Andrei Allen UCA Broadcast Media Blog

Overall i enjoyed carrying out this project, as it has allowed me to partially share the experience of a variety of job roles that i have not done in so much depth before, such as casting actors, choosing filmmakers and crew, commissioning external collaborators to carry out 3D graphic work, oversees location scouting,  plus much more job tasks. As i didn’t have a specific role to being with, whilst carrying out work for this unit, i found myself leaning more towards the executive producer / show runner job description, as i was primarily responsible for everything, involved in every process and decision making that had to be made, from what talent and crew i wanted in the production, the structure of the series, down to location, even down to the specific type of gun holster that i wanted attached to an actresses leg. Even though i may have mainly carried out the role of a show runner, i often found myself doing multiple roles, from the standpoint of a specific practitioner; in that i would be approaching the roles as if i was working within for example the casting department, going through hours of auditions, then tapes of the actors to decided if the talent is suitable.

What i found very useful whilst doing this project is that it prompted me to look into areas that i had not known about prior to this unit in order to grasp an understanding about the the new required information, allowing me to implement in it into my decision making whilst carrying out various tasks for the project. It also further educated me about how the television industry works, giving me a reason to research various job roles descriptions, to which, upon carrying out the research helped me understand that one job role can be given many different names for the same task (Such as Executive producer and Digital intermedia colourist).

When i initially undertook this project, i feel that i gravely underestimated the level of work and detail that needed to go into it, which lead me to bad time management over the tasks i needed to do in order to complete this unit. I also found myself spending way to much time researching to much on irrelevant stuff, that in the end did not contribute towards my production concept book. Due to misjudged time management and project coordination, it led me to leaving the laborious tasks to crucial times, when rather they should have been tackled from early, although, having gone through this experience, i definitely know what to prioritise on next time i undertake a project of this scale, plus, how long it takes me to take on laborious tasks such as the once endured whilst completing this unit. 

At the beginning of this project, whilst it was in its early stages, i originally decided that i was going to create the live action adaptation series GANGSTA, for Adult Swim, as i thought that the channel would be suitable for the series since having similar content featured on there. Having decided this, i then researched into the network, finding out about their business, who owns them, what shows they have on their platform and how they brand their network. As i continued with my research in adapting GANGSTA, then getting to the casting section, it was during the casting of my crew that i realised that this series would be way to big for the network Adult Swimm, possibly making it bankrupt, as it has not had such a big series produced for its network before, and at most, they only air syndicated shows. Having realised this, i then decided to change the network over to HBO, as they have a history of producing big budget shows with similar genres and themes to those within GANGSTA. At the time, making this decision; i felt that i had wasted a lot of time researching into Adult Swim as i know decided that i no longer wanted to use that channel, although, because of the research i carried out for the network, it helped me to research for the precise search criteria in order to produce relevant research information regarding HBO, that i would not have known about prior to spending time researching about Adult Swim. 

Conclusion

Having now completed this project, it has definitely taught me a lot, not only about the television industry and how it works and what is involved within the running of a network, but also about myself, and what i am capable of doing, plus how long i will take to do the work, also, how i feel about carrying out specific tasks (as in would i do it myself, or commission it to a specialist). Due to the scale of this project i have learnt so much, that it has definitely helped me further my knowledge towards television production, giving me opportunities to explore ideas and new business that i had not known about prior. Whilst carrying out this project, it also felt like it was never ending, in that there was so much more content that i could include as i learnt so much whilst working and researching, it was like a continual learning process, all the way through to the competition. 

Due to living in the post-broadcast era with a lot of television audience now participating in what is known as "Social Television", an effective way to engage with the audience, plus to drive additional traffic to the Gangsta series is to have social media pages, such as Facebook and Twitter. The benefits of this is, each time an audience member likes, comments on, or shares a post, they are advertising it to the people whom they communicate with within their social circles, showing the programme to those whom may not have heard about it before. Here is examples of Gangsta Branding across social media pages.

Facebook Page

Twitter page

Instagram page

Having done my extensive research in part 1 for the world of Ergstulum, i decided to change the location from where the story is set within Italy, to Amsterdam, Netherlands, appropriating nightlife aspects from Bangoko, Thailand.  The reason for this is Amsterdam is renowned for its trade of sex and openly prides itself on its wholly liberal and tolerant attitude towards it, embracing the fact that people may be into prostitution, soft drugs and pornography, which is a theme continually displayed throughout GANGSTA. Also, the nightlife in Amsterdam, and also Bangkok, besides openly displaying vice activities, paints the night skies with vivid red, purple and blue neon lights, that would hopefully help to personify the neon-neo nior style of cinema shown in such films as Oldboy and Drive, which is a look that i would like to go for, as in the Manga/Anime, neon colours is also a common visual occurrence throughout the series that helps to push the idea of sexualisation throughout the series. 

Bangkok red light

After doing my extensive research in part 1 for the world of ERGASTULUM, i decided to adapted each location into its live action example,  showing how the live versions of each location would roughly look like, changing them up from their original designs, however, appropriating certain aspect from the original designs to create something new . The imagery created is intended to act as a mood board for the art department, so that they have some form of visual reference to go by when they’re creating the scene locations.

The locations displayed below are a mixture of photoshop manipulations and also 3D designed interior models created by an external collaborator.

So that the collaborator who i commissioned to do the work could understand what i wanted, i created a mood board supplemented by a floor plan design so that he had an idea of what i wanted. 

Handymen hideout

This was the mood-board and floor plan handed over to the first external collaborator, so that he could create the Handymen hideout, which is the main location on the series where a proportionate amount of time is spent

Below is the 3d floor plan that he created, and rendered pictures of the interior designs for the locations. 

DR. Theos Clinic

Monroe Mansion

With this location, i decided that i wanted to change it completely from from it's original location, as Daniel Monroe is one of the most important characters in the series. So, in selecting this location, the Hotel Sofitel Legend the Grand Amsterdam, the architectural  exterior design, plus the side of the premises would help to portray the power, wealth and importance of Daniel Monroe.

Cristiano headquarter - bastards

This was the mood board that the 3d designer had to work from, in order to attempt to create the interior design for the club. I too used the mood board, in order to work on the exterior of the building, and create the neon signboards.

The reason that i chose this Hotel is that because it is the centre of attraction, open for anyone to enter, in a sense, it has the same feeling as the club in the Manga. Another reason is that the size of the club will help emphasise the importance and wealth of the Cristiano family.  

Ergastulum police department

Pauklee guild headquarters 

The Pauklee guild headquarters will stick more to the dystopian look, situated within a base an ex army shipyard and bunker that they have taken possession of.

For this location, i mainly photoshopped out the no smoking signs and placed in army field laptops on the dests, plus replaced the map to display Ergastulum "Amsterdam"

Example of Gina Paulkee's Bunker designed office bedroom

Location where The pauklee Guild HQ will be based

Granny Raveau kiosk

Because Granny Raveaus's shops was placed inside a wall, opposite a set of steps on a hill, unfortunately, that architectural design is rare to find amongst the city. So for this purpose, i recreated the small shop into a Kiosk, placing it on the side road opposite a canal.

Constance gun store

Here is an example of what the gun store will look like on the series Gangsta. Like the Manga, the front of the shop will be riddled with bullets due to trouble kicking off, however, it will also have a gun signboard with a target on displaying the name of the shop.

Erotic magnificent pussy

Trying to find a location for big momma's business was very hard, as there was no where that was compatible with the story. All of the locations i found within Amsterdam were either to big and not cosy, or too small and cramped, so in the end, i ended up finding an example in another location of how i would like the production design for this location to be. This restaurant is Buddha Belly in Kiev, photoshopped into a floor layout for Big Mommmas Brothel.

Scouting the locations for this series i found to be a very hard task, because i could not just choose any location, it had to somehow work with the story, contributing plot devices to further develop the narrative. This was an interested process though, as i found myself not only using location scouting website such as The Netherlands Film Commision (https://filmcommission.nl/), but also browsing google street maps to study the structure of the town, and to find more locations. I also found myself researching about Amsterdam in general, which helped me to find the hotel locations that i selected for two of the main actors. 

Having looked through the Netherlands film commission website and researched about the company, they are he main proprietor for dealing with film within Netherlands. Anybody wanting to film anything and needing any type of location, they're the goto company as they hold a reputable stance within the country, being able to source any type of location. Primarily, the series producers will be working with this company to source the locations in Amsterdam.

Following the previous post about the Mani brothers building Muriel and various forms of advertisement, here’s my mock up examples of the posters that i created using photoshop, then,  branding them across various forms of advertisement.

Posters that i've created with tag lines.

Following HBO's continual use of Mani Brothers building, here's a GANGSTA poster on their building

TAXI

Bus Stop 

For the UK Sky Atlantic audience, here is a Transport For London Bus advert