Katie Owens Candidate Number: 3617 G324- Advanced Production

2. Question Key:
Question
1
Question
2
Question
3
Question
4

4. Blue filter In each
episode/trailer 3-4
Conflict/disequilibrium storylines
Main characters with
Multiple storylines
Soap
Conventions
BCU:
The fourth wall -Forehead cut off
-Emotion draws audience
Set/Location POV (Point In, creates intimacy
-Location Of view shot)
Creates OTS (Over the
realism shoulder shot)

5. Hollyoaks Documentary:
I watched a documentary on how ‘Holly oaks Indecent Behaviour (2001)’ was created to
Help inspire me with the creation of my soap trailer.
Story= Events in order Planning
Key points on Hollyoaks
Character documentary
Production
Narrative=
Point of view
Continuity

6. Hollyoaks Documentary:
Accent Dialogue
How is
character
created in
Hollyoaks?
Performance Stereotypes
Costume

7. Summer Homework: Storyboarding
of a Soap Opera Extract:
A location shot taken from A two person medium
A two person MCU Asymmetrical framing
a low angle. tilted shot.
A long, wide shot An MCU shot Two person medium shot A two person medium shot
A long shot A two person shot, canted angle Canted angle, medium shot Symmetrical framing and a MCU

8. Mise en scene, Dialogue & Editing:
In terms of editing, there are no The mise en scene
Quick zooms, although the consists of a newsagent
scenes have been carefully cut. style shop.
There are no added
Mise en scene, The lighting
Sound effects or voice
dialogue and is quite light
overs within this scene.
editing and clear.
So, just diegetic sound
was used.
The dialogue consists
of quite casual chatty
script.

9. Summer Homework: Soap Opera
FC:
I decided to add a
picture on the right
hand side as the
white background
made the FC too
bare.
I used the soap opera FC above for ideas whilst
Included a barcode, producing my Front cover. I used the idea of having a
Date, issue number blank background and a banner at the top of the
And price. All in a similar magazine. I also used a similar colour scheme and
Place to the Soap Opera layout.
Magazine.

10. If I was to complete this I think my magazine would have looked
task again I‟d make the more effective with a “busier”
text bigger so that it is background rather than a plain
clearer to read. backdrop.
In order to make The image would work
this piece fit more of the better if it was a two
conventions of a real soap person shot because
magazine I‟d need to include Evaluation
most soap magazines
More “buttons” and of summer feature two or more
information about soaps homework people on the FC. I also
In general. At the moment it think the catchphrase
looks a bit vague. needs to be stronger to
help draw the readers
attention in.
However, when I compare this
product with my final ancillary
product I can see that the
magazine has improved and it
definitely follows the conventions of
a real life media product.

11. Task 1- Comic Strip Video ‘Mary Worth’:
What I did…
First of all I copied a selection
Of comic strip pictures into Adobe
Premiere Elements 8, all together I had 6
Pictures, then I used the mini DV camcorder
And filmed each clip at a fixed medium
shot, But camera movement consisting of pan
And zoom. I later recorded a dialogue to fit in
With the captions. Then I added a sound track
To the opening slide and applied a ‘fade out’ to
Fit with the slide transition. This preliminary
Task has taught me how to extract an audio from
A video, use a variety of camera shots/angles
Click And upload a video to YouTube and then to my
Here Blog.

12. Task 1: Evaluation:
Include more camera
movement and angles.
If I was to complete
the task again
I‟d think more about Include more ECU‟S
non-diegetic sound Evaluation and CU‟S
(dialogue and
soundtrack).
If I was to re-do this
task, I‟d think more
about the narrative-
therefore making sure it
I‟d also think more had a clearer storyline.
about the overall
representation of
the piece and
intended target
audience.

13. Task 2: Produce a video of a scene
from a soap:
I used this trailer as a template
for my second preliminary task. I copied
the setting of the scene and used some of
the script as well.
Click
Here

14. Task 2: Script for 2nd Preliminary Task:
Michael and Alfie are having lunch in the cafe, Michael starts the conversation...
Michael: Alfie tell me to keep my snout out
Alfie: Keep your snout out
Michael: If Kats six months pregnant, unless she got pregnant by letter or prison
visits got a little more interesting Establishing shot
Alfie: You‟re a right little miss marple aren‟t ya?
Michael: If she‟s bin messing you around...
Alfie: She ain‟t coz the babies not mine
Michael: So what about the other guy? The father?
Alfie: oh it was a one night stand.. While I was banged up in prison.. These things
Happen eh?
Michael: You alright about that? You bringing up someone else‟s kid? Medium shot
Alfie: Matching shirts, who‟s gonna know hey?
Michael: You‟ll know, Kat will know and everyday you‟ll be reminded
Alfie: I know but we‟ve got each other, it‟s a fresh start and that‟s what counts
Michael: What if he comes back on the scene?
Alfie: He ain‟t gonna come back.. Tryna remember the blokes name.. Apparently he
Was a right old stank, lasted 5 minutes and that includes the shower from start
Asymmetrical framing
To finish
Michael: Is that what she said?
Alfie: Can‟t beat a bit of the old moon magic alright?
Kat enters the cafe as she needs Alfie for something...
Kat: Alfie? Medium shot
Alfie: Hello sweetheart
Kat: It‟s Greg
Michael: We were just talking about you...
Alfie: Want a sausage?
Kat: No.. He needs sumit.. Dunno what it is, me and builders it goes straight
over my head
Alfie: Alright I'll sort it, cya Michael OTS SHOT

15. Task 2: Evaluation:
However the
tracking shot at If I was to
the beginning of complete this
the scene is good task again I‟d
and works very choose a better
well. location that is a
bit more realistic
Have to ensure
characters speak More angles and shot
louder and clever. Evaluation types are necessary for
it to fit the conventions of
Continuity between shot soap. (More ECU‟S)
takes is poor, have to think
more about the positions of Better scripting and
characters and character casting to ensure
Need to pay more
profiles. branding is kept the
attention to what
props were used same.
and continuity with
costume for each
character.

16. Final Task: Soap Trailer:
Click
Here

17. The Reckless: Casting:
When casting for my soap trailer I
thought very carefully. In the end I
decided that in order for my soap trailer
to be of the best possible standard I
would need sufficient actors to take on
the roles, so I used 6 students from the
drama department. I decided to use 4
girls and 2 boys as I was primarily
aiming my piece at a female audience.

18. The Reckless: Prop Preparation:
Intro Scene:
For this scene I needed to use
two glasses of “wine” for the
characters to make a toast.
However, I could
not use real wine, but used
undiluted vimto instead. It looks
real and effective.

19. The Reckless: Voice overs &
Dialogue:
Voice Over: Dialogue:
Beginning: A brand new soap opera Julia: You have no idea what I‟ve
which pushes all the limits... Sacrificed for you
After Montage: Lies
Lust Julia: Oh my god
Infidelity
Secrecy Vanessa: This isn‟t over!
Murder
Ending: THE RECKLESS… Coming
soon... on living!

20. The Reckless: Script:
Click
Here

21. The Reckless: Shot Lists:

23. Q1: In what ways does your
media product use, develop
or challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

24. The screenshot of the Eastenders trailer on the
left uses a soundtrack throughout with
occasional voice-overs. I mimicked this idea for
my soap as I believe It helped highlight the
dramatic storylines. I used the over shoulder
shot from the Eastenders
trailer for this scene as I
wanted to give the
impression that
Charlotte’s character was
talking down to Ellie’s
(Charlotte being the
superior one).
I used this trailer as a
template for my
montage scenes.
This scene creates
a disequilibrium
atmosphere for the
audience.

25. I decided to use a similar
scene to the one in „The
Young and the
Restless‟. However I chose
the „catfight‟ to be between
two female characters
instead. During the making
of this scene, neither of
them actually hit each other.
I set up the scene to make it
look like they did by having
them slap past each others
faces and I clapped off
scene to make the slapping
noise (non-diegetic sound).

26. I wanted my trailer to mimic the conventions
and style of this American TV drama: ‘The
Young and the Restless’. Therefore I wanted it to
appear quite cliché but more glamorous than a typical
British soap like ‘EastEnders’.
I also mimicked the style
of their logo

27. I follow the conventions The costume theme used
of a soap opera by within this trailer challenges the
having a character killed. conventions of soap as the
However it edges characters generally wear
slightly towards the TV formal clothing which Is very
drama side of the genre. unlike characters in a typically
For example ‘Skins’. British soap like Eastenders.
I have challenged
other soap Because my piece is
operas by having Differences based on American
a steady from other TV dramas, my genre
friendship Is slightly more
soaps
between two of glamorous than a
the characters. standard British
soap.

28. About the show:
The Young and the Restless is an American Used storylines The division
television soap opera created by William J which the audience between rich
Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is can relate to and poor
set in a fictional Wisconsin town
called Genoa City.
How I
The Storyline: mimicked
The Young and the Restless originally focuses on the
two core families, the wealthy Brooks family and
the poor Foster family. Then, Bell replaced them storylines
with the new core families, the Abbotts and the
Williams'. Over the years, other families such as
the Newman's and the Winters were
introduced. Despite these changes, one storyline Rivalries between
that has endured through almost the show's certain characters
entire run is the feud between Jill Foster Abbott
and Katherine Chancellor, the longest rivalries on
any American soap opera.

29. I watched ‘The Young and The Restless’
Montage to give me ideas for my video
and decided it worked for my piece.
I copied the
I mimicked the characters
style of the expressions, status
transitions, and what
Which consisted they were wearing.
of fading to white.
I wanted to
Ideas I
show different
used Social classes
and the
contrast
between
richer and
poor.

30. I used the idea of a panning shot of a street
for my opening credits of the trailer. It is very
similar to coronation street's credits on the
left, whereas EastEnders uses an almost
map view instead.

31. For my soap trailer I used four locations, which
consisted of two houses, college and outside. I wanted
to keep my trailer close to the genre of soap and
everyday life which is why I decided to film in a house.
It‟s affordable, domestic and creates a sense of realism.
However, for the montage shots I needed to shoot the
scenes with a blank white backdrop which is why I
choose college.

32. In the cat fight
This is a close Scene I used two POV
up shot. shots from each
character by changing
the angle of the camera.
This is an over the
shoulder shot.
This creates a
parallel narrative
that converges
I used a panning together.
shot on the
opening of the
trailer.
I used a zoom out camera
action on the first scene.

33. I got the soundtrack
I also scripted some voice overs which helped clip off YouTube by
to create rhetorical questions for the audience to converting the video file
think about and created narrative coherence using a programme which
for the scenes. allowed me to save the file
and upload to my project. I
At the end of my trailer, I also did this with the gunshot
decided to have a character sound effects.
murdered to finish on a
climax. To compliment this
storyline I completed the Music, script,
scene with a non-diegetic voice over's & I added non-diegetic sound
sound of a gunshot and then
sound effects which was a dramatic
applied a slide transition of a soundtrack playing in the
fade to black. I think this background
challenges the conventions throughout the trailer. I
of soap slightly as it edges lowered the volume of the
closer to more of a TV drama soundtrack and enhanced
like „Skins‟ or a slightly more the volume of the diegetic
controversial soap storyline sound (dialogue and voice
like Richard Hillman‟s in I had a voice over dialogue to overs). I also applied a fade
Coronation street. help fit with the conventions of a in and out on the
soap trailer. It also helped to soundtrack which is typical
make the trailer look more of a trailer.
professional and dramatic by
adding suspense to the piece.

34. I used natural based light
for outside work.
I ensured that for the Montage
scenes, the characters were Whilst shooting the scenes
shot under a bright between Scot‟s and Charlotte‟s
light with a white backdrop in Lighting in characters the lighting was not
order to fit the conventions of Sufficient enough to suit the
a typical soap montage the trailer scene and conventions,
scene. E.g. The Young and so to amend this I had to reshoot
The Restless. the scene and add extra lighting.
Obviously used un-natural
light for inside work.

35. I used an additive dissolve slide transition for these 2
scenes because It helped to convey the negative
emotions and despair of Ellie‟s character during this
storyline.
I used a fade to white slide transition between this
shot of James‟s character and the montage of Antonia‟s
character. I did this to show that James‟s character was
feeling guilty about his affair and I think his expressions and
actions portray this effectively to my target audience.

36. I had to reshoot this scene as the lighting was not clear enough to follow the
guidelines of a trailer. Once I had re-shot the scene the lighting was better,
however whilst I was in the process of making the trailer I realised that you
can see myself filming in the reflection of the window. In the future, in order to
avoid this I would either close the curtains or shoot from a different angle in
which you would not see me.

37. Antonia’s character:
Snobby upper class business woman, bit
nosey and a no-nonsense type woman.
Has an affair with James’s character. (Ellen
Jeffreys)
Character Profiles
Ellie’s character:
She’s a married woman who cannot have
kids. She is cheated on
By James’s character, so has a
confrontation with Antonia’s character.
(Julia Winsor)
Charlotte’s Character:
Shy, innocent and reserved woman on the surface,
however she
Has a darker side to her. She is also pregnant with
Scot’s character, but only herself, scot and Ellie’s
characters know.
(Susannah Brookfields)

38. Aislings character:
Loud overly confident woman
with a big ego. She is very flirty
and not afraid to say what she
thinks.
(Vanessa Stark)
James Darwent’s character:
Rich upper class business man, very full of
himself and quite selfish. He is married to
Ellie’s character but cheats on her with
Antonia’s character.
(Rupert Daniels)
Scot Chapman’s character:
He’s the good friend of the group, the one
you can always turn to. However he can be
a bit two faced sometimes. He is the father
of Charlotte’s character’s baby.
(Kyle Stephenson)

39. I ensured I kept continuity with the costume and that character identity was
kept clear throughout the trailer. Also, the three characters who appeared on
the ancillaries kept their identity and style on those too. I wanted
Ellie, Antonia and James‟s characters to look like they were from an upper
class background so I ensured they wore smart clothes, had correct posture
and spoke correctly. In order to contrast with these characters, I wanted
Charlotte‟s, Scot‟s and Aisling‟s characters to be of a middle class
background. To portray this they wore less formal clothing and had a less
superior attitude. In other words those characters would be easier to relate
to from an audiences point of view.

40. The characters in the soap are I portrayed this
played by students, however the through the use
characters themselves of costume and behaviour.
are much older- Probably in their
late 20’s-Early 30’s.
My soap does not reflect
teenage culture and so the Representation I made the storylines reflect each
representation of the region might of characters character’s personality, however I
not be made as clear as It could.
exaggerated each storyline to a
certain extent to fit the
conventions of an American
Even though my soap reflects drama and challenge the
American sub culture to a certain conventions of a British soap
extent, I wanted the region in which opera.
it was set to be clear. I think the For example: One storyline was
characters reflected this sufficiently that James’s character had an
as they all have Northern accents affair which matches his superior
and a Manchester dialect .Also, the attitude that he can do what he
setting is very clearly in Manchester. wants.

41. I used the
advertisement from
the Nikita trailer and
changed it to fit the
conventions of the
genre of my
production.
I kept the branding similar by
using a „Living‟ logo, however I
changed the colour scheme and
font.

42. I‟d especially include more tracking/reverse tracking shots
and ECU‟s to help portray the characters emotions.
If I was to complete this task again I'd
use more camera shots/movement to In terms of lighting, I think my trailer is
make my trailer look more technically too dark and if I was to complete the
pleasing and professional. task again I‟d think about the exposure
settings on the camera.
The use of voice overs almost
made my product cross over I think my trailer is reasonably
to the documentary mode of Evaluation easy to follow, however if I was
genre. I think this worked however to make it again I‟d make my
as it helped portray the storylines of finished storylines even clearer and
better to my target audience. trailer portray each characters identity
a little bit more.- Maybe include
If I was to re-do this piece of a few more POV shots to create
coursework I‟d think more denser parallel narratives?
about the opening of the
trailer and try and improve I‟d make sure that the actors spoke
it so that it looks more I think this trailer would look louder when they said their lines so
professional. better if it was filmed in a that the soundtrack would not drown
few more realistic locations their voices. Because the dialogue
rather than just a house. For was too quiet, I had to
Gives the trailer example: A pub or café lower the volume of the
more variety and soundtrack and
makes It more increase the volume of
interesting. the dialogue.

43. Q 2:How effective is the
combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?

44. Templates I used for the Soap Magazine FC & Billboard:

46. Three people are on
this photo which
suggests a storyline
between them.
I used the idea of a side column
running down the left hand side
of the FC- describing what was
inside the magazine
I mimicked the catch line on the
‘All about soap’ magazine because
it portrayed a similar storyline to
mine so therefore fit with the
conventions of British Soap opera.
I used a similar style to
the‘SoapOperaWeekly’ as it is an The image used in the
American soap magazine, which is what magazine ‘Soap Opera
my product is closer to in terms of Digest’ is a similar image I
genre. used for my magazine as it
contains the same idea

47. At first I was going to use the image
above for my Soap Opera billboard. I
then decided It did not work as it
wasn‟t following the conventions of
My soap and the branding was not
kept the same. However I got
inspiration for my photo from the FC
Of Soap Opera Digest which
features a similar setting.
I chose a similar mood for my billboard as the one portrayed in
the billboard on the left. I didn‟t want to advertise my soap with
the characters looking all bright and cheerful. Instead, I wanted
them to look quite serious, which will inevitably draw the audience
in to find out what is going on.
Similar font, colour scheme and position
of logo and text.

48. American soap opera: I made my billboard quite minimalistic like
this one because I think having too
much text on it makes it look too “busy”, which
makes it harder for the audience to read.
I used a similar
font and colour scheme
to this logo.
Spanish soap opera:
I mimicked the idea
of showing a storyline
within the billboard.
I used the idea
of having multiple
characters
on my billboard.

49. Editing of the Magazine:
I decided to change the title of the magazine because Soap-tastic didn‟t
fit with the branding of my soap, so I chose „TV Listing‟ instead as it was
more suitable to my product. I also changed the font and colour scheme
as again it did not fit in with the branding of the trailer.

50. Editing of the Billboard:
I originally wanted to produce a landscape billboard
But then decided my soap suited a portrait, bus stop type
Billboard instead. I also think the black and white Living
Logo worked better than the purple and white because
It helps enhance the glamorous image of the show.

51. I decided to use a banner at the top of the FC
To advertise the soaps inside the magazine.
This is a typical feature of a soap magazine.
I used text off myfonts.com to fit the
conventions of a real-life magazine. I
decided the colour gold would highlight
the glamorousness of the show, which
therefore contrasts with other soap
magazines.
I used this catch line to fit
In with the storyline of these three
Characters. I chose the colour red to
portray the elegance of the show.
I included buttons and a logo for my soap, which
I also made on myfonts.com.
Included a barcode,
Date, masthead.

52. I used a similar image
of the same three
characters in both
ancillaries. I did this to
I decided to have my create a brand identity,
soap sponsored by Which then enforces
Herbal Essences the piece into a wider
because my soap is audience market.
primarily aimed at
women, although men as
well. So therefore, they I used the „Living
would be most likely to channel‟ logo to ensure
want to buy this hair the branding was kept
product. the same throughout
my trailer and
ancillaries.

53. Q 3:What have you learned
from your audience feedback?

54. Even though this trailer
is following more of the
conventions of an
American soap opera, it This trailer is aimed at
is still popular within the late teens- Late 40’s.
British humour.
The differences between British The genre is soap
soap are that this trailer is Audience
opera/American
more cheesy/light hearted and Profile drama.
less serious and blunt.
My soap would have traditionally
been aimed at women,
housewives to be exact.
However it is now aimed at men
too, although still primarily
women.

56. At the beginning,
Voice over needs to
Good, strong
come in later.
narrative.
Ellie‟s character
needs to look
Strong through window
branding. Feedback
looking sad after
she has seen
them kissing.
Realistic and Clear genre of
Actor looks into soap.
clear setting/ Camera by
storylines. mistake which is
not typical of
soap.

58. 1: How close is my trailer and
two ancillary products related to 4: Do the storylines in the trailer
the soap? fit with the character
representation?
Extremely
Very
Yes
Not really
No
Not at all
2: Does my soap products
challenge the conventions of 5: Does my trailer and two ancillary
British soap opera? products look professional like real life
media products?
Yes
No
Yes
3: Has my soap included a variety
of different camera shots/angle
and movement?
Yes
Yes but there is
room for more
Quite

59. Q 4:How did you use media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages?

60. To film my trailer, I used a mini DV Camcorder and a digital camera to take pictures of
my ancillaries. I used Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 to produce my soap trailer and
Microsoft Publisher to produce my two ancillary products. As for my resources, I used
the internet to find out information on different soap operas such as: ‘The Young
and the Restless’ , using different websites like www.youtube.com and
www.wikipedia.com. To evaluate my finished products, I have used
www.blogspot.com and Microsoft PowerPoint.

61. “Creating your project”
After this step…
I was able to edit the video
clips how I wanted on the timeline
and was then
“Uploading video/audio footage”
able to add sound
effects, transitions and pictures.
I used a DV camcorder to film
my soap.

62. To create my text on my magazine
FC and billboard I used
www.myfonts.com . I copied
different styles of text and pasted it
into Microsoft Publisher. By doing
this, I followed the conventions of
real-life media.

63. “Altering the volume and unlinking video and audio clips” “Cutting a clip”
You left click on the timeline where you want
your clip to be cut and then you press the
scissor icon in the far right corner of the
video. Then you can right click on the cut
clip and delete if necessary.
You right click on the clip
to get this window up.

64. Once I had finished my trailer I uploaded my video to
YouTube using Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0. I did this by
clicking on the share button on the right hand side and then
logging into my YouTube account. From there, I had to give a
title for my trailer, add tags and put it into a specific genre. I
chose animation & film. In order to upload the video to my
blog I got the URL embedded code from YouTube and This is what it should look like whilst
transferred it onto my Blog account. you‟re in the process of uploading the video.

65. Step 3…
Step 1…
Then I created a „new post‟ on my blog
and pasted in the code, created a title for
my piece and published the post.
I clicked on the button
called „Embed‟
below my video and then a
Step 2… URL appeared
underneath (Shown in the
left hand corner),
which I had to copy and
paste into my blog.

66. I used my blog to show
all my planning and preparation
during the preliminary tasks
and the preparation before my
final piece of coursework
was produced.
“Creating your first post”