TV Drama/Series - SKINS

SKINS

The TV Drama/Series I decided to choose was 'Skins', as I found it most relevant to my script and narrative. 

The cast consisted of 9 main members and there names were: Kaya Scodelario, (Effy Stonem) Lisa Backwell (Pandora Moon) Merveille Lukeba (Thomas Tomone) Jack O'Connell (James Cook) Luke Pasqualino (Freddie McClair) Ollie Barbieri (JJ Jones) Lily Loveless (Naomi Campbell) Kathryn Prescott (Emily Fitch) and Megan Prescott (Katie Fitch).

The series that I chose to look into was series 3, and a specific episode was chosen which was episode 9 (Katie and Emily's). the general synopsis for this episode is that Katie won't leave the house so Emily has to pretend to be her and sit Katie's exams. Naomi tells Emily that she's going to Cyprus over the summer alone to work things out. Emily asks Naomi to go to the love ball with her but Naomi says no. Thomas finds a broken hearted Emily at the bus stop and proves to be a true friend. Back at home Emily tells her family she's gay but they pass it off as a joke, so Emily tells Katie some home truths. Naomi turns up at Katie and Emily's the next morning and their mum tells her to leave Emily alone.Katie and Emily go shopping for dress for the love ball. They bump into Freddie and JJ. Katie finds out Emily slept with JJ and decides to tell Naomi and warns her not to come to the love ball. Naomi decides to go to the love ball after all. Katie and Naomi fight which is overheard by Emily. Emily and Katie then start to fight just as Emily is about to punch Katie she stops herself and tells her and the whole ball that she loves Naomi. Emily then takes Naomi's hand and they walk away. Thomas and Pandora also decide to start a fresh.

Obviously this series felt extremely dated through it's Mise en Scene, however what I still found and made good use of was relating to my own work. It was the dialogue and character development throughout this series that engaged the audience that once used to watch this show.

So specifically in this episode what I took from it as some form of inspiration was the battle between the two sisters, one wanting to be set free and open about her sexuality, and the other wanting to hold her back from it. Which in many ways, had a similar concept to my first draft of script, Millie wanting to escape it all yet Sarah was trying to hold her back, for selfish reasons. However, changes in the script were made but still there are similar themes throughout. 

What I enjoyed though in the series was it's use of archetypes, the character development and the general youth feel it has to it. I tried to capture that in my work, with the first page or two of my script, trying to capture an essence of two characters that have love for each other yet don't ever really get it right, but when they do it's good. 

A piece of dialogue that I enjoyed was between the two sisters as they were ripping into each other. It felt natural and is really what i was going for in my script - 

          Katie

          I’m more popular than you, thats why you’re doing

          This

               Emily

          Fuck Off

              Katie

          Yeah I think so, you can’t stand it, its sad

          So you gonna stop before you hurt someone

              Emily

          Fuck off

              Katie

          Your not gay your just stupid

              Emily

          Right I’m stupid, because I don’t let anyone

          Fuck me when they love someone else

              Katie

          What?

              Emily

          You let freddy use you, and look what its

          Got you

              Emily    

           (Continued)

           That’s a normal relationship isn’t it,

           She fucked you up good didn’t she

    

This specific bit was highlighted for it's general naturalistic an authentic feel i felt it had achieved. 

In conclusion I found the series and this specific episode very useful in terms of inspiration and ideas for use of dialogue and character development.