Existing Media Products, The industry, and other research

The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on a radio. These have soap manufactures such as Colgate, Palmolive and The Lever Brothers as sponsors and producers. They were mainly broadcast in the daytime around lunchtime once a week and were targeted at housewives.

A soap opera is an ongoing episodic dramatic fiction. Characters in a soap are usually stereotypes brought together to create families which become very popular and well known from example The Mitchell’s From Eastenders and The Webster’s from Coronation Street. They consist of a few main locations (Pubs cafes garages) and even fewer random locations (families’ houses, churches ECT.) in the UK more popular soap operas usually have a main community gathering location of a pub ( Eastenders- The Queen Vic, Coronation Street- Rovers Return).

A trailer is an advertisement of a soap’s main plot which will be ongoing for a few weeks, which attracts the audience into watching the episodes to see what happens in the soap as the trailer is only a sneak preview and cliff hanger to the storyline.


Soap operas are highly viewed programs watched by many people daily therefore there aspects have to be similar. English soap operas tend to be location based for example, Eastenders is in the east of London Coronation Street is set up north,
Hollyoaks is set in Chester and Emmerdale is set in the Yorkshire dales. Therefore if deciding to create a new soap opera location may be an aspect you wish to follow for it to be successful.
Another main aspect for soap operas is key locations. Most soap operas tend to have a main communal location and then smaller locations where characters are known. The main communal locations in soap operas are generally pubs, Queen Vic (Eastenders) and Rovers Return (Coronation Street.)
The third main aspect of a soap opera is to have well known families. Examples of these are the Mitchells in Eastenders and the Websters in Coronation street.

The main characteristics which define a British soap opera from other television programs are that they give an emphasis on life, personal relationships, extramarital relationships, emotional and moral conflicts. However they also tend to feature a significant proportion of romance storylines, whereas Russian soap operas explore the romantic quality of criminals and or of an oligarch life. (This means a small group or people who have a lot of power)
The main principal role of a soap opera is to entertain an audience, and watching soap operas is so popular because it helps people reflect on escape from their own problems.


The Queen Victoria Pub



The Rovers Return

My exposure to soap operas

Over the years living at home I have been exposed to the most popular soap operas including; EastEnders, Coronation Street and Neighbours. I have also seen Emmerdale and Home and Away. I also watched Brookside for the short time it was aired on TV.

As there are only two of us in my family household we do not watch all the soaps. We do watch EastEnders, Coronation Street and neighbours. Occasionally we may watch Home and Away if we know there is an interesting story line, or forget to change channel as we are busy doing something else.

My Family household enjoy the plot lines and the story lines in soap operas. We find the characters are very realistic and can relate to some of the issues in soap operas.



There are many reasons as to why they are so popular, firstly because soap operas are realistic and can easily be related to people’s life situations. Soap operas are becoming more and more popular as they are having intense and thrilling storylines with many cliff hangers which lead the audience to want to watch the next episode then another plot begins which then leads the audience to carry on following the soaps. Also because the plots are so detailed and dramatic, people watch soap operas to escape their own reality of life. They get a great deal of pleasure from this and this is the reason why soap operas are so popular. A response to support this could include the book ‘Watching day time soaps- the power of pleasure’ by Louise Spence published in 2005. She says that sometimes our desires and hopes or the way we are feeling are not always easy to express to others and watching soaps helps us overcome this.




A brief history of Soap's and famous plots and storylines

First soap was- aired on radio 1920s


British
Eastenders- 1985- present
Coronation Street- 1960-present (longest British running soap opera)
Brookside- 1982- November 2003
Hollyoaks- 1995 – present
General Hospital- 1977- 1979

US
Guiding Light- radio 1937- 1952
Dallas – 1976 – 1991
As the world turns- 1957-september 2010
Dark shadows- 1966-1971

Australian

Home and away- 1988-Present
Neighbours- 1985- present
Out of the blue- 2008-2009


FAMOUS PLOTS

EASTENDERS (Famous for Christmas specials)


Christmas Day 1988 30.15million viewers’ -dirty den divorces Angie- highest rated episode of a soap in British Television history
Christmas day 2006- Pauline Fowler’s death
17 May 2007- Beale & Phil’s Crash
Christmas day 2007- Bradley discovers Stacey cheating with max- highest UK TV Audience for ANY TV show during 2007.
Christmas day 2008- Sean Slater discovers he is not Amy’s father
Christmas day 2009- Archie Mitchell is DEAD
19th February 2010- Live Episode-who killed Archie Mitchell- 15.6million viewers, 16million in the last five minutes
This immedietley proves that christmas specials are a must for Eastenders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68GWmOETotQ&NR=1 this is a link for the the murder of Archie Christmas trailer for Eastenders

Coronation Street



Ken married Deidre- 27th July 1981 (more views than Prince Charles and Princess Dianna’s wedding two days later)
1985- Kevin Webster marries Sally Seddon
1983 -Deidre Barlow has an affair with Mike Baldwin
1986- Fire at the Rovers Return
1986-1989- Rita physiological abuse at the hands of Alan Bradley- dies under a tram at Blackpool
1998 – First transsexual in a British soap
Spring 07 illegal immigration
31may-4june 2010 Tony escapes from prison and was intending to go on a mass murder but on 2/6/10 Derrick Bird killed 12people so a mark of respect the remaining episodes for the storyline were cancelled.
6-10 December 2010 celebrating 50years tram crash storyline



Family Profiles

The Mitchell's- British Soap- EastEnders

The Mitchell family are one of the biggest families in soap history. Going right back from eddy and Betty Mitchell, the Mitchell’s have evolved to be one of the most popular families in soap history. Eddy and Betty went on to have two children Phillip and Kenneth. Phillip and his wife then went on to have Eric Mitchell who married Peggy, who then marries Archie and begun the popularity of the Mitchell name. Her sons Phil and grant were your stereotypical thug brothers, and their sister Samantha was not quite miss perfect and was well known for getting herself in trouble. Some of the more popular storylines of the Mitchell’s include:

One of the Mitchell family's first major storylines was Sharon gate, Grant's wife Sharon Watts had had an affair with her brother-in-law Phil. Grant and Sharon later split up, but it was after this that the Mitchell's ran The Queen Vic with Peggy Mitchell as its iconic landlady.

In 2001, Phil was in the centre of the Who Shot Phil? Storyline. Phil had become a darker and more menacing character during the previous year, and so five characters were suspected of trying to shoot him. This storyline received a lot of press in newspapers and the media, with many people placing bets on who the attempted killer was. Several outcomes were allegedly filmed an estimated 22 million viewers watched EastEnders on April 5, 2001 to find out that Lisa Shaw — Phil's former girlfriend — was the culprit. The episode caused the third-largest power surge on record. This is one of the highest figures in history and EastEnders came close with their record on 19th February 2010 when the live episode of Archie’s murderer was revealed when it reached 16.6million views.

I chose to reseach information about this family becuase the family represent the stereotypical 'Bad boy' family. They are known for the family that cause trouble and are a big family, recently run by Peggie Mitchell, who recentley retired from the show.



THE MITCHELL FAMILY TREE




(from top to bottom) Phil,Peggy and Archie Mitchell






The Ramsays' Neighbours- Australian Soap

‘Neighbours’ began in 1985 and is the most popular Australian soap broadcast in the UK. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, it was originally shown on the BBC, however moved to channel five in the mid 2000’s. This could be because Channel five are known for broadcasting Australian programs, such as Neighbours and Home and Away. The show's story lines concern the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough, Melbourne. The series primarily centers around the residents of Ramsay Street, a short cul-de-sac, and its neighboring areas, the Lassiters complex, which includes a bar, hotel, cafe, news office and park. Through its entire run in Australia, Neighbours has been screened as a twenty-two minute episode each week night in an early-evening slot and is on at 5.30pm as it is shown before the other soaps so it is not as competitive.It is the only soap which is broadcast EVERY weeknight, which gives it an upper hand on being more likely to be viewed, this is also because of the time it is shown as most working people arrive home around this time and they can put it on when they get in, this may seem quiet strange to people that have no knowledge of soaps however this is a form of escapism
The most popular family known in ‘Neighbours’ is the Ramsays. The Ramsay family is a fictional family on the Australian soap opera Neighbours. The cul-de-sac, which is the central focus of the series is named after the family.No.24 has been associated with the Ramsay family since the show began in 1985.

Soap operas tend to be a starting point for some very famous people, and Neighbours is where ‘ Kylie Minogue’ began her career acting as a teenager in the program when she was 16 years old.

I chose to research this soap family in detail because it is the total opposite type of soap opera from Eastenders, and it is easy to explore the contrast on British and Australian soaps.


THE RAMSAYS FAMILY TREE



KYLIE MINOGUE, WHEN SHE WAS IN NEIGHBOURS AND NOW


Soap Trailer Analysis

Trailer one- Kat and Alfie Eastenders

Analysing the Kat and Alfie Eastenders trailer from September 2010, we instantly get the connation of trouble happening, which is ironic to the characters they are re introducing. The use of sound, mise en scene, shot types and editing used make this trailer very successful. The trailer has used conventions from the Western genre. The producers have chosen to use low angle shots, and eye line matches, this gives the effect of the characters being the big baddies in this, and the eye line matches show the seriousness in the characters faces. The main props they have used for this trailer are cowboy hat, which denotes western theme immediately and Kat wearing an old fashioned blanket cowgirl style, and the leather cowboy boots connote the idea of a stand off. The producers have also cleverly used a mirror which Kat checks herself in however they chose that at the time of opening this they have used a non digetic gun reload sound, this again is fitting in with the cowboy theme. The producer’s non digetic sound is vital for this trailer to work; it begins with a mythical type of music similar to something from Harry Potter which creates tension before the western themed music kicks in. At the end we see the word Eastenders however this actually looks like a shadow, followed by a voice over of the details of the soap.



This is example of an eye line match of Kat Moon

Trailer two- Coronation Street. released 29.2.09

I chose to analyse this trailer because it is the opposite of the western theme, it is a happy wedding theme, until the end voiceover. The producers of this trailer have chosen their props appropriately and ironically. This is because the conventions of a wedding consist of items like good luck horse shoes weddings cakes etc, and the producers have chosen to use these within the trailer however whenever it was a good luck item, it was an extreme close up or close up of the item. Most of the shots in this are of people preparing for the wedding, and are mainly all mid shots. We see different characters talking in the scenes however the sound has been cut from these, this also adds to the intensity helps build suspense. The most effective shot is a long shot of the character ‘Becky’ spinning around the room in her dress, it shows the sense of freedom and taking the next steps in life. The trailer ends with a still of housetops, with the ‘Corrie’ street sign, the date of the episode, the company logo and their sponsor’s logo. This has a voiceover of the words ‘Friday the 13th the perfect date for a coronation street weddings coming soon, ITV1’ this is also an ironic speech as Friday the 13th is known to be an unlucky date.




A Screen grab of a close up of just one of the 'good luck' signs

Production Process

A Typical Family Scene being shot for a soap opera

Original idea

Civil Road

Plan

Time: We produced our shooting schedule, with times which suited everybody in our group, this was a difficult task, as we all have different commitments, for example part-time jobs, hobbies, but we have managed to overcome this.

Location: Due to members of the group coming from opposite sides of the county finding locations which were easily accessible out of school times for filming, was not the easiest of task. Members of the group could not agree on this however this was resolved after the first shooting.

An Example location from 'Eastenders'

Props: We are continuing to work on props, we need to buy some wedding decorations for our wedding scene, for example confetti, we already have a bottle of champagne and wine glasses that we can use, but we also need a dress and veil for the character Nicola to wear, during the ‘runaway bride’ scene. We also need to make sure that the lighting used is of good quality, in order for our filming to be clear. This could prove to be a difficult task to overcome in reality. ** After filming the first time in a pub, we reviewed this on the camera and it didn't look so bad, however when it was ready for editing on a larger screen the lighting was appalling and very unprofessional.

Editing/camera: In order for our trailer to look realistic and professional we need to extend on the skills learnt at AS level We need to remember to use appropriate transitions and voice-overs when editing out trailer for it to have a professional look. As we are creating a new soap this will not be easy because it is easy to set a theme for current soaps as people know who the character are, an example of this is the western Kat and Alfie return from Eastenders.


Reviewing the characters we have chosen we have made them easily recognizable for the audience. We have done this by using stereotypical attributes for the characters. We have done this because if the audience can easily relate to the character they have more interest in what they are watching, and it is easier to catch the target audience’s attention.




This is an original storyboard we created







Regulations which need to be taken into account when creating our soap.

Within our soap trailer we explore various situations, a new family moving in, alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancy. This can be uneasy for some audiences and certain issues can sometimes not been shown in soap operas or if they do the producers must have an action help line in process. For example the current situation in Eastenders with the death of Ronnie’s baby and stealing Kat Moon’s. There was originally a helpline for this for people who it may have affected. However there have been many complaints about the storyline and it had to be cut short. Another regulation that needs to be taken into account is the Race and Regulations Act, therefore we had to make sure our trailer was not racist in any shape or form, people may feel the soap trailer has a stereotypical view on teenagers, however it contains mainly a younger generation as we have chosen a style of soap similar to Hollyoaks. To prevent future issues, when the soap episodes extend we will bring in a variety of characters, taking into consideration race, disability, and sexuality. Businesses like OfCom ensure that certain content is not broadcast .The OfCom website speaks about making the media safer for everybody.

Changes

During out time of production we experienced a group s e p a r a t i o n, this was because we wanted to achieve the best grade possible because the people we were working with did not seem interested, however leaving our original group of five people, left us with just two people, this put an extreme difficulty and pressure on our group as it meant filming with only two people.
This change also meant that we had to create a new storyboard, a new idea (although we created a similar storyboard), a new shooting schedule, and new camera maps. We chose to keep some of the themes and ideas for our soap new family etc.
As our soap is a similar style to Hollyoaks we chose to use younger generation characters. This is then also creating a representation of youth being ‘rebellious and unruly’ using stereotypical attributes. We have shown this by one of the characters stealing a bottle of vodka and stuffing it into her bag. This is ironic to one of the previous shots of her speaking with her mum, mentioning the new family that are moving in and having a stereotypical opinion on them. This replaced the family scene round the table, and the younger boy stealing the alcohol this was because after original shooting the lighting was incorrect and the scene generally did not fit the ‘Hollyoaks’ theme of the younger lifestyle, as the original alcohol stealing did not look realistic and the character was too young, and for the family scene you do not see a mum and dad with two children sat round the table eating in a soap like ‘Hollyoaks’
We also decided to get rid of the idea of shooting in a pub. This was due to lighting issues, however to keep the traditional theme of a soap and a central location of a pub, we included a still of the pub at the end, this also included a voice over of the time, channel and stating that we are promoting a new soap opera.

Target Audience


Our soap is not aimed at a particular age group as many people do tend to watch soaps, however as our soap is in a Hollyoaks style we expect that more of a younger generation will watch it, whereas soaps like Coronation Street and Eastenders have older characters like Ken Barlow, which have been in the soaps since the beginning which attract an older generation to watch. We will use aspects of Hollyoaks to attract our audience for example key locations and the situations that happens. During the 1960s, as the first generation to grow up with television became grown ups, it became increasingly apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming text. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts have the following functions for society and its individuals. Surveillance, correlation, entertainment and understanding cultural transmission. In 1974 researchers Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory and published their own theory which stated that audiences may choose and use a text for a diversion, surveillance, to help them discover their personal identity and to help them with personal relationships. For example substituting soap operas for their family life, and the soaps helping them feel and think ‘I’m glad my life isn’t like that’ and because soaps are so realistic it is easy for the audience to indulge themselves within a soap opera and be touched by story lines and plots. This relates to our soap because the audience watching may get similar feelings when they watch the soap, or they may have the total opposite and think to themselves how they can relate to the situations in their personal day to day life.



Final shooting schedule

Shop shot- December 19th daytime- props required- N/A
Pregnancy test- December 31st- anytime possible- props required- Pregnancy test
Pub shot- December 28th- daytime- props required- N/A
Eating scene- January 8th- meal time- props required- table of food
Alcohol into bag- January 10th morning/evening but before too dark - props required- alcohol and a bag
Getting out a car moving in- January 18th daytime- props required- Car
Street shot- December 19th daytime- props reqired- N/A
*CHANGE* eating scene removed- changed to general talking scene- props required- newspaper, cup of tea





The new StoryBoard



One of the new camera maps




Another new camera map

Masthead: the purpose of a masthead is to get the company’s logo, and details of the magazine onto the cover, for example the date and the website for the company.

Central Image: the purpose of a central image on a TV magazine cover, is to advertise a particular plot in a particular soap in the one I analyzed was about a fire and from Eastenders.

Central Article: this supports the central image, it is the font and the catchy headline usually a small phase to explain the situation.

Flash: this can be used for the price of the magazine cover or as a flash article, which means advertising a program either returning or a new program beginning, in this cover it is advertising the X-factor secrets.

Other featured articles: this is usually a collection on images usually 3 at the bottom and two at the top, which are photos of different plots in different programs.

For my Ancillary texts I had to produce a TV magazine cover and a poster which would advertise my soap. Above I analyzed a magazine cover, It helped me understand the names of the parts of the magazine and how it went together.

Below is my Drawn idea for my magazine cover






Above is a rough idea of colours for my TV Mag cover which I inserted my drawn image into Photoshop and coloured the backgrounds and sections of the masthead and flash for the price as an idea of what I intended to do.



This is my magazine cover being produced in Adobe Indesign. In this mode i can adjust the layers which means I can move the place of each photograph to get the appropriate cover.





Below is the cover I produced, I took the photographs for the cover, and edited them in Adobe Photoshop. I used a tool which cut the subject out from the background and placed it into a new layer. I then created an Adobe Indesign document to create the cover. I made new layers for each part of the cover, and then inserted my images. I chose to use Indesign as it is used by professionals and is simple to worth with and easy to re arrange layers and place the central image and masthead and other featured articles.





Below this is the poster I created. I also made this in Indesign and Photoshop for the reasons mentioned above.



I chose to use simple pastel colours for my magazine cover as this is a standard theme within professional covers. I also chose simple fonts as for the same reason and because it is easier for the audience to see and read. I chose to use one main photograph for my poster, with white bold font as it is a contrast to the background image and would not blend.




Synoptic Treatment

The trailer explores what will be happening in the few opening scenes of Ashfield Oaks, only two families are shown in the trailer ‘the Bestwicks and the Browns.’ The Bestwicks are discussing the ‘Browns’ which is the new family moving in. They are very negative towards them, and have a prejudice sense about the ‘Browns’ way of life. This is ironic to what happens in a further scene as one of the Bestwicks is stealing alcohol; this immediately connotes the idea that there will be conflict between the two families. The ideal release date for our soap to begin would be around the autumn or winter; this is because audiences are more likely to be at home after work, to watch the soap. The soap will be on channel 4 on a Monday at 7.30pm, Tuesdays at 8pm Wednesdays at 8pm and Fridays at 7.30pm this is so it stands a chance at not clashing with other soap operas on other channels, therefore more likely to be watched. Stuart Latham first directed Coronation Street and a director like him would be perfect to direct our soap, as he worked towards Coronation Street becoming largely successful and extremely popular within the industry. Ashfield Oaks is NOT to be missed!

Detailed Treatment

The opening scene of the Ashfield Oaks trailer is a panning mid shot of a street of terraced houses, we then get a fade transition which is a panning shot of a shop. We then get another fade transition and see we are in a house, we see that Elaine in mid shot is having a conversation with Nicola, who could be a neighbour or her daughter, it is revealed that it is her daughter as the soap episodes are released. We then get a mid shot of Nicola talking back to her using the 180 degree rule, with an overlay of the words ‘The Bestwicks’ which is the family name. We then get another fade transition to a close up of a green house for sale sign, and a fade transition to three teenagers getting out of a car. We presume this is the family that Nicola and Elaine were talking about, this is in mid shot, and then we get another overlay of words which say ‘The Browns’ therefore we know this is another family. Another fade transition sees Nicola entering the kitchen with a suspicious look around to see if anyone is in the kitchen. She heads for a cupboard and opens it and we get a close up of what is in the cupboard, which happens to be alcohol. Another fade transition sees Nicola stuffing something into her bag, presumably the alcohol, look around and leave the kitchen. Yet again another fade transition to a close up of the character Jessica who appears to be crouched or sat down. The camera pans down and we see her staring at a pregnancy test, which is implying she has found out she is pregnant. This then fades out to a still of the Ashfields pub, with text and the channel logo on it. With the overlay of a speech, this says Ashfield Oaks coming soon to channel 4. Throughout the trailer we have a non digetic mellow music and only have speech in the talking scene. This fades out as the details of the soap are announced.

Evaluation

In what ways does your soap trailer use develop or challenge the forms and conventions of its genre?

My soap trailer is very different to many current and previous existing soap opera trailers. This is firstly because we are introducing a new soap opera into the market. This means we cannot use certain genre conventions within our for example the Eastenders’ trailer of Kat and Alfie returning presented in a western theme, because the theme connotes the idea of trouble being back in town, and the characters are ironically known for being loud and argumentative especially Kat Moon. When we were planning our soap we had to take these conventions into account. Our trailer is similar to the opening montage within soaps like Coronation Street; however this has been developed as our trailer introduces issues which will be explored in episodes as the soap develops and our audience acknowledge the characters in the soap. Our trailer uses a narrative ellipsis as it explores the parallel scenes, bringing different storylines in with one another. These scenes show a representation of youth being unruly as one of the characters is stealing alcohol, and connotes the idea of the Hollyoaks theme of younger generation soap. When thinking of production we had to be careful in the way we produced the characters, as Hollyoaks and Coronation Street are two separate soaps. Our characters in our soap are similar to those in Hollyoaks, therefore are more likely to be less mature than most characters in Coronation Street however as more are living alone they are more likely to be more mature than teenagers in soaps such as Coronation Street.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

My main product combined with my ancillary text work extremely well together. I feel this is because the poster gives more of a drama series effect; this is why I inputted the text ‘hottest soap in town’ because the audience would have been oblivious to it being a soap opera. I have chosen to have my characters in character for my poster; my reason for this was because the audience will be more interested in the character profiles and storylines. If I had chosen to make a poster of snap shots of all the characters, it would not have a professional approach and would not have a unique selling point which attracts the target audience. This is why I have chosen to use the same photograph as used on my TV magazine cover, which is stating that Jess is pregnant. This combines with the trailer because the second to last shot is of Jess sat down staring at a pregnancy text. This is a storyline which automatically grabs our target audience’s attention because it is dealing with current affairs of teenage pregnancies. As our soap targets all audiences but we expect that more of a younger generation will watch, we chose to show our soap on channel four which is also stated on the poster. I feel this will make our soap very competitive with Hollyoaks as it is also shown every evening. When creating we had to consider the competition with other soaps which have been around for longer however attracting a broader audience because of the new storylines and plots they are producing. On the poster and the trailer we said that our soap will be shown at 8oclock, this is just for the first episode. The times will vary on nights that the soap Eastenders is on, to attract our target audience to also watch the soap. To finalize what has been said, I feel strongly that my poster backs up our trailer and our trailer supports my poster.

What have you learnt from audience feedback?




During our editing processes we had to explore what different ages of our target audience felt about the trailer. I produced burned edits after each structural production and showed them to my audiences. I produced a short questionnaire for them which asked questions about if they felt like it was a soap opera trailer and not a drama, what they liked and disliked, what they thought could be improved, and if they understood the narrative. After the first edit we found that some shots needed reshooting because of poor lighting and the situation being unlikely in a soap opera. We also found that the narrative structure was not clear as to what was happening and who was who. From the second edit we found that the soap trailer made much more sense however we found that some scenes were too long to explore what was happening in the narrative, which lost their attention. We also included a voiceover at the end of the soap, which was too long and inappropriate; however this idea could be explored and still used however re done to seem more professional and realistic. From the third audience feedback it was noted that there was no channel logo or writing on the final voiceover, this had to be changed before the final copy being released as it is unprofessional and would not happen in the real world. We also discovered that our audience felt that the introduction of the Browns family was too short, this could mean reshooting. After the fourth edit being produced we found things like the transitions needed to look more professional to appear to the audience and that the kitchen scene was to brief. I feel that giving our target audience the opportunity to do this really helped because it meant that we could improve our trailer to the best of our ability. I chose a realistic target audience to do this for me as they would be the people watching the soap opera. The audience feedback meant that our trailer had the most professional approach possible, and it helped us know what would be successful.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction research and planning and the evaluation stages?


IMovie Logo


Photoshop logo



Indesign logo



Over the past two years I have learnt many skills in the media industry. From filming in a professional style to creating my own TV listings cover. I had a very vague knowledge of video editing however I have learnt how to use two new video editing programs, this being Adobe Premier Elements and I movie (which is designed specifically for Apple Mac computers). I have developed the skills and learnt how to make an opening scene of a horror movie to producing a trailer for a soap opera. I now have a wider understanding of the media industry and learnt how hard it is to make something be successful in the media. I have learnt that you have to think about portraying characters and if they are a stereotype what are they representing and how the audience choose to receive this within its genre, year twelve this was about creating a realistic horror film and in my second year creating a whole new soap opera basis and then creating a trailer which would sum up just some of the things which would happen within the soap. This was not the easiest of tasks to complete as we were trying to create a very competitive genre, therefore had to understand all the conventions of a soap opera as a genre, as I had more personal experience I generally knew the families and their stereotypes however I had to research this thoroughly to explore the impact it has on a broader audience. I also engaged with my brief by responding appropriately. I was constantly getting audience feedback on my soap opera to help it reach its potential. I feel that I definitely developed my skills over the two years as two years ago I would not have even thought about the research that has to go in and the knowledge about each genre convention required for creating a successful media product. For my ancillary texts for A2 I learnt a whole new package which made it much easier to create a professional style TV listings cover. This is a skill I will use later on in life if I wish to pursue a career in the I.T profession, I had no previous experience with this and believed it would be much easier, however I had to carry out research and analyze current magazines for my product to reach its potential. I feel that evaluating edits of my product and getting my target audience to evaluate them was a key in making my product successful, this is because my target audience are already aware of the soap operas that are already out there, therefore they know what they are looking for and what they would like to see.