Professional Pre-Production: Style (Visual/Editing)

One part of my role on this project is working out what kind of style Pleasure Park will have, in terms of visuals and editing. This will be an important part of the process, as it will help with the decisions on every other visual element of the show.

STYLE: VISUALS

When referring to visual style, you are not referring to what you shoot, but instead how you shoot it, and that's what makes it your style. Pleasure Park will attempt to have it's own unique style, but one that still follows the conventions of the genre it exists in.

There are a few different elements of Pleasure Park's style that must be explained:

The first element of it's style are the themes it represents through the lens. These themes are dark humour, light humour, urban/rundown themes, and failure. These themes will be represent not only by the dialogue and characters, but also by the visuals in each episode.

The second element is framing. Pleasure Park will follow the example of most other television programmes by using a range of frame sizes to tell the story. These can include wide shots, mid shots, and close ups. These types of shots also fit in with the styles of my Director and DOP, and assumption I can make based on their previous work.

The next element is the types of angles or shot types that might be used. Pleasure Park will use a range of establishing shots before each scene, and these shots will mostly be from a high angle above the park to show it's full scale, and how empty it is most of the time. These establishing shots will also help the viewers understand the location and the geography of each scene. This is also a common technique used in Benidorm on ITV, which was directed by my chosen director. As well as this, other common shots like high/low angles, shots with a shallow depth of field, shots with movement like jib shots, or dolly shots, maybe also be used as part of the shows style when applicable.

example of an establishing shot in Benidorm (ITV)

The final element of style is lighting. Pleasure Park will almost entirely be designed to look as natural as possible, as to add to the realism of the location, characters, and storylines. This will be achieved by using natural light, and a blend of daylight balanced lights which build up the light in a scene when needed. As well as this, the lights on the rides will play an important part in every exterior scene, as in real amusement parks, they tend to be a big source of light across and entire park.

Overall, although Pleasure Park is not a mockumentary, it will still follows some of the same conventions as that genre, in terms of shot composition and style. I would describe the style as distant and handheld, with the occasional tripod, jib, and dolly shots thrown in when needed, as well as even some steadicam shots for longer scenes within the park. My reason for choosing to make the cameras distant at times, is because I want to the audience to feel like they are a customer in the park witnessing these weird and wonderful events take place.

STYLE: EDITING

Pleasure Park will be edited mainly by my chosen editor Nick Ames. The editing style of Pleasure Park has been chosen based on his experience and style, and on the style that best fits the themes and style that the show and aims to represent.

There are a few different elements of Pleasure Park's editing style that must be explained:

The first element is the types of editing techniques that will be used. Pleasure Park will used three different types, continuity editing, sequencing and cutaways (which sometimes may be built up using a sequence). Continuity editing will be used to build up every scene in an episode; cutting the shots together in order to create a scene that flows and make sense. Sequences will be used to blend different establishing shots between scenes (see Benidorm example). And finally, cutaways will be used to sometimes show a past scene that a character may refer too (see Family Guy example), which is different to how cutaways are normally used, when the cutaway is occurring at the same time. These are cutaways to past events, like flashbacks.

Establishing shot sequences in Benidorm. 

Taken from an episode directed by David Sant, and edited by Nick Ames.

Cutaway example from Family Guy

The next element is the types of cuts used. After carrying out some research I found that a common type of cut used in television is called a J cut, which is when the audio from the next scene begins to play on screen before the it is actually cut to visually. Another extremely common type of cut is the hard cut, which is used all the time, and is just the technique of cutting back and forth between two or more shots. And the final common type of cut is to cut on action, which can help to smooth out a cut. All three of these cutting types will be used in Pleasure Park.

And the final element is colour grading. Pleasure Park will attempt to look as natural as possible, and so the only colour grading carried out will use colours already in the scene and just enhance them. This will be in an attempt to not make the show look to filmic or dramatic, and instead keep the natural look, that will also be achieved through lighting techniques.