Stranger Things Presentation Notes

Ownership-

• Owners- Duffer Brothers 
• They pitched stranger things 10 companies getting rejected until Netflix agreed to air the show and instantly loved it
• 21 laps run by Shawn Levy
• Netflix plan to make $2 billion dollars
• Netflix created their own social media accounts #JusticeForBarb
• Netflix paid for Stranger Things and distribution 
• Target audience varies 
• 15.8 million views in the first episode
• Netflix announced its entry into 130 new countries

Production-

• 21 Laps Entertainment produced Stranger Things
• Budget per episode $6 m to produce, $48 per episode
• 8 episodes in first season
• 2000 members cast and crew
• Above the line (budget for advertising) and below the line (memes)
• Pre-production, original from Netflix
• Fictional town
• Filmed in Atlanta, Georgia
• Took 7 months to film, filmed in 2016
• Took 11 days to film each episode
• Tested images to have soft and round tones similar to 80's
• Took into account  smart phone use, so Duffer Brothers composed filming to be effective to both big and small screen platforms
• Kevin Ross edited, along with Dean Zimmerman
• Edited in a week

Distribution-

• Can watch stranger things on iPad, smart phone, smart TVs, computers, and tablets
• Subscription only service
• Changed the language on the front covers to attract the different audiences
• DVD boxset
• Vertical intergration- Netflix produces it, distributes it and broadcasts it (owns all of the rights)
• Available in 20 different translations 
• Netflix is available in 190 countries
• Simultaneous release- whole season in one go

Marketing- 

• Netflix was responsible for the marketing 
• Used unique aspects scubas virtual reality- interactive experiences
• Announced a planned release for a planned release for July 15th 2016
• Cultural 80s nostalgia 
• Trailers were released which included the thriller theme of the drama
• Soundtrack
• Clothing and food
• Word of mouth
• Netflix had to use very little marketing 
• 360 degree virtual reality video on youtube
• Eggo Waffles recipes were released in pair with each episode of season 2 
• Eggos were an 80s food
• Merchandised and fandom made products
• Hidden vending machine in NewYork-competition (Stranger things TV Instagram)
• Topshop paired with Stranger Things 
• Google map
• 80s eggo advert- leggo my eggo

Stranger Things Representations

Rolan Barts-

• Signifier 
• Denotation 
• Connotation

Constructed Realism-

• Nothing can be real in TV drama
• The idea that all media products and what we see in them is made/ built using technical codes and media language such as camera work, editing, etc.

Dominant ideology-

• System or structure of beliefs, values and ideas about the way we should live, behave and think

Representations in the media-

• All media products are 'constructed'
• Producers use different elements/ conventions of media language to construct these representations 
• Producer of different LFTVD may use different elements of media language to:

- Offer different representations 

- Communicate different ideas and viewpoints about individuals/ social groups or identities, events and issues

-

Stranger Things notes

Essay Plan-

Point

Example

Specific

Analysis

Theory/ terminology

Answer the question

Stranger Things Season 1 promo

• Mid shot
• Close up- showing expression
• Direct eye level
• Tracking long shots
• Tracking close up- tension 
• Leave cliff hangers- allowing the audience to create scenarios win their mind
• Enigma codes
• Star power- 80s heart throbs (Winola Rider)
• Specific dialogue- Hopper  
• Netflix logo- branding
• Low key lighting- enigma
• Investigative narratives and crime conventions

Stranger things walk through

80s film research

• The Duffer brothers created Stranger things as a homage to 1980s films
• ET-

Stranger Things pays homage to ET (1982) It uses images of kids on dirt bikes riding through suburbia and into the wilderness and shows the children on a quest. The series also has an extensive usage of flashlights - and flashlight beams - in the darkness. Many shots in the series mirror the lighting and framing found in E.T. the film.

• Ghost busters

Stranger Things makes connections to ghost busters during the halloween scene in season 2.

• Stand by me

Stranger Thing Character Representations

LFTVD notes

Long Form TV Drama-

• Cultural Zeitgeist- Stranger Things
• High quality drama
• Multiple episodes
• Content can be dark and difficult but innovative
• It now attracts some of the best and innovative writer and actors
• Time shifting, easily accessible 
• Keeps people invested
• Lots of creativity 
• Characters change in natural and surprising ways
• Lots of different networks competing
• Can show theme development 
• Vocab - easter eggs, time-shifting, VOD, PVR, streaming, terrestrial tv
• State of the nation TV
• Things that are going on today

TV Drama-

• Various locations
• Stock Characters
• Multiple narratives
• 1 hour episodes
• Dramatic cliff hangers
• High production Values

LFTVD Meanings...

• Has a number of episodes that create a narrative and tell a story to the audience 
• Technological change on TV industry 
• How audiences consume and interpret LFTV
• Considering the economic context behind the large budgets 
• 6 million for the 1st season

Stranger things poster-

• Setting- Prison, Garden
• Themes- friendship, mystery, power, falling adversity 
• Genre- supernatural, action, sci-fi
• Narrative- chase, young people hunting something down, binary opposition 
• Characters- young, varied expressions (negative), US, binary
• Intertextuality- starwars, ghost busters, ET, Goonies
• Historical period- 80s, clothing

Stranger things-

• ET, Goonies, Gremlins, Ghostbuster, Nightmare on Elm Street
• Stephen King (horror) tweeted about it, likes the show
• 1980s nostalgia 
• Set in 1983
• Duffer twins created stranger things- born in 90s
• 80s actress as mother 
• Fan artwork
• Trapper keeper 
• Duffers were rejected by mainstream HollyWood multiple times, Netflix 'rebels' took them on
• First season is set in November 1983
• Anxiety of influence- overcome
• Weaponised intertextuality 
• Fan service
• Pastiche- opposite to parody
• Pop culture metaphors used- Dungeons and dragons (lord f the rings, hobbit, star-wars)
• 11 is compared to ET and Fire-starter/ Carrie
• Creative misprision- misreading to create something original 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_qi0ZwN7GBlnjbIKJLFgDMAi-UOF76j-L1ZvSnEWWFU/edit?usp=sharing

tabloid vs broadsheet

Questions:

Daily Mirror 

The Guardian 

Who was involved?

-       The twins (one-year-old Gabriel and Maria)

-       Bidhya Sagar Das, 33 (the supposed dad)

-       Cristinela Das, 28 (the mum)  

A one-year-old child who was killed in hammer attack

his father who has been accused for the killing

the child’s twin sister who was rushed to hospital after 

What happened?

-       One-year-old Gabriel was pronounced dead and the sister remains in a critical condition. 

-       The dad was arrested last night on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. 

-       Neighbours said the children’s mother ran into the street screaming 

-       Forensic officers were seen collecting a hammer from the property.

A father attacked his one-year-old son killing him and leaving his twin sister with severe head injuries. Both children were rushed to  east end hospital where the boy was declared dead.

Where did it happen?

Hackney, North London. 

Finsbury park north London 

When did it happen?

11.10pm on Saturday (18.03.17)

18^th of march 2017

How did it happen?

A man has been held over a suspected HAMMER attack on twin toddlers. 

Still to be confirmed 

Why did it happen?

Still to be confirmed 

Still to be confirmed 

What do you notice about the difference in content and how the articles convey this information? Why do you think that is?

-       A myriad of pictures 

-       Title is less understated (more dramatic)

-       Covers more content 

-       Emotive words 

-       Daring titles that includes a lot of information. However not a lot of text.

The guardian shows no graphic images or doesn’t go into detail about motives

Lots of text with