Claire Olney - A2 Media Studies 'Soap Opera Mind Map' -1186

1. We will now go through the expectations of the Pre-Production Planning

2. Name of the show
(Connotations)
Park Rise – ‘Rise’ connotes the
hierarchy within the soap and the rise
of certain characters over others.
Highfields – ‘High’ could suggest a high
status within the characters in the
soap.
Protagonists & Antagonists
(Names, appeal to the audience,
Gender)
Phoebe Regnault
Lucas Kirkland
Zoe Hickson
Imani Ayimba-Golding
Jess Blundell
TJ Salango
Mr Coll
Social Issues
represented (Relevance
to the Zeitgeist, why
they will be shown –
Pregnancy
Break-ups & relationships and
secret relationships
Cheating
Living at school
Teacher & student getting it on
Domestic - abuse
Bullying
Joining a new school
Locations
In school
Park
Pub
Alley Way
House
Local Shop
Streets

3. Steve Neale – “Genre’s are instances of repetition
and difference” –
• How is your text similar/different to other(s) in
the Soap Opera Genre?
• It is similar because we want to incorporate a strong female
character, much like other soap operas.
• However, we aim to make it different and unique by basing it in a
school, as well as targeting it towards a younger audience as well
as a male audience, whereas the typical soap opera targets its
audience towards females aged 30-60.
Channel (BBC Two) and Scheduling (8pm –
Weekdays) –
7:30-8:00pm
• Why is this important?
• Who normally watches TV at this time and what are
the most popular programs?
• This is important because it avoids competition with other
soaps that are usually on after 8pm.
• At this time, the range of audience members is wide as it is
before the watershed times, so as well as adults, there can be a
younger audience too.
Competition in the Genre?
There aren’t very many soap operas that
are filmed within a school, that could
relate to such a wide audience such as
the one we are targeting.
We are also covering a wide range of
issues, such as bullying and joining a
new school, which are not typical of the
soap opera genre.
Target audience (Katz, Maslow,
Hartley) –
• Our soap opera target audience features a
wide variety of ages. We aim to appeal to
this audience by using characters that can
relate to a lot of different people facing
different issues.
• The soap opera will appeal to both men and
women. As well as appealing to women
through creating a strong female character,
much like Rebecca Feasey’s (2007) ideology
states: ‘The home, the family, domestic
tribulations and the strong women and as
such, it has long been said to appeal to the
female viewer.’
• Our soap opera will also appeal to a male
audience through scenes of action
reoccurring within the soap.