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.