Music Choice 2

NOSTALJA - Greenhaus (Presented by DJ Zorro)

This Album will contain Original Works, Traditional Ballads, and Popular tunes, from the 1960's era of the Golden Years of Classic R&B, Rock&Roll music, Licensed by the original artists or copyright expired.

Proposed Release Date 7th April 200

I found this track listed on the creative commons website Jamendo and instantly recognized it to be from the gangster film Casino (1995). The piece, although extremely dark, is powerful and atmospheric creating a criminal hostile atmosphere, this was what we were hoping to achieve from our media product. Currently we believe this piece is the one we will use for the main product, as it is recognizable and fits our mood perfectly.

Ancilary task- Magazine cover

As part of our ancillary tasks, we are going to created the front cover of a TV listings magazine/Soap opera magazine with our story on the front. Before creating the front cover, we had to research some that are already avaliable to buy in the shops now.

Below are numerous soap magazine covers in particular that we looked at in detail to see what features needed to be included on the front of our own magazine.

Looking at the soap magazine covers, they all look rather similar. They use bright, bold colours mainly primary colours, large and eye catching font and have large images of the main characters on the front. They are all very busy which makes them much more appealing to read and allows the reader to be interested in the magazine. Soap Opera Weekly, is the most appealing due to the big, bold main cover line on the front of the magazine which dominates the cover. Soap Opera Digest, is one that did not inspire us too much for our own production, the masthead of the magazine is not really eye-catching and just blends in with the rest of the magazine, also the fonts arn't too attractive and overall it does not look as interesting to read as the other soap magazines. Inside soap, is the magazine that is most inspiring for our own magazine, as it has a bold, striking masthead, good positioning of the main image and it looks busy with lots of cover lines.

This magazine cover for 'Soap Opera Weekly,' caught my eye when researching soap opera listings magazines, as it is much more dramatic and attractive than others I found. The use of the close up image allows the audience to feel connected and involved in the image. The vector shape, creates extra detail and drama to the cover of the magazine and makes the storyline appeal more exciting.

Above is a magazine cover from the 'all about soap' magazine showing a similar storyline to the one we are promoting in our own production: a love triangle. The positioning of the characters is essential to convey the storyline clearly to the audience. The male character in the middle of the two women, shows that it is the man that is in the middle of the triangle. The characters facial expressions also add to the clear presentation of the characters for example, sonia on the left hand side, makes it clear that she is his girlfriend as her face conveys a sense of anger and sadness, Zoë on the right hand side, is clearly the love interest, as her facial expression shows her character as being sly and conniving . The body language of the characters has cleverly been constructed in the image, to get across the storyline with the two women characters slightly back to back to show they are rivals.

Ancillary Task-Poster

For our ancillary tasks, we have chosen to create the front cover of a TV listings magazine and a range of promotional material to promote our soap and our trailer. We are going to create a number of posters, including billboard posters and one for bus stops. All these promotional materials will enable us to create our brand image along with promoting our soap and trailer.

We have researched a number of soap posters that are possible inspirations for our own production. Below, is a poster for ITV's Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach, which were created by ITV to promote the programme. The poster is good inspiration for our task as it has simple shots that easily convey what the programme is about. The use of the puppet string, shows that the writers of Moving wallpaper are controlling Echo Beach, the use of props, facial expression and body language connotate the programme content and what the soap is about.

Below is another poster for an ITV programme, this time a drama and the genre is clearly show in the image. The use of the action still shot, creates a sense of realism and allows the audience to feel 'in the moment.' The poster promotes the programme well and people who are not familiar with The Bill, will be aware of the genre and what to expect of the programme. We are aiming to do the same, by creating posters that will enable the audience to fully understand what our soap is about and clearly understand representations of the characters.

Music Choice one

This is our first choice musical piece that we have chosen to possibly use as the non-digetic soundtrack to our soap trailer. This song is performed by the Blues/Jazz musician Oscar Brent, a songwriter and performer from belgium. The track is dark and edgy, very much like the brand image of our soap. Brent's voice is deep and haunting, very much like the johnny Cash voice in the 'judgement day for max' soap trailer for Eastenders. (Below)

Lock Stock Poker Scene

Below is a clip of the poker scene from the film Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels which has very similar shots

to the some of the shots that our soap trailer will have. The video has a lot of close up and angle shots of the

characters so it does not reveal the full face of the character, creating suspense which is something we aim

to do in our own production. The film is a gangster film and so theme of the film relates well to the theme of our

soap trailer with it revolving around a ganster and his girlfriend.

Logo (Brand Image)

Above is our soaps logo which was inspired by the Eastenders logo. We decided on this design as it clearly shows location of our soap just as the Eastenders one does. The image was shot at the top of Shear Brow, Blackburn by Rob and James. It is an extreme long shot from a slightly high angle as it was shot at the top of a hill, this shows clear location and consists of a wide range of areas in the location. The image has a slight greyscale effect, which enable it to look gritty and dark, connotating the gangster, sly, hard hitting, realistic feel to it, therefore contributing to the creation of the brand image of the soap. The font that we chose, was selected for being bold, eye catching and complimenting our image effectively. We feel that eventually, it will be the font that will become recognised as the logo that people will associate the soap with.

Animatic story board

Above, is an animatic display of our storyboard for our T.V trailer. It lists the general idea of the shots we will be using however we were planning on using a few more close ups (e.g. whiskey glass close up and chip throw close up).

The animatic is performed a little faster than we are expecting our actual trailer to be, we are including more slow pace shots and slow motion editing in our final shoot to create a truly cinematic effect which many soap trailers have.

I feel that this storyboard is well articulated as it clearly states the type of shot we are hoping to achieve, although the first slide do move a little to quickly.

Planning

PROPS LIST

Poker set (chips and cards)

Green Felt

Ring

Dress

Shoes

Black Suit

White Suit

Whiskey

Whiskey Glass

Hat

Large, round table

CAST LIST

Gangster- Rob Maclean

Female Protagonist- Hannah Gilrane

Love Interest- James Laraway

LOCATIONS

Hawarth Art Gallery- Potential door shot

St Mary's College performance theatre- Majority of all the shoot

This shot is of the performance theatre at our college, St Mary's which is the location for our shoot. We originally wanted to shoot our trailer in a location outside of college to give us a more realistic, experimental approach to the shoot. However, visiting the theatre, it was clear it was a perfect location to film our trailer. The room is dark with the black curtains around the room and the only light available, is the spot lights above the room, which are just right for creating the gangster feel to our poker scene. On shooting our trailer, we are going to have one main spotlight on the table and the characters to create the perfect atmosphere.

Call Sheet

Health and Safety Form

Ideology

The text that we are making is aiming to force many different ideoligies and values toward the audience. All characters that are in the trailer are going to be stereotypical and therefore will all share the same moral values of that particular stereotype which they represent (eg the gangster is shown to be a drinker/ gambler intensifying the image and his values). The ideology of "love conquers all" will be offered to the audience but also the alternative ideology, that love is over powered by status and control, as the female is controlled so much by her gangster boyfriend, it's hard for her to follow her heart and be with the innocent man who she really loves.  Another  ideology that the audience is offered with, is that it is the men whodo  the chasing of the women, as both male characters are chasing the one female. All these ideologies are quite dominant as most countries/ people share these beliefs and therefore the audience will most probably be able to relate to the ideologies they are being presented with. All these ideologies link to our genre, as we are offering a gangster genre which the ideology of love being overpowered by status and control

Feedback 4/12/09

Very good group - very good posts/analysis for research and well chosen extracts!

- Research - which channel will produce your soap and why?- what is the brand image is of your soap?

Planning
- make sure you have put your target audience questionnaires and results on here
- Storyboard and animatic with comments-
- shooting schedule and call sheets-
- health and safety form-
- props list
- cast list- other location shots
- costume shots/ideas etc...

- keep blogging on your ideas and progress

Miss McNulty

Representation

Our TV trailer consists of three main characters, two protagonists and one secondary character.

The two protagonists are going to be created as stereotypes.

"stereotypes are a typical or mass produced images, repeated so may times, it seems to have an established pattern. It is a simplified and highly judgmental type of representation"

Stewart, Lavelle and Kowaltzke

With stereotyping, the process of selection is excessive. Certain aspects are focused on and then exaggerated. At the same time an evaluation is made and the audience is invited to make a judgment. Repetition establishes stereotypes and over time allows them to appear "natural"

Walter Lippman, defined four main functions of stereotyping:

-an ordering process

-a short cut

-an expression of our values and beliefs

-a map of the world

It is important for us to create stereotypes in our TV trailer, as they will allow quick recognition for the audience in such a small space of time, they will allow the audience to relate and quickly understand the content of the trailer by understanding the characters and their personality without even watching an episode and getting to know the character and it will also be useful for us to convey lots of information quickly.

Our soap opera/trailer will include three main characters. The ganster, the woman and the love interest. The gangster will be played by myself, the woman by Hannah and the love interest by James. Obviously due to all the characters being different, they will all be represented in different ways to enable the audience to understand the different roles that are being played. The female protagonist will be portrayed as being innocent, elegant but also made obvious that she is hiding her secret. Scenes with the woman, will be brightly lit up and perhaps side lighting will also be used, to establish the double life she is leading.

The gangster character will be filmed in the dark will low lighting to show his character as being dark and myserious. His character will be played confidently and slyly. He will be dressed in a black suit to give him the gangster representation.

The love interest will be shot in high lighting to show his character as vulnerable and the 'nice guy' who has innocently fallen in love with the woman. His character will be played almost confidently to reassure himself he will end up with the female and he will wear a white suit to give him the good, innocent representation of his character.

Audience

• Our main target audience is explained using the demographic profiling of GRASS:

G- Typically a female audience because the plot of the soap a love triangle and so it will appeal more to women and typically, women watch soaps more than men.

R- Any races will enjoy our soap.

A- Our target age range is between 16 and 35 .

S- Our product would attract an audience around c1/c2 on the socio-economic scale this is because it is a familiar soap to Eastenders and that is who they usually attract and what the plot of these soaps usually concern.

Our audience according to Young and Rubicams cross cultural consumer characteristics would be the mainstream audience. This is because our product is soap trailer and soaps are well known brand names and mainstream audiences tend to buy these brand names.

Our wider secondary audience will also be explained through the GRASS demographic profiling:

G – Our media product is trying to attract both genders because the different themes in our trailer will attract both males and females, e.g, the love triangle for females and the gangster theme for the males.

R – Our trailer will not specifically target a certain race it will use familiar soap story lines that will attract trhe usual audience of soaps however it is a universal soap and the trailer will attract a variety of different races because it is a universal storyline that people of all races could relate to.

A – The main age range for our trailer, is 16-35, however we are not aiming to limit our soap to this age range, the older generation will also appreciate it because they most probably grew up with gangster films like the Godfather so the gangster theme in the trailer will appeal to them.

S – The wider secondary audience from the socio economic scale would be D and B this is because although the plot of the trailer and others like it focus on c1 and c2 people both D and B people can relate because they are around that level.

By using Maslows hierarchy of needs I am able to show the basic human needs our text fulfills therefore why it appeals to our audience. On the scale our product represents love and belonging and that is why the audience will be interested in it. The reason our trailer represents love is because the plot is a love triangle with a good guy and a bad guy so the audience will want to see the soap to see what happens and hopefully for the good guy to get the girl. Blumer and Mcquails theory of uses and Gratifications also shows what basic human needs our media text is going to fulfill. Firstly entertainment it is an entertaining trailer there is a good storyline to the trailer with an old west standoff theme to it. As well as this it reinforces people’s values the good guy standing up to the bad guy who will harm the woman so tries to save her.

Our product will appeal to the mainstream audience because it is a gritty dark soap that throws up a lot of enigmas and is very similar to other gritty well known soaps like Eastenders. This is represented in the trailer via the dark room and tense music and the two males sitting across from each other like in an old western movie at a standoff. The enigmas thrown up with the gun in the pot goes with the theme of the soap a dark, gritty and thrilling show.

Feedback 23/11//09

Some very good research here group on soaps and soap trailers - well done!

You do need to define brands and branding - see your class notes - get some quotes e.g. Naomi Klein etc...

Why is branding important when selling a product ( in your case a Soap)?

Also define your idea/plan for your project.

Move onto target audience - you need an age range, gender bias, race and socio-economic status ( if relevant) - you can have secondary audiences that are wider but you need a more specific target - dont forget to use Young and Rubicon for your psychographic profiling too. Dont forget to put your questionnaires and results on here also.

Now move on and look quickly at your other key concepts and we should be starting to see some planning - location shots/casting shots/storyboards etc... Remember to outline your soap and the brand image you are trying to create through your products.

Narrative

We are creating a soap trailer which we have researched and discovered that it is more like a film trailer in that it is enigma driven and does not have to relate to a plot that is going on it could be as simple as someone returning. The trailer needs to link with the theme of the soap which is a dark gritty drama similar to Eastenders.

The plot of our trailer is a love triangle which includes the soaps local gangster his partner and her love interest. The woman has fallen in love the other man but for her to follow her heart could result in her life being in danger due to her gangster boyfriend who feel he posses her and it would destroy his reputation. The start of our trailer is the woman walking towards a door with a shot of her designer shoes to show she is well off she then walks into a room with a poker table and two men sitting round it. The woman touches the gangster on the shoulder and the other man looks with jealousy the cards are dealt by the woman and when they both pick the cards up they both have a smile on their faces so you do not know who has the better hand The two men are holding cards and there is a tense stand off between the two like in a western movie.

The typical narrative structure of our product is one that is very similar to a film trailer in that they are very enigmatic. The trailer brings up a lot of questions and makes us want to find out more and obviously watch the show to see what happens. The trailer goes along with the binary opposites theory in that the trailer is about good versus evil the good guy trying to get the girl with the evil gangster not willing to give her up. A good example of another trailer that represents the binary opposites well is the max payne trailer (below). This is a typical good versus evil trailer with one man standing up for what is right. It is obvious that it is good versus evil because of the use of demons and monsters and the mention of the devil aa well as Max Payne fighting them.

This is a trailer from a similar soap to our own Eastenders which is advertising the debut of two new characters the Mitchell sisters (below). This trailer defiantly does follow the rules of the narrative structure in that it has a lot of enigmas which drive the trailer along. One of the enigmas is the viewer wanting to know why they are coming to the square and at the end when it says the square under new management makes the viewer think that they might be coming in to take over. Another narrative rule this trailer follows is the setting they are in a nightclub which shows they are out to have a good time. The soundtrack to the trailer goes well with the video because it is a dance track and they are dancing but the lyrics go against what the characters are being portrayed as. The lyrics are talking about getting the girls but the men in the trailer are just staring at them they are not getting with them showing that they are strong independent women.

Our media product will follow the typical narrative theory of Propp the story of our media product is a familiar story for mainstream western media a story of good versus evil. The trailer does have some of the main characters that Prop outlines there is a hero, villain and the princess. Our media product follows Propps theory because it is typical of soap storylines to have a hero and villain. It follows the theory by having the three characters round a poker table the woman standing in between the two men who are seated the bad gangster putting a gun into the pot to show he is the villain. The trailer does not follow Todorovs theory of an equilibribium being disrupted and then fixed. The reason it does not follow this theory is because it is a trailer and therefore needs to have enigmas so there cant be a second equilibrium shown because the story would be given away. Our media text does follow the narrative theory of Levi-strauss probably more than any other narrative theory, this is because the storyline is about conflict which is represented through the two main characters sitting at other sides of the table. As well as this our media text follows Barthes narrative theory that texts are built of codes. It follows the enigma code by making the viewer ask questions like what will happen next which makes them want to watch on. It also follows the action code theory becasaue there is not a lot said in the trailer the looks between the characters are important in informing the viewer what is happening.

Genre

TV trailers are created to promote a particular storyline that is coming up in the soap. They usually concentrate on one particular character which focuses on the characters role in the leading storyline.
Below is a TV trailer for Coronation Street where it focuses on Tony Gordon,the local business man, who has two sides to his character. This is all shown and promoted in this trailer.It is clever as it establishes the genre of the soap well as Tony is considered a caring, kind and thoughtful character on the street, something which audiences usually associate with the genre of Coronation Street. The trailer also includes a slogan which is a pun on the soaps trailer content and the soaps narrative. It relates well to the soap and allows consistency within the branding element of a soap. It goes against what the audience expect from this particular soap, however special storylines are created to entice the audience and give them something interesting and something almost unexpected of the soap, this draws in the viewers as they are not something that happens in every episode unlike social issues and realistic storylines.





Below is a TV trailer for Emmerdale which does not follow the conventions of the soap but is more like a film trailer, something that is typical for promoting a main story line coming up in the programme. It does not show one typical geographical location, it is instead mainly set in a luxurious bathroom something that is not a typical location in any soaps as it does not create a sense of realism. The costume of Charity excluding the end of the trailer is not typically something an audience would see a soap opera character wearing and there is no particular social issue present in the trailer.



Our soap is not really a hybrid but could be argued that it has a 'gangster' genre with the protagonist and the main storyline which our trailer will
TV soaps do follow the main conventions of the genre with main characters and stereotypes, the soaps distinctive mise-en-scene and typical ideologies. However in soap promos all of these are broken and there is no evidence of soap conventions.
For example typical conventions of a soap is
-the iconic theme tune and establishing shot,(shown below, the Eastenders opening)
-a close geographical location
-a core cast of familiar characters that the audience recogise and form personal relationships with.
-Stereotypes
-Multi-stranded narratives
-Cliff Hangers
-Time-the past is acknowledged and there is a sense of future
-Communal meeting places (pubs,cafes etc)
-Realism of costumes and set
-Important social issues are addressed, Crime, pregnancy, adultery, rape etc...
All of these conventions are present in most soaps with few breaking the conventions.



According to Brown (1997) soap operas are primarily aimed at a female audience even though many males enjoy watching them.


Christine Geraghty (1991) suggests that there are four elements which explain the appeal of soap operas...
-an emphasis on a central woman whom the audience is invited to support,
-a division between the public and private sphere with woman controlling the public space.
-an emphasis on building and maintaining relationships.
-an element of fantasy in which things such as love and relationships are given priority.


There are two genres that our main project is going to follow, the soap opera genre and the soap trailer genre . However our trailer will not follow the conventions of a typical soap but follow a similar format to film trailers. They often break the realism which soaps are normally confined.

Insitution and Branding

Branding is a very important part of promoting a particular product, is helps to enable a reputation and a relationship between the brand name and the actual product.

"Competitive branding became a necessity of the machine age-within a context of manufactured sameness, image-based difference had to be manufactured along with the product" Naomi Klein,No logo.

For this reason, branding is very important to our industry. The design of our logo, the genre and choice of institution, all need to be a brand of our soap and trailer. It is important to have a familiar, recognisable image that the audience can associate the product with time and time again. It creates a sense of relation between the audience and the product. The use of logos, slogans, and choice of institution all create a brand image for a product which, "provides customers with a consistent, compelling experience in order not to confuse them as confusion can lead to doubt." mudvalley.com

However a brand is not the same as our product, for example a TV soap is a product but Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale are all different makes of a soap.

All british soaps that we had researched have a brand image that easily allows the audience to associate a particular logo for example with a particular soap.

Our brand image, is similar to Eastenders with the dark, gritty, realistic feel to it. Our Tv trailer, logo and advertisement posters will all promote and push this brand image. The idea of being sly and gangster like will be pushed in our trailer with the portrayed image of our main protagonists.

Below is a number of brand logo's for different british soaps. It is clear that the image of the logo allows people to automatically link it to a specific soap or by watching the first few seconds of the opening sequence, the audience is clear as to what soap they are watching, just by the logo, and music being played.

Just looking at the logo for Coronation Street it is clear what the soap is about. It connotates family life, an old working class society, northern, friendly, old fashioned, war-time spirit feel to it and in some respects uncontroversial compared to other soaps such as Eastenders and hollyoaks. It is aimed at an older audience and just from the colours, and the mise en scene from the logo such as the old fashioned milk float make it clear what Coronation Street is about.

The Eastenders logo is very simple with a birds eye view of the East End of London. Although there is nothing much to this logo it is very clear of this soaps location-East London. This connoates city life, urban, controversy, working class, crime. The colours on the logo are grey and dreary which relate well to the location and weather of London.

This soap trailer for Eastenders helps to create the brand image. At the end of the trailer a brand slogan is used which helps to create the identity of the programme. The slogan "there's more to Eastenders" relates well to the brand image by creating a sense of grittiness and secrecy.

The Emmerdale logo clearly initiates the soap with being set in a small village in the countryside with the greenery ,the village pub and the land rover. It is not really controversial and more a more local feel where everyone knows everyone elses business.

The name 'soap opera' first coined in the 1930's 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, or other dramatic/melodramatic situations. By the 1950's, these serials had made the transition to the TV. They spread across the world and grew in popularity. ITV's soap Coronation Street, is the longest running soap in the world.

We researched Soap Opera viewing figures to see which Institutional Soap was watched most, at the beginning of the week (monday) 15th November 2009. Below is a comparison of several soap viewing figures which helped us to establish which was most popular by the viewing public. These figures, were found on, http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammesOverview?

BBC 1- Eastenders 9.5 million

ITV 1- Coronation Street 10.7 million

ITV 1- Emmerdale 7.51 million

Channel 4- Hollyoaks 1.80 million

Channel 5- Neighbours 1.67 million

Channel 5- Home & Away 1.25 million

Evaluating these figures, it is clear that Coronation Street was the most popular viewed soap on this particular night, having over 10 million viewings. Eastenders was the second most popular viewed soap.

Although ITV1's Coronation Street was the most highly viewed soap and could therefore suggest it is most popular, we have decided to create our Soap and TV trailer for the BBC institution as it is most like Eastenders with the gritty, realistic, dark feel to it.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to our blog!

Our group consists of Hannah, Rob and James and we have chosen to produce a TV/Soap promotion.

We are intended to create a promotion package for a new soap opera which is to include:

-a TV trailer

with two of the following...

-a listing magazine

-two hyperlinked websites (with a video extract) for the soaps website

-a poster for the soap

We have chosen to create the listings magazine and the poster to promote the soap.