Going Mobile With Drama

Making mobile components to some forms of TV shows is easy, such as with gameshows or talent contests. Others are more difficult, and drama shows are reportedly the most difficult.

A lot of the story focuses on the BBC's experience in creating tardisodes for the new Dr Who series. The format for mobile screens is in a 4:3 ration rather than the 16:9 of a TV screen. "The trouble is, all the material you shoot might also one day need to be put on the TV screen or onto DVD, which require a 16:9 aspect ratio. "So for Doctor Who's ‘Attack of the Graske' and Tardisodes, we shot everything 16:9 but made it all 4:3 safe," said BBC interactive producer Jo Pearce."
There are other issues, such as the fact that sound on a mobile phone is appalling. It's not even speech that is the problem really, but the atmosphere created by sound. Also, visually rich scenes can cause problems (a scene with fire caused the mobile screen to fuzz) and have to be reshot, which of course costs extra.
"Drama is the most expensive TV genre, a reason that drama on new media platforms has, so far, mainly been spun-off from a main TV series. "It's crucial to piggyback off the main production as much as we can," said Pearce about the making of the Doctor Who Tardisodes. "If we hadn't come off the back of the show we wouldn't have been able to afford the sets."
Mind you, there was an interesting point about writing for the new medium, with Lee Hardman, head of Mersey TV's Conker Media, the outfit behind Hollyoaks' new media spin-offs, claiming there is no problem. "Storytelling skills are transferable, as is an understanding of narrative." For Aardman's broadcast and development manager Helen Brunsdon, thinking too much about the platform distracts from what really counts creatively. "Whatever works on mobile phones should work on a TV or cinema screen," she says. "A good idea is a good idea regardless of where you see it. We're driven by character and ideas regardless of the output device."

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