Research

We decided the best place to start our project was to do audience research. We spent some time putting together a questionnaire about soap operas and tailored our questions very carefully so that we gained in depth knowledge of how soaps are favoured in todays society. We wanted to discover other peoples opinions on different avenues within soap operas so that our end products are well rounded and have taken into consideration different aspects depending on our results.

Poster analysis

The brief that we have chosen states that we are required to produce a TV Poster, TV Magazine and a TV trailer for a new soap. We felt that analysing already existing Posters, Magazines and Trailers would allow us to identify the typical codes of conventions and would allow us to learn techniques to be able to advertise our soap effectively. We decided to also look at American-programme advertisement so that we had a vast range of knowledge we require to make our soap and products unique and affective.

Trailer analysis

As one of our main tasks for our coursework was to create a trailer for a new soap opera, we decided to explore already existing soap opera trailers which would help us when looking at what shots we should include within our own trailer. It is also important to discover how camera shots can make a character look. Low angle shots looking up to a character can make them look as if they are powerful. Within our own trailer we want to include as many various camera shots as we can to portray what that certain character is going to be like. As a trailer only usually lasts up to a minute we need to produce fast and mostly medium shots of the characters in which we need to introduce them and also create an outline of what the soap is going to be about. The following trailers are all of various soap operas that within our audience research discovered that these were most popular.

Within this Coronation Street trailer various shots have been used to show the build up of tension within the storyline. As you can see from this trailer, it is longer than usual perhaps showing that there are more characters involved or it is a big storyline. The various close ups of characters faces show their expressions and how they all have the same feelings. If we were watching the soap a lot of the camera shots we would be witnessing are over the shoulder shots, a lot of the quick jump shots show different characters seem to be talking to another characters. This cleverly plays on the fact it is a trailer for a soap opera as over the should shots are mostly used within these programmes to show a sense of realism and conversation between characters. There is also a sense of dramatic irony within this trailer as the audience know something that some of the other characters possibly don't. This makes the audience feel worthy and as if they are really part of the drama going on within these peoples lives.

Compared to the Coronation Street trailer, the Hollyoaks trailer uses a lot more fast passed jump shots to fit into a short space of time the troubles going on within various characters lives. When speaking to a focus group on their views on the already existing trailers they said

" The Hollyoaks trailer seems more action packed and adventurous. I'd much rather watch this soap where I can see it going somewhere. When I watch a trailer I don't feel I need to be told the whole story just sections that are vital and keep me interested in the storylines."

This was interesting for us to discover as the typical age range that would watch Hollyoaks are the age in which we are aiming our potential soap at. We brought together a focus group of people the age we intent to aim our soap at to see what they wanted from a trailer as we want to mainly attract them, it was not surprising to us to see from our focus group that they mainly enjoyed the Hollyoaks trailer as it is in fact a teenage soap drama.

Within this trailer again there were also more close up shots to show characters expressions and how they are effected by what's happening in the soap. Although within the trailer there are some characters that are not typically shown as being connected together you can tell from the end shots that in some way or another the characters are all involved within each others lives.

On the other hand the Eastenders trailer is similar to the Coronation Street trailer as they are mainly focusing on just a few characters around them. As this is the introduction of new characters they are clearly showing off their characteristics and personalities, possibly so that the audience will take a liking to them. They have cleverly used freeze frames within his trailer to show a close up of the new characters faces. Also there are quick jump shots to show a juxta position between these new characters and the already existing characters perhaps to show the soap is looking to attract a new generation of people. When speaking to the same focus group someone said

"I remember when I watched this trailer years ago now, I wasn't really that interested in Eastenders however this trailer really made me want to watch it. Although I was younger and never really been that interested in Soaps my family used to watch Eastenders and I remember these characters being feisty and unlike the rest. This was initially what encouraged me to actually not only watch Eastenders but other soaps as well."

This shows a link between our focus group and audience research in which trailers really do entice audiences to watch a soap opera as when you are given a small part of what is going to happen where you are left on a cliff hanger, you want to watch more.

Although Drifters is not a soap opera and in fact period drama (programme that is on once a week for a number of weeks) we looked into the trailer more as it is a fresh, new trailer that is broadcast on the channel that we intend to broadcast our soap onto as well. We thought it was important to look at the channel that would broadcast our soap as it would give an idea on the general length of their trailers and also how the programmes are viewed and perceived by audiences.

Magazine analysis