Soap Trailer Draft 2

This is our improved version of our soap trailer. Taking on board our teacher's and the audience's feedback from Facebook,YouTube and classmates we have shortened the trailer and generally improved it, including a faster pace and improved audio quality like our feedback emphasized.

Soap Theroist: Tzvetan Todorov II

Todorov's theory probably can apply to more than Propp's theory due to the fact Todorov's theroy is specialised to one genre such as 'fairy tales', he explains that all narrative has five stages.

 Stage 1: Equilibrium ( everything is fine)

Stage 2: A disruption of  this order

Stage 3: The disruption realised

Stage 4: An attempt to repair the disruption

Stage 5: The story is resolved

I tried to try to include these stages in my soap trailer when i show the characters narrative, however not all will be included as the clips will only be introductions to stories as a whole story would likely not fit in a trailer meaning only the first 2-3 stages will be included due to the fact the story is a trailer. All soaps are serial so stories never end meaning stage 5 is dis-proven in soap, due to the fact their serials characters can come and go so stories are never fully resolved in soap. Todorov's theory can be seen in my soap with the two gay men whom are happy (equilibrium) the drunken thug character distorts this and this is realised where one of the men begins to have doubts on their relationship stating "I wonder is our love worth the abuse".





 

Soap theorists: Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp was a Russian theorist who analysed folk stories, for their characters in particular, he found that although these stories may of differed they had underlying similar characters, which included:

.An antagonist,
.A protagonist or as he called 'the hero'
.The donor (whom provides a key object in the story)
.A helper for the hero
.'A princess' which may not even be a maiden, for example it may be any prize that the hero wishes to obtain and/or the source of the antagonists evil deeds.
.A fake hero
.A dispatcher
.The father/person whom rewards the hero for his efforts.

Although not all can specifically can apply to modern stories there are a lot of similar aspects of Propp's theory that relate to modern stories, soap drama included. An example can be seen in the recent Eastenders Christmas special 2011 where Masood (the protagonist) and his helper (Jane)  try to rescue  Masood's ex-wife Zainab (the princess) from the clutches of her abusive and murderous husband 'Yusef Khan' (the antagonist). Similarities do not end there as Masood also has to get his son from a different woman. The child was used over Zainab so she did what she was told, so this other woman could be seen as 'the donor' whom provides the essential object which is her son. Yusef prior to this acted as 'a false hero'. It seems that a lot of Propp's theory can be applied to modern day texts as shown here and I will take this on board when constructing my own soap trailer. Although my soap trailer will feature a range of stories not just one, meaning this theory wont fully apply I will apply it to the trailer if its both possible and necessary.

Youtube video feedback

After releasing our first draft we had a some feedback from 'Youtube' to where it was uploaded, although the majority of our feedback came from our classmates,other media students as well as Facebook I though id include some of the feedback we had from YouTube nevertheless.

• "thaaats goooooood ;D"
  
• "Really good. It looks like skins or something :L"
  
• "Nice."
  
  Although not the most detailed or formal feedback it was still helpful as we saw these people from our age range enjoyed it and that we seem to have matched what we originally aimed for as dramas like 'skins' and soaps like 'Hollyoaks' are what we got our inspiration for in terms of characters and story- lines. The video itself also received 8 'thumbs up' which is YouTube's new rating system.
  

Ancillary text: TV Listings magazine front cover for media product Avenue



This is my TV-Listings magazine featuring characters from my fictional soap 'Avenue'. I used the conventions of of other TV-listings magazines. It is a revised version of my original magazine but this time I've improved it and incorporated pictures from my soap trailer and cast into it. My magazine centrals around the soap characters and mentions other stories as well which relate to a range of age groups such as 'Scares' for younger children and families and comedy show 'Nonsense' aims at a more savvy audience. My soap itself aims at a 16-25 audience but also has touches of older age group story lines so it can be enjoyed by 30-40 year old's partially also. 


As this ancillary text is a revised version of my original TV Listings magazine (found earlier on in my blog) as they are very similar a detailed analysis of this magazine front cover can be found there. Slight changes that Ive included above however can be seen with two new programs, a DIY show which will likely attract middle aged men and a comedy about Teens to attract teenagers and younger parents.I also used a holiday as my pug to attract more buyers and the main difference is that the magazine now features a prominent story shown in my soap trailer showing synergy which relates to the conventional love triangle plot. The strap line that I used also has the word 'betrayed' which is emotive,it is also shocking and attracts an audience to read on and to buy the magazine.To show emphasis it is the largest sized writing on the page, is in a vibrant red as well as sans-serif font to emphasize it's importance.


 

Friends and Family feedback from watching our trailers on DVD

After completing our trailer we were all given dvd copies of our trailers, the purpose to show friends and family what we achieved and to gain feedback from them, on the last week before half term we showed the trailer to some friends and our cast in a school computer room, the cast laughed about seeing themselves in the scene and so did the others, the feedback was very positive aswell, practically everyone liked it.

I later showed the DVD to my family at home who also agreed that it was good, complementing its structure, and that the telling of the story was fluid and logical despite having a large range of different characters/ stories. They said the story was good and that the trailer looked quite professional, complimenting the camera work and editing.

A few opinions from the cast, friends and family

Jonathon Fromant (played the jack-the-lad character)
"I think that the music of the trailer set the scene well, matching the emotions of a scene."

Alex Doyle (friend)
"The editing and lighting creates a good atmosphere"

Soap Trailer 'Avenue' Draft 1

This is our first draft for our soap trailer 'Avenue' which I worked on with my fellow group member 'Josh Spoelstra'. This is only our first draft and is liable to change here and there with audience feedback. Enjoy:

Editing The 'Avenue' trailer

We filmed the 'Avenue' trailer in a chronological order so most of the editing we needed to do was cut the length in some clips to make the be more fluent. The footage needed to fit with the music also so wed edited accordingly to highlight poignant moments in the soap through different times in the music for example a more dramatic tune coming through in the 'drug' scene for example. Besides that we just put voice overs in relating to each character and put small titles to sum up each scene as well.

We did use some effects and also enhanced the quality/lighting at times to represent the particular scene as well as put in a few title sequences. Below are some screen shots of the editing process:

Day 2 of filming our soap trailer (Sunday)

Our group member Michael who knew the owner of a pub had allowed us to film inside before it opened. We began filming at 9.30 using a glass of water to resemble a 'shot' the scene went well convincing the barmaid to take part meant we would have an extra female character to make our soap more varied in gender. After the scene we did one of the final scenes,'the love triangle' it was confusing at first and difficult to film as wed had to film between a road, a man allowed us to use his car's window reflection for our film so it would stick to the storyboard and we managed to buy some flowers for the scene and overall it went well despite a number of re-shoots.

Our cast member Harry arrived to join David Bangs who we used for the pub scene. Although the whole cast couldn't make it on the day we went with the original idea of the group standing around the sign, this showed the name of the soap and also showed the setting (a conventional urban environment). Although we did not have the whole group with us it perhaps helped us in the long term as more people likely wouldn't of fit into the shot so in the long term it was perhaps beneficial that we did not have everyone, although this meant there was less age variation on our posters I still believe the final shot went well and ended the soap trailer in a conventional manner.

After Sunday we had completed our footage and began preparing for editing.

Day 1 of filming our soap trailer (Thursday)

After I completed the storyboard for our soap we arranged a day where the majority of the cast could film, this was Thursday which was an academic tutoring day so this meant the majority of our cast could film most times in the day.

I arrived at 11.30 by the dry cleaners shop to meet the rest of the group. One member of the group 'Emily' bought her two grandparents, little brother and dog whom we planned to use for an 'extras' scene. We choose to use them to show a range of different ages/genders in our soap. Not teenagers alone, despite them being our target audience. Although we managed to obtain a range of different ages we could not get a anyone from a different ethnic background.

We filmed their section then the scene with the thug when he bashed into the 'business man' Michael's father. for this scene we had to switch 'Michael' for the original thug character 'David Bangs' as he couldn't make it at the time. It worked out better Michael being the thug in this scene however. Michael having two parts works well as he is difficult to recognise due to the different attire he wears in each scene. After filming this scene we had a few hours to spare so we made the prop drugs (a bag of flour) for one of our later scenes.

After filling the time by going about the town and watching the footage back it looked promising. Soon enough the group returned, Michael (fellow group member) along with our two other cast members (David Bang's and Anthony Whitfield) Anthony was being part of the 'gay couple' but as his co-star wasn't present I had to play the second character. The scene went well and the rest of the group arrived so we filmed the drug hold up scene by a driveway we found, which seemed appropriate and conventional. After some debates after what camera angles to use the scene went as planned using the bag of flour prop.

As planned on the schedule we finished filming for the day and planned to film the rest Sunday morning to stay with consistent lighting etc.

'Theres two sides to every story'

The tag-line for our soap trailer "There's two sides to every story" originally came from an earlier idea where we saw two sides two every character, one good one evil. The trailer was similar to our current trailer however it differed slightly. In the original idea we would see one evil and one good personality to every character, one example of this was a happy character walking along then we see her reflection in a puddle and she is nasty, this would continue in various of ways throughout the trailer and the tag line would be stated near the end. We decided to keep it for our newest idea however as we thought it was a good tag line which still fitted the trailer as we see different characters taking situations different ways, it also relates to the audience how one person may have a different opinion to their friend on one of the storyline imaginative soap, so we also promote discussion from the audience with such a tag line, it doesn't just have one meaning.

Storyboard extract

This is part of our storyboard:

'Avenue' shot list

When planning the storyboard for the soap, I wanted conventional angles like mid-shots and fly-on-the-wall shots but as it was a trailer I also had the opportunity to use a range of different shots also.

1.mid shot
2.over the shoulder close up
3.mid shot
4.long shot (tracking)
5.long shot
6.long shot
7.(Tilted) Long shot
8.mid shot
9.long shot
10.dutch tilt
11.long shot
12.close up
13.mid shot
14.long shot
15.mid shot
16. close up
17.long shot
18.close up
19.mid shot
20.long shot
21.close up (high angle)
22.long shot into close up
23.low angle mid shot
24.long shot
25.long shot
26. (title sequence)

Media Soap 'Avenue' Setting Idea photos

Our task was to take pictures of our setting ideas, our main idea is a shot of a long street with the characters and the story lines interweaving with each other along the way. Certain characters bumping into each other mainly relying on facial expressions and actions rather than much speech. The title of our soap with decided to be 'Avenue' it is a unique name which fits, suggested by a fellow group member who lives down the street. We will likely use this picture as a main logo for the soap, the sign being rusted with an average brick wall suggests realism along with giving an urban feel which again establishes our younger audience with the love of 'RnB' and 'rap' music in the younger society.

This picture shows a Polish shop which we'll try to include in our trailer  we chose this to connote a larger ethniticty and it also quite representational of today's multi-cultural society. We'll try to film inside however we haven't asked permission yet so we may just have to film outside it.

This shot shows another potential idea for a street where the majority of the soap trailer will be set  however due to the lack of shops etc we will likely not use this street as we want a street that has economical values also as not alot would happen down a street with little of interest down it as conventionally soaps have a range of shops as well as a larger community which this street doesn't appear to provide.

This shot is another potential idea, this street has alot more interesting houses so a bigger sense of community however it still lacks shops etc but we may link the street with another more urban street through editing and camera-work.

Another potential idea which could be combined with the previous picture and another further on, its key because it contains a range of shops like a florist a corner shop and a dry cleaners which relate to a lot of our key stories.

We were planning to use a florist as we want one of the characters from a love triangle to buy  some flowers, he would walk out and try to give them to the girl he loves but sees her with another man, he then drops the bouquet after seeing this tragedy and then the story moves on to the next character. We asked permission to use this shop on the day of filming also so hopefully all goes to plan. We think its a good convention to have shops in soaps which the characters own such as 'Dev' owning the corner shop in Coronation street and Dot being in charge of the launderette in Eastenders.

This shot we chose in particularly to see a confrontation between our drug dealer character and our 'jack-the-lad' character were the jack the lad character holds him against the wall and takes the drugs from him. Stereotypically the 'trouble maker' character of a soap and the 'jack-the-lad' of the soap conventionally have some dealings. It also is in the conventional area for a sort of 'fight' or 'confrontation' to take place being a more secluded area, an alley-way usually connotes danger as well due to being dark as well as secluded.

We chose this shop once again for a conventions but also this shop will be good to reflect our 'buisness type character who will emerge happy with a freshly dry-cleaned suit which will be knocked down to the ground by a 'thug' type character causing annoyance to insure as he'll be running late for a meeting and cares greatly about his appearance which again is quite a conventional repetitive story in soaps, films and dramas alike so the audience should feel 'right at home' with such a story, along with it being a conventional story which would likely occur to this type of character.

This shot is another idea we had for a confrontation scene due to it being an alleyway conventionally it relates to danger.

This park may be an idea for our younger 'rebelious-teen' characters to hang out as stereotypically teenagers often get drunk in parks especially late at night, so this will be realistic representation of society as soaps should be. We chose this as it would be an accurate location for this along with some5thing that the younger generation can relate with quite easily.

This photo and the three below show the market on market day, as we will be filming our trailer on a Thursday we thought we'd try to take advantage of this as it shows a lot of industry,

This picture could be a possible place where some characters of our soap could meet however its liable to change. We chose this location for a similar reason we chose the one below, that there not overly crowded places but crowded enough to make the soap appear realistic.

We haven't decided if we will use this church in the trailer at all, if we do it would represent different religious groups of the soap to make it appear more dynamic but as of yet we don't know if it will fit in to our final project or not.

A more scenic location where characters could meet etc.

We used this picture as just an example of a pub as every soap needs a 'meeting place' which is usually a pub for most soaps and we used this as an example but we will definitely include a pub in our soap as its a conventional necessity for drama, one of our group members Michael has told us that he is friends with the people that own another pub nearby, and we will hopefully be able to film inside the pub, which is very beneficial to our soap indeed.

Primary setting ideas

We knew that the setting for our soap had to have seclusion, it couldn't be in the most crowded area otherwise it would of been impossible to film so we choose low-moderate areas of people to keep the soap realistic but also ensure that we were able to have enough people so realism could be shown. Through editing we would make particular places we used away from 'Avenue Road' to seem closer to it as in a usual soap all the locations would be in walking distance, this is the only way we could include a pub and a nearby park into our main location otherwise I doubt we would find anywhere else with all that we needed in such a close proximity.

'Avenue' character ideas, cast and stories

 

Above is part of our planning for our soap 'Avenue' where as a group we decided on potential characters along with our initial casting ideas, its likely that not all of these ideas will transpire to our trailer but they are key ideas, this is the same for the cast members whom are also liable to change, depending on when people are free and when everyone can make it so this will likely change. We came up with potential storyline such as 'love triangles' as such storyline can be typically found in the soap genre. We also tried to think of a range of different characters to make our soap trailer appear more realistic and age also came into this also. Although the majority of the cast are teenagers as we decided to make it for a younger audience, similar to 'Hollyoaks' and dramas like 'Skins'. We also included some older characters to make sure that the soap would be realistic. Hopefully everyone on this list will be able to feature in our soap but we can always find replacements if some of our friends can't make it.

'Avenue' Voice over and character links

We decided that for our soap trailer we were not going to just have a music track alone, that we are also going to include voice-overs in certain areas, although we are not totally sure on this here are our ideas nevertheless. I tried to picture where each character would meet in the trailer as my inspiration is a chain of stories with certain characters bumping into each other and then seeing where every characters storyline goes from there. These character meetings are liable to change however and so is our voice-over script. We felt like we couldn't solely rely on 'action' and 'expression' alone and that there had to be some dialect. We came up with potential voice overs which would be thoughts or small bits of dialogue throughout the trailer to show the audience more of our characters' personality and the relationships among them.

Media Soap Plan: 'Avenue'

Above is our first plan for our soap 'Avenue' one of the members from our group decided upon the name based on his road and we all decided that it was an appropriate name, the street and a few locations around it would be where our soap is set, this is similar to how the soap 'Coronation street' tells the location of where the soaps set and our soap 'Avenue is no exception. Above we have planned our target audience which we have chosen to be for a younger audience, something that appeals more to our age group, and will follow more of the 'cinematic' style of similar soap dramas such as 'Hollyoaks', being inspired of its uniqueness of focus on action codes and non diegetic music, which we plan to use for the trailer. The track itself is of the 'Dub-step' genre which we feel would be appropriate for our audience as its a popular genre among teenagers and young adults alike, it also fits the trailer very nicely. we also plan to make our trailer a bit more dynamic then an average soap by using shots such as 'dutch tilt' and techniques like the 180 degree rule. Despite this we will make certain that the majority of angle we use will be simple such as mid shots as we don't want to completely break the conventions. Above we have also brainstormed stereotypical soap locations such as 'pubs', 'markets' and 'corner shops' and tried to come up with a range of interesting characters of different classes, age groups, sexual preferences and ethnicity's to try and make our soap as realistic as we can. We have also brainstormed some conventional soap story lines that have worked with other soaps we have seen in the past which we are going to try and reinvent for our own soap. We have also discussed a few shot ideas and schedule times we can film but nothing solid as of yet.

The BBC and why we choose it to broadcast our soap

We choose the BBC as its one of the most popular terrestrial channels around and although channel 4 specializes in a younger audience of teenagers and young adults for the most part, including dramas such as 'Skins'. Soap dramas such as the popular 'Hollyoaks' as well as comedy from 'The inbetweeners' and 'Fresh Meat' all which cater to a younger audience of around 16-25, overall we felt that the BBC was a better choice as our broadcast channel as the BBC lacks a soap aimed at the younger generation. Although the BBC has the drama series 'Waterloo road' it does not have a true soap such as channel 4's 'Hollyoaks'.
We felt there was a gap in the market here for the BBC as it lacks any soaps of this kind and means it can rival channel 4 for this spot. We made sure that our soap  did not clash with any others either as this has known to cause chaos and divide viewing figures significantly. Our soap will likely air Monday to Thursday (8.30) on Mondays (after Eastenders finishes) and (8.00) for the rest of the week to avoid clashes with Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale. It won't air on Fridays however as we feel that our target audience for the most part are out of the house on Friday nights. Like other weekly soaps we will also not air the soap on the weekend.

Eastender's Christmas Trailer 2009 'Who Killed Archie Mitchell?' Voiceover Idea

This trailer is quite unique for a soap, non-diegetic voice-overs are usually uncommon. Using voice overs rather than diegetic voices in the trailer is unique and also is an effective way to portray characters thoughts and feelings without them voicing these ideas out load. We choose to use this 'voice-over' idea for our own trailer, this way we could reveal the characters thoughts and feelings on the situations they experience, which allowed the audience insight into their characters. Using voice-overs also would mean we wouldn't ruin the ambiance created by the song we played, it's generally more efficient and using sub headings also would aid in establishing the scene by using a sort of image-text cohesion.

Soap Trailer example: Hollyoaks and Eastenders 'Character/story' trailers

Below are two soap trailers which focus new character(s) joining the soap or a story that revolves round those characters. Soaps often do trailers like this to either advertise the end of a climactic story line or introduce new characters, for the most part their often favourite characters that used to be in the soap and have now returned. I am going to analyse one such trailer for 'Eastenders' and another from 'Hollyoaks'. Both trailers are contemporary so will in turn help me develop my trailer.

Eastenders 'Kat and Alfie' Return Trailer 2010

This trailer is where popular characters 'Kat and Alfie' return to Walford to reclaim the Eastender's pub (The Queen Victoria). The trailer doesn't follow many soap conventions but is simply made for entertainment purposes and to show the audience the personalities of the two recurring characters, as shown in this humorous scene representing a western.The lighting of the scene doesn't seem quite natural and would appear that a slight 'sepia' effect has been added, this may represent 'sand' which relates to the desert where 'western' films are usually set and this is likely used to connote this. The sepia colouration remains through the entire trailer however when both characters stare each other down the colour of their eyes is enhanced.

The mise-en-scene works well in the trailer by using conventional scenes from a western such as people running off or locking their doors. Looking through shutters has been replicated to some peering through blinds as well. The attire of the two characters is also reminiscent of a western. Although the scene is somewhat a western 'parody' camera shots work well to show characters reactions to them and too also show the varying opinions and relationships between cast. Non-diegetic sound is used to emphasise the western music with diegetic sound used only for the character's comments on one another also echoing their relationships.

This trailer compared to Eastender's first is a lot more comical and actually introduces characters. The trailer has helped me to see how action codes such as a character's facial expression have a large effect on representing their character which is addressed in this trailer and which I will put into effect in my own.

The Hollyoaks trailer has a non-diegetic song all the way through and represents a wedding. The lighting is very low key in the trailer which represents the ambiance. Although a wedding which would usually have happy and pleasant connotations here it is shown to be dismal and perhaps evil. The cast is all dressed in black (the usual connotation for a funeral) which may imply that death is going to occur in the soap.

Like the Eastenders trailer (similar to a western) this trailer seems very Gothic and somewhat vampiric which is once again emphasized by the church's Gothic interior and the central character crying blood near the trailers climax. The sound remains non-diegetic throughout  but almost completely fades as the central character looks into the eyes of a man from the crowd, the camera stays fixed on him for a few seconds and the music begins once again. This is the main relationship shown in the scene and implies murder,that this character is evil and scares her. His character shown with black gloves also is a connotation of murder also,he does not wish to be found out perhaps. This trailer is effective in using a full song rather then just a simple melody like a range of other examples, this will help me develop my own trailer and also advise me how to apply music to it.

Soap trailer examples: Eastenders and Hollyoaks first promo trailers

In class we looked at the two original trailers for the soap dramas 'Eastenders' and 'Hollyoaks'. We looked at them to ascertain the key conventions that a soap trailer has however comparing the two trailers it can be seen that both trailers are quite different which is likely down to a range of factors including when the trailer was aired as well as who the trailer is aimed at also.

The first trailer for 'Eastenders' -

The camerawork is quite fast paced seen switching between a moving van with a name on it and a London bus which are both shot from different angles with every cut. The edits follow the classic Eastenders 'dramatic ending music' (non-diegetic) with each shot showing more and more of what the Moving van has written on it. The edits then slow down dramatically with a few second shot on the red bus then on a roundabout with the moving van going by, we get to see a clear shot of the soap's title 'Eastenders' here for several seconds along with its 'river Thames' logo and its opening theme tune. Making sure that the audience can clearly see the name of the new show and hear the theme tune helps it stick in their minds so they'll know when it starts if they hear the theme tune.

The bus establishes where the soap is set also as London is perhaps where the 'moving van' is going as we don't see the two vehicles pass in the trailer itself. The ending voice by the narrator is also received pronunciation as in the 80's this type of voice was what was expected in a lot of TV, especially in news and narration. The line the narrator delivers "The Eastenders are coming soon to BBC1" along with advertise the channel it also has a sort of double meaning that the van is going to he east-end and so are our television screens, "The Eastenders" also makes an audience curious by wondering who exactly are the characters.

The trailer itself is very short lasting less than 20 seconds. Although the length of the trailer may be due to how trailers typically were in the 80's it still seems very short. This may have been done to make audiences more curious and look to see the advert again, we as an audience are given such a small amount of detail about the soap it may make people more likely to tune in, they don't know what to expect besides that its set in the east-end of London, so therefore although it doesn't give much detail into the context or story, it entices a huge range of audiences as a particular target audience isn't stressed.

Although the lighting may be due to the camera's quality,the mid key lighting makes the soap appear more realistic and forebodes that the soap will be filled with a lot of drama and ark moments as well as happy ones, just like real life. A range of cars driving by and extras of average attire whom are also sen in an average neighborhood all show realistic aspects of the soap and a car following the moving van also around the roundabout also shows realism implying that its just a normal van.

Although I can see the techniques the Eastenders trailer has used, I don't think many features will transpire to our trailer as 12 seconds is not long enough for a trailer in my opinion and due to the time of which it was released we'll likely make a trailer with more modern aspects and focus on our target audience more. Although the ending narration is an idea which we will probably customize for our own trailer. I have also learn't from this trailer that the idea of 'realism' is very important in soap drama.

'Hollyoaks' First trailer- 

The Hollyoaks (1995) trailer is vastly different to the 'Eastenders trailer' although it doesn't announce where the soap is set (besides England) it does announce that its target audience is young with the main cast which are shown in the trailer, something the Eastenders trailer doesn't do. The soap is portrayed as a lot more light hearted than that of the Eastenders trailer as seen where the cast 'attempt' to do a 'boring' trailer but think its stupid (a brake of the fourth wall as well as poking fun at older formal trailers.

The camera goes to a long shot and shows studio lights and filming equipment then switches to a playful argument among the 'cast' filled with sexual innuendo and a big focus on relationships. This clearly shows the soap's target audience are teens and young adults, the trailer makes it more appealing to this audience showing the casts rebellious side by not wanting to do a 'proper' trailer, this appeals to a younger audience as often teenagers are thought to be rebellious by misbehaving, underage drinking etc. The innuendo and happy relationships between the cast also promote the idea that the soap is 'light-hearted' and 'funny'. The trailer is also shown to be 'warm' and give a happy ambiance with the high key lighting, the brightness making the trailer seem 'less dull' then perhaps the Eastenders soap. The cast are meant to be seen in stylish and casual attire, making them again appeal to their age group and also appear attractive which again appeals to the audience.

The cast wanting to advertise in a more simplistic fashion also compliments the personality of teenagers wanting things to be more straight forward and simple in life. The characters personalities shine through in the trailer showing how they interact with each other, the title of the soap is addressed at the end and is also in a bright colourful font, again appeal to the target audience a  non diegetic voice over is given at the end just after the characters' diegetic Eastender's trailer narrator and states simply "Hollyoaks starts 23rd of October channel 4. The soaps theme music is also played just as the 'real' trailer crumbles suggesting these are what the characters of Hollyoaks are really like and in the same way is recognizable too the ear as soon as its heard.

I think the Hollyoaks trailer applies much further to our soap then the Eastenders one with how it addresses its audience. I think the ideas i can take of from this trailer is perhaps not to make our trailer completely serious, adding some humour in also and also focus a lot on the characters of our soap and their relationships with each other and that characters are the most important thing to a soap. These trailers have also shown me how important the right music is and lighting makes a large difference to how a scene is portrayed and understood by the audience.

My inspiration for the direction of 'Avenue'

'Eddie Moon'  Eastenders introduction trailer

We were told to make a soap trailer about the time I saw the trailer above. I thought it was cleverly done as it showed a new main character's personality with non-digetic music and varying camera angles as the new character 'Eddie Moon' walked down the main market street of the soap. We see other characters reactions to him also through quick camera shots we also see past characters relationships with him from glances and reflections in mirrors, we also see this with his family Michael Moon and Alfie Moon, Alfie happy to see him and Michael angry at him, the reasons to these different relationships with him act as foreboding to whats to come in later episodes.I really liked the idea of the trailer setting being a street where a group etc walk down  and also I liked how the trailer uses such clear character representation which i wanted to include in my own trailer. I did find however that as this trailer is just introducing one new character it be hard to apply this idea for the first trailer for a 'new' soap.

Strictly Come Dancing new series 2011 trailer

Although this trailer is seemingly unconventional I resolved my initial problems with the first trailer when applying it to my own. My initial problem was how to inter grate more than one 'main' character to my narrative. It showed how I could use more than one character successfully with interlinking story lines such as a character walking past another then the camera switching to their story and a range of camera shots.this idea I transpired to my storyboard. The 'Strictly' trailer uses a range of nearby streets and switches to different characters very well so really it just expanded my initial inspiration from the 'Eddie Moon' trailer. My inspiration will likely expand from these trailers but I feel they epitomize my current idea for my soap structure,story and narrative.

The Soundtrack of 'Avenue'

The soundtrack to our soap we decide on early on, our first original idea for it which I discussed in my previous post upon the creation of our slogan and first primary idea. The song was put thought by 'Josh' from our group whom suggested that the song would be perfect for our trailer. The song itself is apparently not copyrighted so we could use it for our trailer, the song itself fits our trailer very well as the mood and tone to the song matches the dramatic sequences nicely. the song itself matches a range of both serious moments in our trailer as seen when 'Johny' (the jack-the lad) steals drugs of the rebellious male drug-dealer 'Harry' the music rises and becomes faster which we used at this point to heighten the drama of the scene. The trailer also is slow at times to match the sad moments of our trailer such as our thug character 'David' looking at a picture of his baby daughter and missing her, the lyrics "Sooth your pain" from the song match this moment aswell as he is drinking alcohol at the time.  I think we linked the song nicely with relevant moments in our soap to bring out sadness anger and action throughout the trailer. The song also being dubstep appeals to our younger audience with the 'dubstep genre' being popular among our younger teenage target audience.

Title sequence examples: 'Eastenders' and 'Hollyoaks'

The opening sequence to a soap is very important, it needs to memorable and be semantically linked to the soap, the tune has to reflect the soaps environment for example.The soap 'Eastenders' has had the same theme for almost 25 years, the images only updating with higher resolution technology. The public enjoy the theme tunes and like the 'familiarity' they bring when the audience begins to watch,there was outrage when Eastenders tried to change its theme for example. The Eastenders theme begins with its drums which are so familiar it allows people to notice the soap has started, linking to Althusser's theory of interpellation,signaling it has begun. The tune/phrases of music are very simplistic and memorable,the tune is often repeated through the opening also, the camera spins round until its straight,the title shows then the music fades.The title itself is somewhat serif and has traditional font/title aspects which perhaps makes it more 'neutral' and shows it can accepts a range of audiences,young and old alike.

unlike Eastender's short 40 second theme, the soap Hollyoaks has over a minute opening. Channel 4's soap is aimed at a younger audience of young adults and teens, making it a direct contrast from Eastender's opening. The soap begins with a 'last time' section to remind the audience, or inform new members what has previously happened in the soap. The title sequence has a theme tune which suits the 'pop/rock' genre better and introduces each character through the opening. The soap opening is a lot more colourful as backgrounds change to represent every main cast member. The title's font also appears more modern again attracting a younger audience. When the show begins the music remains Non-digetic with a current and popular song. The cinematography is also different to the average soap, it relies on movement and actions more then dialogue,this reflects Barthe's action and enigma codes. Relying so heavily on action codes is also unusual in soap drama as they are more often dialogue driven and use more enigma codes.

Both soaps are aimed at different audiences it would seem,this is easily portrayed in both title sequences and theme tunes.

Soap Uses and Gratifications Theory

It is very important to how an auidience recieve a soap and i will take this on board for my own trailer. people use media all for different purposes, for  both entertainment (a drama) and infomation (the news/documentary). People use soaps for a few reasons I believe, to be entertained (diversion) and also to maintian persoanl relationships through making conversation, as they are very popular it means that it is likely the person you are talking to has seen it. The public can relate to what a particular family/character is going through also, as it may of happened to them or someone they knew so along with entertainment the aspect of soaps realism may in fact relate to someone personally, so this may be another appeal of soaps, this also means its key that stories remain realistic in soap drama. People may also use soaps for 'infomation', likely more by historians though as many believe that a soap can be read as a social document.

Soaps 'Dumbing Down' ? Coronation Street Extract Analysis

There is a theory that soaps are dumbing down to appeal to the lowest audience so it can incorporate them and all audience's above, its suggested the audience watch soap as it's 'mind-numbing TV' and people watch not for the drama but simply something to relax to after work. We studied a Coronation Street extract as an example to see if elements are dumbing down, although the extract shows realism there did seem to be elements such as:

A typical family relationship can be seen in the shop with a teenager talking to her dad like he's old and inferior a stereotypical view of teenager and parent relationship. She mentions 'matchmaking ideas'  along with common easy-to-get jokes which could show signs of 'dumbing-down'  along with reference to real life daytime telly such as 'Lorraine' and the character 'Dev' not knowing who 'The Saturday's' are and the teen making easy to laugh to jokes about this fact.

There is also no overlapping in these extracts which is unrealistic for real life however this helps the audience understand whats being said. The girl also uses a range of cliche's such as "Call of true love" along with "Welcome to my world." The audience are accustomed to these sorts of phrases so find them easy to digest, they expect these sort of phrases so it emphasises this 'dumbing down' with such stereotypical behavior and cliches leaving little space for thought making it easy to watch, supporting the theory. There is also no product placement in this scene which is surprising as there in a shop, this would be impossible to avoid in real life so its unrealistic that its not here.

There are also 'comical characters' put into soap for humour again emphasising the 'light-hearted' viewing and making it easier to watch.

Below are a few soap characters along with the ones Ive mentioned above, who although aren't in the programme purely for comic relief and such, they do still provide it.

.Arthur 'Fat-boy' Chubb - Eastenders (talks in a very 'urban' and common way and many characters do not understand him due to this adding to the comic appeal of his character.)

.Kirk Sutherland - Coronation Street (Is very dim-witted which gives him comic appeal in the show as characters often laugh at his misfortune.

There are other characters in soaps who use cliche's a lot also but aren't necessarily 'comic relief'.



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The BBC

The BBC is a channel which is renowned for its drama,the channel follows its mission statement to the best of its ability "to educate,inform and entertain". The channel is also a mass channel which allows it to furfill its agreement with aspects including news,drama and documentaries. The BBC began on the radio and later converted to television,it exists by royal charter and is funded by a televison license fee rather than adverts because of this. The channel is known for its dramas including soaps like Eastenders which is just over 25 years old.

How does The 'Eastenders' Extract Demonstrate Soap Conventions

In lesson we examined an extract from an 'Eastenders' episode. I will note how it demonstrates soap conventions below.The basic episode plot is focusing on 'Nick' and 'Dotty Branning' as they attempt to kill 'Dot Branning'.

In the extract, the camera work is majorly mid-shots or mid close ups, this can be seen throughout the extract accompanied with 'the 180 degree rule which we can see between the characters 'Dawn' and 'Garry' arguing about money issues in the market, and we also see an argument between school girl 'Whitney' and step mother 'Bianca', arguing about school. Both these scenes promote realism by talking of relevant social issues like money (relates to the recession) as well as school arguments between a mother and daughter, which are realistic as well as believable subjects.  These sort of shots in the cast's homes make us feel like a 'fly on the wall' in many ways, giving us insight into their lives.

Sometimes close ups are used to show a particular emotion or object, promoting its relevance to the story, seen with action codes  such as Nick's drugs, we understand that they connote danger for Dot as he mashes them up. We also see another action code where Dotty sees her crinkled up painting in her Dad's pocket, we saw him screw it up last episode, we can assume that Dotty will start to question if her Dad really cares for her, which may make the audience wonder if she'll betray her father later on. This particular story may be seen with a 'negotiated' or 'oppositional' view, as the public may find it hard to believe a little girl would have intent of murder.

A variety of the characters interact with one another also, which shows the familiarity with each other people have on the square, it is conventional  in soaps to be very socially orientated, and it is the same in this extract.The editing is also quite simple as well, cuts are used to show the interweaving story-lines of each episode, such as: Bradly's storyline, Nicks, Gary and Dawn's and Bianca and Whitney's.The lighting in the extract is natural lighting and the sound is digetic also. Overall the extract appears very conventional with the stereotypical camerawork,realistic story lines (for the most part) and simple cuts, digetic sound as well as stereotypical characters. This furthers the realism of the soap once more.

Soaps and Sociology

Clearly a big part of soap is its auidience but also its affect on society, how it represents it for example. I am looking into this as when I start planning my own soap I have to make sure it follows conventions by representing characters realistically.

the soap has to have good representations of its characters that reflect the real world. Characters should contemplate realistic people and story lines, their is much stereotyping in soaps for example a troublesome teenager etc. Characters in story lines are also represented in different ways for example their maybe an affair the audience have to take a side do they feel sorry for the person being cheated or are they on the side of the adulterer. Although it may be obvious the person being cheated on may be an abusive husband for example, in that case public opinions would likely be very different. An appealing aspect of soaps is how the audience like to take sides. Some controversial story lines can be seen with Eastender's infamous 'baby-swap' plot receiving thousands of complaints which some would argue is not very representational. Other controversial storylines include a Muslim man struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality.

There are arguments if soaps  reflect realism and are representational or not whether they tackle controversial social issues and are realistic or if they are 'dumbing-down' and are simple to follow.

Negative viewpoints-
 . Not at all educational 'brain-numbing'
 . un-realistic that bsuch drama happens in just a street or square
 . Very simple view of life
 . Encourage TV addiction as on so much
 . Tabloids focus so much on soap easy to lose focus on reality
 . Writing is poor
 .  Un-realistic  and  make mockeries of social issues.


Positive Viewpoints
- Encourage more reflection on our own lives and society's as soaps epitomise our society
- Can serve as history due to their realism for example an episode in a particular decade will give a good representation of that decade.
- Maintain a balance between realism and fiction
- Very well put together storytelling
- Soaps deal with controversail issues responsibly and effectively
- Good acting

It seems one viewpoint may compliment what the other insults however social issues like alcoholism, homosexuality, bullying, child abuse, affairs, teenage pregnency and various illeness do somewhat reflect the concerns of the public to some degree. So it does seem that soaps do reflect society, this can be seen also with 2005's film 'This is England' which reflected the society at the time to some degree.

An example can  be seen in the soap 'Crossroads' which didn't seem at all realistic a lot of it being live and a low budget set meant it wasn't rare for lines to be forgotten and the set looked unrealistic this is a negative example on soaps, suggesting they are not social documentations. But a lot of soaps do include realism , it is a very debated issue but i know to make my soap trailer incorporate realistic story lines which reflect society and this will hopefully aid in creating a well constructed  and conventional soap trailer.

Soaps Operas and Language and accent

The language used in soaps often reflects the character's behaviors and attitudes, accent plays a big part in this for example  the 'Eastenders' cast all have an 'east-end' or a stereotypical 'cockney' accent. Similar in 'Coronation Street' where the cast shares a Mancunian accent. It is rare to find a new recurring character in a soap who doesn't have an accent reflecting the area. Actors usually have to put an accent for this. This can be seen with Coronation street's new barmaid actress Michelle Collins who had to put on a Mancunian accent which had a range of bad complaints a quote from the daily mirror: "Michelle is blasted for bad accent" who said she was told to put it on, it wasn't an option. A lot of characters do this but it often turns out more successful seen with Ricky Norwood's  East-end accent with his character 'Arthur (Fat-boy) Chubb' .

What Attracts an Auidience to Soap Opera ?

A lot of things attract an audience to a Soap and one of these things is getting behind a storyline rooting for on characters side and being against the others. We as an audience enjoy getting involved with the storyline, making guesses at what will happen next having characters we love and characters we hate and feeling strong emotions for them if they get hurt, die or do well for themselves by getting the partner they love for example. A storyline a few years a go showed how much the audience can care with the death of  character 'Ronnie Branning's daughter Danielle, the public were in outrage with her death as they cared so much for her and the storyline.

We also enjoy soap not just due to the storyline but also as it is somewhat an escape from our own lives with the fascinating realism a soap often provides. We like to be voyeuristic also seeing other peoples lives, which are likely more interesting then our own.

Soaps are also easy to make which gain big viewing figures with is great for producers, soaps being high earners with expensive advertising.

Typical Conventions of soap camerawork,lighting and sound.

Soap's for the majority of episodes use quite a similar range of camera-work, however some episodes it may change, pov shots for example may be used to show a 'drunk' or 'delirous' character for example, episodes where it changes are notably large scale episodes however seen with character's leaving or special events like 'christmas' or 'new year' or a key character having a brake down, the episode I remember this happening is the soap 'Eastenders' with 'Stacy Branning's' 'bi-polar' break down storyline. Below I will discuss the conventional camerawork of soaps, the conventional lighting aswell as the type of sound usually found.

  Sound
The  majority of sound in soaps is diegetic, seen through characters speaking,walking etc usually everyday noises, the only time music is played may be on the radio in the soap, the sound still remains diegetic though but is useful for realism. Non-diegetic sound is usually only present with the theme tune of the soap and at the end to close for a cliffhanger, often seen in Eastenders. Key parts of a dramatic story like infamous christmas and marriage storylines of soaps do sometimes have non-digetic music playing through sad scenes however it is still a rare sight, sometimes the radio will feature a song to reflect the characters mood also which is abit more common. In 'teen-soaps' though like Hollyoaks non-digetic music plays a much bigger role in episodes, probably to appeal to a younger auidience, with 'current' and 'charting' music.

  Lighting
Generally soap lighting is just basic to reflect realism, keeping with naturaul light levels it is very rare to see an special lighting effects as it usually sticks to basic light to keep with realism.

Mise-en-scene
All aspects are crucial, clothing where they live etc should all portray their character, behaviour and personality.

Camerawork
Usually camerawork is straight-forward with mid shots etc usually obtaining the 'fly on the wall' type of effect, as the auidience seem just like an observer seeing the characters and their storylines unfold. Scenes are also kept short aswell to include as many storylines as possible and prevent auidiences from losing interest. Most soaps are driven by dialogue but other examples such as 'Hollyoaks reliey on an 'action-drive' also. Sometimes shots arent conventional their are moments shown in Eastenders for example to show a drunk or delirious character with a unsteady POV shot which reflects the direty of the situation well.

Conventional Soap Characters

 I've already discussed some of the contexts and story lines that soap characters feature in, I have not yet detailed the types of characters you will find in a soap opera however. Although there is usually a diverse range of characters in soap, they will often have several, standard, conventional characters. I will be discussing these stereotypes below, by using two different examples: Eastenders and Coronation Street.

Carla Connor                                                                                                 Phil Mitchell

The Boss: This Soap character is often male and has a lot of power or authority, owning a pub or factory where many of the characters work for example, this character is often a 'leader' of sorts and can be some what intimidating. Coronation Street's example of this is difficult to put down, most likely being Carla Connor who owns the factory and a large flat or Steve McDonald who owns the pub. Eastenders example of this can be seen with Phil Mitchell who owns the pub,the club, the cafe and a large house.

Mo Harris

Norris Cole

Troublesome older character: This character is usually very voyeuristic and very interfering, despite faults they usually become quite a loved character as they normally have good intentions deep down or provide some comic relief. Examples of these characters can be seen with Eastender's Mo Harris and Coronation Street's Norris.  

Peter and Leanne Barlow

Kat and Alfie Moon

The Couple: These characters have serious problems with their relationship but face life's problems together nevertheless. This can be seen with Alfie and Kat Moon's relationship in Eastenders, although on the rocks due to affairs and Kat's child being snatched, they attempt to face life's troubles together. In Coronation Street a similar story can be said with Leanne and Peter Barlow, they are in a relationship despite it being filled with lies and cheating.

Rita Sullivan

Dot Branning

The Grandparent- This character acts like stereotypical Grandparent, but to every or most characters. This character is often female and is often very wise and understanding, offering love and support to a range of characters in their time(s) of need. This character is usually very moral and appreciated and respected by all. Said character can be identified with Eastender's Dot Branning and Coronation Street's Rita Sullivan.

Amber Kilirai

Lauren Branning

Young Girl- There is usually a young teen girl who is very strong willed and wants independence from her parents, usually miserable and argumentative.Examples can be seen with Eastender's Lauren Branning who is often arguing with her family or getting into trouble, and similar things occur with Coronation Street's Amber Kilirai.



 Alfie Moon

                                                       Steve McDonald
Jack-the-lad Is often a male character who is manipulative, perhaps starting out as the 'bad guy' of the soap however it is not uncommon for reform to take place and the characters becoming somewhat comic relief, as seen with Alfie Moon (Eastenders) and Steve McDonald's (Coronation Street) characters.

Janine Butcher

Tracy Barlow

The Strong woman: This character usually causes a lot of conflicts and is quite aggressive,powerful as well independent, the character often as a soft side which is rarely seen, however sometimes revealed to a lover.  This could be seen to be Janine Butcher in Eastenders or Tracy Barlow in Coronation Street.