Thursday 22 September 2011

childrens drama




Copyright and health and safety

All children’s dramas must consider going over copyright and health and safety issues in order to air on a network. It can be a pretty big lawsuit if a show breaks the copyright law and could result in the cancellation of the show or get the network into trouble. Shows have to make sure they don’t include things in their shows that are copyright protected. These are products like drinks or adverts that are copyright protected. Shows must be careful not to have a copyright protected advert in the background whilst filming otherwise there could be consequences. There is a lot of money involved in lawsuits and if they would want to include a can of coca cola for example, then the producers would have to ask the company for permission and possibly pay a fee.

Health and safety is essential when filming a children’s drama, especially if you are working with children. Health and safety is much more serious now due to increasing concerns it raises.
It is essential to consider the necessary precautions of health and safety which could be for example a list of hazards in the filming area which could be prevented. A risk assessment could be carried out to list the risks and hazards, signs could be put up around the studio warning people of the potential hazards. The staff and actors need to be aware of the hazards to insure no one is harmed or injured which could both affect the development of the show and/or create a lawsuit against the show. Health and safety is more of a priority than an issue due to increasing concerns over the professionalism of a shows take on keeping its staff and cast safe. Children’s dramas can’t afford having a child actor harmed or injured whilst filming because the show is responsible for the wellbeing of the children.

Both the copyright law and health and safety are priorities that shows must consider when filming for both are as serious as each other. There are some shows that might breach the copyright law accidentally (e.g. showing a film poster) and the network is sometimes made to announce an apology. Furthermore there may be injuries during filming but usually the staff member can be replaced. As long as the shows are professional about health and safety and copyright matters then they wont have to worry about complaints and fines EST.



 

childrens drama

 Code of practice 

Each children’s drama show has to follow a strict set code of practice in order to air or even make their shows. This code of practice is essential so that everyone from the audience to the BBC is satisfied that they have kept within the limit. There are a few obvious rules for making a children’s dram which are to avoid including things like:
. Illegal activity such as gambling, downloading movies est.
. Vandalism or encouraging criminal damage.
. Sex or nudity.
. Strong violence or gory images.
. Racism or humiliation towards people of an ethnic background or race.
. Swearing or any form of offensive language
These are basically the obvious ones that should not be included into a children’s drama or any children’s show. Including something like a sex scene in ‘kenan and kel’ will not appeal to its audience or even the parents of the children watching and could result in a number of people filing a complaint towards the network. Therefore all children’s shows must follow the codes of practice in order to be successful and acceptable. They are:

Health and Safety
During filming or pre-production the director has to consider health and safety regulations. They will have to make sure no one is at risk during filming, be it the actors or the staff. Point out any potential hazards that may be in the filming area such as the wires that run across the floor. In order to receive a green light by the health and safety act they need to make sure everyone involved is not at risk or that hazards are not pointed out.
Copyright
Copyright is a very serious matter that children’s dramas have to consider when filming a scene. Nothing showed on screen can be taken from anything copyright protected otherwise shows can be sued and/or be cancelled. The directors need to avoid showing copyright protected things such as showing copyright protected adverts on the television or product names (e.g. coca cola). Without permission from the companies themselves they cannot include these kinds of copyright breaches due to risk of being sued or fined.
Restrictions
Restrictions are the kinds of inclusions that I mentioned at the top of the page. They are basic guidelines that’s shows must consider and not include. For example most children’s drama do sometimes use guns, fighting, but they are not too extreme and are edited to be acceptable to an audience of children. This is simply because it can disturb, educate in the wrong way (e.g. drugs) or give children a wrong impression on things like drugs or fighting.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

childrens drama

NARRATIVE:

For my report I viewed an episode of children’s drama/comedy ‘Kenan and Kel’ by using you tube. This is the link I used   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ8_QHMg5Hg
The episode was pretty enjoyable and entertained me even though I am not considered as its target audience. It used typical humour which you would expect to see in a children’s drama comedy which is an aspect to the success of the show.

The story started off by immediately telling you what the episode was mainly about. It was an episode which was on ‘April fool’s day’ which was a brilliant topic to set an episode of kenan and kel about. The episode opens with the unsuspecting father being covered in cereal after opening a cupboard door. This grips its audience by basically giving them what they want which is a silly but funny moment involving a character familiar to this kind of violation. The episode continuously bombards the parents and friends with April fools pranks, such as when kenan orders 75 pizzas and tells them his name is Charlene the local shop keeper. The story is pretty much what you would expect with kenan and kel at the centre of all the chaos and usually the culprits. Throughout the episode, it continuously uses the same silly slap stick comedy that the audience has come to love. The episode is pure ‘kenan and kel’ and nothing else.

The characters stay the same throughout each episode. They all have their unique attributes which can help determine the plot of the episode. Characterisation is very typical in kenan and kel comparing to the standard set of characters usually show in its genre. For example there are two parents who are the centrepiece to kenan and kels mischief. A lot of other children’s dramas use a mother and a father usually parenting a pair of typical teenagers. Kenan and kel fit into the criteria of the typical havoc inducing teenagers but portray them in a way that still makes them likeable. Slightly older children could relate to kenan and kel although they are usually extremely egsadurated and over the top as teenagers. The over the top egsaduration is part of their character and is the centre point to them being children’s drama/comedy stars. Children can be over the top so they can relate to kenan and kel because that is essentially what kids are entertained by. The strong accents and the silly antics immediately tell you that it is set in America and the sort of ‘trash’ talk helps define their suburban setting.

CHILDRENS DRAMA

Codes and conventions

Most children’s dramas follow a typical set of codes and conventions. These are usually because they want to  appeal to there target audience in the best possible way without upseting or offending anyone. These usually include things like silly slapstick humour, overegsadurated acting and its all usually set in a school. These are typical features that you would expect to see in most children dramas especially comedies. A lot of programmes also include a typical set of characters like two parents who suffer due to there out of control teenage kids or an evil sibling est. it is usual for the audience to sympathise the parents for they usually suffer.

For my report I looked at an episode of the popular `Keenan and Kel` using you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ8_QHMg5Hg) which was an ideal children’s drama in terms of codes and conventions. The story line was very predictable but acceptable for a children’s drama it was face paced,funny,silly everything you would expect to see. It had some typical characters in it for example:

.Keenan and kel were the out of control, reckless teenagers who the show is focused on throught each episode

.the parents were always at the centre of Keenan and kels silly antics

Throughout the episode the two teenagers get up to a lot of silly business to make you laugh which they both suffer for in the end. This is the main narrative to most of there episodes which seems to attract a lot of attention. The story always links back to Keenan and kel and they are related to most of the events. The events are all comical to appeal to a younger audience. All of the happenings are egsadurated so that the show keeps its silly grip on its children audience. Keenan and kel always learn there lesson at the end of the episode and there is usually a moral. This helps educate children and keep the parents happy and satisfied. The story uses things that kids can relate to, such as the fact kel really enjoys drinking orange soda constantly all the time. There is generally a happy sense to each episode and there is nothing evil or intimidating that would not appeal to or be acceptable for children. This means that it is the one of the best children’s drama/comedies around today available for children to watch.