Trailer idea

Visiting the setting in which we were to film, i had an idea that we introduce ALL the characters through a process. The characters such as the homeless guy and the boss would have nothing in common, however, i imagined a continuous flow of a folder being passed around. The first character to hold the folder would be peter, and as he is homosexual we decided that there would be nail varnish chip on his nail... this seems as a incorrect representation of a male homosexual character because he is not a cross-dresser but the group thought this would raise questions and convey ideas on his persona as there was no other way we could think of. The trailer would start from him going through files and trying to find a document which shows the current financial situation of the company. The file would be taken into the meeting room where all the workers are waiting for the boss for a meeting. Peter sits down and everyone takes a glance through the folder before the boss comes. The folder is making its way where the boss would sit. Each character taking a glance would have something about themselves summing up their character. For example the employee who suffers from ADHD would fidget and distracted. The boss would then walk in after everyone has taken a look at the file and through camera shots we will reveal she is a muslim woman. Ideally, we would use camera shots which makes her look superior i.e, shots of her walking - her shoes. Then when she sits down it will be revealled who she is. She would take a look at the folder get frustrated (one of her character traits) and will shread it/ or she would get angryand dramatic throwing it out of the window . The bin would make its way outside where the tramp would be.

Pitch

We wrote down a few words for a pitch idea on Verve House. Our final idea is...

Fashion, Office, Recession

• I suggested that it would be a good idea to use this as a slogan on our poster as well as using it as the pitch.

Treatment

Verve House is an office set in north London which distributes clothing to major retail firms. The business is running successfully and employees would be classed as middle class, however there is a spectrum of classes used throughout the characters because of the mixed class society London is today. The boss, Aya, is the woman in charge. She wears a headscarf as it shows she's religious, we chose Islam as the religion of this character because of the current prejudices of western societies and the headscarf is a distinctive symbol of this religion, she is a representation of a strong dominant female as well as a representation of multi cultural London. She is intimidating towards the employees just as any other boss would be.

Some characters are homosexual; some are open about it whereas some keep it secret. In today’s society it is a norm to have any preferred sexuality. However, age and status may get in the way of this norm. The youngest character, the new girl, is homosexual, she is quite open about it; whereas Peter, the PA is married and has a family and feels as though he cannot reveal this about himself. This idea reflects how norms of society have changed rapidly over time.

The new girl character has a 3 month work placement from her university and her family background is from a working. Her role to the audience is to allow them to emphasise with her because she is new and everything would be introduced to her as well as everything being introduced to the audience. Her working class background represents the changing of this class identity, and that she is able to achieve a middle class background. This character also appeals to the younger audience because students would be able to emphasise with her.

The soap also features disabilities. The ‘sexy/handsome guy’ has a mental disorder - ADHD/ADD basically meaning Attention Deficit Disorder which summarises a lot of his characteristics; he has difficulty concentrating. He gets prescribed medication for this. He is accepted and quite popular within the workplace, his disorder does not make him a bizarre character because he has medication for it. It is quite common in the real world for some people to have similar mental disorders, even schizophrenia as long as it is manageable, and in this case: it is.

The representations are well suited for a busy city like London. It is quite normal for London to be multi-cultural and with people who have different views and preferences. Middle-class and students would be the target audience of this soap. Students would be attracted to the professional looking setting, just like the new girl, they would be interested in their future career and what it would be like. Middle classed audiences would be the main target audience. Middle classes are thought to be of high culture and education; they may be interested on the different representations of contemporary UK. Or, they could just be attracted to the narratives and characters.

All the different characteristics of the characters highlights that even in a crowded place like London, anyone can easily feel lonely.

Target Audience and Broadcasting times

Our target audience, according to the content of the soap, are young adults to middle age. While other soaps are broadcasted during prime time, Verve House would be broadcasted after primetime because it is only targetting mature audiences.

This research was done to have an idea on when our soap would be broadcasted. and also that according to our target audience, what time we would need to broadcast. These are the most watched soaps. The soaps are 30 minutes each so they do not clash with each other, it is possible to watch all of them. Studying the times can allow us to fit in our soap without cutting in other soaps.