The document discusses the research and planning that went into developing a soap opera trailer. It describes researching conventions of popular soap operas like Hollyoaks and EastEnders, such as their use of characters, narratives, music, costumes and settings. Based on this, decisions were made to include 10 connected characters, develop storylines around relationships, use music like Hollyoaks, challenge conventions through costumes representing different schools, and set the soap in college settings rather than typical pubs or cafes. Reflections noted things that could be improved like conveying character ideas more clearly and including more storylines.

3. 0 Prior to our production I conducted thorough
research on the codes and conventions within popular
Soap Operas such as Hollyoaks and EastEnders.

4. 0 Prior to our production I conducted thorough
research on the codes and conventions within popular
Soap Operas such as Hollyoaks and EastEnders.
0 It was apparent within these programmes that there
are no central characters, therefore we decided to
create and develop 10 key characters who would be
present within our trailer.

5. 0 Prior to our production I conducted thorough
research on the codes and conventions within popular
Soap Operas such as Hollyoaks and EastEnders.
0 It was apparent within these programmes that there
are no central characters, therefore we decided to
create and develop 10 key characters who would be
present within our trailer.
0 These particular characters would then be linked
together in various ways incl. relationships, rivalries,
secrets etc. that essentially harmonise them as one
social group.

6. 0 Our stock characters were introduced either representing or challenging
the stereotypes they appear to follow. We based one of our focal
characters Wayne on Dean Wicks from EastEnders, who holds the
stereotype of the troublemaker and is known for spiking drinks with
drugs/alcohol, stealing and driving recklessly.
Dean Wicks (EastEnders)

7. 0 Our stock characters were introduced either representing or challenging
the stereotypes they appear to follow. We based one of our focal
characters Wayne on Dean Wicks from EastEnders, who holds the
stereotype of the troublemaker and is known for spiking drinks with
drugs/alcohol, stealing and driving recklessly.
Wayne (Eastwood High)Dean Wicks (EastEnders)

8. 0 I feel we successfully developed in-depth characters
that are connected in a thought-provoking way.
However, in reflection, we could have made changes
as follows:
Our soap trailer would have benefitted from the
inclusion of stock characters such as teachers/adults to
truly represent the idea of it being based around two
colleges and school-life in general.
We had strong ideas for all of our characters yet there
was a lack of clarity in our trailer as we were not able to
convey these ideas as thoroughly as we wanted to.

9. 0 Conventionally, soap operas tend to use less-abstract
shot-types such as shot-reverse-shots, medium-close-
ups etc.
0 We decided our soap opera production needed to
represent and implement these familiar and more
conventional shot types of soap operas.
0 This was important to us during our production stage
because we wanted our viewers to feel more
comfortable knowing that what they are watching is
an original, brand-new, yet conventional soap opera.
Similar to ones they might have already seen.

10. I conducted research on the layout of soap trailers and found it useful to
analyse the uses of shot-types in trailers such as EastEnders.

11. I noticed that the most frequently used shots in EastEnders and other
soap trailers are shot-reverse-shots, medium-close-ups and two-
shots. Which, evidently, are far less abstract than shots used in film
trailers promoting action films for instance.
We decided to use these particular conventional shot types for our
trailer:

13. 0 Our entire trailer was intended to represent a
narrative built around personal stories/relationships.
Soap Operas such as EastEnders, Hollyoaks and
Coronation Street tend to create narratives around
issues between characters.

14. 0 Our entire trailer was intended to represent a
narrative built around personal stories/relationships.
Soap Operas such as EastEnders, Hollyoaks and
Coronation Street tend to create narratives around
issues between characters.
0 We decided to develop these popular and frequent
narrative conventions in our own production, by
implementing strong connections between our central
characters from the two colleges.

15. 0 EastEnders tends to focus their
storylines around realism, including
stories surrounding relationships,
unemployment, homosexuality etc.
0 Much like the conclusions of each
episode of EastEnders, we wanted to
develop our own cliff-hanger endings
which Todorov would call ‘narrative
disequilibrium’.

16. 0 We wanted to focus our
production more on the research
we conducted surrounding
Hollyoaks.
0 This is because Hollyoaks deals
with a variety of issues affecting
young people including
homosexuality, drug use,
teenage pregnancy and school-
life in general.

17. 0 In attempt of aiming our
production at a younger
audience we made reference to
certain themes that would
appeal to them for
entertainment.
0 We applied strong narratives to
each character that we tried to
put forward in our trailer.Struggle with homosexuality
Disloyal boyfriend Juvenile delinquency

18. 0 We used certain narratives and
themes from Hollyoaks. We wanted
to aim our production at a
younger audience (16-25)
therefore made reference to certain
themes that would appeal to them
for entertainment.
0 We wanted to encourage narrative
possibilities and narratives
progression to engage our audience.
Hush-hush crushes
The ‘Love triangle’ Secret siblings

19. 0 I feel we successfully developed our narratives and
conformed with common themes of soap operas from
our research. However, in reflection, we could have
made changes as follows:
0 Despite having strong ideas for the narratives and
main storylines of our trailer, we didn’t manage to put
across all of these ideas as well as we could have.
0 Could have developed a variety of storylines (much
like EastEnders, which runs 4-5 storylines at once)
rather than focusing on three main subplots.

20. 0 One phase of the research I carried out included
comparison of soap trailer conventions.

21. 0 One phase of the research I carried out included
comparison of soap trailer conventions.
0 A significant contrast between EastEnders and
Hollyoaks is that Hollyoaks chooses to use
contemporary/chart music in both their episodes and
advertisement (trailer promotions).

22. 0 One phase of the research I carried out included
comparison of soap trailer conventions.
0 A significant contrast between EastEnders and
Hollyoaks is that Hollyoaks chooses to use
contemporary/chart music in both their episodes and
advertisement (trailer promotions).
0 We chose to develop this feature of non-diegetic music
for our trailer so that we would appeal to a younger
audience.

23. 0 One phase of the research I carried out included
comparison of soap trailer conventions.
0 A significant contrast between EastEnders and
Hollyoaks is that Hollyoaks chooses to use
contemporary/chart music in both their episodes and
advertisement (trailer promotions).
0 We chose to develop this feature of non-diegetic music
for our trailer so that we would appeal to a younger
audience.
0 Our trailer’s sub-genre allows this up-beat,
fashionable music to be associated with our trailer.

24. 0 One phase of the research I carried out included
comparison of soap trailer conventions.
0 A significant contrast between EastEnders and
Hollyoaks is that Hollyoaks chooses to use
contemporary/chart music in both their episodes and
advertisement (trailer promotions).
0 We chose to develop this feature of non-diegetic music
for our trailer so that we would appeal to a younger
audience.
0 Our trailer’s sub-genre allows this up-beat,
fashionable music to be associated with our trailer.
0 After making this decision to develop certain aspects
of Hollyoaks’ conventions, we sourced our music from
a royalty-free licensed website www.bensound.com

26. 0 We chose to challenge certain conventions of soaps
with regards to iconography. This included outlining
the true difference between the two colleges through
choice of costume.

27. 0 We chose to challenge certain conventions of soaps
with regards to iconography. This included outlining
the true difference between the two colleges through
choice of costume.
0 We challenged this convention because, again, we
wanted to encourage younger viewers to relate
themselves to our characters.

28. 0 We chose to challenge certain conventions of soaps
with regards to iconography. This included outlining
the true difference between the two colleges through
choice of costume.
0 We challenged this convention because, again, we
wanted to encourage younger viewers to relate
themselves to our characters.
0 Our use of costume is challenging conventions of soap
operas because it is uncommon in soaps such as
Hollyoaks, Coronation Street & EastEnders to
feature a set uniform worn by teen characters as
opposed to other characters wearing clothing that
suits and represents their characters.

29. Students of
St.
Antoinette’s:
We chose to
dress our
posh-school
students in
matching
uniform to
connote
their overall
class and
level of
education.
This
included
smart
shirt/tie,
blazers etc.
Students of
Eastwood High:
We chose to
dress our
antisocial college
students in
clothes that
would be
appropriate to
their character.
We made an
effort not to
include a
uniform for this
particular school
so that the
differences
would come
across better.

30. 0 A convention of soap operas is that they are set
around stock communal settings such as pubs,
markets, café’s, launderette’s etc.

31. 0 A convention of soap operas is that they are set
around stock communal settings such as pubs,
markets, café’s, launderette’s etc.
0 ‘The Queen Vic(toria)’ is a significant and recognisable
setting because it suggests that a lot of the drama that
goes on is alcohol-fuelled and perhaps more
exaggerated because of this.

32. 0 We decided to challenge this convention by basing our
soap in the communal settings of two colleges. By doing
this we felt we were able to relate our soap to young
viewers and encourage them to feel involved with certain
circumstances present within our soap.

33. 0 We decided to challenge this convention by basing our
soap in the communal settings of two colleges. By doing
this we felt we were able to relate our soap to young
viewers and encourage them to feel involved with certain
circumstances present within our soap.
0 We decided we would also include locations that are
college-related including: sports fields, canteens,
corridors, carparks, green areas on site etc.

34. 0 I feel we successfully constructed our own communal
settings. However, in reflection, we could have made
changes as follows:
0 Could have established more of a recognisable
difference between the two settings for our audience
allowing them to immediately realise where the soap
is based.
0 Could possibly have included issues and settings
outside of college including home-life scenarios etc.