P1 + M1 - First Submission

Omniya Tajni

P1: Explain different ideas for an original media product based on a client brief

M1: Discuss strengths and weaknesses of the different ideas

My interpretation of the client brief

IMPLICIT: Within the brief I have interpreted that I must pitch my idea of a script to a panel of industry specialists. In this presentation, I believe I will need to show where I developed my final idea, where my inspiration came from and the research I took in order to create the final product. 

OPEN: I believe I am free to present my ideas using various of different visual stimulus which could include power point presentations.

CONSTRAINTS: The boundaries that I have interpreted from the client brief is that I have a time limit of 3-5 minutes, when presenting my ideas. 

EXPLICIT: Within the brief there are requirements that are compulsory, in order for me to do a presentation I must have a script produced that fits the urban legend genre. I must also explain how I got to the final idea, this includes the research I have done.

My possible ideas for my client brief interpretation

Before I decided on the idea for my urban legend script, We did a blue sky thinking discussion. Blue sky thinking is a discussion where all ideas for a topic are discussed relating to the brief, no criticism is given in this process is given and nothing is discounted. After this I was able to pick a few ideas that I believed I liked and could make a script out.  After my discussion for the blue sky thinking, I chose one that I liked the most and from this I went and did further research online on different urban legend stories. From the research and the blue sky thinking I was able to pick out 3 ideas and stories and interpret it into an urban legend genre. 

My three key ideas I have chosen from research

1. THE CLOWN STATUE https://www.thoughtco.com/the-clown-statue-3299483

Parents decided they needed a break, so they called their most trusted babysitter. When the babysitter arrived the two children were already fast asleep in bed. She wanted to watch TV in their room and called to ask if she could cover up the large clown statue in their bedroom, because it made her nervous. The phone line was silent for a moment, and the father said...take the children and get out of the house...we'll call the police...we don't have a clown statue...the children and the babysitter got murdered by the clown.

I then found changes I could make if i was to write about this story:

I decided that instead of there being a random clown, the person dressed as a clown is someone that the babysitter knows and he has been constantly stalking her as they had an argument in the past. The parents shouldn't get a call from the babysitter but get a call from the neighbours explaining that they see a clown leaving the house with the baby sitter and their children. 

The strengths and weaknesses of this story:

Strengths: Fits into the 'urban' genre due to the whole clown idea & that he leaves with her and the children. As an urban legend is a story that is told to be believed to be true, this story fits in it as well because a neighbour wouldn't just call the parents they would actually go and do something in order to help the children and they'd call the police as well. 

Weaknesses: When I researched the story, it didn't really have that spark of an urban legend theme, because it was just a normal story. Urban legend is something that needs to believed its true and create suspense. The real story finishes off with 'they got murdered'. Which doesn't make the people hearing this story want to know more. I then interpreted this and believed that if I was to make changes to this story, that people would see the clown coming out the house with the children and the baby sitter & they would disappear for some time and not be found. 

2. THE BABYSITTER & THE MAN UPSTAIRS https://www.thoughtco.com/the-babysitter-and-the-man-upstairs-3299474

A babysitter was taking care of three children. After a while the phone rings. She answers it, but hears no one on the other end hangs up. After a while the phone rings again. She answers, and this time there's a man on the line who says, in a chilling voice, "Have you checked the children?" At first, she thinks it might have been the father calling to check up and he got interrupted, so she decides to ignore it. then the phone rings again. "Have you checked the children. So she calls the police and reports that a stranger has been calling her and hanging up. A few minutes go by and she gets another call. "Why haven't you checked the children?" the voice says. "Who is this?" she asks, but he hangs up again. She dials 911 again and says, "I'm scared. I know he's out there, he's watching me." She slams the phone down, terrified. Almost immediately it rings again. "Leave me alone!" she screams. His voice is urgent. The police traced the call. It was coming from another room inside the house. She tears to the front door, attempting to unlock it and dash outside. She sees a door open at the top of the stairs. She finally gets the door open and bursts outside, only to find a cop standing on the doorstep with his gun drawn. At this point, she's safe, of course, but when they capture the intruder and drag him downstairs in handcuffs, she sees he is covered in blood."

I then found changes I could make if i was to write about this story: 

After reading this story, I felt as if the man that got caught should be dressed up as a clown, which creates a more scary and urban legend effect. He could be calling her constantly but also sending her pictures of her in the house, then the kids and show that he is in her house but then every time she goes up there to check or looks back his not there. 

The strengths and weaknesses of this story: 

Strengths: This is not a known story and therefore anyone that tells the story can add their element of surprise, change the ending. This would be really attractive to the audience as its an interesting story & due to the ending being on a cliff hanger it makes the listener/reader want to know what happened afterwards.

Weaknesses: However this story doesn't seem to fit the urban legend genre as it doesn't say 'it happened to me' or 'a friend told a friend', so due to the fact it has no ending it shows that its just fake and unreal and doesn't make the reader believe the whole idea of something being fake but true.

My chosen idea

After researching a variety of urban legend stories, these two stories standed out the most to me. I combined both these stories together to create the urban legend story that was required from the client brief. From the clown statute story, I took the whole idea of the clown just standing there in the room staring at the individual & in the other story I got the idea of the man constantly calling her and asking if she did something. I decided to collaborate these two together because after the blue sky thinking discussion we came up with a stalker idea and they both collaborate together. With my urban legend story, I wrote about where a girl is constantly getting stalked via snap chat. I chose snap chat because I believe it would be more believable and the audience would relate to it.