5. Question 4 :What has been Learnt for media technologies across all aspects of the unit
6. We incorporated an enigmaand implemented it to our soap, enigma in other words means puzzlingthe audience, keeping them guessing and when they come to watch our soap trailer leaving there questions to be asked in the trailer. The narrative comes from whose point of view that the story is told, it shows the story from ones point of view. For our soap we converged 2 different storylines into our TV soap trailer. Different narrative’sinvite the audiences into the TV trailer we have used 3 storylines taken from different media. Question 1 Conventions of TV soap- Learning from real media texts The narrative is from a certain point of view to enable the audience to relate to the characteristics I want them to. (Above is a screenshot of the enigma , this was taken for the end of our soap, to keep the audience guessing as to why he is messing up his office.)
7. Representation Of time The trailer itself is predominately conducted in chronological order. Time can be represented in three differing ways. in Past- What may have previously happened within the storyline. The best tool when creating the representation of the past , is the “Fade to black edit” The trailer itself is taken from the present, unlike holy soap which uses catch up trailers. Present- What is happening in the scene at that present point, this is used very regularly in TV soap trailers. For present Storylines in our soap trailer we showed this by using the “Cross Dissolve edit” Parallel - Two storylines running alongside each other
8. Each and every soap must have a genre when we were going through the planning process of creating our TV soap trailer we looked into the idea of combining three different soaps in order to create our own genre of tv soap. The 1st of the 3 soaps we tried to blend to create our own genre of TV soap was Hollyoaks, we found that the whole mise on scene such as location, costume suited the TV soap we were trying to portray. We also based part of the TV soap trailer on the soap Hollyoaks as we like the characteristics and image that each character in Hollyoaks creates and the storylines are very on edge alike Eastenders. Creating a genre The type of narrative being produced The third and final soap we looked at as part of our research into creating our own genre of soap was “ Waterloo Road”, we used this as part of our research into creating our own genre of TV soap. We liked especially the whole imagery that this soap portrays the school background with realistic storylines the viewers can relate to. The second soap we looked at was “Eastenders”, this is one of the biggest names and brand s in TV soap history. The primary thing we most liked and tried to develop in our own genre was the storylines that Eastenders implements throughout. They are seen by regular viewers to be very on edge and draw you in to the soap. . With the use of enigma we hope to implement a similar strategy into the product
9. Genre Representation The genre that was being created was a mix of the 2 main soaps we looked into, we wanted to converge various conventions from the researched soaps to create our own genre of TV soap. We looked into the genre that it portrays and the storylines that it produces and with it being aged at a similar age group to the one we are hoping to aim our TV soap at we thought that the primary soap that we should use conventions from in order to create our genre of soap was from Hollyoaks. The main storyline in the soap was taken from the iconic TV soap “Hollyoaks” this was a storyline between Brendan and Stephen, with Stephen having money troubles and Brendan offering to help him out but at what cost for Stephen. A screenshot of the proper storyline broadcasted by Hollyoaks/ The second storyline was very unique, when producing the trailer the I looked into another soap “Waterloo Road” and the conventions that it portrays. When researching into the soap I decided that the age group of the trailer needs to be changed there needs to be more than 1 narrative within a trailer I then decided that a bullying scene would be appropriate as sort of a sub plot, and it s something that the audience can relate to especially the young audience, in a way it also links to the main storyline within the trailer as Stephen is being bullied by Brendan, from this you could say that a melodrama and crime genres were being represented throughout.
10. Though the casts for soap operas tend to be bigger than for drama series, there is a limit to the number of characters available at any one time. This allows the soap to focus on a smaller number of characters, thus allowing more time to be spent on each, so that the audience knows them better and the storylines can be more detailed A British soap opera almost always features the following conventions: It is a serialised drama that usually runs week-in, week-out, all year round. Conventions of a Soap Opera Three, four or even five storylines will be in progress during any one episode, with the action switching between them. As one narrative is resolved, another completely different one with different characters will already be underway. The characters go from quiet, harmonic (but uninteresting) periods to chaotic, confusing (but interesting) dilemmas. The action simply concentrates solely on the latter. It generally has a well-known theme tune and intro sequence which has changed little over the year It features continuous storylines (or 'narratives') dealing with domestic themes and personal or family relationships.
11. The appeal Of soaps The Appeal of Soaps Many people watch soaps because it pleases us to see and hear other people's problems, which in turn distracts us from our own. However, a soap opera has no real victims as the characters, of course, are fictional. However, we like to make guesses about their actions and reactions based on our knowledge of them. We like to see them develop as we get to know them and we enjoy learning about the complex relationships between characters. We become semi-experts on our favourite soaps, and our encyclopaedic knowledge of them, fuelled by the above points, gives us great pleasure. In a voyeuristic manner, we like to watch other people's lives, as, in the case of soap operas, they are just like ours, but more interesting. From the point of view of broadcasters, soaps are good because they are very cheap to produce, yet have huge audiences and can, therefore, generate huge revenues. They can often run for years without coming to an end - Coronation Street is more than 40 years old. Sets are used again and again, special costumes are not required and little or no location filming is ever needed. They are also quick to produce - each minute of recording taking only one hour to film. This may sound like a lot, but on film sets, it can often take days just to successfully direct a mere few seconds of action. Not all soap operas are successful - there are some which do not catch the interest of the viewers and end up being dropped after a few years (sometimes less).
12. These are just some of the key characters and the stereotypes they portray across soaps, we in our project have also tried to adopt such stereotypes within our trailer we have a jack the lad and a boss figure as the 2 key roles within our trailer. Following the traditional character stereotypes of TV soaps. Typical Charterers on TV soap The grandparent figure: A wise old person, usually female. This character helps others with their problems with advice and support. He/she has lots of contact with many of the other characters. Sometimes the character will not be related to any others, but will still serve this function. The boss figure: Usually male, in a position of authority, either as landlord of the local pub or as owner of some other business that has an involvement in the lives of other characters (such as a factory). He continues his natural authority and leadership into his personal life. He has, in the past, been combined with the Jack-the-lad character. Jack-the-lad: A male character that manipulates others to his own ends. Often the stock 'baddie'. This character may become softened over time, and this often leads to him becoming the comic relief of the soap.
13. TV Soap- Music and Camerawork Music and Camerawork Other than the theme tune, music is rarely used in British soaps; occasional cliff-hangers may have a 'stock' piece of background music that will then segue into the closing theme, or else the music is in the background being played on a radio or jukebox. Occasionally, the production team might select a particularly well-chosen song for the purposes of dramatic irony. If one character is contemplating ending a relationship, the audience then maybe able to relate to the soap by listening to that song on the radio. Lighting varies from soap to soap, but generally it remains pretty basic - special effects are not used. This helps to create realistic light levels and adds to realism. Camera work is simplistic and generally avoids tricks of any kind: 'point of view' or 'high angle' shots are rarely used in soaps. The camera shows the action very much as a casual observer would see it if they were watching from nearby. Scenes are generally short, to avoid the audience becoming bored - two minutes or so is considered to be the maximum viewing time for one scene. Exceptions to these rules occur if a character is going to depart in a spectacular way (ie, a car crash or explosion, in which case the scene will be edited as dramatically as possible) or if the episode is a two-hander3.
14. There are 3 main forms of lighting used within a piece of media these are: High key lighting, Low key lighting, high contrast lighting each of these 3 different types of lighting were used within our media to create realism. High key lighting, features bright or even illumination Mise en scene- Lighting Taken from trailer. Low key lighting, features different shadows and atmospheric pools of light appearing in the sequence. High contrast lighting features harsh shafts of light throughout the sequence creating a realism. This type of lighting is often used within TV soap. Taken from trailer.
15. Mise en scene- Camera Shots and angles Medium shot shows the actor in the sequence from the waist upwards, we have used this type of shot very regularly in the ancillary products and the actual trailer. These shots were taken using a medium angle or high angle frame throughout the sequence as I felt this met the soap conventions , I chose not to choose any low angle frames as I did not feel it matched the conventions of soap. Long shot corresponds to the space between the character and the surrounding location allowing the audience to view both, I have used camera shot to show the location mainly . The shot is generally used to create the grit and realism needed in a trailer. These shots were taken from a medium angle or a high angle frame this was to create realism . Close up were less regularly used within the sequence, the close up shot focuses on the minor details and is used regularly to show the characters emotions, next time i would try and use more shots taken from this distance to convey more of the conventions of TV soap.
16. Title cards-. Below are three of the title cards I used when creating the TV soap trailer they were used mainly as a visual effect for the trailer, also to represent the passing of time throughout the trailer coming before each of the 3 main sequences
17. Inclusion of Non Diegetic sound For my TV trailer I included a soundtrack as this helped to meet the media conventions. the song I used was “Seven Nation Army by the white stripes” I used this song as it helped to build tension throughout the trailer and it’s a song that my target audience will all be able to recognise, in turn this song also matches the genre of soap I am trying to portray with the use of drumbeats it gives it a sense of grittiness and tension. Below is a link to the song that I implemented into my Tv soap trailer.
18. Voiceovers For our soap i decided to implement a voiceover at the end of the, and with me not including any music throughout the trailer as their was too much dialogue to apply music over the top of it, I decided to apply some form of sound in the way of a voiceover. As i felt that it met the media conventions The voiceover came at the end of the trailer with the preview of the program itself, the actually voiceover can be seen at the bottom of the screen. Just need to add picture of final shot of the TV trailer with voiceover.
19. The other main character, involved in the main storyline of our trailer was Stephen he is portrayed in this trailer to be a working class male in need of money and will take demands of Brendan and do his dirty work for him in return for a pay check. The first main character in our soap was Brendan he was seen as the stereotypical boss figure within the soap trailer, there was something very much illegitimate about this character something that the audience needed to watch the soap in order to find out about him. Below is the character in our soap trailer on the left and on the right the character he is portraying. (Brendan is stereotyped as a villain Representations The use of representations is vital in any soap, there is a stereotype that comes with each character within our soap for example (As can be seen as Slide 11) we have conveyed what's known as Typical Characters within the trailer.
20. We chose three separate locations for the soap trailer, for each scene, the three main locations were the garage, classroom and outside on a road. These were the three locations of which we shooted our TV trailer. We had to turn these locations into suitable areas for filming our TV trailer we did this using mise en scene, i.e. the use of props, adjusting the surroundings for the (garage scene), lighting camera movement, placement of actors How am I using mise en scene to show the location of the trailer? Lighting and the camera angles . Were key parts key part of the Mise en scene that we implemented into our trailer. And when trying to show the location of the trailer, the use of lighting especially in the garage seen portrayed the characters emotions with it being generally a dark scene in the trailer we adjusted the lighting to suit this and make the location feel more suitable. The use of props was also vital across the soap trailer, especially for the bar scene which was originally meant to be set in a bar we had to move around the equipment and replace that equipment with suitable props that you would generally find in a bar in turn trying to make it sort of a bar feeling, to fit the scene within the trailer and to create realism. The placing of the actors around the location was also vital when showing the location. And the expressions that the actors showed when they were filming within a particular location was also key. ( The emotion and expressions of the character fitted the location)
21. The second part of the trailer is about bullying and school trouble. Again something that the viewers can relate to, there is no real pattern from the first sequence to the second but I feel that a trailer must have variation and this is what I have portrayed in my product. The whole narrative of the TV soap trailer is converged into 3 different storylines, the 1st of the 3 storylines is about money trouble and is there a solution for them. I have chosen this as part of my narrative as I feel that it is a plot that the viewers can relate to. Narrative Coherence The 3rd and final sequence and piece of converged narrative, draws a link back to the main storyline within the trailer (Money trouble), this is now the same 2 actors within the scene but it comes with a twist and we end the trailer on an enigma keeping the viewers puzzling and guessing as to what will happen next. The overall narrative of the TV soap trailer draws a link with the main storyline but is also showing a differing plot starting (The Bullying Scene), this shows that I am matching the conventions of a TV soap narrative by offering the audience noire than one plot and ending the Trailer using another convention “Enigma”
22. Costume: Is one of 4 main media conventions of TV soap, a costume refers almost to a brand or a stereotype of which that character is wearing and is placed on them, costumes within TV soaps can be recognised by social class, gender, age. Costumes can also act as a label for that characters personality for example a rich character will be portrayed rich with the use of costume by that character wearing a formal outfit. This is rarely challenged throughout the soap trailer I created. Lighting: This was also vital to get right in the TV soap trailer. Alike location the lighting had to fit the characters emotions and the scene perfectly. Lighting varies from soap to soap, but generally it remains pretty basic - special effects are not used. This helps to create realistic light levels and adds to realism. Location: :The location of the scenes within the trailer is vital, it involved researching into the various storylines we wanted to create within the trailer and adapting a location and the surroundings that would fit that storyline perfectly i think the trailer does this and meets all other conventions while doing so. Media Conventions of TV soap Mise en Scene: The arrangement of performers and props, lighting, colours on a or before the camera in a TV soap, this is vital to any soap this therefore could not be challenged.
23. Trailer that I based my TV soap trailer on. Existing Trailer My trailer
24. Question 2: Effective Links between soap trailer and 2 ancillaries. Synthesis is illustrated within this billboard. This billboard creates the idea of “conflict” with the separation of the two characters and the main text of “Things could get ugly”. The fonts used are all very similar the “Friends and Foes Logo” the font makes this a recognisable logo , this font was used within the title cards at the end of the soap, Red and black are the primary colours portrayed within the brand we are trying to create throughout. Brand recognition There is an obvious link of mise en scene used within the three and the lighting of the three images we used, each have a relevantly light background. These are the 2 sub characters these are not recognised within the ancillaries, that we produced as they were involved in the sub plot that we implemented into the trailer. The clothing of the main characters within the sequence is creating a brand in itself it creates an “urban “ feel to the soap.
25. Image portrays soap perfectly. The facial Expression of the 2 main stars on the front cover represent the brand that we are trying to portray perfectly, They show drama on their facial expressions and you can almost guess what the soap is going to be about from looking at the image itself, the audience could almost create a narrative from this image. The subplots within the front cover, also represent a similar genre to the main sequence, the use of quotes next to the subplots from the trailer create the feeling of “Soap”. Brand recognition
26. Recognisable logo again noticed within the ancillary almost creating a brand in itself. Expressions of the 2 characters within the billboard , create the feeling of a soap opera genre whereby there is a divide between 2 characters something generally found in TV soap. Use of a dramatic headline within the billboard giving it sort of a “Soap” Feeling, creating a genre. Mise en scene is also used within this billboard to create a genre “Soap”, the use of the clothing in the billboard the wearing of “hoodies” creates a stereotype that is generally found within gritty soaps.
27. On the left is the TV magazine that I created, as part of the research I looked into different TV magazines and the conventions that they possess, on the right is two examples of established TV magazine 2Inside Soap and TV quick”, we looked into the use of mastheads and decided that alike inside soap we need to make the masthead big and bold and with a strong colouring, we used a similar colouring as inside soap with the strong orange being the primary colour of the front cover. The front cover consisted of the 2 main characters within the soap, Brendan and Stephen. Alike the soap magazines as shown on the right, there is also 3 subplots within our magazine that include quotes to entice the reader in turn making them want to read that article. Overall my TV magazine possesses similar conventions of magazines but I have also introduced different conventions in order to make it unique from the rest. (Above I have shown the similarities by using arrows from my magazine to the 4 examples)
28. Although neighbours presents a very much different genre of soap that we are trying to create, this is a billboard that Neighbours created. When researching into billboards i came across this billboard and i feel that this meets many of the conventions including mise en scene with the use of costume lighting and location conventions that are all included within this billboard. The stand out similarity between the 2 billboards is they both consist of brand recognition there trying to get there brand across to the audience in may ways, there is also a recognisable logo within each billboard. There is one main difference between the 2 billboards this is the characters' expression, the billboard that we created suits the emotions of them characters throughout the trailer, they are very intense whereas the Neighbours characters look very much relaxed as if thy are a large family which again suits the TV soap they are portraying. (Arrows Point out similarities)
29. Synthesis has been illustrated perfectly among this ancillary product, the expression of the two main characters faces creates a synthesis in itself, from there facial expressions you get the idea that there is going to be conflict ahead, this is supported by the title “Trouble Ahead” sort of overlapping the image, this creates the synthesis of conflict. The second synthesis to be represented among this ancillary is “Enigma” this synthesis is also implemented into the main product, the use of “Enigma” is keeping the audience guessing as to what will happen in the soap, making them in other words want to watch, again the picture illustrates enigma perfectly it leaves the question why are they standing back to back , why has there relationship broken down , what has caused this trouble all of this is waiting to be answered and the use of this synthesis is used perfectly among this ancillary.
30. Alike the front cover the use of synthesis is illustrated within this billboard. This billboard creates the idea of “conflict” with the separation of the two characters and the main text of “Things could get ugly”, alongside this enigma has also been illustrated showing a pattern between the front cover and the billboard, it consists of the same characters and a similar sort of catchy headline enticing the audience to watch the soap as they want to know the answers to all of the questions being asked.
31. Synergy The use of synergy whereby I am sharing content and ideas across each of the ancillaries The first ancillary produced was the front cover for the TV magazine this can be seen below. The other had the similar idea of who I wanted across my ancillaries these were the 2 main characters that the audience will need to look out for in the soap trailer and therefore I used them across each of the ancillaries . The second idea i constructed when building the ancillaries that each of the ancillaries needed a catchy headline, I started off with the headline for my front cover “Trouble ahead2 to catch the readers attention while meeting the conventions of the media product. Recognisable logo- I also used this recognisable logo within my other ancillaries as it was a key part of the brand I am hoping to create.
32. Synergy has also been illustrated in this ancillary product, from the front cover I developed the idea of adding a catchy headline to the product and implemented it to this billboard as shown below with the headline “Things could get ugly” . I used the same characters within the billboard as they are the main characters within the soap and they are also part of the main storyline I constructed and the audience would rather look at the characters within the main plot of the TV soap rather than some sub plots this is why I chose to repeat the idea of choosing the same characters across the ancillaries.
33. Branding of the ancillaries Sequence from TV trailer. Billboard The branding of both the Front cover and the billboard remained quite constant throughout the production of both of the ancillaries, for the brand that I am trying to develop there was certain aspects throughout the process of the ancillaries such as the colour, fonts, and the use of a recognisable logo, I used each of these conventions, to keep my brand consistent. The colouring of the 2 ancillaries was very similar in terms of the primary colours of the background which was white in both images, the use of white colouring allows the viewers to focuses solely on the primary image it brings it out onto the page even more and allows the viewer to focus on the expressions of the 2 main characters., i believe i used the convention of colouring to good effect, it also helps to match the genre that I am trying to create as a drama sort representing sort of a gritty feel. The use of the recognisable logo of “Friends and Foes” throughout both the ancillaries is constant, this can be viewed as a brand in itself whereby viewers of the soap can recognise it as part of the branding of soap we are trying to create. The third similarity within the two ancillaries in terms of branding is the use of similar fonts throughout the two texts in big bold letters both the tiles through the use of colouring and effects establish the mark on the page adding to the branding of the product. The main brand that can be represented among both the ancillaries and the trailer itself is the clothing, this creates not only a a stereotype within the trailer but also a brand, from the three products we can see that there is an obvious urban brand of being created through the use of clothing , , there is also a link with colouring between the tv trailer and the billboard the primary colour within the image is Black adding to not only to the creation of the gritty soap brand we are trying to portray.
34. Channel for the soap Throughout the planning stage of the soap there were many possibilities of which station to choose, as a new soap and with a stereotypical young cast alike Hollyoaks, the main station at that point was e4 or channel 4 as this would best suit the station and we would safely get an audience as we know there is a market out there that watches soaps on the younger generation i.e. fans of Hollyoaks. However BBC was also an option as we know this generates a much wider audience with established soaps such as Eastenders and Waterloo Road being broadcasted on this station, our main aim to begin with is to attract an audience to our soap and as time progresses we hope the soap can progress into a much more established soap such as Eastenders, Coronation Street.Both stations were the primary options that became apparent when in the planning process of deciding which station to choose it on, we decided to use BBC as the station as it broadcasts Waterloo Road this is a similar sort of soap to ours with a similar age group this was the main aim to achieve the success of a soap like Waterloo Road and by broadcasting our soap on such a national station such as the BBC we believe we can achieve this aim. Each product that I have constructed keeps to the institutions usual programming- Meeting it s conventions, by including images that convey a narrative that is generally found on this channel. Institution
35. Representations within the ancillaries For my first ancillary i created a front cover, the 2 main stars on this front cover are the 2 main stars within the soap. The genre of soap i am trying to create is a gritty genre of soap, it was vital therefore when constructing this piece of media that i represent my characters to fit that genre. To the left is my final version of the front cover that i produced , the 2 main characters are standing back to back this represents that maybe they use to be close r there actually family , added on to their stance is the facial expressions that they use, there is a dull guilty expression placed on both of the stars this then represents that the characters have either had something done to them that they are not best pleased about or they are out for revenge this also represents realism which is vital for any TV soap. The third representation drawn from this front cover is the clothes that the 2 main stars /characters are wearing on this they look casual which represents the genre that we are trying to portray perfectly if the stars were wearing suits or a formal piece of clothing I do not think this would adapt to the genre we are trying to create. (The representations of the characters they are trying to portray can be seen on Slide 22)
36. My billboard alike the front cover shows similar representations of the main characters that attach to the genre of soap that I am trying to create. The main representation that can be drawn from this of the 2 characters is that there is certainly a divide between 2 characters, this idea is further represented by the quote “Things could get ugly” separating both the characters, the billboard also represents their age very well as they look a very similar age they are both aged between 17 and 18 and this can be seen through this billboard. There is a synergy between the representations of both the TV front cover and the billboard, within both the ancillaries both the characters are wearing hoodies which represents the gritty genre that I am trying to create perfectly., it may also suggest that both characters are in need of money as they are not dressed formally. Which not only creates a representation but also a separate storyline for the viewers to ponder. The representations of the both the main characters has progressed from the front cover and billboard down to the trailer itself. The main representation that can be drawn from this is the character on the right (Brendan) has an overpowering stance and the use of formal clothing represents that maybe he is a boss of some sort. This representation could be further supported by the character on the left (Stephen) clothing , within in this sequence the character on the left is wearing a chequered shirt which could represent he is a employee of Brendan.
37. Storylines Across all 3 ancillaries the front cover the billboard and the actual product itself the trailer have used the same 2 main characters in the man storyline , these are Stephen and Brendan. The main storyline involves a feud between Brendan the boss figure and Stephen the bosses employee, they have never met eye to eye and now that Brendan is encountering some problems of his own he has no time for Stephen. However Stephen is suffering from serious money problems. There are sub plots across the bottom of the magazine which also present the lesser storylines across the trailer., that are also illustrated within the product itself however in the billboard there is no mention of the subplots. To conclude I have kept the main storyline across the three ancillaries consistent , however although subplots are recognised in both the front cover and main trailer we decided not to include it on our billboard as we feel that it does not meet the media conventions to use more than one storyline on a billboard.
38. The use of Key themes and conventions has been illustrated across my media product, these themes and conventions include Fonts , colours Logo’s. Throughout the process of creating the ancillaries certain key themes and conventions have had to repeated in order to adapt to the brand. (Synergy has occurred). Key themes Fonts and Colours The main use of synergy I have used is the “Recognisable logo and the font that comes with this, the logo itself is illustrated across the front cover and the Billboard. When producing the two ancillaries i decided that bright colours need to be the theme of the front cover to catch the readers attention and in contrast darker colours for the billboard to represent the theme of the soap (Gritty) , the only bright colour which i used on the billboard was to highlight the word” Ugly” again to catch the readers attention.
39. Mood Board- Audience This is an example of the mood board that I created showing the interests of our ideal audience. They will generally be teenagers as the soap portrays similar storylines that teenagers , and these are the sorts of different types of media and activities that will interest the viewers.
40. Q3: Learning from audience feedback. In order to find my audience I identified the target audience of similar products. As shown below the figures of each of the main soaps on their channels, we especially looked into channel 4 as the main soap broadcasted on there channel is Hollyoaks this attracts a similar audience, due to the fact that it shares a similar narrative. After reviewing these figures i decided to distribute a questionnaire to my target audience finding out what they look for in a soap, what makes them watch that certain soap- this helped me to establish the node of address they were looking for the times that they will watch a certain soap what storylines really appeal to them, this feedback helped me to try and increase viewing figures.
41. Would you watch a soap my soap? The feedback for the first part of my audience feedback process was very positive , when asked would u watch my soap? 75% of the people asked said they would with the following answering no. The second question i asked was if they would fin d my soap entertaining to watch, they replies were very positive which is very positive for me as I know the storylines that I constructed are effective and entice the audience in to watch the TV soap.
42. The results again from this were very positive, with more than half of the target audience i asked replying between 8:00pm-8:30pm which is when my program is scheduled for which shows again i am conducting my research effectively and accurately into my target market. This was the response of a section of my target audience when asked “How do they watch soaps”, 86% of the target audience responded live which is a bonus to my soap, and the remaining 14% answered online this maybe for our soap on BBC I player.
43. This was the response to the question what influences soap watching, the majority of my target audience responded genre, and time showing that this is vital to emphasise within my soap, matching the genre I am trying to create throughout the TV trailer and the 2 ancillaries that I have produced. This is vital when wanting to increase the audience for my TV soap.
44. After producing my documentary, creating it whilst keeping in mind all the data and responses I had received from my proposal, I produced another questionnaire This time I constructed a variation of open ended and closed questions were included in order to collect a high amount of rich data that would help me determine whether my audience found my product accessible.
45. Results of the questionnaire From my results I received from my questionnaire I was able to establish that I had managed to create a product that would draw my target teen audience stating that 92% found it appealing. The second question I asked at “what age is my TV soap trailer aimed at” , the results were as shown below, with 80% of the people i asked answering 15-20 year olds, this is positive as this is the age group i wanted to base my soap at.
46. From this feedback I clearly recognised that I addressed the genre of the TV soap trailer perfectly Other criticisms included technical issues such as the sound. But the main criticism was the camera work was shaky in one of the scenes within the trailer lighting was another criticism of the trailer.
47. The open ended interview, allowed me to find further feedback for my work, there were many key points that were drawn up during this 1 to 1, some of these I addressed and some of the criticisms i will take on board and make sure i correct these criticism in later products. The first part of the feedback was at 11 seconds into the trailer the narrative did not make sense the screenshots illustrate this below. This was part of the narrative that did not deem to make any sense, I should of placed the wallet scene before the money scene in order for the narrative to make sense.
48. The second part of the narrative as part of the audience feedback 1 to 1. There again was a problem with the narrative making sense with the Rucksack scene within the trailer, it was recognised that it did not really make sense there was no explanation within the sequence to say why the bag was stolen it appeared as a random event across the TV trailer.
49. I also learnt from feedback that the audience will find it hard to recognise the age of the cast with two contrasting storylines one set in a workplace and one set outside a school, this presents no balance for the audience to distinguish the age of the cast, from this feedback in later projects I will ensure if I am using cast of a similar age I will ensure that there are storylines that relate to them, for example if I was to get a cast member aged 16 they would be involved in a storyline around college or school.
50. A key part of the feedback I found was feedback on the institution that I am basing my TV soap on is BBC1 however the audience I am aiming my soap it is typically a similar audience found watching Hollyoaks, this audience is generally between the ages of 15-21 year olds, however I have to conduct this to a BBC audience this was a flaw in my research into the channels, I should of looked into the Channels more in depth and I should have recognised the audiences that are attracted to certain channels, if I was offered the chance to change channel I would change now from BBC to channel 4 or e4 as it suits my soap, rather than the audience found on bbc 1 soaps such as Eastenders, who are traditionally an older generation and the storylines that they enjoy are very much different to the storylines that I am adapting to my TV soap.
51. Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Throughout the production of my main media product and my ancillaries I learnt the various skills necessary to use digital video camera technologies effectively in order to be able to transfer these skills into constructing a high quality TV soap trailer. Throughout the duration of constructing each of the products I experimented with the different camera shots and movements such as zooming, pans and tilts using my peers as subjects in the frame. This allowed me to establish the fact that the camera acted its best when positioned in high key ambient lighting, particularly in daylight. The image above is a screenshot taken from the trailer that I produced, this shot is a medium close up taken within a medium angle frame. For the 2 ancillaries I have also learnt that they required they required a tripod, I used the tripod to prevent blurred images across the ancillaries the use of the tripod was especially effective across the front cover and the billboard, the use of the tripod also allowed me to have full control over the composition of the frame, allowing me especially in the front cover to palace other conventions around the primary image.
52. Another technology that I learnt to use across the whole of the production process of the two ancillaries and the main TV trailer was “Adobe Photoshop elements 9”. I used this software when creating the front cover , billboard and the title cards within the main TV trailer, before this project I had never used this software now however I feel confident that i can use this software when asked. Editing tools affecting- Affecting colouring, intensifying colours e.g. contrast, lighting and special affects on the image such as shadow. Each of these were implemented into the construction of the ancillaries. Title Card This software provided me with the tools to alter and improve of the image captured by amplifying the vibrancy of the colours, altering the lighting
53. (Hyperlink attached) Both of the examples as shown on this slide are previous projects which I constructed before I went on to construct the TV trailer, from developing both of these products I learnt a lot about the conventions and how they must be met, throughout the two products especially the preliminary task I experimented with different level of lighting, mise en scene, and different shots and angles, I learnt how all of these affect the genre of soap you are trying to portray and no matter how good your editing skills are if you do not meet the conventions of a TV soap it will not work as a TV soap, I learnt this lesson when constructing my preliminary task. For my comic strip this basic idea was to learn how to use the camera experimenting with different shot types and angles, i did not look into lighting or costume as it was not necessary. The learning curve I made through this is the panning of the camera across the comic strip that I filmed needed to be a lot more smooth rather, I learnt from this that the use of tripods is vital. (Hyperlink attached)
54. Over The duration of constructing the TV trailer I needed a software which allowed me to edit the video footage I had gathered of the TV trailer itself, Adobe premier elements allowed me to do this. As I began to use the software I began to come to terms with the various perks it offered to me, the first part of the this software which I encountered was the (time line), I learnt that this allowed me to rearrange clips I gathered from the right column off my hardrive in any order I wish also allowing me to cut any excess footage down that I did not feel was necessary for the trailer., this was vital to learn when constructing my TV trailer on this software. I also learnt in the very early stages, how to extract clips from the external device in this case the hard rive onto this software, to do this I clicked on Get media, find the selected external device and extract the footage from that onto adobe premier elements, this allowed me to select any clip that I wanted I the right hand column anytime I wanted. I also learnt simple actions such as the enter key on the keyboard is used to “render” the footage on the timeline so that it runs a lot smoother. Volume control was another perk that I learnt and developed when adding a voiceover I wanted to decrease the main dialogue in order that you can hear the voice over I learnt to do this by right clicking over the yellow line and dragging it down on turn decreasing the decibels of the dialogue helping the audience to understand clearly what the voiceover consisted of. All of these perks that I developed and learnt from using Adobe premier elements will be put into place next time I come to use this software therefore giving me a better understanding of how to work it in turn hopefully expanding my editing skills.
55. During the research (which can be seen on my blog), I also developed and learned extra skills using both YouTube and Google. I browsed the sites to research into different soaps and their trailers, using them as examples, I actually found the trailer that I based my trailer on YouTube. I used YouTube to look at existing trailers (Which are Evaluated in my blog), as can be seen by the Hollyoaks trailer. I also uploaded my A2 trailer into YouTube . (The full guide can also be seen in my blog.) I also used another website slide share, this helped me to learn how to upload the PowerPoint's i had created into a video format which could also be put in my blog or uploaded onto YouTube.
56. Microsoft PowerPoint was another program I learnt to use both in the planning and evaluation stage. I learnt to use the Microsoft PowerPoint software package throughout the planning and evaluation process. Microsoft PowerPoint has helped me illustrate my ideas using different techniques I have used Microsoft PowerPoint throughout the planning process I learnt that storyboards can be created on this software. Here are some of the examples i have used throughout my planning process. These are two of the examples of the many different ways I have learnt to use Microsoft PowerPoint. I have also learnt Similarly that the program also allowed me to make my presentations during the evaluation stage more interactive as I was easily able to insert images, video and audio to exemplify my points.
57. Microsoft Publisher Throughout the planning process it was vital that i learnt all the skills needed for Microsoft Publisher to construct my ancillaries ,over the period of practicing on publisher i learnt that it comes with certain tools that can be implemented as i have done to make there ancillaries that much better. These tools are to be able to move images around, create text boxes, paste archive images such as the channel BBC logo as i have shown on the billboard and change text font and size to create a brand identity to suit my teenage audience. To the right of this text it to of the TV front covers i have constructed using Microsoft publisher and as you can see my skills have progressed through learning how to use the software.
58. Blogs Throughout the planning process of the project i have also learn how to use blogs, this involved signing up to blogger.com , through this i then learnt that all of my coursework files could be added on there and annotated whether it be video files uploaded, power points uploaded from slide share, jpeg files, nearly all formats can be uploaded. Basics of what i have learnt and how to upload documents to blogs can be seen below which is part of my planning process and can also be seen in my blog. After publishing post it should look something like this Click new post Enter the title of the document Any annotations of the product go here
