TV shows

I thought it a good idea to watch TV programmes that have similar concepts to Gone and ones that are aimed at a younger audience to help me make the best drama possible and fit the BBC Three brief to the best of my ability.

Terra Nova

 Created by - Kelly Marcel and Craig Silverstein.

Terra Nova follows an ordinary family, the Shannons, on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct. The future of mankind is in doubt, and its only hope for survival is in the distant past. When scientists at the FERMI Particle Accelerator unexpectedly discovered a fracture in time that made it possible to construct a portal into primeval history, the bold notion was born to resettle humanity in the past – a second chance to rebuild civilisation and get it right this time.

Out of all of the programmes I have watched I would say that Terra Nova is the closest to Gone on TV. It is set in a time when the world has gone to pot and it is because of how the humans treated the planet, and that is the basic premise to Gone. When the Shannon family first arrive in Terra Nova the leader Commander Taylor gives them a welcoming speech, “The world you left behind became victim to some of the baser instincts of our species; greed, war, ignorance. We blew it, we destroyed our home, but we have been entrusted with a second chance, a chance to start over, a chance to get it right. Welcome to Terra Nova folks, welcome home.” They are trying to inhabit the earth without destroying it this time, they use solar power and do not produce much pollution., this is similar to the Wing Worshipers living in harmony in the garden of Eden, hand pollinating flowers and making a fresh start for humanity. However I think that is about as far as the similarities go between Terra Nova and Gone, once the story is established in Terra Nova the plot turns more towards the dinosaurs inhabiting the world and less about living ecologically.

Visually Terra Nova is pretty impressive, the sets and special effects used to create the prehistoric world are incredible. Generally it is very dark with some de-saturated colours and lots of camera movement. In the first episode when they are in the dying Earth everything is manic, the edit is very quick and snappy and the grade is dark and gloomy. When they are walking through the city newsreaders are projected in the air and they give more information about what has happened to the world, I think this could be a great device to use in Gone to give more background information.

I quite enjoyed Terra Nova, however I believe it went down hill after the first episode, I preferred it when the story was based more around living ecologically and making good with the Earth rather than about dinosaurs. But saying that I did still want to watch the next episode to see what happened next. In the end it turned out that people back in 2149 intended Terra Nova to be the source of wealth for them, not a new start for civilisation. It is the most similar programme to Gone that I have found and there is definitely a few things that I can use from this to help improve the structure and storyline of Gone.

Misfits

Created by - Howard Overman                 

“A group of kids doing community service get struck by lightning during a storm, and begin to develop superpowers. Nathan, Kelly, Simon, Alisha and Curtis were expecting their community service to be boring. However after a freak thunderstorm they discover that it is anything but dull. Bestowed with strange powers, the five very different teens realize they have a lot more to worry about than just picking up litter, especially as they discover that they are not the only ones who have been given strange powers. Secrets will be revealed, feelings brought to the surface and relationships formed and broken. But hey, its only 6 weeks of community service; what's the worst that could happen?”

Misfits is one of my favourite recent TV dramas, it is funny, packed with action but also deals with a lot of emotion. It is very innovative in its approach to science fiction, it makes it much more accessible to younger audiences by perceiving it through young characters, the fact that they are delinquents also helps. Gone is meant to be aimed at a younger audience too, I believe that using young characters/actors will help young audiences to relate. It is a very successful programme being ranked in the top 10 TV shows in the UK by the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB), so they must be doing something right.

As well as being a massive fan of the content of this TV series I am also love the way it looks. It was one of the first TV dramas to use the de-saturated colour grade with lots of contrast and very shallow depth of field. The dark bluey inky tone of the shadows contrasted against the oranges in the jumpsuits makes a really great colour pallete. If I manage to produce a piece just a fraction as good as this visually I will be happy.

Wild at Heart

Created by - Ashley Pharoah

“Wild at Heart begins with the Trevanion family going about their lives in Bristol. Everything changes drastically when an abandoned vervet monkey is brought into Danny's surgery. His wife Sarah suggests they go to Africa to rehabilitate the monkey in hopes that a holiday will bring the troop closer together. The business trip becomes a permanent adventure and throughout the series we see the Trevanions settle into life in the bush and work to start up a game park. They're faced with plenty of challenges along the way including lethal snake bites, a deadly strain of anthrax, darting lionesses, missing children, uninvited guests, and a rival game park whose manager causes plenty of trouble when he can.”

Wild at Heart has conservational underpinnings to it as the Trevanion family look after animals surrounding them in Africa. It is a lovely programme and a great hit with families, providing fantastic entertainment for all ages. Even though the main aim of it is not to educate about conservation it does touch upon important issues such as poaching.

Skins – Top 10

Created by Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain.

“Skins is a BAFTA Award–winning British teen drama that follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol through the two years of sixth form. Its controversial storylines have explored issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (such as eating disorders), adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death.”

Skins is yet another brilliant British drama aimed at a younger audience. Now having finished its 6th series Skins has proven to be a successful TV drama about the lives of young people in modern Britain as they struggle to grow up, find love and happiness.  It is ranked in the top 10 most popular TV series in the UK on IMDB. Although it does not tackle any conservational issues it tackles many social issues, some quite controversial. It tackles many serious issues that teenagers face, such as broken families, pregnancy, eating disorders and so on. It is a very powerful series and really makes you care about the characters, making the audience come back week after week to find out what happened next.

Shameless – top 30

Created by – Paul Abbott

Shameless is a long running TV programme that has had great success. It is based in Manchester on the ‘Chatsworth Estate‘ and is about it’s residents. Shameless is comical while also dealing with some very serious and dark issues. I think it is successful because it looks at the less privileged/council estate people, the majority of the audience would have come in contact with someone like them at some point throughout their life. I like the sense of community portrayed in Shameless, everyone has got everyone’s back. When watching the audience grows to love the characters, this a great device used in good TV programmes, when the audience relates to characters/plot lines they come back week after week to watch.

Falling Skies

Created by – Robert Rodat

Falling Skies tells the story of the aftermath of a global invasion by extraterrestrials (including the insectoid multi-legged beings known as "skitters," a race of humanoid green-skinned beings that seem to be their commanders, and mechanical attack drones called "mechs") that neutralises the world's power grid and technology, destroys the combined militaries of all the world's countries, and apparently kills over 90% of the human population, all within a few days. The invasion and the aliens' objectives are not explained, though the aliens try to round up children between the ages of 8 and 18 and attach a biomechanical obedience device onto and into their spines, referred to as a "harness." The harness controls the child's mind, and forcibly removing it instantly kills the child. The story picks up six months after the invasion and follows a group of survivors who band together to fight back. The group, known as the Second Massachusetts is led by retired Captain Weaver and Boston University history professor Tom Mason who, while in search of his son Ben, must put his extensive knowledge of military history into practice as one of the leaders of the resistance movement.

Walking Dead

Created by – Frank Darabont

The Walking Dead tells the story of a small group of survivors living in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Most of the story takes place in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and then the surrounding countryside, as the survivors search for a safe haven away from the shuffling hordes of predatory zombies (or "walkers", as they are referred to in show) who devour any living thing they catch, and whose bite is infectious to humans. The plot is focused primarily on the dilemmas the group faces as they struggle to balance their humanity with their survival against the zombie horde, and later, how they cope with members being killed and deal with other human survivors they encounter, many of whom are dangerous and predatory themselves.

It is not very similar in plot line or concept to Gone but it is set in a post apocalyptic world Gone is in an apocalyptic, I will take some of the devices used in the Walking Dead to influence Gone, such as the production design camera style.