1. Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
The main and the ancillary products both produced for ‘Manor Drive’ denote
features of repetition as well as difference (Steve Neal) from the Soap Opera
genre in order to attract the target audience
My magazine ‘TV TOWN’
My print media product is an example of ‘repetition’ (Steve Neal) for example my
main headline is similar to other main headlines on Soap Opera magazines such
as ‘What’s On TV’ which was my magazine of inspiration. During the planning
and research stages I analysed other media publications such as ‘What’s On TV’
as I liked the layout of the magazine. An example of repletion that I produced
was the non-verbal main headline ‘TV TOWN’ as I used a similar colour scheme
and font style to ‘What’s On TV this is because the use of bright colour’s and big
font style really made ‘What’s On TV’ stand out to the other existing print media
products so therefore I wanted to create a new magazine that would be able to
compete and succeed with the existing publications.
When creating my cover lines I was heavily influenced by ‘other texts’ (Barthes-
1975) when I created my magazine such as ‘what’s On TV’ as I liked the
storylines for the cover lines as they seemed dramatic as well as the images as
they stereotypically looked like images from Soap Operas. I wanted to create
similar cover lines as 55.56% of people said that the cover stories stand out to
them the most when they were viewing a Soap Opera magazine so therefore I
wanted to create similar storylines to ‘What’s On TV’ so that my magazine would
meet the needs of my target audience. For example I created cover lines with
themes of murder, revenge and pregnancy which were influenced by ‘What’s On
TV’.
My use of non-verbal codes such as the main image on my magazine front cover
which is a mid shot of Connie (the main character) in ‘Manor Drive’ draws the
audience attention to ‘Manor Drive’ as the image takes up the majority of the
front cover to stand out to the other Soap Operas.
I chose a mid shot for my front cover because I wanted the target audience to be
able to see what Connie is wearing which is a black puffy body warmer with a
long sleeved black top. Her facial expression and body language (mise-en-scene)
is blank with connotations of mystery and the un-known so therefore the target
audience do not no what she is thinking or feeling. The black puffy jacket (mise-
en-scene) connotes that Connie is a rough character and stereotypes her as a
‘chav’. I wanted Connie to wear all black on the ‘TV TOWN’ front cover as I
wanted the audience to see her as a dark character. I also wanted to create
negative connotations behind Connie’s character by her choice of clothing such
as fear which connotes that people will be fearful of her character as well
connotations of death which could imply that she is planning on killing someone

2. as her revenge and also mystery which links back to her body language as I did
not want to give too much away to the audience.
The main headline ‘Connie’s Revenge’ denotes that Connie is going to get
revenge. The connotations suggest that someone has done something bad to her
so therefore she is going to get her revenge on them. I have used the BBC three
logo on my main headline to help promote the show as well as promote the
channel that ‘Manor Drive’ will be shown on. The ‘Manor Drive’ logo is also
present on the front cover to help promote the new soap opera. The differences
between my magazine and other soap opera magazines are that I have social
media logos such as Twitter and Facebook.
I challenged the codes and conventions of existing Soap Opera magazine front
covers by using convergence to networking idents such as the Facebook and
Twitter logos. I did this so that I could reach a younger target audience as I found
of during my planning and research that BBC Three’s target audience are people
aged 16-34. As BBC Three attract a younger target audience I wanted to attract
them to watch ’Manor Drive’ through social media as its very popular amongst
young people.
The trailer
The main task, which was the trailer for ‘Manor Drive’,was set in a pub setting,
which is a typical Soap opera setting. The setting for the flashback shot was set
on empty path near the side of the road.
Connie is the main character within the ‘Manor Drive’ trailer. The costume we
decided for her to wear was a black puffy jacket with gold rings and big gold
earrings and Ugg boots. We wanted Connie to wear these items as part of her
costume because we wanted them to show that she a rough character. We
wanted her to stereotypically look like a chav to connote that she is an
aggressive character. Connie is also coming back for revenge so therefore her
clothing could suggest that she has been living rough whilst she has been away.
The other characters (the group of friends) were dressed in smart casual
clothing such as jeans and t-shirts as the setting was in pub so therefore we
wanted them to look like realistic teenagers in a pub. The props we used within
our trailer were non-verbal codes that were very similar to what the characters
wore in other Soap Opera trailers such as EastEnders and Hollyoaks.
The pub setting of the Queen Vic influenced our decision of the non-verbal pub
setting for out trailer (‘’Television producers set out to exploit genre
conventions’’-Nicholas Abercrombie (1995). We exploited this convention by
choosing it as our main setting within our trailer as a pub is the main setting as it
is a typical social environment in which members of a community go to. The
setting also established the main characters within our trailer. The exploitation
of the pub setting made our trailer look more realistic and professional like the
Eastenders who killed Archie trailer.

3. Our trailer is about someone coming back for revenge which could have many
different storylines behind it such as murder, crossed wires, family or friendship
drama.
The Hollyoaks ‘black wedding’ trailer influenced my choice to ‘repeat’ (Steve
Neal )the verbal codes within the ‘Manor Drive’ trailer as I wanted them to reveal
the meaning of the actions within the trailer to the audience so that they could
have an idea of what the ‘Manor Drive’ narrative would be about. For example in
the Hollyoaks trailer the non-diegetic verbal song lyrics ‘it’s a nice day for a
white wedding’ were very ironic as everyone was dressed in black instead of
white so the connotations behind these lyrics implied to me that the wedding
would turn out to be the opposite of a nice day. This Implies to the audience that
the wedding is going to be a disaster and that dark secrets are going to be
revealed as the mise-en-scene of dark clothing worn by the guest and both the
bride and groom suggest that one of them has done something dark and is trying
to hide it however their secret will be reveled during their wedding. The non-
diegetic verbal lyrics within ‘Manor Drive’ ‘wreaking havoc and yes I will get my
…revenge’ reveal Connie’s motive for returning. The lyrics signify(Roland
Barthes) that Connie is coming back to cause trouble and gives the audience a
clue that she wants to get revenge on the group of teenagers who are playing
spin the bottle inside the pub. The point of view shot from the protagonist shows
her looking directly at all of the teenagers whilst there is a non-diegetic song
lyric ‘revenge’ connotes that the group of teenagers have done something bad to
her as they are shocked to see her returning so therefore she wants to cause
chaos by doing something bad to them as revenge for what they did to her.
Lastlymy group and myself challenged conventions by making sure that we
filmed a flashback at the end of our trailer as other Soap Trailers we analysed did
not have any flashbacks. We made this our unique selling point as we wanted to
reveal Connie’s motive for having revenge of the teenagers it shows that they
tried to murder her however it does not show if they all murdered her or just
one of them which makes her return more dramatic as they audience will be
suspicious of who she is going to get here revenge on first.
Poster
When planning my poster I was un-able to find a soap opera poster that had
similar themes to ‘Manor Drive’ however I decided to look at the Hollyoaks fire
poster as it had many codes and conventions as well as meaning behind it which
helped give the audience clues (Roland Barthes) about who would be affected by
the fire. For example all of the characters on the Hollyoaks poster have been
edited to look like they are flames which connotes that they are all going to be
caught in the fire. For my poster I wanted each of the main characters to hold up
mug shots as criminals are made to this so therefore it instantly signifies (Roland
Barthes) to the audience that they have committed and illegal crime and are
going to be punished for it. The bloody style writing on the mug shots connote
that they have violently hurt or killed someone as it is a sign of murder. The
colour red also signifies danger and murder and suggests that they are all in
danger because they have committed a crime. The mid shot of the main
antagonist is faded and placed behind the other characters to show that they are

4. oblivious to her return. It creates a possible disequilibrium as the characters will
be shocked by her return as the blood on her attack connotes that they have
violently attacked her.
The verbal code across the mug shots ‘WE ARE NOT GUILTY’ implies that the
teenagers are hiding something. It suggests to the audience that they have a dark
secret between them that will possibly be revealed in ‘Manor Drive’. The word
‘WE’ emphasises that they are all equally guilty as well as connotes that they
were all part of the crime that has been committed.
I replicated the point of call information on my poster which was similar to the
Hollyoaks poster. For example I put the channel and the time on my poster like
the Hollyoaks poster however I challenged these conventions by adding the
Facebook and Twitter logo with @manordrive. I did this as it allowed me to
reach out to a younger audience who would be able to interact with the new soap
by following the Twitter page. This use of synergy and convergence allows the
younger audience to Tweet ‘Manor Drive’ which would help promote it as the
audiences followers will be able to see their tweets so therefore it would help me
attract a bigger audience.
I also replicated the tagline from the Hollyoaks poster which was ‘The week that
will change Hollyoaks forever”. This connotes to the audience that a big dramatic
event is going to happen next week, which could cause some of the characters
lives to be in danger. I wanted to create a strong meaning within my tagline,
which would reveal more about the ‘Manor Drive’ to the audience. The tagline
that I created for my poster was ‘Let the vengeance begin’ this signifies to the
audience that their will be themes of danger, revenge and possibly violence as
the word vengeance as connotes that someone is going to come back and get
their revenge on other characters and connotes that the character has feelings of
anger and hatred towards the other characters. Its also similar to the Hollyoaks
tagline as it connotes that there will be dramatic events happening in ‘Manor
Drive’.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The combination of the main and ancillary texts within the production of ‘Manor
Drive’ on reflection this has proved to be very successful. For example both the
main and ancillary texts are examples of synergy as the social media logos are
clearly presented on both my magazine front cover and poster. The themes and
issues within ‘Manor Drive’ are repeated and represented across al of the
products. These themes and issues are revenge, friendship, and betrayal. The
main characters in our soap opera were teenagers and I felt that this helped get
the attention of out target audience which is people aged from 16 upwards
however our main target audience is teenagers and young adults.
I used synergy across both my ancillary texts and my main task trailer, as I
wanted to target a much wider audience. This also allowed me to promote
‘Manor Drive’ across different media platforms.

5. For example I wanted to target people from the age of 16 upwards who most
likely use Facebook and Twitter. I used the Twitter and Facebook social media
logos across all of my production work to help promote ‘Manor Drive’. The
Facebook and Twitter logos allows my target audience to like and follow the
pages on social media so that they can then keep up to date with the latest news
and updates about the show. It also gives them the power to share and express
their own views and opinions on the show, which would allow me to see how
they feel about the show. If the audience doesn’t like the show I would be able to
make improvements and produce a show that meets their wants and needs by
looking at their comments and if they liked the show I would keep producing
similar narratives which they enjoy watching.
I also included the ‘@manourdrive’ Twitter page on my poster as I wanted to
make it easier for my audience to follow and tweet the page.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
Construction
For our main task we filmed a trailer for ‘Manor Drive’ we used Adobe Premiere
Pro CS6 software which was very useful and effective when we were editing our
trailer as it allowed us to use short cuts to help us edit our trailer quicker. We
used three different cameras on the day of filming our trailer our main camera
was the Sony Pro HVR-Z1 Digital Camcorder which allowed us to capture good
quality shots and was very effective in capturing the foot shots at the beginning
of our trailer. The camera was very big compared to the other cameras that we
used so therefore we mainly used it for the tracking shots and the foot shots. We
imported the non-diegetic ‘Revenge’ soundtrack to our trailer to fit in with our
edited clips we chose to import the beginning of the soundtrack as the lyrics
fitted really well with our trailer theme. The music fitted well with the clips and
matched the actions in each of the clips. We also imported diegetic sounds create
a realistic trailer for example we added in a sound when the car door slams shut.
At the end of the trailer we have a voiceover which we found hard to do as we
had to think of our own tagline which was ‘what goes around comes around’ as
well as make sure we had all of the correct information about our new Soap
Opera. We had to first create a voiceover script and then record it before we
imported it into our trailer.
The technology I used when creating my ancillary products was Adobe
Photoshop CS4. I used it to edit all of my images that I had taken as well as the
text around my images. My magazine main image was initially taken against a
white background however this did not match with the colour scheme of my
magazine so therefore I used the quick selection tool to select the image that I
wanted and then used the rubber and the pen to soften the edges around my
image before placing it on the magazine front cover. I used the same tools for my
poster images however I had to change the colour saturation for my images as
some of them were either to light or to dark so I had to brighten and darken
them to get the effect that I wanted on my poster. The ruler tool was very helpful
when creating both my magazine and my poster as I was able to place my text in
the correct places which left a very professional finish to both of my ancillary

6. products. I was unable to find a font style of Photoshop CS4 that matched the
style of my poster so therefore I went of dafont.com and downloaded a blood
style font to go with the theme of my poster. I then installed it into Photoshop
CS4 so that I could use it on my poster.
Research
For my main task trailer I researched and analysed Soap Opera trailers so that I
could see what types and codes and conventions that were used within them and
the meanings behind them.
The first trailer I analysed was the EastEnders Christmas trailer which was a
who killed Archie Mitchell trailer which heavily influenced my decision to create
a murder and revenge themed trailer with my group. I analysed both the verbal
and non-verbal codes within the trailer. For example I analysed the non-verbal
close up camera shots used to show who each of the suspects are in the trailer.
From analysing these shots I was able to see that they were used to reveal all of
the characters anger and hatred towards the character Archie which showed the
audience that they all have a motive to kill him. This helped me contribute shot
type ideas with my group as
Planning
During the planning stages myself and my group worked together to decide on
what storyline our main task trailer should be about.
Before deciding on what type of soap opera trailer to create me and my group
completed a mind map together so that we could all listen to each other ideas
before we made a decision.
We used a wide range of technologies as part of our planning and research which
were the textual analysis, locations, pictures, shot list, the script, letters to the
record label and council and the storyboard. I used Microsoft word for the
letters to the council and the record label as it allowed us to create a
sophisticated layout that looked neat and professional. Microsoft word was also
a faster way of writing the letter compare to writing by hand as it also allowed us
to send the letters quicker and receive a quicker response as we sent them via
email. Excel was used to create the shotlist as it allowed us to create rows and
columns for all of the shot types so that we could get a clear view of when the
shots were going to take place on the day.
The technologies that I used to complete my planning and research were
Powerpoint, Excel and Microsoft word. Microsoft word was also used for the
locations as it allowed us to upload pictures on to a blank document and create
neat text boxes underneath to describe what would happen within each scene
that was part of the location. Lastly we used Microsoft office to complete our
script for our trailer, which allowed us to plan what was going to happen in each
scene from which characters would be in the scene to what diegetic and non-
diegetic sounds would be playing. Powerpoint was used to create the storyboard
it allowed us to create columns and rows as part of our layout so that we could
upload all of the shot types that we planned to be in our trailer as well as allowed
us to plan them in the order they would be shot. We also write in the actions and
camera shots and types next to each picture so that we could plan what each of

7. the characters would be doing in each scene. This played a big part in our
planning and research stage as we used it as our plan for the filming day. I also
used Powerpoint to complete my textual analyse as it allowed me to analyse two
different soap operas so that I could understand what codes and conventions
were used in them and why they were used. This helped me with my production
work as it helped me understand what codes and conventions I need to include
in my production work to make it look realistic.
Evaluation
During my evaluation stage I used Slideshare to upload my audience feedback as
I created it on Powerpoint. I used Powerpoint to evaluate my work as it allowed
me to take screen grabs of the bar charts on survey monkey so that I could neatly
present my audience feedback results and analyse them. I uploaded my work on
to slideshare and then embedded the link on to my blog page. This allowed me to
work at a quick speed, as I was able to upload my work quickly.