ST Fandom

	What is the product? Give an overview.	Who is it by? What demographic/ psychographic can the fan be defined by?	Where can you find this product? Which platform?	Which features of the drama’s content does the product focus on? What does it suggest is the main appeal of the TV drama?	How have other fans responded to the content? Give examples of how they respond?	Are the fans targeted by the TV drama’s creators in any way?
Fan-made product 1	Stranger Fillings - A Fan made cookbook with recipes inspired by the show.	The Muffin Brothers’ - Could possibly be aimed at a viewer with lots of spare time/enjoys baking (possibly a housewife?)	This is in the form of a cookbook, and was found on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stranger-Fillings-Edible-recipes-upside/dp/1409173356	This product places a focus on several of the most important and prominent areas such as cakes of Hopper.	Response to this was good, with 4.5/5 stars on Amazon. The most common comments on this say how the recipes aren’t very good, but they are fun to look at and make.	I would definitely say that this is simply for general fans of the show, nobody really specific is being targeted here.
Fan-made product 2	’Make it Stranger’ a custom ST Logo generator.	Created by Nelson Cash, an online marketing firm. The product is clearly aimed at the connected and social media-obsessed users.	This is online, and available at http://makeitstranger.com/	The product is intended to allow fans to create a parody of the logo of the show, and its identity.	Whilst there isn’t a lot of information on the feedback, over 6 million images were made, and lots found on Google.	The fact that the show is on Netflix and is aimed at the Netflix Generation is a good example of this.
Fan-made product 3	Stranger Things Fandom Wiki	This site is created by many different users, and due to the amount of different content on the site, does not have one particular audience.	https://strangerthings.fandom.com/wiki/Stranger_Things_Wiki. Website - easily accessible.	There is an article about almost anything on the show to read, so the users can choose whatever interests them.	On each of the pages, there is a section where the user can comment on their own article, and the reception is generally good.	I think that this is appropriate for all of the audience being targeted, because of the amount of articles on the page.

Netflix Background Information

ST Representation Essay

In Stranger Things, several different social groups have been represented, in different ways. The most explicit representation, is of teenagers. We see many examples of conventional representation here. For example, we see the common representation of ‘nerds vs bullies’, in the middle school, where the boys are teased by some bullies. This is particularly conventional, and is playing on the norm that in a school environment, whoever is not ‘trendy’ or ‘with it’ are consistently singled and left out. We see the boys as stereotypical nerds through many different ways, such as their passionate interest in Dungeons and Dragons, as well as being avid members of the school’s AV Club. Nancy’s character provides us with another representation, from the perspective older teenager. In this case, this is also quite conventional. For example, we see the scene where Steve, the stereotypical boyfriend of Nancy sneaks into the house. We see Nancy trying to study in her dimly lit bedroom, and the two of them end up spending more time together. We see some common attributes of this age group here too, the fact that the both of them are easily distracted from what they should be doing, and the conventions of the typical teenage romance.

We also experience some of the conventions of potentially fragmented (and potentially dysfunctional) families, whose activities and common interests are separated. If, for example, we take Mike’s family. When Mike tries to persuade his mother to allow for them to stay for longer, we see Mike’s father, who seems to be in a completely different place of mind to the main subject. The response “listen to your mother” almost makes it seem as if he is in a different place to the main subject, and hasn’t listened to anything which is going on – I.E. in his own world, trying to get the TV to work. We also see this happening with Nancy and her family, leaving her family’s dinner table rather abruptly, once she wasn’t allowed to see Steve. This helps to further solidify this representation of the dysfunctional and fragmented family situation.

To conclude, especially in the first episode, it would appear as if Stranger Things is building the audience’s thoughts and viewpoints on the group of characters. This might explain why the show, at this point is sticking to the more conventional representations of this social groups.

ST Industry Presentation - OWNERSHIP

ST Codes and Conventions

ST Scenes

Representations in ST

LFTVD Narrative Structures

TV Drama, Language

Narrative Structure

Linear - Basic structure with a clear beginning, middle and an end.

Follows a Chronological Timeframe

Action A leads to Action B, leads to Action C. 

Fragmented - Also a non-linear, disrupted and disjointed storyline.

Joyce, Hopper, Friends and Scientists, we have many different stories. 

No clear beginning, middle, or end.

Stranger Things launches straight into some action!

Events shown outside the order of natural occurrence.

Parallel Stories

Seem to work more closely to replicate the thoughts of the human mind.

Restricted - We experience the events through one person only. This is going to be the main character. We find things out at the same time as the movie does. 

Omnipresent Narrative - We see all of the viewpoints of the characters.

Dramatic Irony - When we know what is going to happen before anyone else.

Closed Ending - Story is bought to a conclusion

Open endings - The story is left open, and will complete over a number of episodes, or the whole season. Open endings encourage the audience to carry on watching.

STRANGER THINGS IS A FRAGMENTED REALITY

Enigma Codes

Where does Eleven come from?

Her tattoo (011)

Social Worker

Failed experiment

What is causing all of these power outages?

Do Steve and Nancy ACTUALLY get it on?

1. The events in ST fall in a fragmented stage.
2. The individual stories are a good way to introduce the characters in their own background. This is fast, and gives LOTS OF INFO IN A SHORT TIME.

TODOROV: THE EQUILIBRIUM THEORY

 Traditional narratives follow your standard 3 part structure. 

All of the characters experience some disruption. 

1. Begin equilibrium (we’re in a lesson)
2. Disruption (the fire alarm goes off)
3. Recognition of Disruption (we leave)
4. Quest to restore equilibrium
5. New equilibrium (back inside, resume lesson)

STRAUSS - BINARY OPPOSITION

Classical ‘battles’ and mixing groups on traditional stories.

• Day vs Night
• Man vs Women
• Strange vs Not Strange

Representations in Stranger Things

Representations in Stranger Things aren’t simple. They’re always going to be going beyond the typical binary situation. 

Stranger Things is novelistic. It always goes on over a length of time. 

• We might see flashbacks
• Systemic Change

REPRESENTATIONS IN STRANGER THINGS

• Teenagers

Rebellious, Somewhat classical, stereotypical. Bullying the weak and nerdy (the whole AV Club thing)

• Family Life

Extremely maternal, fathers distant. Siblings argue, absolutely no moment of happy family apart from the tent flashback.

• Mothers

Classical damsel in distress. 

• Absent Fathers
• Police
• Government 

Introduction to TV Drama

TV Drama now competes with film – Long  form? 

Can we build 3-dimensional characters. (anti-heroes) - strong independent females 

 LFTVD Has high production values. I.E. One episode can be around $1-3 Million 

Viewing Methods 

• Terrestrial – BBC 1,2  / ITV / C4 / C5 
• Streaming NETFLIX HAS NOT MADE A PROFIT, LONG TERM BUSINESS GOAL 
• Sky Digital / Virgin Media / HBO etc. 

State of the Nation  

• Terrorism 
• Greed 
• Politics / Corruption 
• Crime 
• What's going on? 
• Cultural Zeitgeist 

Memes 

• Funny user-generated content 

Memes and Accessories for Stranger Things 

Ingredients and Conventions of Long Form TV Drama 

• Various Locations Featured 
• Stock Characters – Persistently following, we're going to spend lots of time with them 
• Multiple narratives – Many different sides to the story at the same time 
• 1-hour long 
• Released whole thing at a time (Binge watching) 
• Very dramatic cliff-hanger endings 
• High Production Values 

Investigative Drama. Crime? 

Stephen King, John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg  

Stranger Things Characters

FEMME Product Pitch

2018 Y12-Y13 Summer Tasks

Presentation for Old Spice

Titanium - David Guetta

Corrine Bailey Rae - Stop Where You Are

Lucozade Advertising

The Big Issue - Cover Overview

ASSESSMENT - DIRT

DIRT

All in all, this assessment when compared to previous ones was a large success. All three paragraphs in the assessment had some very positive skill demonstration, as well as a few areas to look at in future.

PARAGRAPH 1 – FILM (18)

Very good examples taken from the provided case studies, with detailed thoughts and gets straight to the key issues which must be addressed in the question. References to production processes and The Disney Vault added to the quality.

To improve this response, it is worth knowing technical impact to refer to in the answer. For example, how has the access to social media services allowed for a change in the distribution of the movie? Compare them?

PARAGRAPH 2 – R1BS (12)

Knowledge and essay response here was good, with the academic-style response working in your favour. Detail of knowledge was good, and a secure basic understanding of the topic is achieved.

To improve this response, work on the marketing and distribution elements is needed, and this needs to be done in the same detail as production to secure the top marks in the response.

PARAGRAPH 3 – MINECRAFT – (14)

Excellent knowledge on the subject with key facts and dates memorised.

Give more information on pre-MS operations as well as talking about the industry as a whole (what is mainstream?)