A history of episodic youth drama's

• Boy Meets World (1993 - 2000) - Boy meets world was one of the first episodic drama's which was made to appeal to a young teenage audience. Boy Meets World told the story of two young school boys Named Cory Matthews and his best friend Shawn Hunter and their adventures through their school years . The Two main characters had problems and quirks which appealed to youth culture at the time, the boys were very bad at communicating with the opposite sex and had school enemies who also happened to be bullies. Boy meets world also launched the careers of actors such as 'Adam Scott' and 'Will Friedle' each episode was ran at 23 minutes (very similar length to children's shows eg; Suite life of Zach and Cody) and kept running for 158 episodes. Even though we are not necessarily trying to create an exact same property it will be helpful to take various story elements and messages from this drama to get a sense of where the origins of youth culture on television started. When Boy meets world was released at time where america was changing in a very big way, A democratic president was elected (Bill Clinton) who had made massive decisions which changed the United States encomy and political stand points such as Waco siege and the US and Russia signed an agreement to reduce nuclear warheads by 3,500 each, The wolrd trade centre had be bombed by Islamic fundamentalists. Artists such as Snoop Dogg, Doctor Dre, Rage against the Machine, Nirvana and Madonna had shaped the culture for youth adolescents changing the music and fashion industry as a whole. Films such as Jurassic Park, Schindler list and Jurassic Park were released becoming cinematic milestones which had also inspired a new breed of young filmmakers and innovated the modern day 'Blockbuster' the culture at the time is quite apparent when watch Boy Meets World because the fashion (denim jackets and big hair) and cultural references (Inflation, bill clinton) relate very much to how life was at in the United states at the time. Boy meets world is shot and written typically like most sitcoms around this has a large amount of shot reverse shots, A large amount of mid shots which are used constantly for character dialogue exchange, audience laughter which is cues for comedic moments in the show and their are cliche characters that fit the typical formula eg; Sidekick bestfriend, the high school, the laid back dad and the stressful mother.

• Skins (2007 - 2013) - Skins was a episodic/chronological series about British six form students growing up in mid 2000s Britain , the stories that are told focuses on individual characters who are all part of the same friendship group trying to find love and happiness despite there Outrageous drugs and parties infused lifestyle and their questionable parenting their familiesprovide. When skins was first released it became a innovative series to the teens of Britain because it was very relatable and it captured how youth culture in Britain at the time. The show covered various issues and interests that young people faced back then and still face today, such as; Drug experimentation, relationships.loosing virginity, education and love. Skins had launched the careers of many young actors today that have branched out to becoming Hollywood actors and memorable British/American TV show performances such as; Dev Patel (slumdog millionaire, Lion and Chappie) Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-men first class, Warm bodies and About a boy) and most notably Jack O'Connell for his performance as Cook which is considered to be the greatest ever character portrayal on skins this performance lead Jack O'Connell to start in projects such as; Unbroken, 71, Godless and 300: Rise of an empire. Skins was a chronological series which lead on to a new generation of characters every two series. Each episode was 46 minutes long and there was total 61 episodes after the shows cancellation in 2013 due to bad reception from viewers. I think by watching skins all the members of the writing team can take some good inspiration from the shows character and story elements, the characters are written in a way that makes them very conflicted and relatable because they are young and confused but their ideologies and quirks make them lovable characters which you are constantly routing for. During this time there wasn't a large amount going on culturally, the risk of terrorism was becoming a much higher burden on the lives of people living in the UK and  the rest of the world. Gordon brown had became the new UK prime minister and a entirely new generation of youthful people were being brought into world where society was changing as a whole and skins reelected what that youth culture was like at the time. A element I like about skins is the way the scenes of the show are lite and shot, especially when characters are conversing, there is always a large amount of close ups and extreme close-ups to draw attention to the emotional moments in the series. This helps the audience establish a connection with the characters much easier, the way they are lite also helps us detail certain facial movements which makes t easier to read and understand our characters.

• The End Of The F***ing World (2017 - ) - The End Of The F***ing World is a series which takes place in modern day rural England. It tells the story of Two Awkward, Strange and quirky teens called Alyssa (Jessica Barden) and James (Alex Lawther) The Story this series tells is of that Alyssa and James go on an adventure which leaves them going on the run from their parents, the law and also their lives. James is 17 and is pretty sure he is a psychopath he kills animals in his spare time he doesn't have any friends and he obsesses over the thought of killing a human being. Alyssa is the new bad, moody and cool girl at school she also has various issues just like James. The two in a rebellion against their parents steal James dads car and seek out an adventure to find Alyssa's father. this series is ran at 8 episodes a series and is ran at 25 minutes an episode. This series is a good example of teen drama because It addresses the dark side of youth culture today with adding humour and heart warming moments to it swell as being a very dark comedy. I believe we can take some elements out of this show which can be can be used as a form of making our series more lighthearted considering that it is about bereavement. During the release of this series mental has become a massive global issue with society today and this series reflects how youth culture deals with depression and how being strange and different is alright and it delivers a message to my generation. As for the way the show looks and feels. There is always this feeling I get when i'm watching show that it is either set in american or its in the 1990s but, its set modern day England which I understand is from the use of lighting and scenery used in the show is always slightly bleak looking and there is typically a large amount of nature in the majority of shots that we see, there is always a strange colour pallet on screen. The characters are always wearing bland colours such as white,grey and black but when they are in interior locations the scenery always seems to be very well highlighted with luminous colours been seen.