This document contains a student's media studies production log and research for a trailer they are creating. It includes details of their aims, the chosen brief of a trailer for a new soap opera, research on codes and conventions of the genre through analyzing Eastenders and Coronation Street, notes on multi-stranded narratives and character dilemmas, and deadlines for completion. Research methods include textual analysis of promotional videos and episodes to identify codes around romance, family, working class communities and more.

1. 1
St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Candidate Number: 4067
Candidate Name: Hannah Hughes
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
Soap Opera Codes & Conventions – Lesson 2
1) What are some of the Codes & Conventions of this genre?
Elements
Settings
o Vic (pub)
o Houses/estate
o Market
o The Square
Characters
o Manipulative
o Geezer
o Spy
o Bully
o Range of active characters
o Grandparents
Icons
o Community
o Regional identity
o Soundtrack/theme song
o Long storyline
o Plots and subplots
o Focusing on small number of characters
o Interlinking stories
o Gossip
o Special episodes
Narrative
o Relationships
o Killer
o Adultery
o Family issues
o Sexuality

5. 5
2) Codes & Conventions of the Soap Opera Genre
The Soap Opera genre can be categorized by the ‘repeated’
(Steve Neale) elements of:
1. Romance
2. Family relationships and/or conflict
3. Focus on working class communities
4. Antagonism and conflict within the community
5. Murderous behavior
Eastenders (1985 – Present)
Key information regarding this text:
 Exhibited: BBC1 and repeated on BBC3
 One of the UKs highest rated program’s (average 6 million viewers)
 Set in the ‘kitchen sink’ setting of fictional Walford East London
Textual Analysis Task
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye51O8WBVVM&feature=related -

6. YOU MUST complete the Table below whilst watching the TWO promotional
trailers for the BBC Soap Opera Eastenders.
6
YOU SHOULD aim to identify key examples (Verbal, Non-Verbal, Technical)
from each trailer that demonstrates your understanding.
Extension - YOU COULD apply relevant audience theory to explain what
impact these key examples would have on the target demographic.
In your opinion, according to Hartley’s Seven Subjectivities, what is the
target audience for Eastenders?
Age
15+
Gender
Female
Nationality
English (Londoners)
Trailer 1)
What is the Focus of this trailer?
Theme of violence, takeover of the Vic, murder of Michael
Code
&
Convention
Evidence
(Verbal, Non-Verbal,
Technical)
Impact on the Audience
(Katz, Maslow, Hartley)
Romance
Roxie and guy Hartley: young 20-40, young audience. This is
because
Family
relationships
and/or conflict
‘ma brother’
Ronnie and man fight
‘swear on my mother’s
grave’
Family pub
Red on man
‘it was me’
‘stay away from my sister’
Care givers: Ronnie protects sister this is shown
when Ronnie says ‘stay away from my sister’
Katz –The audience can ‘personally identify’ with
the characters. As they know how it would feel to
loss everything and what it’s like to protect the ones
you love. E.g. Ronnie protecting Roxie.
Focus on
working class
communities
All in the pub together
- Mid shot
Narrative ‘Eastenders with
Christmas’
Hartley: Region/Nationality (accents)
Location appeals to the audience as they can
recognize with the characters.

7. 7
“Multi-Stranded
Narrative”
Pub
Roxie romance
Murder
New owner of the Vic
Katz: it is more entertaining to have more stories
going on at once, rather than one constant narrative
‘Disequilibrium’
(Todorov)
Pub
Murder
Roxie romance
-Community Drivers/Explorers- agree/disagree
with it?
-Personal identity to the storyline
Trailer 2)
What is the Focus of this trailer?
Who is Kat cheating with?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Code
&
Convention
Evidence
(Verbal, Non-Verbal,
Technical)
Impact on the Audience
(Katz, Maslow, Hartley)
Romance
Kats affair
Alfie and Kat kiss
Maslows: ‘care givers’ want Alfie to find out
Hartley – characters 20-40 appeals to 20-40
Family
relationships
and/or conflict
Kats cheating on Alfie with
one of the Brannings
Fire is a main theme
throughout the advert
Katz: personal relationships
- Feeling bad for Alfie
Moral ethics: people disagree with Kats cheating.
Focus on
working class
communities
Pub
Market
Accent
Hartley: nationality
Personal identity – Katz
Regionality - Hartley
“Multi-Stranded
Narrative”
None N/A
‘Disequilibrium’
(Todorov)
Kat and Alfie fight
‘Caregivers’ (Maslow) - Audience feels sympathy for
the characters as they are fighting.

8. 8
Multi-stranded narrative
A Multi-stranded narrative can be defined as…..
- Telling a story from more then one persons point of view
- Telling multiple stories about multiple characters in an ‘open narrative’ episode
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
Jacks locked in office
Lads in pub
Social interactions- which
makes people feel they can
relate to the characters.
 Family
relationships
and/or conflict
Stag and hen (friends)
Phil and Jack
Carol and guy
Max and his girlfriend
Maslow: explores
- Stags: social climbers
 Focus on working
class communities
Stag and hen dos
Pub and the club
Beer and larger
Relates to them as it is a
working class place
Disequilibrium’ (Todorov)
Boys and girls night outs
2 men in the office
Ronnie ringing Jack
Adds another story
 Romance
Jack and Sharon Audience can relate to
romance

9. 9
Soap Opera Codes & Conventions continued – Lesson 3
Textual Analysis
According to Rebecca Feasey in ‘Masculinity and Popular television’ (2007), the Soap
Opera genre tends to focus on:
“the home, the family, domestic tribulation and the strong women, and as such, it has long
been said to appeal to the female viewer”
- Personal identity
- Stereotypes
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.

10. 10
Code & Convention Evidence Impact on the audience
Rebecca Feasey (2007) Ideology: beliefs and values
1.woman cleaning
- men not helping
- yellow gloves
2.mother thinking she is better than the other woman
- sarcastic comments
3. girl wants to go out for a meal
- ‘Swanky’ and ‘slap up meal’
4.women putting on their make-up before going to the shops
5. girl is a strong independent woman
- She doesn’t think romance is all that great
“Multi-Stranded Narrative”
2 different families which leads to different stories
Granddad talking about kids mother
Man leaving and honeymoon
 Family
relationships
and/or conflict
Mum cleaning – Dad looking after child
Mum thinking she’s better than the other woman
Family sitting down eating together
Couples
 Focus on working
class communities
‘slap up meal’
Make-up before going to the shops
Disequilibrium’ (Todorov)
Arguments: Mother and Grandmother
 Romance
Marries couples
- Honeymoons
 Other Themes &
Issues represented:
N/A

11. 11
Soap Opera Codes & Conventions continued – Lesson 4
Textual Analysis
1) What is the purpose of a trailer?
To build hype, gain larger audience, display that show, appeal to a larger variety of people,
promote the show and to get people talking.
2) What are the benefits of Multi-Platform promotion of a media text?
 Can reach larger amounts of people
 More advertising
Ultimately, some form of Convergence is important when promoting a text to the
target audience.
3)
Textual Analysis –
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)

12. 12
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)?
Sex, binary opposites, male – female, stereotypical colours, gender issues
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
Binary Opposites (Levi Strauss)
o Black: death at wedding
o ‘white wedding’ soundtrack – good contrast to black costume of the characters. Binary
opposite white and black – good and bad.
Murder – someone the wife knows
The verbal code of the non-diegetic voiceover ‘love, honor and betray’ – she’s going to betray
husband?
Black gloves ‘signify’ (De Saussure)
Tears: something bad happened
- People don’t want the wedding to happen
China doll shattering: her baby is doomed
Creepy smiles: everyone is fake
Black rose petals connote death or the end of a relationship

13. 13
Production Work
1) What is the role of a Producer?
Decision making, oversees production, organized, consider target audience, finance and budget,
building up production and contacts.
2) What is the role of a Director?
Visualization of scene, they are the audience, rate acting skills, leader, calm, focused and strict
3) Institution research –
 Launched on 20th April 1964
 Audience share was 6.6% in July 2014
 From 1st July 1967it was Europe's first television channel to broadcast regularly in colour
 Target audience: people who are not already served by BB1 or ITV
 It has several sister channels including: BBC1, BBC3, BBC4, BBC News, BBC Parliament,
CBBC and CBeebies