Blossom Hill Trailer

Soap Opera Poster

You can see from the 4 different posters how my groups poster has progressed from the first rough to the final finished version. The first rough poster 1 is really not looking good in my opinion, we have added the picture on that we are going to use but just typed the information that was needed and really didn't think about how it was going to be set out. In the second poster we have taken more care, we have cropped the photo and made it bigger but as you can see it has blurred a lot and really isn't clear. We added our "ITV1" logo on which I think looks good, we started to consider the font of the writing as we liked it white with the big bold edge but it still wasn't set out right so our poster needed more work. In the 3rd poster we made the picture much more clear, we added a border and spread the text out so the layout looks much better, I think our poster looks much better like this but there was still one more thing that wasn't right. Our final poster is complete and what I changed from the 3rd poster to the 4th was the effect, everything else was already complete. I changed the effect on a program called "Picnic" which lets you edit your photo, I blurred the edges and made the saturation higher which I think makes the characters and the whole picture stand out amongst the text. Although our poster is quite simplistic I really like how It is set out, the picture looks professional and it does catch your eye.

We noticed that our final poster had an orange tint to it which we didn't like and also the ITV1 logo faded a bit so I fixed it so the colour is better and you can see the logo much clearer.

Soap Opera Magazine

From the pictures above you can see exactly how our magazine has progressed. We started of with our first rough 1 which was quite basic. We had just added our main picture on and some text which we would develop later on. We made our logo which I was pleased with, we hadn't decided on the colour of our background so our magazine did need a lot of work. Our rough 2 poster is a lot more developed, all the pictures are cut out added on, the colors have all been decided, the tallness and the layout. All we needed to add was the finishing touches to tie it all together. Our final poster is complete, we added the bar code, a "free poster" which covered blank space and looks quite cool and we just made the layout tighter so everything fits together. Overall I am very please with our poster, I think it is very creative, there isn't blank spaces and everything is there that needs to be so I think our magazine is a big success.

Shotlist

For the construction of my groups soap opera one of the most important things we need whilst filming is a "Shotlist", a shot list is a plan of how our trailer is going to be filmed, and what the shot it and the detail in the shot. I created the Shotlist and the headings for it were as followed:

• Date of filming
• Time of filming
• Scene number
• Shot number
• Camera angle
• Duration of the shot
• Description of the shot
• Location of the shot
• Equipment needed for the shot
• Actors in the shot
• Sound in the shot
• Script

Having the shot list makes the filming much more organised and simple because if you follow the shot list you will know exactly what your doing and what needs to be done in the shot.

Here is a link to my group blog and our final Shotlist for the Soap Opera Trailer - http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/11/final-shotlist.html

Filming Diary

Before we started to film we went to our location (photography studio) half an hour earlier so we could set up and be organized and prepared.
Once everything was set up we got the lighting sorted so it looked professional and we practiced some camera angles before the actors would arrive.
We decided to have the actors showing up at different times so the 4 girls (3 bitchy and 1 innocent) showed up first because they were the first people to appear in our our soap and so on but then everyone would be together at the end so we can get the group shots.
Once the 4 girl actors arrived we started filming them entering and the "bullying, jealousy" storyline. Because this was the first part we were filming it was difficult because once the camera was set up it had to stay in that position. The girls did as we said so once this part was filmed the next actors had arrived, (2 business men).
Whilst filming the business men the remaining actors (4 girls) had to stay in the same position in the studio for our continuity to work. It was hard filming the business men scene because they didn't really understand what we were telling them to do so we had to keep cutting and re-filming as to make sure we got a perfect shot. This then put us behind because the next actor (bachelor) had already arrived so we were running late.
The bachelor is involved in a shoreline with the business man who have a handshake whilst exchanging drugs. This shot was extremely difficult because they had to slip a bit of paper into each others hands whilst shaking hands but it had to run smoothly. We finally got this shot sorted and were ready to film the mother and son part (by this point all the actors who had been there were getting wrestless and it was quite stressful for us to film as there was more people in the room and we were behind. Filming the mother and son part was going to be difficult because we were using a 6 year old boy who would be hard to work with because you have to carefully explain to him what to do and you know it's not going to run smoothly the first time. This took about 10 shots to get right but our final actors hadn't arrived yet so it took a bit of pressure off.
Once we had filmed the mother and son part the last two actors still hadn't arrived which caused a problem because the current actors in the room were just getting as fed up as we were.
Finally once the couple had arrived we filmed there bit which was simple because everyone did as they were told so we could get it filmed properly and everyone could go home.

Overall this was ok filming, however as more of the actors started arriving it got more stressful for us especially when we started getting behind schedule.

We started to upload our film to the blog and it all looked good until a big problem occurred. The part where the couple arrived had been lost in the uploading process and was lost. This was possibly the worst bit of film to loose because we couldn't exactly cut them out as they were in the shot at the very end. We only had one option and this was to refill.

We wasn't able to get the photography studio again so we decided to bring the couple shoreline out of the studio, we ended up re-filming in our sixth-form block which is new and modern and we used the stairs which were going to be shown as leading up to the studio.

Although it is annoying to re-film this did go fine because we only had to re-film to people and they were very helpful and did exactly what we said, so this filming only took half an hour. The shots were very simple and because we were very organized and rehearsed it went very smoothly.

Costumes

Costume

Above I have commented on the costumes of our actors and the meaning behind why we put them in that outfit.

Here is the link to the post on my group blog on costumes - http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/10/costume-ideas.html

Location

-We all like the idea of using a photography studio to introduce our characters to the audience as this is going to be a new soap so no one will have any idea of the characters.
-We will be able to focus more on the character and storyline as we are using a minimalistic location which is very plain.
-It was easy to get permission to use the studio as one of our members in our group has a family member who is letting us use it free of charge.
-We will not have to change our filming plans on the day because of the weather as we are filming in an interior setting.
-This also means we don’t have to worry about the weather getting dark so we don’t have to rush our filming and can take as much time as we need.
-As our soap opera is having a “Glamorous” theme, a studio is the best location of our choices as a photo-shoot does seem very glamorous!

Here is the link on my group blog of "Location Scouting" - http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/10/location-scouting.html

Script

This is the link on my group post of our Final Script

We haven't got a lot of diegetic dialogue in our trailer as we wanted to use voice overs as peoples thoughts to introduce them.
A lot of trailers involve voice overs and we liked the idea of this, especially as our soap is a brand new one it shows how they're feeling inside.
If our soap was a current soap and not a new one I would of considered using diegetic dialogue because the trailer would be on a specific story line however our soap is a brand new one so we want to focus on the characters as a whole and introduce them as best we could.

Characters - Auditions - Casting for Soap Opera

The first thing my group looked at while considering characters was "Stock Character", we had already previously thought about the kind of characters we want.
Stock characters are used in every soap and are the "Stereo Typical Characters" which you can pick out from each soap. In every soap there will be around 8-9 stock characters which you can expect.

An example would be "The Cute Cheeky Child", in Hollyoaks there is Tom, in Coronation Street there is Simon and in Eastenders there is Tiffany. This can be classed as a "Stock Character".

The stock characters me and my group considered were as following

• The Spiteful Bitchy Girl (Natasha - Neighbours, Rosie - Coronation Street & Lucy - Eastenders).
• The Innocent Girl (Abi - Eastenders, Hayley - Coronation Street & Carmel - Hollyoaks)
• The Business Man (Frank - Coronation Street, Phil - Eastenders & Brenden - Emmerdale)
• The Bad Boy (Sean - Eastenders, David - Coronation Street & Cane - Emmerdale)
• The Single Mother (Amy - Hollyoaks, Roxy - Eastenders & Sarah - Coronation Street)
• The Cute Child (Tiffany - Eastenders & Simon - Coronation Street)
• The Potential Dad (Alfie - Eastenders, Jack - Eastenders & Peter - Coronation Street)

These are the Characters that we are considering for our Soap Opera Trailer. 

Here is a link to my group blog for the post on "Stock Characters" - 

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/10/stock-characters.html

Here is a link to my group blog on "Casting" - http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/11/casting.html

With Characters there has to be a storyline behind it so my group discussed how we could place our characters in a storyline for our soap trailer. The Story lines we thought of were

• Bullying/Jealousy
• Drug Deal
• Love Triangle
• A big secret

Incorporating these Shorelines with our characters they are now all linked together and we know exactly what characters we want and the storyline behind them.

We would like 3 bitchy girls and 1 innocent girl and put them into a Bullying Storyline, We would like 2 business man and a bad boy/bachelorr and put them into a Drug Dealing Storyline, these have both been covered in soap episodes but they are never normally in a soap trailer so we would like to try and challenge this by adding these story lines in. 

We are going to have a love triangle between a couple and involve the bad boy/bachelor, this storyline is a very common one so we are using this for our soap.

Lastly we like the idea of having a Secret Story line, which will cause shock, we have decided to have a Mother and Son but what the son doesn't know his Dad and the mother wants to keep it that way because in actual fact she was raped.

Lastly here is a link to my Group Blog for the post on Auditions to show who we have casted and why. http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/10/auditions.html

Storyboards

Along with the Script and the Shotlist to help us with our Soap Opera Trailer we have created Storyboards in order to help us plan our trailer.

Here is a link to my group blog to show "Initial Storyboard" http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/storyboard-initial-ideas.html

After this my group then went on to make a "Photographic Storyboard" http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/animatic-storyboard.html

And lastly when we knew exactly the Idea we wanted we created an "Animatic Storyboard"
http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/10/animatic-storyboard.html

Creating the Storyboard helped me a lot, this is because you can see how your idea is going to look and if you think it is going to work, with the initial storyboard my group explored some ideas just to see how it would look, when we focused on the photography studio idea we went on to create a photographic storyboard which is much clearer because you are actually taking photos of real people and not drawing them. Lastly we created the animatic storyboard which was put into a video so we could see exactly how our trailer could go and to see if it would definitely work, the storyboard is a very creative idea and I enjoyed creating all 3 storyboards.

Initial Plot/ Narrative For Soap Opera

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/initial-plot-narrative-for-our-soap.html

Soap Opera Brief

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/soap-opera-brief.html

Initial Soap Opera Ideas

Me and my group came together and discussed "first initial ideas" of what we would like to make our new soap trailer about. We have discussed the themes and possible characters we would like to consider.

Me and my group spoke about how we wanted to create a "Glamorous" themed soap because there is a space on the market for this as there isn't a "High Class" soap out there, we would based our glamorous ideas on programs such a "Footballers wives", "The Hills" and "The only way is Essex". 

We would like a catchy theme tune to add into our trailer and want it to represent the modern lifestyle of our Soap. 

As our soap is going to be High Class we want to add in things such as Posh Cars, Big houses, Bars and Clubs to create a young modern social life for our characters.

The characters we spoke about having were:

Business man

Badboy

 Young couple

Daddy's girl

Sugar daddy

Drug dealer

                                                                        Homosexual

The business man, bad boy and couple are all very typical characters but we thought about a Homosexual character, Daddy's girl, Sugar Daddy and Drug dealer because these aren't the typical characters you would find in a soap, we would like to challenge this and take a risk with these characters so because they would fit in with out "Modern Soap Opera" that we are trying to create.

Here is a link to my group blog and the post on "Initial Soap Opera Ideas" - http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/initial-soap-opera-ideas.html

Soap Moodboards

To help me and my group explore some ideas for our soap opera we went and created some mood boards on the following headings 

• Characters
• Glamour
• Location
• Story lines

We did a mood board on characters to help us think about the different type of typical characters there are in different soaps, some of the characters we found were "Bad Boy", "Comic Child", "Couple", "Bitchy girl" and "Old wise pensioner", we could consider having some of these characters in our Soap Opera.

As we want our Soap Opera to be High Class we did a mood board on "Glamour", this would include props, costume and location. Some of the images we found were "Champagne", "Big Cars", "Diamonds", "Bling", "Designer fashion", "Big houses" and "Hot tubs". All of this would make a High Class Glamorous soap trailer so we can think about incorporating some of these into our soap. 

Location is a very important part of making a soap trailer so we did a mood board on "Setting and Location", the images we collected were mostly of "Big Modern Houses", " Detailed Interior Bedroom", "Flash Gardens" and "Expensive Furniture". We will need to think really carefully about our location of our Soap Trailer because we want it to come across high class, with these images it will help us decided exactly what we want.

Lastly we did a mood board on Story lines, the story lines we found in our images were "Couples", "Arguing", "Weddings", "Death", "Pregnancy", "Car Crash", "Bulling" and "Fire. We need to think about the story lines to include in our trailer and this mood board will give us some ideas or even develop some ideas or our own. 

By doing these 4 mood boards it has made our mind think about the decisions we have to make to produce our trailer, it has given us some ideas we want to try and some ideas we want to avoid. It has made us creative and really start to consider what we should do for trailer.

Here are the links to the 4 mood boards on my group blog:

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/character-moodboard.html

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/glamor-moodboard.html

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/initial-idea-moodboards.html

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/storyline-moodboard.html

Conventions Found In Trailers Compared To Full Episodes

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/conventions-found-in-trailers-compared.html

Soap Opera Trailer Conventions

Soap Opera Trailer Conventions include the following


- Open and Fractured Narrative .
- Final title at the end which includes the channel, time and day that the soap opera is broad casted and what it's sponsored by.

- Trailers are normally less that a minutiae long.

- A trailer only shows the best parts of the episode to attract an audience.

- Short shots are shown .

- Fades and fade-to-blacks are used throughout.

- Close ups, mid-shots and two-shots are mainly shown between the characters.

- Non-diegetic soundtrack is used throughout the trailer.

- Normally a voice over is played at the end which can include a tailgate.

- Lighting is dark when something negative will happen

- Costume connotes the mood, if in black something dangerous is going to happen.

- Usually feature a few characters to focus on one main storyline.

- Can include multiple jump cuts to pick up pace and add dramatic tension the the trailer.

Soap Opera Target Audiences

http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/09/target-audience-profile.html

Soap Opera Facts

We gathered as a group after completing research on "Soap Opera History" and discussed the information that we found to collect "key soap opera facts". 

The soap opera facts we found include:

• When Soap Operas first appeared.
• What the longest running soap is.
• When Soap Operas are shown.

We then went on to find Key Conventions of a Soap Opera and some of the conventions we found were:

• Domestic drama
• Set in a fictional street area
• Similar characters (villain)
• Open narrative
• Domestic themes
• Distinctive theme tune

After doing this task it has made my knowledge on soaps a lot better, now I know especially the conventions of a soap I can focus on them to help me and my group with our trailer and what we should include. Although Episodes and Trailers will have different conventions they do link together so the information will benefit me when I come to brainstorm what ideas to have for my groups trailer. I will be able to use this information when planning my groups Soap Trailer.

Here is the link to my groups post on "Key Soap Opera Facts" http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/08/key-soap-opera-facts.html

Comparison Soap Operas

Our group was set the task to go off and watch an episode of each different soap and see what comparisons we could find so we could link the conventions that appear in each soap. There were 4 of us in a group so we took a Soap each, I watched Emmerdale, Cath watched Coronation Street, Yas watched Hollyoaks and Paige watched Eastenders.
After watching a episode of each Soap Opera we came back and discussed what we found some ideas we wanted to use for our Soap Opera. We all agreed that we wanted to do a modern Soap Opera more like Hollyoaks and step away from Emmerdale as it's quite a traditional rual soap which we do not want. We like the Idea of having a Bad boy in our soap which Cath found a character like this in Coronation Street and Paige found an affair story line which we thought about using in ours and creating some relationship, love triangle trouble.

Here is a link to this post on my group blog - http://a2cvhspiglet.blogspot.com/2011/07/comparision-of-soap-operas.html