Final Products

This is our final soap opera trailer and ancillary texts after we had acted upon feedback from our premier feedback and questionnaire. We made slight changes throughout and adjusted the ending as this was not finished before hand. We are pleased with our final trailer and feel that it meets our target audience's needs and wants within a soap.

[Alice, Henry, Jake & Kira]

Jake's Evaluation

1. In which ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The ever-appealing yet sometimes criticised genre of soap typically contains a variety of themes upon which the storylines are based. In our case, we used the character's feelings of envy, jealousy, and greed to showcase exciting and dramatic storylines that involve lies, deceit, and murder. Each respective character is prominent in at least one of the storylines, all based on the 7 Deadly Sins.
Our trailer featured classic elements seen in many soap operas to stay true to the classic and unmistakable genre, such as the timeless 'whodunnit'. We also took note of the soap operas broadcast by our institution, such as Hollyoaks - which pertains its popularity through its dominantly young cast and characters, as well as current issues that the viewer may relate to. Vladimir Propp's stock characters were also explored, with the character of Danny as Propp's 'false hero'.

We went on to develop and challenge conventions of real media products utilising sensitive storylines. Issues such as adultery, bulimia and murder are risky due to the unpredictable audience reaction to sensitive content - though tackling these issues accurately does pay off. Among our predetermined storylines for the trailer lay a deviation of the 'lust' scene, which portrayed a secret relationship with two men. Unfortunately, the pair of actors cast for this role were unavailable in the end, which led to the alternate 'lust' scene shown in the trailer.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The photographs we used for our poster and magazine cover were taken during filming the opening title to our trailer. This also established a strong link between the magazine cover, poster, and trailer since they all feature a prominent location. 

The poster features none of the characters to suggest a sense of anonymity. In contrast, the magazine cover features two of the main characters at the forefront to show their importance. The character of Jackie is looking back at Danny, thus hiding her face and suggesting her mysteriousness to the audience. The pictures of Jackie and Danny actually came from two different photos, which I then cut the existing background from and edited onto the new background for the magazine cover. 

In the final stages of creating the magazine, I decided to switch to a festive theme. Many soaps have a special Christmas episode, and so I altered the magazine by changing the theme throughout. This was done by changing the colour scheme to include more red and white, a strong connotation of Christmas. Traditional Christmas items such as the bauble, holly, and sugar canes were also added, as well as falling snow in the sky.

The combination of our main product with the ancillary texts is very effective, since the link between them all is not only clear and helpful to the reader, but also aesthetically pleasing and well executed.

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3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our audience feedback was obtained by a screening of our trailer to an audience similar to that of who our soap is aimed at for accurate feedback. After the trailer was shown, we handed them a questionnaire, with the results showing their reaction and feedback. The poster and magazine cover were also shown.

The most prominent note of potential improvement proposed a less abrupt ending. However, the trailer shown was not the finalised version, so we were aware of this already. The results also provided specific comments, though the numerous 'yes' and 'no' answers were compiled into qualitative and quantitative data respectively. We also made a video after the showing of our trailer, which shows the feedback given by some of the viewers.

The feedback proved useful in making some final changes and improvements, while also highlighting the parts that were enjoyed the most.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

To organise our research and subsequent planning, we stored our progress on a blog on the popular platform Blogger. This meant it would be easier to manage what had been done, what needed doing, and who had done what. We also utilised Adobe Premier Elements to piece together and edit the scenes we filmed using the provided camera. One of the best effects was where Alice's character walked past, and the sin of 'greed' was edited to appear the further along she walked.

 I used Adobe Photoshop extensively to create both the magazine cover and poster. For the poster, I started by using a photo taken by Alice as a background. I then edited the photo by altering the brightness, contrast, and colours. Following this, I added E4's logo, along with our soap's logo and a subheading, showing the date the trailer would be released. For the magazine, I started off with a blank canvas. Layer by layer I began adding elements to create the finished product, as seen below.

Conclusively, our trailer and ancillary products were extremely successful, as suggested by our questionnaire results and the reception from our viewing.

Final TV Listings Magazine Cover Design

The example below was the finalised draft for the magazine cover.

After the audience viewing of the trailer, the magazine cover was also shown. Some comments were noted and subsequently some minor changes were made. These were:

- Move and resize main coverline slightly northeast to tuck into the gap 

- Three more pictures at the bottom with titles/coverlines

- Add additional soap news/upcoming stories to fill more space

- Move barcode and pricetag

- Remove additional price tag from barcode

[Jake]

Post-viewing Questionnaire

1.      Did you think that the trailer was well-produced?

2.      Was the trailer appropriate for the target audience of 16-24 year olds? 

3.      If the soap were to be aired on TV next week, would you watch it? 

4.      Do you think that the soap differed from the other soaps already aired?

5.      What changes do you think could be made to improve the soap?

Fonts

Analysis of sample fonts:

This font was used for the poster sample, and fits in with the background photo. The font is serif and similar to a calligraphic font. When featured in the poster the font was coloured white instead of black, so that it would stand out amongst the dark and dramatic background.

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As a more simplistic font, this utilises the sans-serif design. It is also italicised, which emphasises the effect while still allowing the font to remain subtle and understated.

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While somewhat similar to the above font, it features additions that appear on serif-type fonts. This particular one is akin to that of the font used in Eastenders, due to the traditional style and appearance.

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In contrast to the other fonts, this is in block capital letters which gives a very dramatic effect. It stands out and manages to look loud due to the boldness of the letters. Furthermore, there is a slight shine to the font which gives it a three dimensional effect that further emphasises and aids the boldness. This type of font is an example of what wouldn't be suitable for our soap opera trailer, since it appears too garish. 

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This font also makes use of block capital letters, but the thinner and serif nature of the font makes it more fancy and sophisticated. The swooping edge on the letter ‘s’ compliments the alliteration of the title “Sinner Street”.

[Jake]

Poster Draft

This draft poster is essentially a scaled back version of what our finalised idea could look like. It currently lacks the presence of the characters since the photos are yet to be taken, but following that they will be neatly incorporated into the poster as well as the TV Listings cover. The photos used for the poster will differ compared to that of the TV Listings cover,

The name/title used is currently a placeholder until our group has chosen which one we would like to use - and it will subsequently be changed accordingly. In addition to this, the time/date on the poster will change for whatever we choose instead, with this one just showing where it could be positioned and what it could look like.

The background image could be different, with the possibility of the current one being used in a portrait form rather than landscape form, to be used as the background of the TV Listings cover instead - or it could be used for this poster as the example demonstrates.

[Jake]

Institutions

Which institution did we choose and why?

Our soap opera must take place on a specified channel in order to show it to our audience that consume these programmes on TV. We have researched the varying institutions and have subsequently decided which one would fit our soap opera the most appropriately.

The above image shows some examples of the institutions and the respective soap(s) that they host.

We have chosen E4 as the channel to debut and broadcast our soap. E4 was chosen because there would be less competition internally to the institution, although E4 is still owned by Channel 4 who advertise Hollyoaks, a popular soap that has a similar target audience to us. E4 have a demographic of 16 to 24 year olds, which is the exact target audience that we are aiming for, with predominantly females being those most likely to watch our programme. Despite there being a gap in the market to aim a soap opera at the male gender (since there is no soap that does so entirely), we believe that due to the presence of stereotypical behaviour and the story plots in our soap that we are advertising, it is clear that our programme is most likely to cater for and attract the female audience.

Despite this broadcaster also being home to many shows made and debuted in America, E4 has also exclusively been home to British dramas such as Skins, Misfits, My Mad Fat Diary, Youngers, and most recently, Glue. E4 is available on Freeview, so it is easily accessible to anyone that owns a television. Viewers can also catch up online, or using the E4+1 platform which repeats the episode an hour after it was initially aired. E4 is also well known for its distinctive promotion and advertising, and the channel has long been popular among its target audience. All of these traits and attributes collectively contribute to the choosing of E4 since it is the best fitting institution to air and advertise our soap.

[Jake]

Pitch For Our Teenage TV Soap Opera

Here is our presentation that we produced in order to present what our Soap Opera consisted of. The presentation was set up as if we were pitching our own Soap Opera to an institution of our choice, which we decided to be E4; this gave us an idea on what our target audience would be in regards to the institution chosen as well as what the plots would consist of when targeting at a specific market type.

Soap Opera Trailer Analysis

In class we were shown 3 different soap opera trailers that other students from around the country had created in previous years to give us some inspiration and also to provide us with some ideas on the sorts of things we need to include within our own. As a group we each analysed on of the trailers of 'Standalone', 'The Avenue' and 'Two Rivers.

The material which these students incorporated within the trailer fitted the genre of 'Soap Opera's'-

Soap opera

Noun

Plural noun: soap operas

“A television or radio drama serial dealing typically with daily events in the lives of the same group of character”.

Two Rivers:

Watch Here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdxSOgKGOTY]

There are many parts of Two Rivers which represent and convey the stereotypes and conventions we associate with soap operas from a variety of camera angles, characters that give a true representation of society and also gripping storylines- this trailer fulfils all of those conventions.

Simply by the short trailer we can establish that the character we are introduced to, the young woman is going to play a large part in the story line that is pictured and possibly that the soap opera revolves around her life. We are unaware of why the character is shown walking through the graveyard and also unaware of who the men are that she passes along her way, this is all used for dramatic effect and makes potential audience members interested in the soap opera therefor attracting a more diverse audience. The POV shot that has been used through the trees gives the audience the impression that we aren't supposed to be there and that we are in fact spying on the man she has just passed and their relationship with one another will soon be revealed.

Two Rivers uses many different camera angles and editing effects which both intrigues the audience as well as meeting all of the exam boards criteria creating a better soap opera trailer and leading to more marks awarded. Shots such as the establishing shot (panning shot) of the river, extreme close ups on the young woman's eye applying make up and also a low angle shot of the woman's feet, all of these shot make the piece more interesting and also show off the students editing skills and diverse range of camera skills. The editing techniques that the group have used such as the red overlay on top of the young woman's feet connotes to us the audience members that she isn't someone you would want to mess with as she has an evil and devilish personality.

From the trailer I feel it is unclear who the target audience of the soap opera ar
e and also what issues they are trying to address as there is only one storyline shown and this is unclear however this does create inrigue for the audience and may entice them to tune. The information about the programme is shown at the end of the trailer and also allows the audience to become interactive and promote the programme without realising it if they choose to use the different social media platforms provided alongside the soap. These are both techniques I believe we should look at and potentially use when it comes to us making our own soap opera trailer.

[Alice]

The Avenue:

Watch Here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HtUsY3F3Yk]

'The Avenue' connoted stereotypical conventions of a Soap Opera, especially with the plot they presented. The use of camera angles and mise-en-scene portray the typical story line of betray and jealousy that is a current theme in many soaps, including Hollyoaks, which sees Tony currently cheating on his wife, Diane, with her daughter, Sinead. The contrast of good and evil is distorted, however, as we think that the man is evil, although we are not aware of what the woman has done for him to seek her down; this creates mystery, a typical convention of Soap trailers, as it entices people to want to watch the programme to find out what happens.

There is a varied use of shots, from low angle shots at the beginning when the characters are walking round the house, as well as the use of dolly and tracking which is a convention used in many trailers to create different atmospheres, such as the person walking away connoting that we are the one following them, like a point of view shot, influencing us to feel like we are witnessing an event which we shouldn't be, emphasising the mystery of the piece. However, in this trailer they have used tracking to follow the character side on, as if we are walking alongside them. This makes us feel like we are close to them, supporting them, which makes us instantly believe that these are good characters rather than evil.

The costuming of the characters is important in the trailer for showing us what type of characters they each are. With them all dressed in dark, formal clothes, it gives us the impression that they are attending a funeral, instantly influencing us to foreshadow that there is to have a death in the future of the programme. 

The editing and effects in the trailer isn't as apparent than in usual trailers, however the likes of fading and transitions are used between slides. This makes the trailer flow, emphasising the story plot as we are able to focus on what is happening. The use of a fade between a shot either connotes time passing or as if someone is about to be murdered, stereotypically paired with the non-diegetic sound of a heart beat.

Overall, the camera use of story plot presents a successful soap trailer that entices us to want to watch more. They have decided to pair their soap with the institution of BBC3, fitting with their target audience of young adults, who are the largest group viewers for BBC3. Similar to the likes of EastEnders, they have placed their soap also with BBC, however, due to the high demand for EastEnders on BBC1, the group have noticed a gap in the market to place their soap opera on BBC3. 

[Kira]

Standalone:

Watch Here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9JB_zYZaI

In a lesson, we were asked to look at three past examples of exam work from other students on a task 'G324 Advanced Production TV Soap Opera'. The one I found most interesting was the "standalone" trailer demonstrated excellence in the creative task. Their variety of camera shots, understanding of mise en scene and use of sound effects were presented together subtly with transitions and editing.

The trailer starts with a slow fade into the first scene which is a focused shot of a gravestone with a view of two boys standing further away. This is all in a mid shot and the camera focuses on the two boys. There is then a close-up of their faces. The editor uses white shadowed text over the scene, giving the viewer some brief description of sub genres in the TV soap e.g. murder, death, love. This is faded into the side of the screen. This is effective due to the use of text being edited onto the screen gives it a more professional look to it. Also, the fade in and out transition between this section gives it a smooth feeling of flowing in and out of scenes.

Further on, we see a clever use of camera angles. We see a mid shot of a man holding a gun to a mans head on the floor. The next frame is interesting due to it being a worms eye view tilted frame (about 40 degrees) seeing a gun pointing towards you. This shows the POV of the victim being distorted and disorientated making the audience have the same perception and feeling of the victim.

Then, the next frame is a close-up of the man with the gun's other hand which hold a nearly finished cigarette, as he flicks it away (which is filmed in slow motion) we hear the sound of a gun shot which is match on action and cleverly syncing the two sounds together. this highlights the action by giving it more of a deep meaning (using the murderous sound).

Later, we see a high angle panning shot of clothes on a floor, this carries on for 2 seconds before we see the shot being sped up until stopping back to normal speed when it reaches a couple in bed. We then see a  jump cut to a girl coming into the house and about to walk upstairs. Before she closes the door, it jumps again to her walking up the stairs, then a close up of the ring on her finger. the scene then leads to her finding her 'husband' cheating on her in their room. However all the cuts and angles used help make the scenes look swift and smooth without having continuity errors.

Lastly, the moment that uses the most editing work and patience was the ending title. It consists of a 6 way vertical split screen containing each sub-genres we have just been shown with the white shadowed title 'Standalone' over the split screen. This shows the audience a quick summary of all the aspects of the programme that the editor would want the audience to see, and the title is shown very big and obviously on the screen contrasting to the darker colours and filters of the scene. 

Altogether, this is a fantastic example of a criteria matching soap opera trailer, it tackles each criteria with expressive creativity and detailed thought process.

[Henry]

Manor Drive:

Watch Here; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLNFmieIxog]

The trailer for Manor Drive gave off an odd first impression due to a continuity error with a questionable choice of actions for the first character seen. She drives the car and parks up, then the shot cuts to her getting out from the back of the car (which is the continuity error) and then proceeding to lock the front passenger side door of the car which is confusing to the viewer. 

However, the rest of the trailer begins to pick up and improve. Some friends are seen laughing and drinking in a pub, then a bottle is spun with the camera inside it, not only showing all the characters around the table, but also landing on the girl as she arrives – creating a tense and dramatic moment, although the odd representation of blood that followed soon after was less impressive.

Despite this, it was unclear who the girl was and why she was laying there, creating suspense and a sense of mystery for the audience. Their group's collective use of mise en scene also contributes to this, with the conventional soap environment of a pub being executed in the typical fashion. The characters typically wear dark clothes in a relatively dim environment, suggesting that these characters may have a darker and more mysterious side than the viewer may initially think.

The editing is simplistic and potentially an area for improvement since the only technique used to change from one scene to another was the jump cut. There doesn't seem to be any obvious reason for this, and the lack of any additional techniques makes the flashback confusing and unclear. If a fade effect was used it could help to make it clearer that there was actually a flashback to some prior events.

The most notable part of their trailer was the use of sound, which was complimentary to the general idea of their soap opera. The low pitch and volume combined with the slow beat was a clear connotation of not only the bleak events prior to the trailer, but the potentially dark and intriguing things that the trailer hints at. The music sticks with the intensity of the events of the trailer, with the volume and speed heightening where necessary.

Overall, this trailer was relatively good, with the mise en scene, filming, and use of sound being the most valuable traits of their trailer. The areas for improvement are the editing and general planning, since with the right storyline and some other elements their trailer could have potentially been boosted to a higher mark.

[Jake]