EvaluationA2 MediaAlex GibbonSoap Opera Trailer The Grove

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Link To Blog...

http://alexgibbonsmedia.blogspot.com/

Link To Rough Cut Trailer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi7W3hMkpBA

Planning...

Before our group began planning our final piece we were given the task on filming a short sequence in college lasting approximately 30 seconds to help ease us into the idea of creating our own soap opera.

We first each watched a different soap opera and chose a scene to replicate ourselves. We chose scenes from Hollyoaks, Coronation street etc and attempted to make them our own.

Link to our first in college trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-aiuwNflos

Planning...Audience profile

Mood Board

What are the interests of my target audience? Teenagers 14-21, Male & Female

Planning... Scripting:Before acting out our soap opera trailer we first had to come up with character

names, storylines and scripts. This allowed us to plan the scenes and discuss

what lines would work well in certain situations.

Planning...

Characters

Tyson’s character has a name which we felt reflected his identity as a drug dealer. We also came up with a costume that anchored the role he way playing. All black with a baseball cap, leather jacket and hoodie created an intertextual link to his dark way of living.

James’ character played the role of a nervous buyer. We felt that in keeping with the stereotype and conventions of how this sub group look we dressed James in a similar manner only not as dark coloured to connote who was the veteran in this sequence.

Tyson James

Craig

Max & Sophie

Jack & Charlotte

Craig's character played the role of a guy who was secretly seeing someone knowing she was already with someone else. This role was difficult to anchor with costume ideas so we therefore stayed neutral and dressed him like the everyday teenager. Craig character also has a secret dark side in the soap that theaudience should look out for.

Max and Sophie were the soap operas main characters

so it was vital for them to stand out. However as they

were a couple they also had to dress in a similar costume. This we did by using an emo subculture costume so they

were a distinctive part of the trailer.

Jack and Charlotte played the role of

couple that appear to be doing just

fine. However, Charlotte acts out

the role of a sort of goody girl but is

actually cheating on boyfriend Jack.

Jack costume is that of a well

dressed teenager who has a car and

what appears to be everything going

for him.

Q1. In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge existing codes and conventions?

In coming up with a media product I was put into a team of

highly skilled media students. When designing my product we

had to consider how our camerawork and mis en scene

would challenge existing codes and conventions. Controversially I, myself had to consider the editing

and sound and how they developed/challenged existing

codes and conventions.

Our first sequence/storyline was in an establishing medium long shot which we decided to use to represent the genre of the sequence. We decided to use this scene and shot type as we felt it related to the stereotype of what popular drug dealing scenes take place, in our soap opera it was in a rundown alleyway of a back road. The alley’s walls were old and the floor was a mixture on broken pieces on concrete and rubble. This represented the characters roles in relation to James being in pieces and resorting to drugs. In using an establishing shot we were also able to represent power and status. For example, in this shot Tyson appears as a larger character compared with the nervous James. This creates a deeper meaning in getting the message across to the audience of who is in control.When planning this scene we had not come across a drug dealing sequence in this sort of mis en scene in our background research, therefore we had to come up with the setting our self. In looking back we feel as though this mis en scene was perfect in developing existing codes and conventions to how a stereotypical drug dealing scene would take place.

Evaluation Question 1.

Our second sequence /storyline consists of a heartbreak scene by where Charlotte is at home with Craig after what appears to be some sort of

behind closed doors cheating scene when her boyfriend Jack unexpectedly turns up as he’s leaving. In the first section of this sequence we decided to use a pan shot when the two characters are walking out of

the room to make the audience feel as though they are stood in the position of the camera. We then continued the pan into an establishing

over the shoulder shot of Jack who walks through the front door. This combined with a zoom in on Jacks face allows the audience to truly feel

the emotions given off when he discovers this hugging scene. When the camera did zoom in it was vital that we kept the conventions on a close

up shot that would result from the zoom. This meant making sure the characters face was centre on screen and correctly aligned so the

audience felt the full force on his feelings.

Evaluation Question 1.

Evaluation Question 1.The music I decided to use was an instrumental backing track of ‘Kings of Leon’s’ Radioactive. This version of Radioactive had no lyrics. The reason I chose the version that had no lyrics was because I felt that it may distract viewers from the visuals and diegetic sound. The song consisted of steady beats and occasionally sped up, I felt that using and making the most of this sudden change in tempo would allow my audience to feel both excitement and concern all in the space of my trailer. The change in tempo would also anchor the images on screen. One section of my trailer consisted of a fight scene between drug deal Tyson and buyer James. This was an ideal point to edit the music around this point so that the fats tempo matched the intensity of the violence. Later on in the trailer Sophie gets a phone call telling her that Max has been involved in a fatal car accident. The presented an ideal opportunity to exploit the section of the song where the tempo slows down. This require pin point editing and timing and would ideally play into my audiences’ emotions.

Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary?

Our first ancillary was to create a poster to advertise

our Soap Opera. In designing this we first had

to use technologies such as a high pixel camera, a

tripod, lights and a green screen to capture each

image perfectly. We decided to take small group

and two shot photos so that our storyline was connoted through an

image. We had images on Craig, Charlotte and Jack together anchoring their

narrative. Tyson and James together anchoring their

drug dealing narrative and finally Max and Sophie at

the front to show they are the main characters and have the main storyline.

Our Poster

Evaluation Question 2.When it came to editing and producing the poster we used a software called Photoshop where we could cut our images to be exactly what we wanted. After cropping the photos down to the image we wanted we then needed to arrange them in a way that would fit them all in with enough space but also to retain the separate storyline. We therefore chose an arrow formation with Max and Sophie at the from being the main characters. The placed Tyson & James and Jack, Charlotte & Jack either side of the main characters. When editing the images we made Tyson’s character a darker fade and dressed him in all black to reflect his dark personality. Once we had positioned our stars we had to choose a background which we felt best suited the mis en scene of the soap opera and the intertexual link in relation to characters. We decided to use a brick wall background as it connotes that the soap is one of the street. We chose a wall that had been run down to link into the persona we were trying to create.

Evaluation Question 2.Our final two aspects of the poster we need to address were the name of the show and the branding of the channel it would be shown on. Our station branding was relatively simple, we just needed to locate an E4 logo with no name or time on it and edit into the bottom corner of the poster. We placed it in the bottom right corner as after our research into poster found that this followed convention. Our own branding in terms of the name and how we would show it was more difficult. We had to select a colour, font, size and the positioning that would work perfectly. We chose a colour that would stand out but that wouldn't be too bright to distract the audience from the images. We used a red colour with a black effect over the top to do this. The font we chose was an urban graffiti style font to assist in communicating to our audience that this was a street based soap opera and so would anchor our genre. Our final task with the soap name was positioning this again we did whilst following conventions so we placed it at the top of the poster away from character faces.

Evaluation Question 2.Our Second ancillary was to create a TV guide front cover. To do this we were able to use both our pictures and pictures from other group so the cover didn’t look like a one show magazine. In creating our own it was vita we followed established conventions of other magazines such as ‘What's on TV’ and ‘TV Choice’. All TV guide front covers and designed to look trashy and cheap, we therefore had to replicate this in the cover we would be creating.

Our TV guide cover to go here

Evaluation Question 2.In piecing it together we again followed the conventions of established magazine by placing bright buttons with prices slightly un-centred, the title of our TV guide in the top right corner and our main stars right in the middle of the magazine with other pictures representing other soap moulded around the cover stars. Accompanied with the cover stars we needed a heading in big bold letters with a sub heading underneath either asking a question or delivering a shocking pieces of drama from the soap relating to the characters

Q3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Once I had completed my soap opera trailer it was shown to an audience of A level media students who after, gave me some constructive criticisms on what I could improve and make more engaging. This helped me get an insight of what teenagers who I was ideally targeting for my trailer look for in a soap opera. Questions that were asked were pointers such as, was the dialogue clear? Were there a variety of shot types? Is it clear what is happening at all points? (Etc).

Evaluation Question 3.

An interesting suggestion I received was the flip the trailer on its head and use the opening sequence at the end. This, when I was editing the trailer I contemplated, but was unsure on what would be more interesting and

engaging to my audience. Therefore, hearing it off my audience themselves confirmed that maybe I should

indeed change the order of the sequence. All parts of my trailer were analysed, including my music which

plays a key roles in anchoring and making a good trailer. The song I used was a backing track of ‘Radioactive’, the

reason I chose this was because the tempo was faced an as a result increased tension. However, as my

audience pointed out there is a sequence in my trailer where a bombshell is dropped, this sudden change in

feeling is in the shape of a car accident. Here my audience advised me to change and add in a second

song to change the feeling so that all emotions are felt come the end of the trailer. This addition of another,

possibly, slow and heartfelt track would anchor the images coming from the accident sequence.

Swap opening sequence with ending sequence?

Ideally this could

maximise the power I

could gain from using

my non-diegetic sound

Evaluation Question 3.

Another piece of feedback I received was off my teacher who advised me on a shot I use at the end of the trailer. It is the accident scene and I pan up to the driver’s side, however, I do not show the audience the drivers face and instead cut the scene just before his face is revealed. My teacher has advised me to show his face to create drama. I will therefore consider changing the final shot in order to create a shock effect. Before I hand this in I will show it again to my audience and ask them which version they prefer as this will confirm which sequence I should go with

In my trailer this shot then cuts at this moment to

another piece of footage. This is where I have been

advised to carry on the pan and show the drivers face.

Evaluation Question 3.

A final piece of feedback I received was to include a sequence I originally left out as I felt the camera

work and acting wasn’t the required standard. Controversially I have been asked to first include it

to see how the audience react to its quality but also because this short sequence has relevant

information regarding the storyline of the soap opera.

In talking part in this audience feedback exercise I have learnt valuable pointers about what my

audience truly wants to watch, I have had advice on including a second song to help anchor differencing images and to change the order of my sequences to assist in beginning the trailer with shocking footage

to hopefully instantly interest them. Once I have fulfilled these feedback ideas I will ideally have a

trailer which my audience will enjoy.

A section of footage I have not included showed the two characters Max & Sophie cuddling. I have been advised to include this short piece of film to help my audience understand their relationship

Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Construction:When it came down to constructing our soap opera trailer we needed technologies such as a recording camera, a tripod stand and a microphone to help record voice over's such as the phone call.The camera itself assisted us in getting all of our vital shots, from hand help shots to mounting it onto our tripod and filming tracking shots. The zoom on the camera lens enabled us to get up close and personal shots on characters to drain out every emotion given off. The camera itself also had a built in microphone which enabled us to record every pieces of dialogue without using a separate piece of technology.The tripod allowed us to track, pan and maintain focussed shots on characters. Making sure each character was in focus on every shot was vital in intriguing the audience. If the shots were blurry my audience would be unsure on what is happening and become uninterested in the sequence.The microphone we only used after we had finished filming to provide us with a voice over phone call we could dub over during the editing process. Took us no more than a minute and was easy to upload onto the computer and extract the audio.

Evaluation Question 4.Research:Before we went out and hot our footage we had to do some background research. This involved accessing technologies such as YouTube to look up and watch other soap opera trailers and episodes so that we had an idea of what existing codes and conventions we would be following in recording our trailer.Also when researching we were asked to set up our own blog so that we could publish various pieces of established soap opera conventions for each of us to see. Not only did this develop our existing knowledge on creating our own trailer but it also provided us with ideas for our own.Another part of our research was a practical assignment in completing a preliminary task. This (as previously discussed) involved us being put into our group and told to replicate 3-5 scenes out of an established soap. This gave us an insight into how it would feel to direct and produce our own trailer for the very time. After filming our preliminary task we were told to upload it to YouTube were we could receive some feedback to help us on our final trailer.

Evaluation Question 4.Planning:When planning our soap opera trailer we first created our own storyboards. This gave us a chance to sit down and discuss and plan out as a group how each sequence would take place. This meant that on shooting day we would know exactly what we were trying to capture in the time we had. The assistance of setting up our own individual blog helped as well. It meant that any work each of us did at home by ourselves, we could share online via our blogs for the rest of the group to see, comment and advise on what we could change or improve. The blog also allowed us to publish existing products from YouTube so that if we found a piece of footage from an established soap opera we could send a link to our group mates and discuss how we could use and develop some of the conventions demonstrated.

Evaluation Question 4.Evaluation:When it came down to evaluating my soap opera trailer I was given the choice of a PowerPoint, prezi presentation or a voice over interview with visual aids. I chose to do a PowerPoint simply because it was what I did last year for my music magazine so I was familiar with the approach I had to take and the way it needed to be laid out.

Link To Final Trailer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhS496qNODQ