads staff to suggest he's abusing solvents.

When Zak runs off from the 'cooler' the staff assume he's "gone for a fix" and they'd have to "crawl all the neighbouring crack dens" to find him. It is interesting how only the staff mention drugs explicitly and see them as a problem yet don't appear to want to provide help for Zak.

Skins Themes By Episodes

Below, split by episode, are all the drug related events which were evident in series one of 'Skins':

Episode 1 - Tony
Tony implies using drugs on girls at a party will get Sid sex
Smoking on green
- social use of drugs
- Chris:"if you guys wanna waste your life watching television...can you not think of anything better to entertain yourselves with?" Jal "like...?" Chris "pills"
Sex is linked to drugs, Sid has to use "your balls are your collateral" with the drug dealer (Mad Twatter)
Sid's amount of drugs impresses Cassie
There's a class divide with drugs at Abbie's party
- Can't smoke in the house
- No one seems interested in them compared to a "Skins Party"
Cassie turns down drugs because they make her hungry
Cassie's "pilled up" by the end (she took a "shitload of pills" but doesn't say which, find out later it's sleeping pills)
- Shows lack of self control teenagers are supposed to have when around drugs

Episode 2 - Cassie
Mad Twatter turns up as a supply teacher & demands repayment from Sid for the drugs

Episode 3 - Jal
Clarinet's smashed up as price for not paying for drugs

Episode 4 - Chris
Feeds drugs to his fish
He's used viagra - 15 hour erection
He has a wall full of drug packets he's kept as trophies
Chris explains to a small child how to roll a spliff:
- Chris "so you look for the gummy bits yeah through the paper, lick it and then..."
- Boy "bruv, what papers you using, coz i heard TCI Whites..."
- Chris "nah man, they're um satisfying yeah, but the density's off and there's too much cellulose in the fibre"
- Boy (few minutes later) "I could shift a few ounces of this stuff...if you got a decent supplier"
Anwar remarks Chris' party "feels like speed dating for druggies. I don't know anyone here"
Tony says "I swear Chris gave these bastards [fish] speed. They move faster than normal fish do"
- He's more concerned with the fish than sex
Chris sells his hi-fi for pills which he feeds to the fish (with random objects such as clocks) whilst the footage has been edited to portray the effect drugs had on Chris
- Uses his last pill with fish when it's dead in the toilet
First thing Chris does after being rejected by his dad is light a spliff
- He leave it on his brother's gravestone after removing his mum's flowers - symbolic of his love
Chris takes pills he found in a draw without questioning them and sticks packet to wall like in his old room

Episode 5 - Sid
Maxxie's alternative to going to drama is "get stoned instead"
- Implies pills & drugs makes a good time
Cassie takes an overdose of pills with vodka after rejection by Sid

Episode 6 - Maxxie & Anwar
Sid swallows drugs to smuggle them into Russia
- Joke about Anwar wearing a turban links religion to drugs
Tony implies there's nothing to do without drugs when Sid can't get them out of his system

Episode 7 - Michelle
Tony & Maxxie share a spliff
- It's a sign of Tony's infidelity in Russia
Chris says "it's like an episode of the fucking OC in here"
- Reference to the slapping, arguing, cheating
Michelle turns to smoking when she's upset (as does her mother)

Episode 8 - Effy
Effy's smoking drugs
Tony smokes on his own
- It's not only social smoking
Effy smokes [insert drug here] and injects what is assumed to be heroin but turns out to be "clean pharmaceuticals"
Tony says "what's this, some kind of retro LSD thing?" about Chris' gathering
Effy & friend show effects of drugs/alcohol

BFI Trip

At the trip to the BFI I found some articles and quotes about Skins and The OC which might be quite useful for me with regards to the intentions of the creators, why certain things happen etc. There were, however, no particularly useful books instead I found an essay on one of the books which had a couple of useful quotes.

Useful Books I Might Find At The BFI

There's an article I found online (http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/bookreview.php?id=132&issue=5) which is a review of the book 'Teen TV: Genre, Consuption & Identity' which might be useful for me to read if it's at the BFI. Another Review (http://www.participations.org/volume%201/issue%203/1_03_amychinn_review.htm)

Here's a description of the book:
'Teen TV is the first anthology dedicated to a broad range of television programs produced for and watched by teenagers. With extensive coverage of shows such as "Dawson's Creek, Roswell, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "and Australia's "Heartbreak High, "the book examines how these dramas construct and reaffirm distinct visions of youth. Addressing a number of provocative questions, the contributors ask: Is teen television a genre in its own right? What other narrative forms do these programs draw upon and why? How does teen TV interact with other entertainment industries, such as those of music and cinema? What position does teen TV hold within wider practices of consumption and identity inscription? The book offers a fascinating survey of the different forms teen TV takes and the many ways in which it is produced and consumed.'

Another book is 'Teen Dreams: Reading Teen Film and Television from 'Heathers' to 'Veronica Mars' ' which can be read at Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teen-Dreams-Television-Heathers-Veronica/dp/1845111842/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/277-5172471-0076904)

Australian Article

THERE'S been a lot of palaver in the press lately about naughty teenagers, particularly irksome gimps in ladies' sunglasses who could use a firm smack on the bottom and a few weeks scrubbing out old people's toilets with a toothbrush. The daily rags are, as ever, asking po-faced and probing questions. Who's looking after the youth of today? Who's responsible for their wellbeing? What on earth do they get up to when we're not looking?
If the tabloid press and A Current Affair's Leila McKinnon are seeking answers (although let's be honest - they've most likely moved on to trying to hunt down someone who once served Heath Ledger a sandwich), they'll need to look no further than SBS' mind-jarringly brilliant new series Skins, which is languidly throwing its weight all over Monday-night viewing with its dirty, damp wantonness. Sitting through an hour of it is like being trapped in a 14-year-old girl's gym bag with a fork stuck in your ribs, and it's utterly stupendous.
This week's episode announced itself from the get-go, opening with a close-up of a rather aggressively taut teenage boner, straining against a pair of tight underpants. Following not far behind this vaguely confronting shot was an ecstasy-fuelled party, a young man urinating in his own face, a drug-dealing eight-year-old, an infant being dropped on its head, and an erection that had to be sellotaped to a poor gentleman's leg "for safety reasons".
I don't know how the producers get away with it. I once wrote an episode of television in which the characters weren't allowed to have a sip of wine when they were depressed lest they came across as desperate and haggard soaks numbing their woes with demon liquor.
How wonderfully far we've come.
Each episode of Skins - and there are sadly too few - is driven by a different cast member in the ensemble.
Monday was the abandoned wild-child Chris, who staggered through the episode with pupils like saucers and did some things with goldfish and Viagra that don't bear further discussion. Nicholas Hoult, once seen knocking about with Hugh Grant in About a Boy, plays Tony, who started the series with a cheery episode about pot dealing and crashing posh parties. Back in his anklebiter days he sported a bowl haircut and a diastema you could park a semi between. These days the only words appropriate for his cut-glass cocky cheekbones and rampant spreading of seed seem to be "my, how he's grown". I don't know whether to march him to the principal's office for a firm talking to or smother him in Nutella and instruct him to dance to Dr John.

Skins has heart, though. Look past the mildly startling moments and it's beautiful and sad and poignant and perfectly hurtful. One moment you're awash with tears over poor Chris being abandoned by his mad mother, the next you're hearing in lurid detail about the not uninteresting phenomenon of camel-toes while a roomful of surly adolescents in oversized denim pants knock back shots of tequila. It's drama that's edgy, funny and rude, and there should be a lot more of it made, particularly here in Australia. Do we really need another sea-police-in-space shouty commercial series involving furrow-browed Lisa McCunes striding about in jumpsuits?
For all that, I don't know if teenagers in real life watch Skins. I don't know if they should watch it. They're better off sitting on the couch eating Burger Rings and masturbating sullenly, or whatever it is young folk get up to when they're not downloading Grinspoon songs off iTunes. At best, they'd realise through the word-perfect portrayal of their lives and dealings that someone was on to them; at worst they'd find all sorts of Rather Inappropriate behaviour to emulate. It's a series for adults, particularly those who might have somewhat of a chequered moral past themselves.
Harmony Korine briefly explored the seamier side of adolescence when he wrote the film Kids (aged 19, the talented bastard). Now it's Britain's turn. Skins is bleak and rub-raw and so openly sexual you can practically hear the saliva being transferred from mouth to mouth by the zesty bucketload every time someone scores a pash. These teenagers are getting laid, and throwing outrageously irresponsible shindigs, and employing the sort of language that would get one asked rather firmly to leave a reputable dining establishment, and thusly I can't wait to watch next week.
It's either that or hang around the local high school trying to ingratiate myself with the kidlettes, and I fear the law enforcement officers have already warned me off that particular pastime with a series of increasing fines and one or two court appearances.
Look, Skins is simply the best thing I've seen on television in a very long time.
I can't say anything more than that. Watch it or go comb MySpace looking for reasons as to why your wayward teen invited 3000 of his closest pals over to drink your cabernet and wee in your golf bag.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/marieke-hardy/2008/01/29/1201369132138.html

Issues In 'Skins'*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWcpkNbIJZg

Cultural Influences of 'Skins'

The programme has given rise to the term 'skins party', referring to a debauched night of heavy drinking and recreational drug use.
During the 2007 Easter holiday a girl in County Durham threw a house party; it was advertised on her MySpace profile as a "Skins Unofficial Party," referring to the party in the first episode, with the subtitle "Let's trash the average family-sized house disco party". 200 people turned up, breaking into the house and causing over £20,000 of seemingly deliberate damage. She alleges that her account was hacked and someone else placed the ad.
Similar incidents have taken place in the Republic of Ireland, with major household damage and theft of personal property being reported in Firhouse and Foxrock. Although these attacks have not been conclusively linked to the show, news outlets have reported that they are called Skins parties.
Club nights marketed as 'Skins Secret Parties' have also taken shape in Leicester. Following this, a series of parties were run by Company Pictures in spring 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skins_(TV_series)

Last Night's Television: Still crazy after all those beers - The Independent Article

Though it often feels as if all of television is aimed at people under the age of 21, in some respects the "youth" audience – a laughably prissy phrase – can feel with some justice that it's badly served.

Youth culture as a whole works by antithesis, setting itself against an older generation's idea of fun; but youth TV rarely has the nerve to do that. It has advertisers to please, licence-fee payers to avoid offending, watchdogs and editorial boards with their own axes to grind; and so it ends up trying to broaden its appeal, to show that young folk are as human as anybody else, which I'm not entirely convinced is the case. Proper youth programming, which dares to reject and even insult the values of parents, is a real rarity: a show such as Janet Street-Porter's Network 7, for example, back in the late Eighties, settled for being irritating (stupid camera angles, unnecessarily scrappy editing) instead of genuinely rejectionist.

So there's this much to be said for Skins, the smart soap about Bristol sixth-formers: it really doesn't seem to care how much it hacks parents off. For this third series, all the original stars have been shucked off to university and jobs, leaving the way clear for a new generation of bright young things. The only one I recognise from before is Effy (Kaya Scodelario), younger sister of the ineffably cool but brain-damaged Tony, who has now moved centre-stage. Last week showed her arrival at sixth-form college, to meet an assortment of more or less stereotypical characters: the boys include cool, nice-looking but mildly insecure Freddie, insanely hedonistic Cook and geeky JJ; the main girls are slutty Katy, who goes out with a Bristol Rovers reserves footballer, her wallflower identical twin, Emily, mouthy, self-possessed Naomi and ditzy Pandora.

As before, it is slickly made, but I remember the earlier series being more nuanced. What was striking about last week's opening episode was the absolute inadequacy of every single adult character, their complete subordination to comic business. Though the central characters were disappointingly two-dimensional, the adults were barely even points on a map; nobody over the age of 17 was granted anything approaching an inner life, a point of view, sympathy.

This week, things developed a little further. Cook (Jack O'Connell) turned 17 and held a party at his uncle's pub, apparently convinced that the combination of girls, alcohol and lots of shouting were enough to satisfy anybody – the dawning of the realisation that this was actually pretty tedious was the first sign so far that teenagers might have any objectives in life beyond getting a) laid and b) high. It was a bit of a shame that the realisation wasn't put to better use. Instead, the characters ended up trying to score drugs, alcohol and sex at an engagement party that turned out be full of local gangsters, and things descended into watchable but derivative farce (someone fell into a cake, a fight started, et cetera). A later plot segment saw Cook and a reluctant JJ visiting a brothel and discovering the chief gangster (Mackenzie Crook – his scrawny, undernourished physiognomy adding a worrying authenticity) chained up by a dominatrix. Unable to resist the temptation, Cook first humiliated then assaulted the gangster, only realising afterwards that this was probably not good policy.

The impression you got was that this was supposed to be some sort of morality tale, Cook wising up to his crazy ways, learning that there is always a morning after; but the randomness of events and the absence of noticeable motivation made it hard to take it as anything but a comedy trying a tad too hard to show how tough it was. Still, as I say, I'm not its target audience, and it's arguable that if Skins did make sense to me, it wouldn't be doing its job.

Teenage hedonism looked decidedly less glamorous in Vodka, Homework and Me, a documentary about three underage drinkers that was, puzzlingly, broadcast as part of a season called Born Survivors. Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought not drinking at the age of 11 was a survival skill, and drinking was the opposite. The most obviously worrying case was Reece, who is 11, and, according to the commentary, "has been drinking since he was 10" (put that way, it sounded strangely unimpressive). Charlie, 15, was the closest the film got to an episode of Skins: early on, she was seen reeling around drunk, and bubbling over with good cheer, verging on an advert for the mellowing effects of spirits. The two of them were sent off to the Glaciere Project, which tackles drinking through a programme of tall-ship sailing and scuba diving. This is undoubtedly a good thing, but the concentration on positive outcomes rather diluted the programme's shock value, and I think shock is probably a necessary component of any discussion of 11-year-olds regularly going on the piss.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-television-still-crazy-after-all-those-beers-1520132.html

Detailed Proposal

1. Topic Area
TV Drama

2. Proposed title, question, hypothesis
How does a teenage audience respond to the representation of drugs in TV dramas?

3. Teacher approval granted, in principal?
Yes

4. Principle texts (if text based study)
'Skins' season 1
'The OC' season 2 or 3
'90210' season 1, episode 7
'Gossip Girl' season 1
'The Inbetweeners' season 1

5. Reason for choice
I enjoy watching TV dramas, especially those on my list above, and will be able to learn more about the dramas as I research. They all also have very different representations of teenage issues which will be interesting to compare.

6. Academic context for this study (similar research, relevant theory, named theorists)
Jonathan Bignell
Stephen Lacey
Realism
Representation

7. Institutional context for this study (industry focus, other texts for comparison, named practitioners, relevant theory, issues, questions)
Which issues are shown in the dramas? Does this reflect the society they're made in/aimed at?
Which issues are avoided? What does this say about a culture?
Does the representation reflect the audience?

8. Identify the audience context for this study (audience profile, access to audience, potential sample)
The audeince I will be looking at for this is ages between 16 to 19 years old, both male and female. This is quite a small range, but I believe this is the most accessible group for me to use in my research and are most likely to watch the TV shows and have opinions on the representation of teenage issues

9. How will the 4 key concepts be relevant to your study (audience, institution, forms and conventions, representation)?
Audience - I will look at why the audience watches the two dramas and how they feel about the representation with a focus on the uses and gratifications that the dramas provide.

Institution - I will research who makes the shows and how far they are regulated whilst factoring in cultural differences and how this may have affected the production process (eg. budget, profit etc.)

Forms & Conventions - I will look to find any innovative uses of conventions, or indeed any breaking of conventions and how this forms the representations within the dramas.

Representation - I will look closely at how issues are represented and discuss the representation with the audience. I will also look at the ideology of the maker/creator to draw conclusions about why things were chosen, what their effect is and how they are used.

10 Potential research sources (secondary): secondary academic books and websites, secondary industry books and websites, secondary popular criticism. Please identify specific examples you have come across.
'Popular Televison Drama: Critical Perspectives' - Jonathan Bignell & Stephen Lacey
'Television Audiences & Cultural Studies' - David Morely
'Teaching Popular Television' - Mike Clarke
Newspaper articles (posted in separate posts)
Skins website - http://www.e4.com/skins/
Skins at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840196/
The OC website - http://www.the-oc.com/
The OC at IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362359/
'Teaching TV Drama' - Jeremy Points

11. Potential research sources (primary): audience reception research, your own content/textual analysis etc
Fan forums
Questionnaire
Analysis of chosen texts
Focus group

12. Modifications agreed with your lead teacher
After talking to Ms Dymioti, I'm going to focus on the use of drugs as a teenage issue in the dramas as these are represented (or obviously not represented) in my chosen texts in a different way to the press.

13. Potential limits/obstacles/problems?
Organising focus groups might be hard as episodes are almost 1 hour long and an issue usually spreads across an entire episode. However, I could organise a weekend session.
There is also the risk that I might start writing as more of a fan of the shows...

14. Teacher concerns
TBC

15. Teacher approval
TBC

Initial Ideas Feedback

After talking to Miss B & Mrs T about my two initial proposals on Monday, they suggested that I used my first idea as the second was too specific and would involve a lot of work. Their advice was to use the topic of TV drama and have a range of episodes (UK & US) from teen focused dramas but to focus on crime and it's representation (or lack of) as part of a teenager's issues as my micro focus.

Initial Idea 2

1. Which topic area is this proposal for?

Crime and the Media

2. What is the suggested focus?

How the perception of crime is challenged through documentaries particularly Louis Theroux

3. Do you have an idea for a question/problematic?

How do documentaries attempt to challenge the public's perception of criminals?

I've found the whole box set on DVD (which solves the accessibility problem) here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_d_h_?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=Louis+Theroux%3A+The+Strange+and+the+Dangerous

4. Why would you choose this?

Louix Theroux does try to challenge perception (especially in 'The Strange And The Dangerous') whereas most broadcasters follow stereotypes and the danger is always removed in the making of the documentary. I think it'd be interesting to see how he does challenge expectations and if he is successful.

5. Do you have any concerns or are there any limitations to this proposal?

None that I can think of right now, maybe just that if I was to use more than one of his documentaries there'd be too much content so I'd have to pick one.
Again, I want to study Law, and there will be topics on criminal law which I will have to study so my findings from this might be relevant for me later.

6. Can you rate it on a sliding scale 1- 5 (5 being great proposal, 0 being lousy proposal)

Err... 4.5

Initial Idea 1

1. Which topic area is this proposal for?

Crime and the Media

2. What is the suggested focus?

How crime is represented in TV drama, specifically 'Skins'

3. Do you have an idea for a question/problematic?

Something like: 'How, in teenage orientated TV drama, is crime represented to the audience?'

Finding specific clips which I can use for analysis would be a problem because one crime usually covers a whole episode.

4. Why would you choose this?

I was originally considering doing TV drama or Crime and this would be a crossover which I am interested in. It is also relevant in today's society as teenage crime is a big issue in the press.
I also want to study Law at uni, so crime will be relevant to my later studies.

5. Do you have any concerns or are there any limitations to this proposal?

I might end up with too much of a fan's view ie. descriptive rather than being analytical

6. Can you rate it on a sliding scale 1- 5 (5 being great proposal, 0 being lousy proposal)

Umm...4ish

Types of Media I can look at

Some possible types of Media that I can use for examples are:

Film
Music Lyrics
TV Drama
TV News
Print
Games
Music Videos
Internet

Initial Reactions

When I first found out the topics I could research I liked the idea of advertising, crime & the media, children & the media and TV drama. However, I realised the idea of researching children & the media and advertising didn't appeal to me as much as the remaining two options. Crime & the media is the topic which interests me most, and I could link it to TV drama if I wanted to.