My initial ideas included country based soap as this would make the soap quite and have a nice mainly exterior setting. I would include at least five/ six families that all had different storylines behind them explaining who they are and what sort of personalities they had. For example i might of included a gay marriage therefore different opinions of people within the soap could be revealed and i would include an affair to show who’s feelings for who in the soap are real and who’s are fake. I may include a teenage pregnancy to show how traditions have changed over the years and then maybe a death within the first few episodes to make the characters come out of their shells more. The narrative of my soap opera would be open as it would be an ongoing soap that would always lead to another episode.
I took the idea of a quite country based soap from Neighbours and Emmadale as they are both based in the country and both are fantastic soaps which grab their audiences. I took inspiration from Eastenders for the gay marriage as currently syed and Christian are both trying to get marriage but their family is getting in the way, i liked the idea of doing a teenage pregnancy as currently in Coronation Street there is a young teenage couple who are on their own paying for a flat food etc and the girl Katie is also heavily pregnant.
The target audience for this soap is mainly families but could appeal to many more like students or senior citizens based on the characters preference.
As a whole I feel this trailer is quite effective.
It quite clearly shows the narratives with the different storylines.
Through the Mise-en-scene and the clothing worn by the characters within the piece you see the black hoodies and the body bag in the car this adds a suspicious eerie atmosphere to the trailer showing connotations of death.
The narrative is shown to be murder by the suspicious way the two characters i assume as the audience they are the antagonists throwing the body bag from the back of their car and that the person in the body bag was a protagonist. Another narrative may be use of drugs or depression as there is a mid-shot of pills and water on a table. The camera angles worked well, the mid shots gave us a clear view of the suspicious characters and the use of the long shot sets the scene and shows the location of the forest.
The low key lighting works well in this film opening to set the mysterious atmosphere.
Also the use of the blue car goes against the connotations of death use of a black or red car would have signified the murder that had occurred however I understand that this could have been difficult to obtain in a student production, but would of looked more effective if was obtainable.
The titles fit well with the conventions of soap opera they are used to a minimum they are at the end to advertise the soap to the audience letting them know when the episode is on and what channel. Also the use of the titles with the questions such as 'what if' add yet another suspicious atmosphere to the piece.
Walthambury Road Trailer:
As a whole I feel this trailer is not effective.
The narratives are not clearly shown even though they had different storylines they weren’t explained enough for the audience to have an idea about any of the characters.
Through the Mise-en-scene and the clothing worn by the characters within the piece you see the a pregnant teenager dressed in a light coloured jumper which connotes she is innocent and then a youth in a dark coloured hoodie which portrays that he has a dark personality and is an antagonist within the piece, you also see two teenagers in a car dressed wearing stripy jumpers both black and white which shows juxtaposition as the white shows how they are innocent however the black shows a more antagonistic view towards them.
The narrative is shown to be deceit and danger by the way the two characters are kissing in the car you as assume as the audience they are two characters who are having affairs, You see danger through the antagonists throwing the pregnant women to the floor within the shop who was as far as we know a protagonist.
The camera angles worked well, the mid shots gave us a clear view of the two characters in the car kissing and the use of the high angle shot of the pregnant women on the floor with the hoodie above her shows he is dominant over her.
However the handling of the camera wasn’t good especially at the beginning of the piece as the camera is shaky and then zooms into the door of the exterior setting which didn’t look good.
The high key lighting which I didn’t think works well in this film opening to set an atmosphere or interest the audience as they lighting was juxtaposition against the storylines.
The titles didn’t fit well with the conventions of soap opera as there was a lot of writing explaining the tag line and when the episode is on and what channel however they used a very formal font and that went against the look of the soap as they were not dressed or in the right scenes for a formal setting.
I have analysed two soap opera trailers and also a trailer that was made by last year's Year 13s.
I have looked at and analysed these soaps to help me understand how my trailer should be and how the conventions should be used throughout my trailer.
Looking at these trailers has helped me understand how my trailer should have unique and individual style to introduce my soap opera as a new fashionable soap whilst also introducing its characters and the story lines.
A particular convention I would like to use is the Male Gaze Theory to sexualize the female characters in my trailer in order to attract male audience members from the demographic groups C1, C2, D and E.
7pm - Coronation Street Before Emmerdale After Coronation street.
8:30pm - Coronation street before nine 11 documentory After Emmerdale.
BBC One:
7pm - EastEnders trailer - Before trailer: Total Wipeout, After trailer: Doctor Who
9.30pm - EastEnders trailer - Before trailer: BBC Weekend News, After trailer: Doctor Who
10.30pm - EastEnders trailer - Before trailer: Miranda (comedy), After trailer: BBC News At Ten
Coronation Street and EastEnders were played in between soaps that have similar target audiences and before or after an episode of their soap, making them more likely to watch the next episode, through that trailer. As a result of this, when thinking about when we would show our trailer we would take into consideration our target audience. We also had to think about the watershed and took this into consideration when thinking about out target audience and our information within our soap opera trailer.
Here is a mix of Soap Opera posters that i have looked over and roughly evaluated.
The most appealing poster is the Neighbours Poster as this poster has plently of the characters in the picture and is bright and colourful which attracts the audience. It also shows clearly what day the program is on and what time the program plays which makes this clear to the audience. This promotes the show to new audiences aswell.
The most unappealing poster old eastenders blue poster which is boring although it has four interesting pictures on it and shows the title clearly, the background colour is a plain boring navy blue which makes the poster look very uninteresting and not fun for the audience to look at.
To advertise the soap to new audiences as well as the already watching audience
To encourage Viewers to watch the episode.
To engage viewers with the Characters and storyline.
To give viewers a sneak preview of what is about to happen
What demographic groups are most likely to watch Soap Operas?
B -(middle class)
C1- (lower middle class)
C2-(skilled working class)
D -(working class)
E -(those at lowest level of subsistence)
What time are Soap trailers normally shown?
Soap opera trailers are shown normally in the evenings normally before watershed which starts at 9 o'clock they are normally shown before the watershed as they don't include any swear words or violent scenes. A television watershed also serves as a dividing line – it divides the time between where content for families and/or children has to be aired, and where content aimed towards an adult audience can be aired . However, for special episodes which are coming up for a special occasion which has violent scenes or swearing etc they will be shown after watershed.
A little bit about narrative:
There are two narrative modes, open and closed. Open narratives are productions that leave the audience to assume what happens with multiple choices. Where as closed narratives are productions that only have one story with one ending which can not be carried on. There is also two main times of narratives which includes a fractured (or forking paths) narrative, which is a narrative which manipulates the way that an audience thinks whilst watching the film they loose all sense of time and setting as fractured narratives use effects like flashbacks and slow motion which changes the order of the film. Chronological narrative which is a narrative where the storyline runs from A-B it is simply a beginning middle and end which runs smoothly.
What is the normal narrative in a Soap Opera Trailer? Most trailers include an open, fractured narrative allowing the audience to either guess or try to guess the plot or storyline this uses the Uses and Gratifications Theory.
