Evaluation Question 4

How did you use new media technologies in the research and planning, construction and evaluation stages of your product?

Throughout each stage of our project a variety of new media technology was used, the technology we had in order to aid us with creating our product so that the final outcome was as professional and of as high a quality as we could make it.

The three categories we used this digital based media were within the research in existing media texts and planning our product, the construction of our products and the evaluation of what we have achieved and how we have performed.

Research and Planning

Within our research and planning stage we used the internet as our primary source of information with a collection of information on the history of soap operas being collected as well as research into individual soap operas being completed using wikis and other websites containing useful and relevant information. One example of such a source of information would be Youtube – before planning our soap opera trailer and how it would be constructed, sufficient research on soap opera trailers of the past was made, as well as analysis of existing student trailers have made, which were made more accessible through Youtube. Comments and views as shown on Youtube also aided us as we were able to easily determine the success of the trailer in captivating an audience. Google maps was also used in the research as planning stage as we were able to easily view areas on street view as potential locations for the trailer; enabling us to deduce the best places to select as possible locations without having to search on foot for a length of time. The website Barb.co.uk also came into much use as it contained valuable information of viewing figures of existing soap operas, which coupled with loose information gathered with obvious scrutiny to its reliability was a vital source of research information. Websites such as the on demand TV of BBC iplayer and ITV player was also very useful as i was given access to a wide variety of soaps without having to watch them all when scheduled on TV; they enabled me to timetable my own schedule according to my routine and were an easy source of information. Finally Frog mail our school emailing service was a crucially important source to access emails between my group members and to send out emails to organise filming schedules.

The research and planning stage also needed a variety of computer programmes which aided our work. The use of Microsoft Office programmes such as Word enabled us to create audience questionnaires, film scripts and schedules on a clear document. Scribd the online embedding programme enables us to embed these word documents and PowerPoint documents onto the blog, a tool that without which we would have been unable to present our work in this format. Finally we also used Prezi an exciting and creative way of creating presentations of our research and planning; for example this was used for our pitch rather than presenting through the ordinary PowerPoint presentation. It was chosen over other programme options as it was an more exciting and professional way to present an idea to the audience, to attract their attention.

Construction

Throughout the construction of our soap opera products we used new media technologies to aid with the ease, style and presentation of our work. Our trailer was created upon an iMac computer, as this enabled us access to the variety of editing programmes available on this device. Other computers could have been used, however the benefit of the modern iMac design made it simpler and more accessible to use for our needs. Final cut express was used to the edit the film upon the Mac, this programme was specifically designed for intricate high detail editing of videos, and was essential to the creation of our trailer. Another programme used to create the final cut of our trailer was garage band which contained raw music extracts able to be pieced together to create a song of our choice. This was a significant part of our trailer as we were able to create a unique style of music tailored exactly to the tone, style and theme we wished to convey.

In order to create our final poster and magazine product we used initially an iPhone camera to capture to pictures we wished to use on the products. This was a helpful technology to use as it was quick and easy to use and was therefore able to not take up too much of our actor’s time. Furthermore with the photos on our phones we were able to very easily download them onto the computer. When constructing the actual poster we used the programme Photoshop CS5 extended for editing of the poster and creating background images. The construction of both of these products used the same programmes and devices as they needed to tie together in style and design. This also made it easier when constructing them as we were able to identify problems and learn for each product whilst creating them both, rather than adapting our techniques to varying programmes.  To gain feedback on all the products blogger was a key programme as we were able to publish and receive comments on them quickly and easily for both us and our audience.

Evaluation 

Technology was also used in the final stages of the task in the evaluations. Scripts were easily and clearly able to be typed up from notes into a clear Microsoft office word document, which were then able to be presented in iMovies on the iMac as I could quickly film myself reading my scripts. Although we used Final Cut express in the editing of our soap opera trailer, within my evaluations I have decided to put the evaluations together through iMovie. Although iMovies is less detailed and the videos achieved using this programme will be possibly of less quality, I have decided to use it down to its ease of use, specifically when adding voiceovers and filming oneself using the Macs webcam. Once each evaluation has been completed on the iMac, it is then converted to a different file and uploaded via PC onto blogger via youtube.

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

 

We gained feedback on the rough cuts of our trailer poster and magazine, and I will evaluate the aid this gave us on completing our overall task whilst also looking at the hindrances of the feedback we received. After each rough cut of the different products we gathered the feedback to take on board the views of the audience when creating the final product. When collecting our feedback we ensured that we had a wide range of age ranges and genders to create an unbiased and more collective response. However as our target market was the younger generation we have in our feedback responses a more youthful slant.

The first rough cut of which we gathered feedback was ‘Rough cut 1’ of our trailer. The feedback we gathered was from two adults in their 30/40s, who both commented upon the length of the trailer, stating that it could be ‘a bit snappier to hold the viewer’s attention’ Amanda 48 and one boy age 16; who was not bothered by the length but was confused by the subplot of the older characters at the beginning of the trailer; perhaps distracted as commented by other feedback gathered myself from peers by the aggressive nature at points of the background music; for example the electric guitar portion of music following the shot reverse shot between Rachel and both Caroline and Christine was too antagonistic for the nature of the product. This was reflected in our feedback and therefore it was changed. We pondered over changing the length of the trailer to adhere to the comments made by the comments; however on consideration we felt that as this comment was not made upon the trailer by those of the age it was targeted at it was not a crucial change to make.

After making these changes to the first rough cut of the trailer we then created ‘Rough cut 2’. We took on board advice specifically on the music of the trailer to create a calmer, but still creating up beat and tense tone which is more suitable for our audience and for the theme of the trailer. On this cut we only received feedback from the audience which we are targeting, aged between the ages 15-18. The feedback after the changes made from rough cut 1 was generally much more positive, which gave us a clear notion that we had made the correct alterations on the trailer, after the first set of feedback. The positive comments varied from compliments on the ‘various cuts and angles’ and the juxtaposing of the ‘average town setting with the peculiarity of the judging expressions’ which is commented to ‘hook viewers well’ Lewis 17. However other feedback also commenting upon the setting was critical of the emptiness of the scenery shown, and that perhaps more people should have been casted into the trailer. Consideration was therefore given as to whether the inclusion of more cast would aid the effectiveness of the trailer; looking into for example having additional background characters to create a more realistic average town setting. But after much contemplation of this feedback we concluded that the addition of more characters would hinder the eerie tension we wanted to portray throughout the town as Rachel Edwards walks towards her “target” Ben Mason. 

The final changes made through the aid of feedback on the trailer was the addition of a channel 4 overlay at the end of the trailer, this idea came from the comments on the feedback of rough cut 2  to make it appear more in tune to how Channel 4 advertises. Their suggestion of a voice over was considered however as we had intended the tension of the trailer to be aided by the absence of voices in replacement with high tempo music; we instead chose to create a similarity to channel 4’s advertising with the overlay and the addition of a hash tag also on this final overlay.

We also received feedback on our draft of the poster for the soap, which was crucial to the final product created. Positive feedback was given on the background of the poster which was well received as we had created this unique background crucially to stand out. Negative feedback was made however about the channel 4 logo covering one of the characters in the poster, this was easily altered on the final draft and the logo was lowered, to not obstruct any characters. Comments were also made about the contrast between the characters and the background which perhaps obscured attention from some of the detail on the characters. In consideration of this feedback we darkened the grass in the background so that it doesn’t contrast as much, whilst also lightening shadows of the some of the characters to aid the solving of this problem. Final adjustments also included the resizing of some of the characters to make them more prominent, and highlight them as crucial characters within the soap.

Finally feedback was also given on the magazine draft. The main feedback was positive of the layout of the magazine cover, but throughout all the feedback given comment was made that there was too much empty space and more imagery or text was needed to fill the empty space. This was rectified in the final magazine cover by adding an extra photo and text, rearranging the exiting photos and altering the text size to give prominence to the key stories. Feedback was also given about the plain style of the block blue background, and the suggestion of the use of gradient on this area was suggested. This was a crucial alteration made only as a result of the feedback gathered and created a much less flat looking style. Overall the feedback received on the magazine poster was vital to the final creation of the final magazine cover, and there was no hindering comments made for the completion of the final product.

Overall the feedback received on all the drafts before the final results of each product was significant in the creation of each to the standard by which they are. We learnt a lot about the differences between the responses to certain aspects of the soap opera trailer, poster and magazine depending on the age of the audience questioned; from this we then catered are questions to specifically the target audience we aimed to attract as it is how they view it which was crucial to the success of the creation of the products.

Evaluation Question 2

Within our course, as well as creating our primary product of a soap opera trailer we created two ancillary tasks in the form of a poster advertising our soap opera trailer and its current storyline associated with our trailer and a soap opera TV listings magazine focusing on our soap opera Maple Way.

The research we have compiled on each one for certain conventions such as storyline, setting and characters links into all three of our tasks as the same characters are shown in each product and whether it is through body language in the poster and trailer or associated storylines in the magazine front cover certain personalities and character archetypes within soap operas are portrayed, this is just one example of how the links between our products need to be considered when planning it as conventionally with mise en scene and narrative the trailer, poster and magazine front cover storylines should all match in order to attract, keep and be clear to your audience what is happening.

Trailer and Poster

Our trailer and our poster for Maple Way are both very explicitly matched, with the cast wearing the same costumes this promotes the fact that both products are making allusion to the same contemporary storylines feature, storylines such as Rachel’s incoherent intentions for a relationship with Ben are starting to surface, this and the body language from the other characters portrays their personalities within both without the use of dialogue, we have not given too much about the characters or storyline of our trailer, not even the sound of the characters voices.

There is a collection of information conventionally  shown at the end of a trailer and placed upon an editing poster of similar products, this information, which with Maple way as an example contains a certain day and even hour of broadcasting,  is a very important convention for soap opera products in general  to consider in terms of how much you want your audience to know, as one could fully inform the audience of the poster or of the trailer of the time it will be aired but also to add suspense there could be a more vague and implicit amount of information accompanying the name of the soap opera and the selling point which can be a voiceover on a trailer or as a main tagline of the current narrative on a poster, it is  usually a rhetorical question which could be answered with the phrase ‘…Find out next Wednesday on BBC1’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

Magazine and Trailer

Our magazine and trailer link extremely well in terms of narrative they both contain the same storylines with similar audience attracting taglines persuading an audience to watch this medium, they are linked in the aims of attract audiences and work together in this respect, another link is also the characters and the body language portrayed through each of our individual character.

Whereas normally a magazine such as this would cater for a very large audience and include taglines from a wide variety of soap operas another, perhaps unconventional link we have made is one regarding the sheer amount of Maple Way taglines on the cover of the soap opera TV listings magazine, and the lack of any from separate soap operas, this is due to the fact that sometimes these magazines decide on doing a special edition simply for one particular soap opera, which is an edition style we have decided to follow in order to include simply maple way narrative on the magazine, which 

Soap Opera Trailer Analysis: Hollyoaks

Trailer: Hollyoaks- Wedding Trailer  

E4 Logo constant - Soap title at end.

Date: No time 

Slogan spoken not written

Mise en Scene A black colour scheme used throughout keeps a level of consistency as well as a certain type of connotation: doubt, gloom, death, evil. Low key- Dark/ Mystery/ Gloomy connoting evil also adding drama which is a convention of soap opera trailers, the exaggerated high concept drama and excitement is a metaphor for the program but also conventionally used to attract audiences and keep current fanbase. Low cut dress- sexual- Hollyoaks stereotypical, fanbase is younger more sexually interested audience. Props- barbed wire- on cake-Black flower petals and a Smashed doll all connoting a separate sub storyline which present fans will pick up on and be attracted to. Church-showing the classic denotations of a couple getting married but also the church aspect is turned on its head through the inverted colour scheme changing the mood from a typical one to a darker evil one.   Interior setting used, possibly connoting secrets, things going on behind closed doors.

Narrative We can see a use of the first three stages of Todorov’s theory of equilibrium within this trailer, the equilibrium and disequilibrium are shown alongside with the oxymoronic theme of a black wedding connoting something sacred is also torn and surrounded with evil. We can see a taste through character interaction as well as body language and props, character profiles such as the villain and the victim are obviously shown and I’m confident to a more knowledgeable current audience the hero is shown very implicitly within the trailer too alongside more character profile’s suggested in Propp’s theory. A variety of different storylines are given to us within this trailer in order for the audience to get a taste of the main narrative as well as all the subplots occurring throughout the subsequent soap opera episodes.

Sound Non-diegetic song – White wedding from Billy Idol, usually famous songs which are relevant to the theme of the soap opera trailer are used, this is a good example as the trailer is about a wedding which is unconventionally connoted and the song is also. Voiceover used – “to love, honour and betray, Hollyoaks the wedding next week on Four” from a powerful woman voice, this example of a voiceover is conventional and very useful, it gives the audience information about the time of when the episode is being exhibited and also is another tool used for attracting an audience, it contains a question which the audience themselves will be thinking, and therefore helps attract a new group, theoretically. The lack of dialogue is something conventional of soap opera trailers as there is usually not enough between each cut to contain dialogue unless it is very snappy and very vital. The diagetic sound of the toy breaking is another part of the exaggerated drama, the connotations behind the toy breaking are vast and it in itself is a bit of a catastrophe but it, aswell as other actions and props are usually symbolic of something deeper within the soap opera episodes.

Camera Angle A variety of camera movements, shots and angles are used within this piece usually in a fast pace such as pans and tilts to introduce a character, costume and certain props, examples include: A two shot of the bride and her mother is used very briefly to show a sort of dark companionship as well as a two shot between the groom and best man and the bride and groom at the end of the trailer. An over the shoulder shot focusing on the priest is given, it shows him as a very ugly and scary figure that gives you a view of what the bride and groom will be seeing, this is a general addition to the dramatic element of soap operas with exaggerations of evil and over themes shown. There are a variety of close ups on the faces of characters, this shows there emotions toward the storyline and towards other charcters within the soap opera, this is extremely powerful for implicitly explaining the current story.

The Purpose of a Soap Opera Trailer

In order to gain knowledge of soap operas to aid me in the project of creating a trailer for a soap opera I watched a number of soap opera episodes and trailers in order to understand the conventions of soap operas in terms of character creation, locations, camera movement editing and story-lines, among other patterns I could find between the different soap operas.

I discovered that the purpose on a soap opera trailer was to attract an audience whilst keeping there current fanbase, I noticed how soap opera trailers are aired on times in  which the audience they are aiming to attract would be watching television, as with trailers or adverts for anything.

An example of this is and advert for Hollyoaks that I had found on E4 after having watched The Inbetweeners, a hit British sitcom that have a very similar audience as Hollyoaks, it seemed that it was the optimum position for the trailer to be put, also Hollyoaks, aswell as other soap operas such as Eastenders and Coronation Street usually exhibit the trailers on times where the television iewing numbers are large such as between extremely popular shows, this information can be gained through BARB figures distributed to the channel bosses.



Reference: http://www.barb.co.uk/

Plan for Poster

This is one of my two draft posters for Maple Way, I created this poster with existing Channel 4 posters in mind and focusing on placements of characters in relation to each other rather than render down to not realising by this point the costumes that would be worn within this poster, also when creating our final piece we will be taking pictures and using CAD programs such as Adobe Photoshop for the editing process.

I have not labelled it very clearly but the characters from left to right are: Jennifer Mason, Logan Mason, Ben Mason, Rachel Edwards, Roger Freeman, Caroline Elms and Christine Lown

I'm thinking that the background could be a single colour or the setting of our soap opera, which ever complimented the poster more, both are conventional for soap opera posters and especially for Channel 4 posters.

Another draft I have created for our poster is a portrait poster draft introducing the main character for the opening storyline, Rachel Edwards, they are in full focus and there will be more minor characters behind focusing body language on the two main charcters to show some clues towards the on screen relationships of characters.

We will use these two poster drafts along with other group member's drafts in order to pick the factors we would like and dismiss the certain factors which we would not like to include into our final design, this will help us to create the optimum product when the process begins.