Wednesday, 21 October 2009
My Soap Opera
To promote and advertise my new soap opera, i am going to be creating a trailer. My Trailer will start with an Ident with theme music, so that audience can recognise this new soap straight away. Then i plan to show clippings from the soap opera using actors, of what is to come in the new episodes. This will also allow me to show the characters appearances, personalities, actions and establish the stereotypes. After showing clippings, i will introduce the characters individually by using name tags and end shots of each character.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Trailers
Skins
This is the first trailer for the new television drama/soap 'SKINS'. The drama is based around 8 main teenagers with different attitudes to life and personalities. There is a mixture of genders and ethnicity within the drama, and they are all 'friends'. The drama follows issues that teenagers face and stereotypical actions that teenagers do, such as drinking, drugs and having sex. This first trailer shows us straight away what the drama is about by getting the actors to do all these stereotypical actions in a house party setting. The music and the mad atmosphere is similar of something i want to do for my soap opera. So that it will attract the audience i wish to aim my soap opera at which is young adults and teenagers. I also show some of the similar things going on as we can see in this television trailer, such as people kissing, smoking, and doing drugs.
The television series also includes stereotypical characters that would be found in a college, were the series is based around students. Theres are the stereotypical characters found in SKINS:
Chris - party animal/druggy
Tony - girl lover/ popular - in a relationship with Michelle
Michelle - Tony's girlfriend. the girly girl
Sid - the geek, virgin and obsessed with michelle.
Cassy - abit werid, suffers from an eating disorder
Jal - musican, good girl, quiet
Maxxie - gay, a dancer
Anwar - muslim boy, is critized for his selective approach to his faith.
With the variation of the characters, it allows the series to explore the issues that the individual characters face, making it much more interesting. It also may relate to the audience, as they have found themselves in a similar situation or can relate to the character as a person.
The setting and colours used within the trailer are key to the atmosphere. The house they are in seems messy and dull however the colours that the characters are wearing or are used by them highlight the characters reflecting the mood of the characters which is happy because they are having a good time with friends. It also could symbolise the youth of the characters and could suggest that the futures 'bright' for them.
In my trailer i wish to use bright colours for the same reason, and show my characters being happy setting the mood for the series.
Eastenders
I have chosen this particular Eastenders trailer because i think it gives a good introduction to the new character to the soap. The trailer features freeze frames on each character and uses non-diegetic text to introduce the names to the audience. This is what i wish to do on my own trailer, using freeze frames on featured characters in the rest of the trailer to introduce them to the audience. The use of colours goes well with the attitude the new characters bring, bring colours are used for the non-diegetic text but also the costume the characters are wearing. For my non-diegetic text, i plan to use colours that are connatated to the stereotypical characters for example the girly girl will have pink text and the footballer will have blue text. They will also refer to the gender and instantly the audience will know that the character is like by seeing the actions but also the colours used that the audience are familiar with.
The music that is with this trailer is also a happy song, and the lyrics help along with it, which sets the mood. It is also linked with the characters as the song is by the Jackson 5 and the family being introduced are 'The jacksons' and there is 5 of them.
This trailer is good because it helps introduce new characters on Eastenders without bringing them onto the soap straight away, so that the audience expect whats going to happen but also so that they are already familar with the characters before the soap characters known, creating dramatic irony.
Hollyoaks
This is the launch trailer for the soap drama 'Hollyoaks'. The trailer is short, it shows the characters within the soap all together, and even features a small story lines that gives the opportunity of showing the audience what the characters are already like. We can already see that the main blonde is good lucking, bossy and glamorous, the typical young women. the trailer also shows young men, giving variation in gender and also features people of different ethnicity.
This is the first trailer for the new television drama/soap 'SKINS'. The drama is based around 8 main teenagers with different attitudes to life and personalities. There is a mixture of genders and ethnicity within the drama, and they are all 'friends'. The drama follows issues that teenagers face and stereotypical actions that teenagers do, such as drinking, drugs and having sex. This first trailer shows us straight away what the drama is about by getting the actors to do all these stereotypical actions in a house party setting. The music and the mad atmosphere is similar of something i want to do for my soap opera. So that it will attract the audience i wish to aim my soap opera at which is young adults and teenagers. I also show some of the similar things going on as we can see in this television trailer, such as people kissing, smoking, and doing drugs.
The television series also includes stereotypical characters that would be found in a college, were the series is based around students. Theres are the stereotypical characters found in SKINS:
Chris - party animal/druggy
Tony - girl lover/ popular - in a relationship with Michelle
Michelle - Tony's girlfriend. the girly girl
Sid - the geek, virgin and obsessed with michelle.
Cassy - abit werid, suffers from an eating disorder
Jal - musican, good girl, quiet
Maxxie - gay, a dancer
Anwar - muslim boy, is critized for his selective approach to his faith.
With the variation of the characters, it allows the series to explore the issues that the individual characters face, making it much more interesting. It also may relate to the audience, as they have found themselves in a similar situation or can relate to the character as a person.
The setting and colours used within the trailer are key to the atmosphere. The house they are in seems messy and dull however the colours that the characters are wearing or are used by them highlight the characters reflecting the mood of the characters which is happy because they are having a good time with friends. It also could symbolise the youth of the characters and could suggest that the futures 'bright' for them.
In my trailer i wish to use bright colours for the same reason, and show my characters being happy setting the mood for the series.
Eastenders
I have chosen this particular Eastenders trailer because i think it gives a good introduction to the new character to the soap. The trailer features freeze frames on each character and uses non-diegetic text to introduce the names to the audience. This is what i wish to do on my own trailer, using freeze frames on featured characters in the rest of the trailer to introduce them to the audience. The use of colours goes well with the attitude the new characters bring, bring colours are used for the non-diegetic text but also the costume the characters are wearing. For my non-diegetic text, i plan to use colours that are connatated to the stereotypical characters for example the girly girl will have pink text and the footballer will have blue text. They will also refer to the gender and instantly the audience will know that the character is like by seeing the actions but also the colours used that the audience are familiar with.
The music that is with this trailer is also a happy song, and the lyrics help along with it, which sets the mood. It is also linked with the characters as the song is by the Jackson 5 and the family being introduced are 'The jacksons' and there is 5 of them.
This trailer is good because it helps introduce new characters on Eastenders without bringing them onto the soap straight away, so that the audience expect whats going to happen but also so that they are already familar with the characters before the soap characters known, creating dramatic irony.
Hollyoaks
This is the launch trailer for the soap drama 'Hollyoaks'. The trailer is short, it shows the characters within the soap all together, and even features a small story lines that gives the opportunity of showing the audience what the characters are already like. We can already see that the main blonde is good lucking, bossy and glamorous, the typical young women. the trailer also shows young men, giving variation in gender and also features people of different ethnicity.
Stereotypes
Within soap operas, the characters are based on stereotpyes, here are the main character stereotypes that will be found in soap operas:
- Young Women/Girly Girls (Glamorous,sexy,mature)
- Young Men/Lads Lad (Builders, pubs, fearful, conventional young men)
- Married Couples
- Baddies(trouble causers,tarts,bitches,murders)
- Older women (Grandmother figures; marriageable
- Geeks (Concentrate on education)
- Gays (Loud, adventitious, friendly)
- Teenagers (Typical grumpy, romance ect)
- Children
- Middle Aged Women (Mothers, tend to be divorced)
Examples in Coronation Street 2009
Young Women: Rosie Webster, Maria Connor, Tina McIntyre
Young Men: Jason Grimshaw, Graeme Proctor, Tyrone Dobbs
Married Couples: Kevin & Sally Webster, Roy & Hayley Cropper, Ken & Deirdre Barlow, Ashley and Claire Peacock
Baddies: David Platt, Gary Windass, Tony Gordon, Carla Gordon, Leanne Battersby, Becky McDonald
Older Women/Men: Betty Williams, Audrey Roberts, Emily Bishop, Rita Sullivan, Norris Cole
Gays: Sean Tully
Middle Aged Women: Gail Platt, Elieen Grimshaw, Janice Battersby, Liz McDonald, Michelle Connor
Teenagers: Sophie Webster, Ryan Connor, Darryl Morton, David Platt, Amber Kaliria
Children: Amy Barlow, Simon Barlow, Joshua Peacock.
Examples in EastEnders 2009
Young Women: Chelsea Fox, Roxy, Ronnie & Sam Mitchell, Stacey Slater
Young Men: Bradley Branning, Syed Masood
Married Couples: Jane Beale & Ian Beale, Tanya & Max Branning, Masood & Zainab Ahmed
Baddies: Janine Butcher, Phil Mitchell, Archie Mitchell
Older Women/Men: Dot & Jim Branning, Pat Evans, Peggy Mitchell, Charlie Slater, Patrick Trumen
Geeks: Libby Fox, Tamwar Ahmed
Gays: Christian Clarke
Middle Aged Women/Men: Jack Branning, Denise Fox, Jean Slater
Teenagers: Lucy Beale, Abi & Lauren Branning, Whitney Dean, Jay Brown, Darren Miller
Children: Bobby Beale, Tiffany Dean
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Conventions of Soap Opera & Trailers
British soap operas normally follow these conventions and feature in the soap opera
- Normally, the soap opera will be serialised, which means it will runs a few days a week, weekly, throughout the whole year.
- Narratives or storylines are usually deal with domestic themes and personal or family relationships within the community are shown.
- The soap opera always has a recgonisable theme tune at the beginning of the programme, and sometimes changes abit after a few years.
- The storylines can be more detailed and invloved with the characters because the cast is able to be bigger, it allows the soap to focus on smaller numbers of characters, allowing more time to spent on each.
- Issues such as break up of a relationship normally run parallel of eachother, for example if two of the characters are dealing with the same issues, we would follow these storylines together.
- Soap operas are normally set around a smaller set, a small community. For example the set of Eastenders is set around a central area, which is the square, or the cul-de-sac in Brookside.
- Soaps tend to relfect real life events which are going on in the real world, for example events such as christmas and newyears. For events they will be a special episode, were the characters will be featured in a much bigger and dramatic storyline than usual. To entertain audiences during christmas ect. Such episodes are often referred to as 'soap bubbles' as they are often self-contained and have little impact on the on-going stories of the regular show.
- British soaps characters are usually working class characters, which are common and much more ordinary. American soaps however tend to have characters which are richer and are fantasy-inspired characters, relating to its audience.
- A rule of soap opera is to aim for realistic stroylines, and create realism through them.
- Three, four or even five storylines will be in progress during any one episode, with the action switching between them. As one narrative is resolved, another completely different one with different characters will already be underway. The characters go from quiet, harmonic (but uninteresting) periods to chaotic, confusing (but interesting) dilemmas. The action simply concentrates solely on the latter.
- Soaps oftern being with a 'hook' and end with a 'cliff hanger' which is tense and suspensful, so that the audiences will tune in to watch what happens in the next episode.
Conventions of Trailers
These codes and conventions of trailers have been drawn from trailers in general rather than specifically focusing on genre.
- Fades and cross dissolves are frequently used in transitions.
- Close ups and mid shots - establish connection between characters and recognition for audience, also doesn't reveal too much of the event on screen.
- Title of the film is always last.- A short shot at the end of the trailer after the titles, (Most common in the Fantasy and Thriller genre).
- Patterned editing - Slow - quick - slow. This keeps the audience interested as they follow the trailer. (The majority of media products are created in established and repeated ways.
- Non diegetic music sets the tone of the film.
- Voice over - breif outline of the plot.
- Key lines from the film. Such as in Harry Potter he says 'I want to fight' this is reinforced with the fighting in the on screen action therefore suggests war in the plot.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
History Of Soap Opera.
What is soap opera?
Television soap operas are long-running serials concerned with everyday life. The serial is not to be confused with the series, in which the main characters and format remain the same from programme to programme but each episode is a self-contained plot. In a serial at least one storyline is carried over from one episode to the next. A series is advertised as having a specific number of episodes, but serials are potentially endless.
History
'Soap opera' is a phrase first coined in the 1930s in the USA. It was used to describe radio series that were sponsored by the manufacturers of soap powder; hence 'soap'. The 'opera' part came from the fact that they were about dilemmas and other dramatic or melodramatic situations.
By the 1950s, these serials had made the transition to TV. They spread across the world and grew and grew in popularity.
Coronation Street is the longest running TV soap in the world.
but it is predated by a radio soap, The Archers, a rural soap opera broadcast on BBC Radio 4. After the successes of glossier productions such as Dallas in America, soap suddenly became more popular again in the 1980s. This caused the inception of new British soaps such as Brookside and EastEnders. Also, the success of Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away caused British soaps to reconsider their target audience and, therefore, their characters. These Australian soaps tended to be aimed at teenage viewers with characters and plots suitable for that age. British producers decided to follow suit, for example, the British soap Hollyoaks is aimed primarily at young people. This change in the target audience proved to be a very shrewd move and, consequently, soaps are now more popular than ever.
British Soap Operas
Television soap operas are long-running serials concerned with everyday life. The serial is not to be confused with the series, in which the main characters and format remain the same from programme to programme but each episode is a self-contained plot. In a serial at least one storyline is carried over from one episode to the next. A series is advertised as having a specific number of episodes, but serials are potentially endless.
History
'Soap opera' is a phrase first coined in the 1930s in the USA. It was used to describe radio series that were sponsored by the manufacturers of soap powder; hence 'soap'. The 'opera' part came from the fact that they were about dilemmas and other dramatic or melodramatic situations.
By the 1950s, these serials had made the transition to TV. They spread across the world and grew and grew in popularity.
Coronation Street is the longest running TV soap in the world.
but it is predated by a radio soap, The Archers, a rural soap opera broadcast on BBC Radio 4. After the successes of glossier productions such as Dallas in America, soap suddenly became more popular again in the 1980s. This caused the inception of new British soaps such as Brookside and EastEnders. Also, the success of Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away caused British soaps to reconsider their target audience and, therefore, their characters. These Australian soaps tended to be aimed at teenage viewers with characters and plots suitable for that age. British producers decided to follow suit, for example, the British soap Hollyoaks is aimed primarily at young people. This change in the target audience proved to be a very shrewd move and, consequently, soaps are now more popular than ever.
British Soap Operas
- Coronation Street
- EastEnders
- Emmerdale
- Hollyoaks
- Doctors
- Neighbours
- Home & Away
The Briefs
A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include on TV trailer, together with two of the following three options:
- A listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap;
- two hyperlinked web pages (with video extract) for the soap's website;
- a poster for the soap
The two choices i have chosen out of three are:
1) a listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap;
2) a poster for the soap
Definition of a Trailer
Trailers consist of a series of selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, these excerpts are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. For this purpose the scenes are not necessarily in the order in which they appear in the film. A trailer has to achieve that in less than two and a half minutes, the maximum length allowed by theaters. Each studio or distributor is allowed to exceed this time limit once a year, if they feel it is necessary for a particular film.
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