Soap Trailer - Final Copy.

This is my final version of the Soap trailer I created, I have used the information gained from questionairs and other forms of feedback to make changes that made this trailer how it is now. 

Final Poster.

This is the final version of my poster, I have changed it from the last one, because it did not have a date or time for the Soap. So I used Adobe Photoshop to edit in the 'date and time' banner across the bottom. 

Production Schedule.

This is our production scedule for our Soap trailer, this works as as a guide for us to keep to, so we don't fall behind. 

Soap Research - Questionaire.

This is a questionaire I have created, which will be given to 30 Teenagers, I have chosen to ask teenagers because they are primarily who I want to discover soap trends for. Here are nine questions I have devised to ask them:


(Please ring your awnser or write where necessary)


Are you male or female?


Male
Female


How old are you?

15
16
17
18
19

How often do you watch Soaps?

Everyday
Most days
Sometimes
Rarely
Never

Why do you watch Soaps?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Which of these Soaps do you watch most?

Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Corronation Street
Emerdale

What do you find entertaing abotu Soaps?

Violence
Drugs
Relationships
Religion
Character Roles
All of these

Who do you think of/like about Soap characters?

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Do you think the slot times for Hollyoaks and Eastenders are appropriate?

Yes
No


When this survey has been collected in, I will bar chart them into each question.

Idea's For A Soap.

This is a rough plan of our storyline, characters, audience etc. We have simply gathered our ideas and filled in the categories, before we decide finally and storyboard it.

Storyboard.

This is my storyboard for my Soap trailer. We can see ten drafted shots with short descriptions, this then gives our group a rough idea of location, shot type and so on. 

Soap Logo.

Here is the logo I have created for my Soap. This will be the one that is a trend for all the medias for Flint Way. I made this using Adobe Photoshop.

To make it I used the magnetic lasso tool, to cut around the sign we took a picture of, then I used the black spray tool either side of the sign, to make it have a black border. 

Soap Research - Among Teenagers.

Here are the results for the questionaire I created for my peers to fill in, this then gave me the oppertunity to see Soap trends and qualities among teenagers.

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. How often do you watch Soaps?

Why do you watch Soaps?



For this question in my questionaire I left lines for the person to fill in as they wish. The most common awnser I found was that most of the teenagers asked watch Soaps when there is nothing else they like on TV. Another common awnser was watching Soaps for something to relate to, by this they mean storylines that have a closer effect than others.

In addition to this two people awnsered that they become attached to the Soap, so like above they relate to it and develop likes and dislikes toward cahracters, and almost feel as if they are in the Soap themselves. So from this we can see that teenagers (who want to watch Soaps) do so, because they grow with the storylines and characters because they can relate to them.

Which of these Soaps do you watch most?

What entertains you in Soaps?

What do you think of Soap characters?

Like with question four, mainly people like the characters for their realism and their likeness to normal life. Soaps have characters of all ages, genders, enthnic groups and social groups. This makes is seem just like everyday life, with the emphasised storylines.
Particular favourite characters were Alfie Moon from Eastenders and Sean from Corronation Street, this shows that teenage audiences like humour and fun, rather than it always being focused on troubles within society.
So from this I can see that the main thing my Soap needs is many diffent types of characters, which would in turn find that realism that audiences crave.

Do you think the time slots for Hollyoaks and Eastenders are suitable?

Everyone that I surveyed agreed that the time slots for Hollyoaks and Eastenders are suitable. So for my Soap I will look to have something around this two at 6.00pm and 7.30/8.00pm.

Character Research.

This is the character Cook from the E4 TV Drama - Skins. He is a boisterous character and resembles the druggy, overdosed, loud and outspoken teenage culture, of which we will be interested in perusing.

We can see by his appearance that he is not formal or well dressed. This may show he is in school or college or maybe neither. He is rugged and his hair is messy, which may symbolise a lack of care for presentation or appearance to others. We also see bags under his eyes, which may symbolise his late night culture. 

With this is the character Theresa from Hollyoaks, we can see she is wearing her school uniform (which has been modified with the top button undone, and her own jacket) this instantly indicates that she is still at school. In addition to this is her extensions and dyed blonde hair shows she is part of the stereotyped "plastic culture".

This clothing reflects her party culture, as she is always trying to look her best and worried about maintaing her popular status. 

This is the character Effy from Skins, we can see she is wearing all black which portrays her Punk attitude and desire to be individual. Unlike Theresa who aims to be another one of her 'plastic' cult. We can also see a high amount of jewellery with her bracelets and necklaces, however they are not diamond or expensive jewels, just simple, almost tacky objects, which may portray a economical struggle.

With these are her fish-net tights, which may suggest a sexual or flirty character, which is stereotypically explored by teenage girls.  Her covered up, yet slightly leading style makes her seem like a character of trouble and confusion about her lifestyle.

Here we can see the character Newt from Hollyoaks, he like Effy tries to separate himself from wider society and develop his own trend. With the lip piercing and gothic clothing. 

This dark and mysterious style shows his personality of feeling like he is an outcast or member of a separated crowd, his desire to remain different seems like a reaction to his peers.

Here we can see the Hollyoaks cast from when it was originally aired, we can see they are all dressed very similarly and 'boring'. This makes it hard for the audience to understand the characters and separate them from the others.

This is going to be particularly important in my trailer, because the clothes and looks that the characters give off, show their identity and portray the type of character they will be. 

Poster, Magazine Front Cover And Trailer Analysis.

This is a voiceover analysis of my film, to do this I used a voice recorder and layered the speech with my film using Adobe Photoshop. 

Teenage Audience Research.

This is our research into the target audience for our Soap, which is teenagers. The questionnaire previous showed us that the predominant audience for Hollyoaks is female teenagers.

So I took a photograph of two female teenagers in my class, and analysed their characteristics. This gave me a strong insight into what story lines I am to pursue in my Soap. Some of my initial ideas are along the lines of:

• Relationships
• Drugs
• Bullying
• Alcohol 
• School

It has also allowed me to decide on mise-en-scene, things such as:

• Fashion
• Location
• Character roles

Questionnaire Results.

Here are the results for my questionnaire I created, this has enabled me to move forward and make confident changes to my trailer.

After watching my Soap trailer, would you say it fits the genre and advertises it well?

Would you watch Flint Way after seeing this trailer?

Do you think Channel 4 stereotypically advertises like this?

Do you think others would watch the Soap after seeing this trailer?

Do you think the chosen music suits the trailer?

Do you feel the camera shots are typical of the Soap genre?

Do you feel the editing relates to the Soap genre?

8.    Any criticisms of the trailer?

The general consensus of my trailer is that it is good so far; however the main area of improvement needs to be the bullying scene. I need to make it much shorter in particular the shot of Aiden walking up the alley, because it drags on for too long. In addition to this I need to make all of the shots quicker, because like the bullying scene they are too long and do not keep up with the tempo of my chosen music.

            Along with the above, my results showed that I must add a voice over, as all Soaps involve one; it is investable that mine must too. Finally another predominant criticism is that the audience did not understand what was happening during some scenes (in particular the bullying scene). So one option may be to add titles to the trailer, so show the audience what is happening.   

Character Planning.

This is our Character research, we have chosen various characters and adapted to the characters found in Hollyoaks and Skins. 

Soap Poster.

This is the final copy of my Soap poster.

Magazine Front Cover.

This is the final copy of my Magazine front cover.

Technology Evaluation.

This is a screen grab of the Editing process while I was creating my Voiceover evaluation for my Soap trailer. It is the editing software and program called Adobe Premier Pro. This enabled me to have my trailer, while adding my Poster and Magazine while speaking over them, explaining why I used them. 

This is a shot of me, while we was filming our trailer. We used a Sony Handycam camera, which enabled us to film to a good standard when sat on the tripod, and use it free-hand when having to film in difficult locations. 

This is me recording the voice over for our trailer, we used this equipment to capture a high sound quality. We decided that it was essential to use a male voice for the voiceover, because then it would reflect the theme of men doing Channel 4 voiceovers. I also used this recording device for my voiceover evaluation, this allowed me to talk about the soap, while showing it via the film.

Here is a shot of me editing my Soap, again on Adobe Premier Pro. I used this program throughout my whole editing process. 

Here is a voice recorder similar to the one I used for my voiceovers. It is easy to use and compact, which was effective for us, so we could then just import them to our Soaps. 

This is the Handycam video camera we used to shoot our soap. The fold-out screen made it helpful for us to see what we were filming and were it could be improved. 

This is the camera I used to take the photo's of me pre-production, filming, editing and recording. This light camera was easy to take with us while filming, however it still had a sufficient picture quality to identify what the picture was showing.

Red Bull Logo.

This is the logo for the Energy drink Red Bull,  have found that in all of the Soaps and other Dramas on Channel 4 have a sponser, with a logo in the beginning shot.
I chose to use Red Bull because it appeals to my teenage audience, I cannot use Alcohol due to them being underage, but would not want to use something that is irrelevant to them - such as DIY tools or Health Insuarance.

Dark Knight Posters.

This is one of many posters for the Dark Knight movie. It shows the back of the Joker, with a knife in one hand and his 'Joker' card in the other, the audience knows that it is the Joker because of his purple suit and equipment. 

Below these is the directers and sponsers of the film, while the mast-head sits above him with the recognisable Batman logo. The background is then Gotham City, so the audience then can tell where it is set, in addition to this, the poster is dark, to symbolise the Dark Knight and the dark times in Gotham city. 

This is then the poster for Batman, we can see it is him by the black suit and outlines of his cape and bat-mask. In this instance we can see he is looking over Gotham City from above, out of a tall building, this is to show he is a servant of Gotham by looking over it and keeping order in the city. Like before the poster is dark and gloomy, to symbolise the disruption in Gotham.

Below the Batman the audience/reader can see the makers, distrubuters and so on of the film. Finally above the Batman we can see the logo and film name.

From these two posters we can see the main characters have their own poster, to tell their own story from the film. I am going to try to capture the same effect with my poster by making one of five for the main characters. This is going to be for the character Emerson, portraying his story in the film.
The five poster would be similar to this, beign individual to each character and their story.

Dark Knight Landscape Poster.

This is another idea I have had for my Soap poster, here we can see the three main characters for the film Dark Knight. The characters are seperated into their own identities.

Harvey Dent holds up his candidate badge, which represents his character being Gotham District Attorny and running for Mayer position. We can also see that half of Dent's face is covered by his badge and hand, this shows his dual character of Two-Face and Harvey Dent.

Batman then holds us his Bat shaped dart, we know its Batman because of his mask and his black attire.

Finally the joker is holding up a Joker playing card, again his identity is shown by his red smile and his white face paint. The titles then surround the characters, with who is playing the roles and the title itself along the bottom.

Magazine Front Cover - Sponsorship And Other Soap Logo's.

This is the Daily Star and The Mirror logo, I will be including a logo similar to one of these in my magazine front cover. I will do this, because the TV magazine is free, and free TV magazine hand outs are commonly found in national newspapers, especially like the ones above.
The logo will be layerd on top of a logo I will personally create, and will read 'FREE' 'only in the...' then the newspaper companies logo.

This is the logo for the famous BBC soap, Eastenders. The other magazine covers I have studied include logo's such as this, readers will instantly know what Soap is being showed because the recognise the logo.

This is a barcode, which will be found on any item from any shop or retailer. It works as an I.D for the product, however my magazine will not have this, because it is free with the Daily Star newspaper. I have chosen for the TV Magazine to come with the Daily Star because it is a newpaper that stereotypically has a young, male demographic, which is the closest audience to my Soap.

Shot Evaluation.

1. This is a shot of the character Aiden, he is a character who is being bullied, you can also see in the shot, the character Robert who is following Aiden up the alleyway towards the dead end. I decided to put a caption saying ‘Bullying’ on the shot, because when viewing the trailers, we realized it was hard to understand some of the stories and how they link. The long-shot of Aiden starts with him walking round the corner, suspiciously looking around him, he then goes up the alley nervously walking away from Robert who enters the shot from behind the camera. We picked the long shot because that way we were able to include the scenery around the characters and show where he is walking to, it also gave us the opportunity to show Robert walking into the shot.

2. The second shot is then match-on-action leading on before; we can see a mid-shot of Aiden, enough to see his worried expression and the back of Roberts head. The audience knows that it is the same character because of his black jacket and blonde hair. The shot also gives away enough of the alleyway to show the suburban streets of Flint Way. However I feel we may have been able to improve on this by making it clearer of what is happening to Aiden, because the confrontation is short, so it may be hard for the audience to understand what is happening.

3. Here we can see another use of match-on-action, where the character Charlie enters the toilet with an illegal substance. The audience knows this because the shot before shows his taking the drugs out of his pocket, before walking to the toilet. In addition to is another caption saying ‘Drugs’, I included this because it would then create a recurring theme for the trailer, instead of having random titles appear on some scenes but not the others. We chose to use a mid-shot for this because it showed enough of Charlie’s body and enough of the door to see the ‘male’ sign. We also told the character to have his hood up for the scene because it will show his deviance and desire to remain hidden.

4. This is the opening shot of my Soap trailer; it is a mid-shot of the character Emerson pulling a knife from the drawer. We can see in the bottom-right of the shot, the sponsor of my Soap, Red Bull – I chose this specifically because of it being on channel 4, which notoriously has, adverts and sponsors for their shows. I felt this was an essential thing to include, I chose Red Bull because it is an energy drink that is predominantly drunk by teenagers, and it also remains suitable for my audience unlike alcohol or cigarettes. Then in the top right of my shot, to can see the title ‘Knife Crime’ this shows the audience what the scene and character is going to embark on in the soap.

5. This is next shot after Emerson pulls the knife out of the draw, we can see him walking away from the house putting his hood up. The fact that he has his hood up is crucial for the Soap, because it symbolizes teenage ‘hoody’ crime. We also chose the actor for Emerson because of his ethnicity, to portray a common stereotype of African-Caribbean males in Britain. We picked a mid-long shot for this, to capture enough of his body to show him walking, yet the same amount to show his skin colour and him putting his hood up.

6. This is another long shot, of two characters smoking. We chose this shot because it captures the mise-en-scene around them, the audience can see that they are in the derelict area of somewhere, dirty and seemingly quiet. In addition to this the camera keeps the fact that they are smoking and rejecting the school rules. Though, this could have been improved by showing where they were, although the audience knows they are hidden or concealed from someone, you are unable to tell where – I feel I could have done by selecting a better scene location or using Adobe Photoshop to create a school logo. The two characters represent a high smoking level among teenagers in the country, which relates to our theme of keeping things present and ‘up to date’.

7. This is the shot of the channel 4 logo and the voiceover to introduce the Soap. To create this is watched many different channel 4 adverts to see the way they include their logo, I used an image and edited it using Adobe Photoshop; my initial aim was to remove the black outlines and show the soap through it on the last shot, in the same way they do on the Hollyoaks trailers. However I was unable to achieve this and had to place the logo against a white background and use the typical Arial font in sky blue. In addition to these I used a transition edit to make the logo wipe across the screen from the white, finally speaking into a microphone from a short script telling the audience when the Soap will commence created the voiceover.

8. This was the scene of Laura, who is pregnant; we chose this shot in particular to portray another theme of teenage pregnancy in Britain, the audience automatically know what it is about, because the baby scans tell us she is pregnant. Naturally this required a close-up because you are then able to see the scans in enough detail to know what they are, and see that you are looking at them in Laura’s point of view. To finish this, I inserted the caption ‘It all happens in Flint Way’; this was used to conclude the titles that appeared before this, with ‘Bullying’ etc, it also was a method of drawing the viewers in, and bringing more appeal and drama to my Soap. 

9. Finally we can see the follow-on of Charlie’s drugs scene, this is directly after where he entered the toilet. We can see that he is being confronted by an authoritative figure and caught for doing drugs, however one major problem I found with this is that the audience don’t know who this figure is, the only distinction between the two is one is an adult and one is a child. So one thing I feel I could of done is maybe asked my imposed figure to be a policemen or a parent. This may have then shown a clear distinction of what is happening. Another problem we found, this time during the filming was the sound quality, because we filmed it in our school, noise was being given off by the heaters, so we were unable to hear the teacher properly. This resulted in us having to use our music over her talking. 

This Is England - Film Poster.

This is the film poster for This Is England, it is one I am going to use as a model for my own. 

One reason for this is that it appeals to my target audience, of teenagers, we can see that the lined up characters are all teenagers themselves. I also take inspiration from this poster because it shows all of the main characters. The urban scenery is much like that of Flint Way, so I will look the possibility of making my poster similar to this one. 

TV Magazine Logo - Analysis.

This is similar to the logo I will use for my magazine front cover, this is just like most of the logo's I have studied. They have a red background with write writing and trim. 

My magazine is going to be called TV Times, so like the logo above, TV will be in large capital letters, with 'times' below it. Then a red square around it. 

Character Photos (Magazine Front Cover).

The two pictures above are of the character Aiden, who is being bullied in the Soap. In the photo's we have tried to portray a worried looking person, and made sure he is wearing stereotypical teenage clothes. We are going to use the top one of the two.

The two pictures above are of the character Emerson, for him we have made sure that he has his hood up (like the Soap trailer) - this is to show his rejection to authority and fit him into the stereotype of a 'hoody' or a 'chav'. We are going to use the bottom picture for the magazine front cover. 

Here is a pregnant character, this is for another Soap on the front cover. This is to fit a tagline saying "PREGNANT". 

This is another character for another Soap, for the other stories on the magazine front cover.

This character is going to be used for the same Soap as above - she is to be with the character above in a tagline "JESS CHEATS!?"

This is to be another image on my Magazine front cover, I decided to have the character wear suits and dresses because it is for the show 'Footballers Wives'. I also chose to have Aiden (from my Soap) in the shot, because it shows a synergy of characters, like in real life TV. It also adds validity to my Soap because the viewers may recognise the actor from the show, and feel they want to watch it on this basis.

Here is another picture that I am going to use for my Magazine front cover, I am going to use the character Jamie (left) for another Soap. This time it will be Corronation Street, he is a character who has caused destruction and will read - ''Jimmy's Anger Spree''.

This another character for the main part of my Magazine cover, this is a character who doesn't feature in the trailer, but is in our Soap, I chose to do this because it adds suspence to the Soap, because there is therefore a stroyline that remains a suprise until it actually airs on TV.

This is the final picture for my TV listings magazine, it is for the TV drama Waterloo Road. I chose this picture because it shows a large group of school children in a class, seemingly without authority, which fits the bill of Waterloo Road. This will have the caption 'Waterloo Road returns!'