Evaluation Q1

Q1: How did you USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE codes and conventions of real media

products?

Soap Opera Definition: A television or radio drama series dealing typically with daily events in

the lives of the same group of characters.

To begin with our group had to pick a genre to do for our trailer, we chose Social Realism.

Social Realism: This is a genre which has typical people dealing with everyday situations such as affairs, money problems and alcohol and drug issues. Some examples of Social Realism would be Coronation Street, Eastenders and Emmerdale.

To fit the genre of Social Realism we had to choose a storyline that was not too over the top. We decided to go with two different storylines.

The first was chosen from a Waterloo Road clip where a girl had found out her boyfriend had been cheating on her. However we felt the clip was too dramatic so we changed it so that the trailer storyline would seem more realistic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KqcMRA3bRBU

The second storyline was taken from a scene from Coronation Street where one man is trying to kill another because he knows a secret about him. But we changed it so that it would fit the actors age, it was turned into one character wanting money off another and threatening him for it.

Costume

Jay

Tim’s role was a drug dealer who is owed money and he will not stop until he gets it.

His costume had to be simple but also fit his character as the villain. We chose plain jeans and a long brown coat, the dark colours fit the stereotype of a ‘chav’ and that he is just an average guy who has got himself into the wrong hobbies.

An example of a character with this look would be Finn from Waterloo Road we followed his look of a young teen who has an ego too big for him.

CaraFor Amelia we wanted to create the typical stereotype of the Flirt. The girl who thinks she can get any guy she wants even if he is taken which is what happens in the trailer .

Her costume consisted of black leggings, a red top and a leather jacket. The red top shows jealousy, anger and love which is what a character like that would feel like. We put her hair down so that in the shots her hair would blow in the wind so her entrance would look more dramatic.

A good comparison would be to Rosie from Coronation Street she is very glamorous with her outfits and always seems to have a man on her arm.

Beck

My character was set as the innocent girl who gets cheated on by her boyfriend.

The costume for the trailer was jeans with a pink top and white cardigan. This helps show her innocence and calmness to all that is going on. The plan was to create a character that the audience would feel sorry for which is what most soaps have.

A comparison would be to Coronation Streets Maria because whenever she is in a good relationship something always goes wrong.

Danny’s character was the Boyfriend, who cheats on his innocent girlfriend with the towns flirt. In the trailer he comes across as an average guy with his jacket and jeans. He wears the same style as Jay but the characters are completely different. Tyrone from Coronation Street would be a good comparison because he comes across as a sweet guy but also has a mean side.

Rachel’s character is the drug dealers girlfriend who catches her boyfriend in threatening a friend. Her costume consisted of leggings, a plain top and a leather jacket. The darkness of the leather jacket shows a link with Jay’s darkness which shows they are together.A comparison would be Tina from Coronation Street because she finds herself keeping other peoples secrets and ending up in trouble.

Tom’s character is the victim, after one bad decision he finds himself on a drug dealers hit list.His costume was average because we wanted him to seem the most vulnerable. Tommy from Coronation Street would be good comparison because he always finds himself in difficult situations.

As we were following the conventions of Coronation Street we wanted to add the idea of the Pub being where everyone meets but because we were younger it would not have been realistic so we decided to do it in a restaurant/cafe.

Location

Lighting As we were doing social realism we could not add extra lighting because it would not look realistic so in the

cafe scene we just used the light from inside and we were lucky to have good weather for the outside shots. We left the alleyway shots for last so that it would be dark to add to the seriousness of the shot.

Storylines The storyline for my trailer was in two parts one is a drug dealer up to no good trying to get

money off an innocent victim. Meanwhile a young couple are spending quality time together when secrets are spilled when the town flirt stops them in their path and announces that she has also been seeing the boyfriend.

We followed the convention of the using realistic storylines so that the audience would relate to what is happening with their own lives. So we followed the storylines of drugs and affairs which are popular subjects for Social Realism.

We used this Coronation Street poster to follow because it shows average people using body language to tell a story and sets the place in a typical street.

The backgrounds are similar and both effectively show where the programme is set. However the characters are different because they are not all couples but it is still shows a basic storyline.

The magazine cover uses the same photo of Cara from the billboard poster this is to link them both together. The aim was to create a classy, simple front cover which shows the character effectively.

The body language and facial expression makes it obvious that she is flirty and suggests that is what happens in the soap opera.