Soap Brief

Soap opera brief:
A promotion package for a new soap, a TV trailer, together with two of the three following options:
-A listings magazine Front Cover featuring the new soap
-Two hyperlinked web pages with video extract for the soaps website
-A poster for the soap.

Northern Rock:final draft

Researching and designing my billboards.

When designing my billboards I took into consideration what other billboards look like and the conventions used. I felt like my soap belonged to the channel E4, as it was a mixture of a realism soap but also melo drama, just like the soap Hollyoaks. I researched the branding of usual E4 advertising so that my work looked realistic and met the conventions used in E4's usual billboard advertisements. Whilst researching E4 advertisements, I mainly looked into the Billboards Hollyoaks have used in the past. I found that Hollyoaks use the stars who are in the main story line, and arrange them closely together, which I have replicated in my own work.

Final Ancilaries
I have created a billboard and Magazine front cover for my soap. I created these with somebody in my group called Sophie. We both worked together and discussed what we wanted our anciliaries to look like, then created then. I will explain what parts of the Front cover and Magazine I created.

Billboard
Here is our final version of our Billboard. We used a red background as we agreed red is a uni sex colour and we wanted to show that our soap was aimed at both genders. To make the billboard, we both took pictures of the stars in the soap, then each photoshopped three people, getting rid of any background, so the stars were ready to put onto any background. Sophie postioned the stars into place, and I created the logo, which I made on Keynote.

Front Cover
Here is our final version of our magazine front cover. In making our magazine we both agreed to make a 'classy' TV magazine.We used the edited photos from our billboard, and I postioned the stars onto the Magazine. I also made up the name of the Tv Magazine, whilst Sophie thought of the colours to use. We created the other story lines up together.

Making my ancillaries
When making my ancillaries I researched into magazines with the same genre and similar layout and style to the magazine i was going to create. I based my magazine on the magazine 'fabulous', and followed the conventions by developing the features that Fabulous magazine possess. I named my magazine 'Scandalous', I used a simple colour scheme and only used three different colours on the front cover.

Here is my front cover and the fabulous front cover that I used while making mine. As you can see, the mastheads are both white, the same front is used, and only one picture was used. Making the magazines look more professional then a usual Television magazine. The white masthead stands out on both magazines, meeting the conventions of a usual 'classy' Television magazine. Both front covers have also incorporated other pages that would be in the magazine, such as fashion and different Television programmes but have kept the focus as the main picture.

Question Two

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts.


I have made a prezi to show how I created my ancillary pieces and trailer and how the three combine by the use of the colour scheme, narratives characters and branding and by doing this I created, a recognisable soap for a pacific target audience.

Question Three
'What have you learnt about the significance of audience feedback?'

Throughout the course I have always looked to my friends and peers for feedback and advice on my work, to help me change and develop my trailer and anciliaries.

I did this by posting drafts of my work on my blog so me peers could give me advice with with I could change to make my work better. I used the feedback to help me make my work better. For example there would be comments such as 'make some cuts shorter'.

I have created a prezi with examples of audience feedback and I have showed how it has helped me.

Question 4:Other techonologies i have used

Here I will list the other technologies i have used when creating my ancillary and billboard. I will explain why i used them and how i used them.

Blogger
I used blogger to  create a blog to show the work i have done. I found blogger easy and straight forward to use and so could create a post whenever I needed i needed to create a relevant post about my coursework. Blogger allows you to put youtube clips onto your posts, by embedding a link on the HTML button. I could post powerpoints by using slideshare, and put pictures onto my blog by just pressing the image button and uploading them onto the post.

Green screen and DSLR cameras
To create my ancillary and billboard I used a DSLR camera and a green screen. The DSLR camera allowed me to take a clear picture of a high very quality which looked very professional. I could adjust the height of the DSLR camera to get the perfect shot, with not too much empty space around it. By using the green screen we could change the colour of the background or change the background if we wished. But by using the green screen it gave us good lighting for the shoot, and we could increase the lighting if we wanted with reflective light boards. The background was also easy for us photoshop.

The DSLR camera we used for our shots.

Photoshop

To create my final products I used photoshop to get rid of the background in the shots we used.

Slideshare

To post powerpoints onto my blog i used a site called slideshare. The website was easy to use as all we had to do, was sign in using our blogger account, click upload, select the file we wanted to upload and just wait for it to upload.

HD and stills cameras

The group used these cameras to film our trailers. We used the stills camea for photo evidence when we were filming. The HD cameras we used to film our trailer. The HD camera had a microphone on the top and a tri-pod and so we could pan and track smoothly and actors would be able to be heard quietly.

Twitter

We used twitter so we could tweet our media teacher any questions or concerns we had, or to show her links to our trailers and other work on youtube so she could give us feedback.

Question 4:Technologies i used in the Mac suite

To create my trailer, billboard and ancillary i used several different technologies:
Garageband-trailer
Keynote-trailer
Photoshop-ancillary/billboard
iMovie-trailer
Publisher-ancillary
Blogger-other
Powerpoint-other
Youtube-other
Stills cameras-trailer
HD cameras-billboard/ancillary
DSLR cameras for photography and filming-trailer
Greenscreen-billboard/ancillary
Slideshare-other
Twitter-other
 Some of the technologies i used were on a MAC computer. By using a MAC computer this allowed me to make my trailer. I have used quicktime to make screen recordings of how i have used, iMovie, Keynote, Garageband and Youtube.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of exisiting media products?

Nothern Rock 2nd Draft

 

Refilming-Script

Shot One: Sitting down, Cutaway shot of Cason and Kieran
Over Cason's shoulder, Cason to Kieran: "You need to pick one of them or end it with both of them..."
Shot Two: Over Kieran's shoulder, Cason still speaking: "I think thats going to be the only way to resolve it"
Title Card:
Shot Three: Medium close up of Grace, talking to Kate
Shot Four: Medium close up of Kieran, wistful look
Shot Five: Medium close up of Laura, walking towards shop
Shot Six: Medium long shot from behind Cason, Sophie is in the shot, walking towards him
Shot Seven: Over Sophie's shoulder shot, Cason saying: "I didn't mean to hurt you"
Shot Eight: Point of View of Kate and Grace at the Cafe
Shot Nine: Over Cason's shoulder shot, Sophie saying: "It's too late for that"
Shot Ten: Sophie getting on the train
Title Card:
Shot Eleven: Medium side shot of Laura "You know you stabbed me in the back Rachel"
Shot Twelve: Medium side shot of Grace "I never stabbed you in the back... We're not even friends sarah!"
Shot Thirteen: Long shot, Laura walking towards the camera, angry face
Shot Fourteen: Medium close up of Kate, confused face
Shot Fifthteen: Medium close up of Grace on a bed, "I don't think i've over stepped the line"
Title Card:
Shot Sixteen: Shoes walking towards the camera
Shot Seventeen: Zoom out from Grace and Laura looking away from the camera
Shot Eighteen: Camera through Grace and Laura's head, Laura says: "You need to make a decision"
Shot Nineteen: Over Cason's shoulder of Kieran "I did pick one, I just hope it's the right one"
Shot Twenty: Grace slapping Laura, Medium Shot (Quick shot)
Shot Twentyone: Side shot of Kate saying to Cason "She's gone" (Quick shot)
Shot Twentytwo: Cason running up the stairs (Quick shot)
Shot Twentythree: The train leaving + e4 title card

We decided this would be the basic storyline we were going to used but for our trailers we could not use some, use the old shots from our when we first filmed and use the shots in any order we wanted.

Trailer:Music

All trailers have music or sound in the background and so i needed to decide to song would go best with my trailer. It would hae to suit the storylines, genre and pace i wanted my trailer to be. With this in mind here is my first idea for a song for my trailer.



This song is called Climax by Usher. I thought this song might fit in with my trailer because of the relationship storyline with Cason and Sophie. Some of the lyrics are appropriate for that storyline, for example 'you said its better if we love each other seperately', and in my trailer Sophie is moving away. But after some thought i decided this song was'nt completely right for my trailer as it did not right the other storyline at all, and Ushers singing is very high pitched at times making the trailer sound awful because of the dialogue being spoken at the same time.

Refilming.

When the group looked through the shots we filmed in Manchester the majority of our shots were unsteady and not clear because of background noise. We needed our shots steady and clear for audiences to be able to understand the trailer. With this is mind the next time we filmed we used different equipment. We used a tri-pod so the shots were clearer and more steady.

This is Kate using the tri-pod when we refilmed.

This is a photo of the extra equipment we used. The camera has a tri-pod so our shots would be steady and we would be able to pan and track smoothly and clearly. The camera had a microphone on the top so the dialogue would be louder.

Planning:Storyboard

To ensure that when we filmed our trailer we could do it as quick as possible and easily, we decided to create a story board to follow, if we did not have a storyboard we may of found filming very difficult and of got mind block of what to do next and may of ended up disagreeing.We wrote down a rough copy of the locations we were going to be filming and from there decided where we should film first, and what order should we film things. For example, we decided to start filming at Picadilly station, as that was the most furthest away.

We then did rough drawings of what shot types we should use, what would look best to show emotion, and what would look best to show location. Making a rough copy of the storyboard was good for our group, as we could agree on shot types, durations of shots and were certain scenes were going to be filmed, and if we did not agree we could change it.

We then made a final copy of the storyboard so it looked neat and easy to follow. The storyboard consisted of pictures of what the shot should look like, and with writing to show the shot type in each scene, duration of scene and movements.

Refilming-

When editing my first draft of my trailer i found that what we had filmed just wasnt suited to our chosen genre. The shots should of been brighter and clearer to meet the conventions of a Scripted reality trailer. To make sure the audience was entertained and kept in suspense we needed shorter clips. I took this into account for when we re filmed our footage to make sure codes and conventions were met.

New name:Nothern Rock
As a group we decided the  name we was going to call our soap 'Made in Manchester' just wasnt original and too predictable that it was a parody of Made in Chelsea.

As we re named our soap to Nothern Rock we made sure that it was obvious to audiences that is was filmed in the North and not just by its name. We did this by using 'nothern slang' such as 'lad' and 'mate'. We also kept some of the shots that we filmed in Manchester to show were the soap is set.

As we made it clear to audiences that our soap was set in Manchester we decided the names we were originally going to use were 'too posh' so we decided to change them.
Girls names:Beth Rachel Sarah Lauren
Boys names:Luke Ben
The basic storylines we used in our trailer were: relationships,betrayal between friends, confrontation.

Made in Manchester:First draft.

Planning: Existing trailers 2




Close ups are used just as in the first trailer, this shows characters facial expressions and their emotions.
Establishing shots to show the location the characters are in, which also shows their middle class background.
over the shoulder shot makes audience feel like they are in the shot

Girls and boys both wearing smart clothes, hair and makeup looks effortless but flawless

Both trailers both appear to have similar camera shots, and characters always look smartly dress and makeup  and hair looks perfect but like they havent tried. This appears to be the conventions of a Made in Chelsea trailer which i will use in my trailer.

Planning-analysing existing paradies

After i researched paradies and the conventions of paradies and what it takes to create a successfull one, i did further research on paradies that already exist. I watched some paraodies on Youtube which i think capture the codes and conventions that a parody should. Here are some of the youtube links to the parodies i have watched.

The first parody is Made in Chelsea which clearly shows two young girls dressed up

wearing a lot of make up which the MIC characters are known for doing.

The second link is off a TOWIE parody where the two girls look orange because of too much false tan and are carrying dogs like children. Watching these parodies has helped me understand the codes and conventions of parodies more by the use of over exaggerated characters and the over exaggerated script.

Planning: Trailer songs.

For my trailer i decided to use the song Farewell by Rihanna



I decided to use this song as the main storyline in my trailer fits perfectly into this song as it pretty much describes this song. As somebody is moving away and sombody is going to miss them. Some of the lyrics also go perfectly with the other storyline. I have picked out some of the lyrics i think most go with my trailer.

'I dont mind catching up, im on my way, i just can't take the thought of you fair away' - these lyric perfectlysuit where Cason is running through the train station.

'Farewell somebody is going to miss you' - this fits in with the situation as it leaves the audiences wondering if Sophie did leave and Cason wasn't in time to try and persuade her to stay.

'to tell you whats going on' - in the trailer Laura finds out Grace, who she thought was her friend, has told her shes done something which has decieved Laura.

'try hold back my tears' - both Laura and Cason are upset in the trailer for different reasons but do not want to show they are upset.

I decided to use this song as it fits in with all the storylines in my trailer and provokes an emotional response from the audience