STUDIO PRODUCTION: MRS BROWNS BOYS (RESEARCH)

Since we're planning a Sitcom about Superheroes and we know that it will probably be about friends who live in a flat together as that's the most common one to go with from my research, I decided to look into 'Mrs Browns Boys'. An Irish Sitcom which is broadcasted on BBC1, this was first aired back in 2011 but was originally a stage show which travelled around the UK until it was pitched as a Sitcom to the BBC and taken on for a pilot episode. The show tells the story of Agnas Brown, an elderly Mother of 4 boys and 1 girl. All of which are grown up. 2 of the children still live at home, the daughter Cathy Brown and son Dermot Brown. We get the other children coming into the show as well.

What I found interesting about this Sitcom wasn't the structure, format or the characters. This has all the standards you'd expect from a Sitcom and follows with the classic structure very well. But, Mrs Browns Boys stood out when it came onto BBC as an original sitcom because it did what no current sitcom does on Television. They left the mistakes and the outtakes in the programme. Almost every Sitcom will have outtakes which can often be viewed in behind the scenes footage once the programme has been released. However, Mrs Browns Boys brought forward a new format for studio Sitcoms by showing not only the outtakes, but at the beginning and the end of the show, showing the audience the studio and the audience watching and at the end they all take a bow as a cast as if at the theatre.
The outtakes have been characters messing up lines, camera crew getting in shot and also the lead Agnas Brown just having a joke to fool around with the crew. An example is below:

These outtakes have been in the series since the first series was aired. Brendan O'Carroll (who plays Mrs Brown) will often do ad-libs in character to get other cast members to break character It really brings out humour and keeping in the character of Mrs Brown has added to the entertainment. Other mistakes have happened which aren't intentional, such as once a camera man smashed a window on the set:

The outtakes for the programme are what has made this series so popular and they continue to do them, although they aren't written into the script, Brendan O'Carroll will go out of his way to break the actors out of their characters and into a fit of laughter.

This is one of the ways which makes the Sitcom unique. It's stood out from other sitcoms due to the outtakes and adult humour but still done in a studio environment. Showing the audience that this is a show and not taking us into a new world like other shows do such as The Big Bang Theory and Friends.

STUDIO PRODUCTION: SUPERHERO FRANCHISE RESEARCH

While planning a Studio based Sitcom, me and Simon agreed that one of the biggest genres currently bringing out films and Television programmes every year is Superhero films. Since this is such a big genre I decided to look into how popular Superhero genre currently is and whether or not it would be worth looking into this as something to work into a Sitcom.

Superhero Films
While looking online at the amount of films released and classed as 'Superhero' I found that Marvel Studios has released 18 films since 2008, Fox Films have released 13 since 2005, Warner Brothers with DC Comics have released 8 since 2005 and there have also been countless small budget films such as Kick Ass, Watchmen, The Incredibles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hellboy.
I also found that since 2015 there have been 7 series produced by Netflix with Marvel Studios for the streaming site Netflix, 8 TV Series produced by Marvel Studios since 2014, 4 TV Shows with DC Comics since 2013 and one of the most watched and loved TV Series was the original Batman TV Show with Adam West back in the 1960s. Not only that, but in 2018 there is a further 9 superhero films and 3 TV Series to be released.

Back in 2015, The Marvel Cinematic Universe became the Highest grossing franchise of all time. After the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. The franchise has released well over 18 films with characters such as Iron Man, Thor and Captain America all having their own trilogy whereas other characters are introduced into films such as Spider-Man (now getting his own set of films), Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision and Nick Fury. Marvel Studios started off as a small production company back in 2008 and now have created an entire cinematic universe which keeps getting bigger and bigger with the introduction of new characters and the confirmation of new films.

Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy is classed as one of the best Batman adaptations of all time. It also gave us, what has been rated as, the best adaptation of the Joker in a live action movie. The trilogy was away from other characters in the DC Comic world and didn't have intention of creating a cinematic Universe like Marvel did. It wasn't until Marvel had gotten such a huge crowd response that DC Comics brought out their latest adaptation of Superman in 'Man of Steel' back in 2013. Which has led to a new adaptation of Batman, The Joker and also an adaptation of Wonder Woman as well.

This genre is huge currently and it will sell and sell because of this. But, comedy with Superheroes can be a hit or miss. Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man are both comedy Superhero movies and did very well at the box office. Guardians of the Galaxy has now had it's sequel released as well. But, the comedy in Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man isn't constant as it would be in a sitcom, but they are good examples to lead off for writing a script.

STUDIO PRODUCTION: SITCOM (FORMAT RESEARCH)

Sitcoms have been around for many years. The United Kingdom and the USA have both produced very popular sitcoms. Both a mixture of Studio based and on location. All depending on the style of the sitcom and the story it's following. American companies have produced sitcoms such as 'The Big Bang Theory', 'Will & Grace', 'How I Met Your Mother', 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air' and 'Friends' which are all based inside a studio. From my research I have found that America has produced far more Studio based Sitcoms than the United Kingdom have, although they have all been popular outside of the USA.
The United Kingdom has also produced Studio Sitcoms such as 'Only Fools and Horses, 'Red Dwarf', I.T Crowd', 'Blackadder' and 'Mrs Brown's Boys' but in the modern day has produced sitcoms on location which are now produced more in the UK such as 'Gavin & Stacey', 'Fresh Meat', 'Bad Education', 'The Office', 'Outnumbered', 'Peep Show', 'The Royal Family', 'Spaced' and 'The Inbetweeners'. But, no matter where the Sitcom is being filmed, the set up and format for a Sitcom seems to be the same.

The first Sitcom to be made was back in 1947. It was aired until 1950. Called 'Mary Kay and Johnny' this Sitcom was produced in the early years after the war ended and shocked the world with some of the stories it told. Sitcoms were considered a joke and weren't thought to have any series storylines to them. This is true, they are made purely for comedy and to entertain but can have serious elements in them as well. Mary Kay and Johnny proved that, by being the first programme to show  a couple sharing a bed and also the first to show a woman's pregnancy on TV. This was also the first Sitcom to be broadcasted on Network TV in the USA. Since then, comedy has developed and rather than slapstick comedy which we would get between the 1940s-1970s. These days, we get far more vulgar comedy with swearing and sexual reference. But the format for Sitcoms has stayed the same over the years, with the only difference being the change in comedy.

STUDIO PRODUCTION: FRIENDS (RESEARCH)

Friends was an American Sitcom broadcasted from 1994-2004. The programme was HUGELY popular and has continued to be as the 10 series have just been uploaded to the Streaming service Netflix. The programme tells the lives of 6 friends. Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing, Phoebe Buffay and Ross Geller. The show is often referred to as one of the greatest television shows ever made, due to it's hugely popular following from the audience and it's continued popularity these days as well.

The show revolved around these 6 main characters. There was side characters that entered and stayed through series, others were dropped. But throughout the shows development we see the relationships between characters change. Ross and Rachel end up getting together and then splitting up which between this entire story brings a huge amount of comedy to the show and has ended up being some of the most memorable scenes for the entire programme. An example; when Ross and Rachel went on a break from their relationship, Ross ended up kissing another woman and Rachel hugely over reacted and one of Ross's most loved lines is "We were on a break!" which followed through a number of episodes, below is an extract from one of these scenes:

It's gags like this that made the show such a hit. Although, an expectation from a Sitcom as the intention is the make the audience laugh and bring joy and comedy over and over with gags and comical characters. 

One of the funniest characters in the entire Sitcom is Joey Tribbiani, a struggling actor who loves food more than anything. Joey is a ladies man, constantly in and out of relationships which don't last very long. His 'go-to' pick up line for women is "How you doin'?" which is heard constantly throughout the show and always get the audience laughing. Joey is a really loveable character, innocent and caring for his friends. At the same time he's very simple minded and often will say very dumb or silly things, bringing more comedy to the show. 

Comical characters, like Joey are what make sitcoms such a popular format to watch. If me and Simon are to create a sitcom for Studio Production, our characters will be everything. They'll need to carry, not only the story, but also the comedy, the jokes and the gags through the programme. This is the same as The Big Bang Theory. 

Sets

The Friends set involves a number of different locations. 2 are flats and 1 is a coffee shop. These 3 are the main locations that we see through the series. one flat is Monicas, where she originally lives with Rachel. This is the biggest flat and where the majority of the time, the group will meet and often were a lot of the story will take place. Through the series this does change and the characters move between different locations. Sometimes at Joey's flat which is directly across the hall from Monicas. Joey and Chandler originally live together as room mates until Chandler falls in love with Monica and marries her.  Joey's flat has a lot of comedy and character development between him and Chandler in the first few series. We see a lot of how Joey is on his own here as well such as rehearsing and how he is when he brings women home.

These two locations are so recognisable now and VERY classic for sitcoms. So often a living room is the main location for a story to take place as its the location where everyone in the house would meet. What's clever about these two locations is that they're both studio flats. Same as Sheldon and Leonards in The Bang Bang Theory, the kitchen and living room are all in the same room. Making it a bigger space for things to happen and easier to shoot as there aren't any walls. As well you don't question this because studio flats are very common in both the USA and United Kingdom. If working in a Studio as Friends and The Big Bang Theory does, this would be much better to shoot and of course light as you can see from the first photo of Monicas house.

But, because this sitcom is about 6 friends it has a location where they can all meet and talk together.

Often this is becomes the main place for the group to meet after work, on the way to work, etc. which is a small little coffee shop where the character Phoebe also performs her music bringing more comedy to the show with her unusual songs.
We do get other locations popping up such as Ross's flat, Monicas parents house, Rachels work office, Joey's audition locations, etc. But in each episode you are sure to get the coffee shop and either or both of Joey and Monicas flats. 

STUDIO PRODUCTION: IDEA GENERATION

Myself and Simon Lawrence are in a group together to pitch an idea for the Studio Production. I had considered the idea of a Dating Show which aims to the LGBT community, as the only dating show currently being broadcasted which supports LGBT is 'Naked Attraction'. However, in my personal opinion, that programme focuses purely on bodies before the actual person, this is the main point of the show and what has made it stand out on TV. It's also one of the main reasons that it's gained such a huge following.

However, Simon made a valid point that a dating show has been pitched at the studio before, as we found speaking to previous students, but wasn't chosen. Why this was, we weren't sure, but we did note some of the issues with trying to make a dating show. The main issue we saw was contributors for the show. Usually, we would be looking for actors to come onboard to be presenters. However, with something like a dating show, we would require the public to come onboard and we would need a lot. For example, Take me Out has well over 50 contributors for the show to cover each episode.

An idea that Simon had, was to create a studio Sitcom. As far as we are aware, this has never been pitched as a Studio Production and we know we haven't made one at UCA for the Unit. This is a very original and different ideas and also, Sitcoms have been made for many third year projects for years on the course and we've all had experience working with a script and actors as well as structuring a story. This would be something which not only give the course a challenge with Live TV. But, also plays to the students strengths.
We agreed that a sitcom would be a good idea to go with and we thought about having it about friends as this is often the best way to work it as it has been done with Sitcoms such as The Big Bang Theory and Friends and also sitcoms which aren't within a studio environment such as Fresh Meat and Gavin & Stacey.

STUDIO PRODUCTION: BIG BANG THEORY (RESEARCH)

The Big Bang Theory is an American Sitcom about roommates Sheldon and Leonard,  living in a small flat in California. They are both Physicists working for the California Institute of Technology. The series was created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady and first aired in 2007 and completed it's eleventh series this year (2018). The programme focuses on the characters Sheldon and Leonard but also their neighbour 'Penny' who Leonard falls in love with. As well, we have Sheldon and Leonards colleagues and friends Howard Wolowitz, a engineer and Raj Koothrappali, an astrophysicist.

STUDIO PRODUCTION: PREVIOUS UCA STUDIO PRODUCTIONS (RESEARCH)

With so many different types of Studio Productions available and so many different ones already being done on our Course over the years, I decided to watch through all the previous Studio Projects that have been done to see what has and hasn't been done.

The Pub Game - 2011

The Pub Game is a Studio Game Show which joins in the classic pub games you get in the pub into a studio game show. With 2 teams going head to head to win the Golden Pork Pie! The teams are staff from pubs, in the episode they're two pubs from Maidstone.
To start off the show, we're shown a VT of the pubs that the teams come from each. The manager of the pub who is also the team captain is the one showing us around and then we are introduced to the team members before going into the first round.

Round 1
The first round starts off with a quick fire general knowledge quiz, adapted from the classic 'Pub Quiz' you can get at your local pub. Each team has a bell, taken from the classic 'last orders' bell you use to get in classic pubs. if answered correctly the team gets five points. It's a very interactive round which the audience watching can also interact with as they can try and guess the answers.

Round 2
The next round for the show is 'Guest Game' where the presenter says that different to pubs that have a guest ale, they have a guest game, so each episode would have a different game for this round. This episode has the classic student game 'Beer Pong' and one member of each team has to try and throw a ball into as many cups as possible before the time runs out. The winner is the team with the most balls in cups.

Round 3
The next round is 'Blind Drunk' this is a very comical round where one member of each team will be placed in the middle of the set, blind folded and then their team mates have to guide them around a twister style board on the floor with different drinks on them. The trick is that they've been spun around a few times so they're dizzy.

Round 4
This is the final round of the show and is called 'Last Orders'. It's taken the first round and brought back but with a different twist to it. Now the teams have a chance to win 10 points with every correct answer but if they get an answer wrong they're 'barred' from the pub and can no longer answer questions in the round. Making the final round much more challenging.

At the end of this the scores are released and the winning team is announced. With the Presenter then thanking everyone and giving the outro for the show and then the credits are released.
The show is very original. It's fun to watch with clear themes throughout it. The funny gags of the classic pub themes and the set make it a great programme. Highly enjoyable game show and really original idea.