This document contains production notes and research for a media studies project on creating a trailer for a new soap opera. It includes: 1. The aims and objectives of appealing to both male and female audiences with a trailer after Eastenders. 2. Research on existing soap operas like Eastenders and Coronation Street, analyzing their codes, conventions, narratives and audiences. 3. Plans for textual analysis, research, filming, editing and evaluating the new trailer. Deadlines are set for completing promotional materials. 4. Notes from lessons on soap opera codes and conventions, including setting, characters, narratives and analyzing examples from Eastenders and Coronation Street.

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St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Candidate Number: 4009
Candidate Name: Feargus Bracken
A2 Media Studies
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio in Media –
Production Log
Evidence of Planning & Research

2. 2
Aims and Objectives
 AO2 – Assess candidates’ application of knowledge and
understanding in evaluating their own work, showing
how meanings and responses are created.
 AO3 – Assess candidates’ ability to plan and construct
media products using appropriate technical and creative
skills.
 AO4 – Assess candidates’ ability to undertake, apply and
present appropriate research.
Brief Chosen
A 45 second – 1 minute 30 second trailer for a NEW Soap Opera
that will be exhibited on at 8:30pm (after Eastenders)
that will appeal to a Male and Female audience.
YOU SHOULD research when Eastenders is scheduled (Day –
Time)

3. 3
Contents
Textual Analysis
 Eastenders
- Soap Opera Codes & Conventions
- Multi Strand Narrative
 Coronation Street
“..the home, the family, domestic tribulations and the strong woman, and as
such, it has long been said to appeal to the female viewer”
‘Masculinity and Popular television’ – Rebecca Feasey (2007)
- Is this evident and how is this presented to the audience?
Research
 Purpose of a Trailer
 Multi-Platform promotion
 Textual Analysis – Coronation Street and Hollyoaks
Deadlines – Production Work
Filming Dates:
Edited Trailer – Complete:
Promotional Poster – Complete:
Promotional Magazine Cover – Complete:
Evaluation– Complete:
Production Work
 Director – Roles & Responsibilities?
 Producer – Roles & Responsibilities?
 Institution research – BBC Two

4. 4
SoapOpera Codes & Conventions – Lesson2
Repertoireof Elements
Setting:
Pub
Houses
Market
Strong regional identity
Narrative:
Relationships
Death
Adultery
Flashbacks
Family issues
Sexuality
Character:
Manipulative characters
Killer
Geezer
Voyeuristic
Active and passive
Icons:
Community
Regional identity
Theme tune
Over arcing storyline
Plots and subplots
Gossip
Special episodes
Verisimilitude – attempt at creating realism

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2) Codes & Conventions of the SoapOpera Genre
The Soap Operagenre can be categorizedby the ‘repeated’
(Steve Neale) elements of:
1. Romance
2. Family relationships and/or conflict
3. Workingclass community
4. Antagonism and conflict within community
5. Fixed representation of regionalidentity
Eastenders (1985 – Present)
Key informationregarding this text:
 Exhibited – BBC 1 – repeated on BBC 3
 UK’s highest rated program
 Set in Watford
Textual Analysis Task
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye51O8WBVVM&feature=related -

6. 6
YOU MUST complete the Table below whilst watching the TWO promotional
trailers for the BBC Soap Opera Eastenders.
YOU SHOULDaim to identify key examples(Verbal, Non-Verbal, Technical)
from each trailer that demonstratesyour understanding.
Extension- YOU COULD apply relevantaudiencetheory to explain what
impact these key examples would haveon the target demographic.
In your opinion, accordingto Hartley’s Seven Subjectivities, whatis the
target audiencefor Eastenders?
Age 15 – 45
Gender Women
Nationality British
Trailer 1)
What is the Focus of this trailer?
The theme of violence – taking over the ‘Queen Vic’
Code
&
Convention
Evidence
(Verbal, Non-Verbal,
Technical)
Impact on the Audience
(Katz, Maslow, Hartley)
Romance
Hugging – between man
and woman
Hartley – character 20-40 appeals ones of the
same age
Family
relationships
and/or conflict
“stay away from my
brother”
“it was me”
Mid shots – people
standing in pub ( working
class
Katz – caregiver
Appeals to audience that identify as caregivers
Focus on
working class
communities
The Pub ( Queen Vic)
Working class
haven/community
Hartley –accent
Location appeals to the audience as they can
recognize with the characters.

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“Multi-Stranded
Narrative”
New Owner of the
Working Class Queen Vic
Money and Greed
This relates to the audience, as it creates a
sense of community and solidarity. It reflects
the nature of working class communities
‘Disequilibrium’
(Todorov)
New owner of Vic ,
replaces other character
The replacement of a key figure in a community
associates with the audience, as they can
sympathise with the characters on the show.
Trailer 2)
What is the Focus of this trailer?
Find the cheater
Code
&
Convention
Evidence
(Verbal, Non-Verbal,
Technical)
Impact on the Audience
(Katz, Maslow, Hartley)
Romance
Kissing Hartley – characters 20-40 appeals to 20-40
Family
relationships
and/or conflict
Kat and Alfie fighting
Three brothers together
Pace - fast
‘Caregivers’ (Maslow)– sympathy for Alfie, as
the audience will – what? INCOMPLETE
sentence
Focus on
working class
communities
The Queen Vic pub
Market
Personal identity – Katz
Region – Hartley
The impact on the audience is that there is a
closer relation to characters and a sense of
community.
“Multi-Stranded
Narrative”
One story line – Kat and
Alfie conflict
Audience can focus more on the one story
rather than lots of different themes.
‘Disequilibrium’
(Todorov)
Kat and Alfie fight due to
Kat cheating.
Audience feels sympathy for the characters as
they are fighting. The audiences sympathises
with Alfie due to – INCOMPLETE sentence

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Multi-stranded narrative
A Multi-stranded narrative can be defined as…..
Telling a story from more than one person’s POV
Telling multiple stories about multiple characters in a open narrative episode for example
YOU MUST deconstruct the 10-minute extract from Eastenders and identify where
the following elements are presented to the audience:
 Multi-stranded narrative
 Family relationships and/or conflict
 Focus on working class communities
 ‘Disequilibrium’ (Todorov)
 Romance
YOU SHOULD write down x1-2 examples for EACH of the elements above that are
presented.
Code & Convention Evidence Impact on the audience
 Multi-stranded
narrative
stag and hen do
Ronnie rings Jack
More interest/ storylines for
the audience – VERY
vague…..
 Family
relationships
and/or conflict
Phil and Jack argue Audience can ‘personally
identify’ (Katz) to the
characters if they are in a
similar situation.
 Focus on working
class communities
The Queen Vic/club Relates to them - ??? as it is
a working class
location/establishment.
Disequilibrium’ (Todorov) Ronnie phoning Jack Adds another storyline,
which accedes to create
tension and is intellectually
stimulating. The audience
will not be focused on a
single linear story, but
multiple plots.
 Romance Woman kissing man Audience can relate to
romance. The audience, the
portion that are
romantically involved, can
relate with personal
identity.
SoapOpera Codes & Conventions continued – Lesson3
Textual Analysis

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According to Rebecca Feasey in ‘Masculinity and Popular television’ (2007), the Soap
Opera genre tends to focus on:
The family, the home, domestic tribulations and the strong woman, and as such, it has a
long been said to appeal to the female viewer
Katz – personal identity
1) – Do you agree?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8_ApPT6isY (First 5 minutes)
Next Page - YOU MUST deconstruct the opening 5 minutes of a sequence from the
popular ITV Soap Opera Coronation Street (1960 – Present) to identify examples of
where this ideology is presented to the target audience.
YOU SHOULD also try and identify, to demonstrate your knowledge and
understanding of the genre, any Codes & Conventions associated to the Soap Opera
genre.
Code & Convention Evidence Impact on the audience
Rebecca Feasey (2007) Ideology: beliefs and values
1. Woman cleaning doing house work however this challenges Feasey as this shows
that this female isn’t being shown in a dominant way.
2. Man taking kid to school – this conforms to Feasey as it connotes that the man is
doing the work rather than the woman doing everything. This is an example of the
‘metrosexual’ modern male who is not driven away from traditionally feminine
tasks.

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3. A domestic family – The family were seated together, and discussing their
problems and other recent events that have occurred. Creates a sense of solidarity,
and relation to viewing families who function in the same way.
“Multi-Stranded Narrative” Man leaving
Honeymoon
 Family
relationships
and/or conflict
Couples – Multiple couples present, both ones in parental
roles and those who are seeing each other. Relates to more
audience members by relationship status
 Focus on working
class communities
“going out for a slap up meal” The use of colloquial
language in reference to the class of the viewers. Upper
classes view it as humourous , middle and working classes
relate.
Disequilibrium’ (Todorov)
The arguments inbetween two different motherly figures
creates tension, and shows connotations how there has
been previous conflict between the two characters. Shows
the breakdown of the extended family unit.
 Romance
Man and woman – “honeymoon” A trip away together to
celebrate their marriage, the woman is excited but the male
is trying to cheat on the side.
 Other Themes &
Issues represented:
Infidelity, family conflict.
SoapOpera Codes & Conventions continued – Lesson4
Textual Analysis
1) What is the purpose of a trailer?
To gain the audiences interest.
2) What are the benefits of Multi-Platform promotion of a media text?
 Get to a wider audience using platforms.

Ultimately, some form of Convergence is important when promoting a text to the
target audience.
3)
Textual Analysis –

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Next Page - YOU MUST make notes on the following areas when deconstructing this
sequence from Coronation Street:
 Multi-stranded narrative
 Character dilemmas
 ‘Personal Identification’ (Katz)
50TH ANNIVERSARY
Multi stranded narrative:
There is one main narrative throughout the trailer, but with multiple sub plots occurring
within the main narrative (The fire and derailment of the train causing separation and
escalating tension)
Character Dilemmas:
All the characters are affected, some characters are effected emotionally and stay back,
while other characters will attempt to search the wreckage.
Personal Identity – Katz
The audience can relate to the feeling of care that characters present to their loved ones
and acquaintances. Ultimately, not much of the audience will directly identify with the
situation as not many will have survived a tram crash. But, the audience will feel
sympathy for a disaster like this due to many disasters that have occurred in real life.

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http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hollyoaks/4od
The above link will take you to some of the latest episodes of Hollyoaks.
1. What are the connotations of the ident for the popular Channel Four Teen
Soap Opera Hollyoaks (1995 – Present)?
Gender signs – appeal to both, colour – pink and blue – gender stereotype
Next Page - Hollyoaks – “White Wedding Trailer” -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu2sW-r9Vb4
2. YOU MUST make notes on the following areas when deconstructing this
sequence from Hollyoaks:
 Binary opposition of the non-diegetic music
 Symbolism of the non-verbal code of the tear
 Representation of Pregnancy
 Any other examples that would impact the audience
Music – white wedding – good contrast to black costume of the characters. Binary
opposite white and black –Good and Evil/ Pure and Impure
Petals – black – death or end or decay. Directly contrasts to the theme of a wedding, which
is happiness and new life.
Pregnancy –Forced smile from the other characters – forced happiness at a wedding. It
connotes conflict about either the parentage of the baby, or a disagreement with views
between characters ( etc, they might oppose sex before marriage and enforced this one.)
‘Nice day, for a white wedding’ – The lyrics directly contradict with the trailer presented
on- screen, where all the characters are wearing black. It connotes stress and conflict, at a
time where all the colours are traditionally associated with white and purity.
‘Start again’ – Connotes possible chance of a fresh start, with a wedding being seen as
turning over a new leaf. The mise en scene and facial expressions of the entourage of those
at the wedding show opposition, and how conflict will possibly occur.

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Production Work
1) What is the role of a Producer?
Decision making, oversee the production, organization, consideration of target audience,
successful, finance and budget.
2) What is the role of a Director?
The visualization of the scene – action, leader on set, calm, focus, on the spot decisions.
3) Institution research –
YOU MUST research the institution that your trailer will be exhibited on.
Tips: Programming, Target audience, Audience figures, History of the channel.
 Total population covered - 53,502,000 adults (15+)
 The average age of the BBC listeners are 32
 The launch of a second channel in April 1964 saw the creation of BBC 1 and BBC 2
brands
 A big publicity campaign was mounted to launch the new channel, using the rather
playful symbol of a kangaroo with a baby in its pouch, with the even more unlikely
names of Hullabaloo and Custard (visuals drawn by artist Desmond Marwood).