Editing our soap trailer: Visual Effects

We chose to use these visual effect:

• Shake - This effect made the camera visually move. This effect made the audience feel involved or experience what the characters are going through. We used the shake effect when Mark pushed/shook his girlfriend away.
• Slow Motion - We used this effect for emphasising significant parts of our soap trailer to make them stand out to the audience. Slow motion was used to exaggerate the fight in the soap trailer and make this action more powerful to the audience.

We used a few transitions in our soap trailer as well, which were;

• Blur
• Cross Dissolve
• Directional Angle

Using transitions and effects makes our soap trailer visually exciting and the pace helps to move make the trailer 'flow' and fit together. They make the trailer's pace fast, intriguing and exciting for the audience and this will appeal to our target audience. 

Editing our soap trailer: Title Screen.

As we was researching different soap trailers, we found that they all had a title screen at the end or beginning of their soaps which would advertise the soap name and which channel the soap would be on.We looked at the traditional BBC title screen as this is the channel that we decided we want our soap to be broadcasted on:

As we wanted to appeal to the younger audience we decided to change the traditional title screen. We also thought this would stand out from the other programs that are our competition on BBC one. Therefore, we decided to change the layout of the writing and the colour. We changed the colour from the traditional red to blue.

Our music

Our music ideas for our soap trailer:

• 4String - Take Me Away (Neucore Mix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsKGeE5Awc8
• Joman - Epedemic (Neucore Mix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uo9T8iI1ao
• Un-copyrighted Music Songs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0PcBzNRrdg
• Non-Copyrighted Music Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMIDONPtCUE 

As our soap is aimed at the younger audience we wanted a song to be quite modern but also a song that is catchy and will draw the audience to watch the trailer. We wanted this to get the audience 'hooked' and intriguing to watch this soap because the music is upbeat and catchy. Although we found that some modern music didn't fit the soap trailer.

From 'Non-Copyrighted Music Part 1', we decided to chose the 4th song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMIDONPtCUE

Evidence of filming.

These photo's show evidence of filming. We took as couple at each location we went to.





These photo's show how we used different types of shots and angles. It also shows how we set up the equipment effectively to get the best footage we could.





These images also so some of the characters in our soap trailer and us filming the characters.

Props.

We used a few props whilst we filmed our soap trailer. These were:

• Baby scan picture.
• Bike.
• Bag. 
• Suitcase.
• Car.
• Mobile Phone.

Locations

Characters.

We had a range of characters for our soap trailer. Here are pictures of the characters we used.

Grandparents and grandaughter.

Young mother with her child.

Ricky, the bad guy.

Helen, going through teenage pregnancy.

Rowen, Toni and Mark, the love triange.

Equipment needed.

In able for us to produce our soap, the equipment we used were:

• HD Video Camera
• Tripod
• Digital Camera (We used this to capture photo's to show evidence of us filming)

Script for individual voice overs.

This is our script for our soap opera trailer which the audience can relate to.

• "Looks like it's a new start baby"

This is Aleisha's voice over when she arrives at the train station with Charlie which implies to the audience that she has ran away and her and Charlie are going to start a new life in a different place together.

• "Ohhh!"

This is Helen's voice over when she realises that there is a problem with the baby she is carrying which implies to the audience that there is some kind of danger or trouble with this young mum to be and her baby.-

• "What is this?!"

This is Mark's voice over when he receives a picture of his girlfriend cheating on him with another woman and a text about this affair which implies to the audience that he is upset, angry and confused as to why he has been betrayed.

• "Is this it?"

This is Cara's voice over when she arrives at her new home with her grandparents which implies to the audience that there may be some disappointment.  

• "I can't deal with this anymore"

This is Eva's voice over when she runs away from home implies that she may be having trouble and has had enough of her family, friends or that she may be being bullied and there could be many issue to why she is running away. 

BBC institutional information

The BBC is the largest broadcasting organisation in the world. The programs broadcasted on this channel give the audience information, education and entertain. It was established by a Royal Charter and funded by the licence fee that is paid by UK households.

The BBC uses the income from the licence fee to provide services including 8 national TV channels plus regional programming, 10 national radio stations, 40 local radio stations and an extensive website.

Michael Grade was responsible for introducing stripped and stranded schedules to BBC television in his role as controller of BBC 1: from 18 February 1985 onward the schedule has consisted entirely of half-hour or one-hour programmes starting on the hour, or half hour (the BBC channels do not carry spot advertising).

typical narratives

Typical narratives in soap opera's are quite stereotypical of certain characters. For example, in Eastenders people know this family to be a low class, 'chavy' family which many issues, such as money, single parent.



There's always a good guy that is the 'hero'.



Also there's a 'bad guy' or the tough family. For example, the Mitchell family.

Soap Titles.

For soap titles we decided to go for a walk and look at different sign posts to get some idea's. We looked at a few street names and finally decided to take a street name. We chose 'Conway road' as we thought that 'Conway' was the one that was the most catchy and had a ring to it. Below are a few of the posts that we found.

Production Schedule.

Tuesday 29th November.
Film Aleisha and Charlie at the train station. With Ricky biking by.
Film Helen and Ricky biking again down an alley.


Sunday 4th December.
Film Grandparents and their grand-daughter getting out the car, with Ricky biking again.


Friday 9th December.
Film Eva at a house, running away from home.


Monday 12th December.
Film a love triangle with two girls and one guy which involves different sexuality.

Potential location photo's.

Below are some photo's of our potential location photo's.

Idea's for our storyboard.

Idea's for Characters.

Initial idea's for our soap trailer.

Sketch.

Target Audience.

Our target audience for our soap programme is aimed at the younger generation, teens and young adults aged 16-24 years old. This is because our soap contains issues that relate to youths, such as sex, violence, alcohol, drugs etc. We got some of our influences from programmes such as 'Hollyoaks', 'Skins' and 'Shameless'.

Typical settings for soaps.

In Eastenders, there is the Queen Vic. There is always a main pub in soaps.



In Eastenders, there is a cafe.



In Eastenders, there's a market.



In Eastenders there is a train station. There is often a train station or something similar such as bus stop.

Which channel should our soap be broadcasted on?

I think that our channel should be broadcasted on BBC as the BBC is traditionally known for it's famous soap 'Eastenders' which is aimed at adults rather than the younger generation, although some of the young generation are interested in this soap as it relates to some social issues. BBC have a gap in the market for a young soap. For the younger audience there is a BBC3 channel which 'Eastenders' is replayed on. However, this channel involves comedy and real life stories which appeal to the younger generation and is a very popular channel. Therefore I believe that our soap should be broadcasted on BBC1 as it will attract more attention from different age groups, as well as it is being a worldwide channel.

Are soaps dumbing down or do they reflect social realism?

Some people would agree that soaps are 'dumbing down' and are 'jump TV' but on the other hand some would disagree.

• Because soaps are not seen as intellectual programs.
• Soaps have numbers of incidents and issues that occur to a certain group of people.
• Soaps encourage to see life in very simple, black and white ways.
• The tabloid press focus so heavily on events in soaps that people lose sight of the distinction between reality and television, characters and actors/actresses. 

However:

• Soaps reflect the society in which we live and encourage us to reflect on our own lives and attitudes.
• Soaps are hugely popular because they are relevant to the lives of the audience.
• Soaps reflect social issues in a topical, challenging and responsible way, maintaining a balance between drama and realism.
• Soaps depict ordinary people, different genders, and people from different ethnic backgrounds in positive ways.

How does this extract from Eastenders demonstrate soap conventions?

• Location - Characters houses where the scene is set, popular place, social places where characters meet and mingle, for example, The Queen Vic or The Cafe in Eastenders.
• Camerawork - Mostly mid-shots.
• Editing - Only uses mainly hard cuts throughout.
• Lighting, naturalistic, high key - Inside (characters houses/pubs etc) and outside (the market)
• Sound - Diagetic apart from the theme tune at the beginning and end.
• Character representation - Stereotypes, typical teenager, skiving school., fights. Young parents, single parent trying to do the best for their son/daughter. Typical families. Real life stories - alcoholics, aggressive family member(s) etc.

Typical characters.

There are many stereotypical characters in a soap or issues. Some people can relate to these issues and character. There are many, such as:

• Young/single mum.
• Alcoholic/druggy.
• Violent person, the 'tough' man.
• The boss
• The strong women.
• Pregnant teen.
• Abused character.
• Poor/no education, skips school.
• Life problem e.g cancer.
• Divorced couple.
• Ethnic issues, different background, race etc.
• Young couple.
• 'lesbian/gay' couple.
• Old people
• Christian (usually an old person)
• Struggling family. (low classed)
• Affairs.
• Dumb blonde(s).