Poster ideas

Poster ideas which i have considered are based on the target audience and what we already expect them to know. I have decided to design a poster in which maslow's hierarchy is turned upside down and put money at the top of the scale, however the point of the traingular scale is pointing at the bottom. The symbolic meaning of this is that money has a greater power (which is proved during the recession as everything is collapsed at this time). And also to show what sort of society we live in, that money controls humans... not the other way around. We are ruled by organisations and a cloud of norms which is out of our hands as human beings (even though we created them initially).

The image of the triangle shape is also an optical illusion which i recreated the shape myself to reflect the idea that no one is sure what to do

Research: New drama 'Freefall'

Dominic Savage writes and directs the sort of TV drama (Out of Control, Born Equal) that traditionally attracts the adjective “gritty”. Perhaps for this reason, his work generally appeals to critics, who always appreciate a break from their usual bland diet of adultery and murder. Here at last, the argument runs, is somebody willing to tackle big issues – and to make television that comes palpably from the heart.

Yet, while both of these things are true, that doesn’t necessarily make the results as brilliant as his champions claim. In last night’s Freefall (BBC Two), Savage took on the credit crunch. Once again, his heartfelt approach was on full display – but so was its most obvious downside: a complete lack of subtlety.

In the opening scene, set in the far-off days of 2007, the boss of a Watford mortgage firm was exhorting his troops. They must, he told them, banish all compassion as they flogged dodgy packages to people who couldn’t afford them. Inspired by these words, his star salesman Dave (Dominic Cooper) now went about his business with almost satanic glee – cackling “What a d--khead” as he drove away from another soon-to-be-destitute punter.

It turned out, too, that Dave had some serious competition in the greedy-villain stakes. In the City of London, banker Gus (Aidan Gillen) was so excited by closing another deal that he went to the toilets to masturbate. Over lunch with his teenage daughter, his utter obsession with money meant that he gave her (and us) a handy explanation of mortgage collateralised debt obligations.

In the meantime Dave was chasing his biggest-baddie crown even harder than before. His old school-friend Jim (Joseph Mawle) had already been established as the very definition of “poor but happy”, joshing away with his loving family in their rented council house. Even so, Dave persuaded him to take out a discounted mortgage, without explaining how much the repayments would increase in the second year.

And with that, the caption “one year later” appeared. Sure enough, Jim was about to open a letter from the mortgage company and look stricken. Life wasn’t much better for Gus. “I’m afraid it’s still going down,” an underling reported. “We’ve just lost another 10billion.”

Jim’s story did pack a genuine emotional punch, with Mawle and Anna Maxwell Martin as his wife Mandy both doing a superb job of capturing the couple’s mixture of anger, horror and bewilderment. But as representatives of The Human Cost of the Credit Crunch, their characters had the advantage of enjoying Savage’s sympathy. Poor old Gillen and Cooper weren’t so lucky. Cooper in particular was stuck with such a caricature that he had little choice but to play it to the hilt. Unfortunately, this made it impossible to see how Dave could ever have taken anybody in – given that he might as well have had horns and a forked tail.

In these sledgehammer circumstances, the last thing Freefall needed at the end was an author’s message. Naturally, however, Savage couldn’t resist. “This,” Gus obligingly pointed out as the crash hit, “is payback time.” We then got a stern lecture from Mandy on the corrupting power of greed.

Earlier in the evening, the fourth series of Coast (BBC Two) began by explaining why some later episodes will take place in Norway and France. Apparently it’s because “the connections with other countries” have made us what we are today – and not, as you may have thought, that the makers are running out of British coastline to tell us about.

In the meantime, though, yesterday’s programme was largely business as usual. Presenter Neil Oliver addressed the camera with that whispered intimacy that’s either irresistible or faintly creepy according to taste. He also introduced a series of vaguely coast-related items treated in a way known in the trade as “presenter-led”. Anthropology expert Alice Roberts, for example, supplied a history of the hovercraft that heavily featured her own reactions to travelling in a hovercraft. Oliver himself explored early film-making by dressing up in a director’s outfit and waving a megaphone around.

Luckily, Coast does retain its happy knack of choosing interesting subjects in the first place, and cramming them in. Certainly I can’t think of many other hour-long programmes that could find room – among the hovercrafts, movies and much else besides – for Finland’s leading crazy-golf player, the story of the Hungarian marsh frog and the history of the Isle of Wight over the past 135million years. Or of one that could successfully demonstrate the geological concept of “isostatic rebound” using a rucksack and an inflatable mattress




(TV review) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5828281/TV-review-Freefall-BBC-Two-and-Coast-BBC-Two.html


http://www.thedramastudent.co.uk/2009/07/television-its-crunch-time-for-bbc-drama-freefall/



It’s a story that will have resonated with the British public, tackling the credit crunch and the highs of the boom where mortgage lending was offered to pretty much anyone, and the inevitable lows of the bust when their repayments were missed.

Written by BAFTA award-winning Dominic Savage with a brilliant all-star cast improvising through each scene, we delve into the uncomfortable world of finance. The drama kicks off in the heady days of 2007 where lending was readily available. Dave Matthews (played by Dominic Cooper pictured) is a hot-shot broker armed with a fatal discounted mortgage which he sells to the gullible. Pushing all morals aside, he’s well aware they can’t afford them, but there’s money to be made and he’ll stop at nothing.

Equally without a conscience, we explore City banker Aidan Gillen’s addiction to closing the deals on a mammoth scale. Gus’s relationship breakdown with his daughter and girlfriend of sorts Anna (Rosamund Pike) make us believe his sole drive in life is to make as much money as possible, losing the ability to care and love.

He leads a simple life and is happy with his lot, but that soon changes when he hooks up with old school pal Dave who encourages him to have greater aspirations.

At the bottom of the chain, we follow Jim (Joseph Mawle) and his family living a rented council flat. He leads a simple life and is happy with his lot, but that soon changes when he hooks up with old school pal Dave who encourages him to have greater aspirations. Jim ultimately succumbs and although his wife Mandy (Anna Maxwell Martin) has her doubts, they sign up for one of Dave’s dodgy mortgages. Of course, he fails to tell them that after the year’s fixed rate, the repayments will rocket for the remaining two year term.

One year later, Jim opens the letter from his building society with news of the increase. It’s a devastating revelation for the security guard who has to take on extra shifts and is eventually sacked for falling asleep on the job. Repayments mount up and in the end they’re back where they started, a lesson that almost destroys them.

It’s not much better for Gus in the City, who loses billions in the downturn. It’s not long before things spiral out of control. “This is payback time,” he says predicting the outcome. Doing the deals defined who he was, what was left for him?

Freefall is a gritty and real drama that exposes the greedy and selfish.

Yet it’s ex-broker Dave who seems to readjust well to his new life. Although he has to sell his big house in the suburbs, he downscales to a stylish apartment, acquires a new girlfriend and starts a new job selling solar power, seemingly indicating that a top salesperson will always ‘get by’.

Freefall is a gritty and real drama that exposes the greedy and selfish. The ‘fly on the wall’ filming style is effective and Savage manages to bring out some skilful performances, in particular from Mawle and Maxwell Martin’s broke husband and wife. At times though the dialogue is overplayed and would have perhaps benefited by a touch of subtlety here and there. Nevertheless, Freefall is a compelling view of the devastating impact on those at each end of the scale of capitalism.

THIS WAS MY RESEARCH ON FREEFALL...

WOW. This is an excellent example of what we would like to acheive. Representations of the spectrum of classes. "going down the ladder" of classes and representing contemporary British identity. Fixing up the missing links of well-known soaps such as EastEnders and bringing it forwards to the contemporary working world (where some people have washing machines!).

The reviews are quite pleasing. "The fly on the wall" effect is just what we wanted.. not decorating storylines with hollywood inspired happy merry endings.. the raw version of represented life. People want the truth! Some of the characters are happy with their life even thought they are not advantaged as others in luxury.. there are people like that! The real people who are happy just to have a roof over their head and people to talk to.

As a media consumer and producer it is exciting to see new dramas and soaps which is relatable. As humans we want to know what is happening to other people and why people are upset and to have sympathy as well as empathy for people.

Poster idea

This is another idea for a poster. It has a satirical theme. I was inspired to create this poster because of the term "Credit Crunch" and emphasised on the word "crunch".

I used microsoft paint to create this. It does not look professional, however i beleive it adds to the satirical message it sends and looks sarcastic in a way. It also resembles a comic strip usually on newspapers such as "Metro". I think this poster conveys alot of ideas and is enigmatic. The writing on the cereal box is eye catching and will get the attention of those affected by the recession.

Everything on this poster is copyright free and and i have simply edited the pound coin which i took a picture of.

Even though it does not introduce any characters from the production it would still attract our target audience and more likely to in this way. Pictures of our character would be something new to them and they would not be able to be familiar with it. This poster is explicit in its message and at the same time introduces the soap.

Poster brainstorm

The first three posters show dominant female characters. We want to emphasize on this idea on our trailer on empowering women. It has elements of film noir because of the silhouettes and shadows. i think this is a good way in showing that there is a "dark side" to the business in some way. The idea of a woman holding a cigarette is quite good because of the masculine connotations it has.

The banner across this poster reading "tha office" is a good example of representing the narrative for this production. the it skills used is good because they have manipulated the image by adding paper clips on the banner (emphasis on office props and incorporating it with the poster).

This poster is of a postcard format. It is not a film poster but the effectiveness to the audience is good. It is satirical as the writing glamorizes it but the picture gives a different impression, as if to say "no, this is the truth". it is fun to look at too because it sends this message and also it is something someone could keep.

Again, women are given a different representation to looking more powerful and independent in the "Crooked Business" poster. this is a poster of a short film. the lettering is effective because the 'e' is "crooked"

New trailer idea

Note: Each dialogue the boss speaks she will be wearing different clothes to show the different days that the redudencies were being announced.

Employee 1 - happy

"Hello"

lights cigarette

Employee 2 - confused

"So hows everyone working downstairs"

lights cigarette

drinks coffee

Employe 3 -nervous

*nodding* "It's a hard time now"

lights cigarette

drinks coffee

typing on keyboard

"I wanted to let you know"

lights cigarette

drinks coffee

typing on keyboard

puts cup to the side

Employee 4 - worried

"These are the expected figures"

lights cigarette

drinks coffee

typing on keyboard

puts cup to the side

"We can't afford to go the way we're going"

lights cigarette

drinks coffee

typing on keyboard

puts cup to the side

stubs cigarette out

Employee 5 - crying

"I'm going to have to let you go"

lights cigarette

drinks coffee

typing on keyboard

puts cup to the side

stubs cigarette out




I was inspired by the camera movement on an advert which we all agreed would work in showing a stressful and repetitive situation. This is the part of the advert:

This clip shows a man doing the same deal with two people and it shows that they are in the same situation. We wanted to create an effect where people were going through the same situation in our trailer (getting fired). We also wanted to emphasise on the stress of the boss who is doing the firing and how difficult it is for her too. The target audience would know how the employees would feel either they were in the same situation or knows someone in a similar situation - because of the current recession. So, we wanted to include the boss's perspective too for the trailer and how repetitive and emotionally tiring it was. This idea is also from the focus group findings.

We wanted to keep it simple and interesting and wanted to make the recession the main theme rather than introducing all the characters. It would be more interesting with the building up of trailer. This idea is to get the attention of the target audience through interesting camera shots and introducing the idea of getting fired.

Focus Group and Findings

We conducted a focus group in VERVE HOUSE to find out if our idea of the soap is effective as they were the potential target audience. We gave out hand-outs with a summary of the characters and narrative and also questionnaires on what soaps they watched and how often, also their suggestions on our soap. The information was very valuable because they are the target audience and at the same time they are consumers of this type of media. Asking questions made them think like media producers they were pointing out what would be effected through their idea of what they liked to watch

Our Focus group was in Verve House with the real workers who have the inside information on experience about the recession. I learned so many things and they also gave us feedback on our soap idea.

The information given was very personal, the recession had effected them in a vast way and it also effected their relationships with staff and family. The main information we wanted was how they survived the recession. They told us that during the recession they had gone through a lot of stress. Strangely, they actually had sympathy for the boss who was firing the employees. They understood they situation of the boss and saw him as a person, who naturally, people do go under stress.

"The workers, they only got fired once but the boss had to keep firing people all day... maybe even two days, he felt responsible and upset obviously having to fire people who worked for him all this time", "People went through it once but the boss would do it 30 times a day".

The workers showed understanding for his actions and saw it as something that "had to be done". They also said that they felt like the "group" had come together a lot closer since the recession and caused them to be more emotional. They told us that they would like to see how other people got on and that the idea of having a soap similar to their work environment is very interesting and that they would watch it.

We pitched them our idea and explained the characters and their traits and how we would represent them in the trailer. However, the feedback we got back was that we "went over the top" and that it was not realistic, especially our representation of Peter. Most of them watched EastEnders and did notice that no one had a washing machine. However they find it very interesting and have been watching it for years.


Their opinions of soap operas as consumers... "makes our life feel alot better". The consumers want to emphasise and see how other people are doing other than dealing with their own life problems. As human beings we care and want to know how other people are doing, and also as human beings we are afraid of the unknown; we want to understand and know what is happening to other people. It would feel like a first hand experience of the recession because the media may be exaggerating or not saying enough or not giving in enough insight how it effects people's personal life...

The group were very helpful, they spoke of their personal experience. The recession had effected their family life and they had to adjust to a more limited lifestyle. The work enviroment merged with the home enviroment both equally stressful. This is a good idea for our soap because we can carry storylines to a domestic setting (where soaps are usually based).

From the findings i can conclude that soaps need to adapt to a more gritty, kitchen-sink realism. Not all things on TV are merry and live happily ever after. Last year when i researched "A room for Romeo Brass" this was the exact point: That not everything in life is predictable and has a happy ending. You just move on and carry on living the next day.


"Monday Monday" was also mentioned in the discussion...

''Monday Monday is an ITV comedy drama. It stars Fay Ripley, Jenny Agutter, Neil Stuke, Holly Aird, Morven Christie and Tom Ellis.

It is set in the head office of a supermarket that has fallen on hard times and had to re-locate its staff from London to Leeds.^[2] The show was initially announced as part of ITV's Winter 2007 press pack, but was "iced" until 2009 due to falling advertising in the wake of the economic downturn. (WIKIPEDIA)''

This TV drama is based on a company and its workers which is a similar peice of work as ours. It is interesting that our focus group had recognised this and I didn't. This shows that our potential target is interested in this sort of programme and that they would watch our soap.

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.

Character Profiles

The Boss - She can be very dominant in the working environment and has tendencies to be a complete control freak. She wears a headscarf as it shows she's spiritual; 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. She also has a few sneaky cigarettes when she gets too stressed. She's money greedy and is motivated by proving everyone wrong. She has very small moments in the soap where she lets her guard down and shows her vulnerable side (this is only ever done to her PA). She is also a hypochondriac. She is intimidating towards the employees just as any other boss would be.

Boss’s PA – a ‘normal’ man who has a wife and children at home. He’s an ambiguous character who may appear shady at times but this is due to recent gay feelings which he keeps very secretive from everyone. Although at times he lets on to the Boss as they have a very complex and trustworthy relationship. He acts as an ‘agony aunt’ to the boss when she gets too stressed. He appears bossy and arrogant towards other staff lower down the hierarchy to him, he’s known as a misfit to other workers and often gets teased by other employees (he’s made solitary). He’s a very good listener, well educated and is known as a health freak as he constantly reminds the others of their unhealthy lifestyles.

New girl – She’s been given a recent work placement in the office for 3 months as she’s studying fashion/business at university. She’s young, flirtatious and attractive. She’s gay and single and gets a lot of attention from the male staff. She gets very bored and attention seeking when there’s not much going on in the offices. She appears very helpful at first to make a good impression. She mirrors the audience as she too is new to the scene.

Production manager/sexy man – Tall and handsome. He’s a regular man with an eccentric laugh. He also has a mental disorder known as ADHD/ADD which summarises a lot of his characteristics. He gets prescribed medication for this.

Caretaker – He’s a very intelligent man who is not highly rank in the organisation but is very well respected by most. He helps with the accounts as he’s a very good mathematician. He’s very humble, genuinely happy and smokes marijuana. He was previously prescribed marijuana as he suffered from anxiety issues therefore not being able to be employed by a professional organisation but as the boss as a sensitive side she was charmed by him.

Homeless man in the car park – very quiet man who spends his days outside the building as he’s very found of the workers. He recently lost everything due to the recession. He was already lower class but the council refused him a home and is bound to the streets for several months. He’s able to use the shower in the warehouse and occasionally gets jobs unloading stock. He’s very wise and keeps the smokers company either with his guitar or general wisdom.

Storyboarding/Planning

Today we viewed our filming location to gain ideas on how to shoot the trailer. We agreed to see the setting because it was difficult to start having ideas on the storyboard without seeing what we can work with.

Serhan playing Peter can have chipped nail polish on his nails, only very slightly to convey an enigmatic narrative to viewers. It could mean his young daughter wanted to paint one or it could be his cheeky secret that he may like to paint his own nails as apart of his secret (he's gay and hiding).- To link all the characters together and symbolic show that they all have an important role within the business we've thought to have a folder/documents passed round to all characters. We may begin a shot with a close up of Peter/serhans hands flicking through a filing cabinet to look for these important documents for their weekly board meeting. This will establish the setting for the audience.- Another opening idea was that the new girl can arrive through the doors at reception, this will reflect the audience stepping into this new territory. The reception is one of the more glamorous areas and this can give a contradicting message, although the audience would only find out the business is not all it appears once they've entered. This can be be enigmatic and attractive to some viewers.-Yet another opening idea could be Aya sitting upon her throne although her back is turned away from the camera and you only see this grand office chair. The chair can then turn still concealing her identity. You'll then see Aya's shoes/heels walking down the long corridor towards the confrence room. She'll then enter late as all other employee's are waiting patiently for the bosses arrival.- We could have everyone gossiping in the meeting room before Aya comes in as we're aware gossip is a huge element to soaps, althought for a trailer we must highlight a dramatic storyline to capture the audiences interest.- We're exciting about all the potential opening scenes and could feature all of them. Once Serhan finds the documents he could then beginning handing them round to all staff members around the table. This will allow us to film each character and highlight there main characteristics. Aya could eventually enter late being the last one to read the document. She can then reveal these secrete work documents. She can take them out and it large font the name of our soap either Verve House or Southbury Rd can be shown as well as negative bank statements. The camera can zoom out intoconvention soap form and there present upon the table newspapers feturing headlines about the recession or specific business failure.- Be presenting all the characters at the table we're hoping audience's can find atleast one that they're intrigued by eg; the good looking sexy man, they may begin speculating he'll have an affair with Aslihan as we may chose to show them to staring at each other. But on Aslihan's arrival we can show her 'giving-the-eye' to the female receptionist, this will be one storyline we'll breifly introduce viewers with and it may be enough to want to make viewers tune in.-As Aslihan walks into the building the tramp can be sitting just outside the main entrance or can be hiding in the car park. This may be enough to make viewers question why there's a tramp there. We could represent him to be rather shifty and intimidating, or generally dirty and degrading to the image of the business. However we chose to repsent this character, viewers make be rather shocked and would be interested to find out why he's there, weather he's allowed or maybe wondering if further action will be taken to remove him etc.-When Serhans rustling through the files before the meeting he can comment on the nail polish, this again will hopefully cause questioning from viewers....Enigmatic storylines are a key convention to soaps and to trailers of all kinds and are focus at the moment is to present enough vague stories to appeal to a large audience without diverting from the realism of the situations.Enigma's are key to attracting viewers to tune in, when filming a trialer it doesn't neccesserily represent the style of how the soap would normally be represented. This trailer we're planning, in terms of filming style and general narrative structure, is an exception to the normal conventions of soaps. If we were to film a scene from our soap then we would follow the tradionaly structures such as avoiding the close ups/abstrast representations and heavy symbolism.

Questionnaire example

Sex

Age

Occupation

Social Class

List the soaps you watch

What's your favourite?

Which soap would you think is the most successful?

Why do you think this is?

What do you think of the soap?

Would you say it is realistic?

State what you think is unrealistic about it

Whos' your favourite character generally?

Why is this?

What storylines would you like to see more of?

Is there anything you would like to see more of?

Is there anything missing from your favourite soap that you would like to see?

Would you watch a soap that has a strong reality element? (eg. real scenarios based around the reccession)

Is there any part of reality you wouldnt like to see in soaps?

What would you relate to most in soaps?

When would you sit down to watch these soaps?

This is the questionnaire we are using to determine who the target audience is, and what sort of pitch we would like according to the information we receive.

Ideas on Our Soap

Locations:-
Offices (central meeting point)- Pub- Car park- Reception- Kitchen (staff room)- Car (travelling to and from work)- Houses/homes-Tube?

Target Audience:-
Middle/working class- Unemployed, entrepreneurs, business minded people- People of all ethnicity's

Main Characters:

1. Women in charge (boss).-Very loud and powerful

2.Boss PA (personal assistant)-Timid, quiet, keeps everything calm- Gay, 'in the closet'

3. New girl.- Attractive and flirtatious- Lesbian- Intern, training

4. Sexy man (tall, dark, handsome)- 'normal' with a very peculiar laugh.- Takes medication for mental condition (eg. ADHD)

5. Care taker-'Stoner'- Very slow and not very intelligent- High most of the time

6. Tramp in the car park- Although in society he would be seen as a minor, we could make him someone who gives advice or something? so maybe he could be the philosophical one like the conscience of the cast because i think we need a kind of 'serious' character' since most the cast are eccentric in their personality.

The Recession

At the moment there is recession affecting all businesses and employees.

Official economic data shows that a substantial number of nations are in recession as of early 2009. A global recession has resulted in a sharp drop in internationsl trade, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices.

Overview

The late-2000s recession is shaping up to be the worst post-war contraction on record:

• Real gross domestic product (GDP) began contracting in the third quarter of 2008, and by early 2009 was falling at an annualized pace not seen since the 1950s.
• Capital investment, which was in decline year-on-year since the final quarter of 2006, matched the 1957–58 post war record in the first quarter of 2009. The pace of collapse in residential investment picked up speed in the first quarter of 2009, dropping 23.2% year-on-year, nearly four percentage points faster than in the previous quarter.
• Domestic demand, in decline for five straight quarters, is still three months shy of the 1974–75 record, but the pace – down 2.6% per quarter vs. 1.9% in the earlier period – is a record-breaker already.

(Information taken from Wikipedia)

We have decided that the recession is a major point this year and has effected a lot of people and caused people to become redundant, households are effected, relationships i.e, co-worker relationships, money causes stress in households too. It is sensible to make this a theme in the soap as money surrounds everything in our lives especially in London. There is an idea that London is an individualistic society and has caused people to become like "robots" and living to work rather than working to live. Our jobs represent our social status and our status effects the way people perceive us. Having a soap explaining and emphasizing with people who have become redundant people who are suffering in their work would show a different perspective on what is going on and not everything should be judged through how people live, we are forgetting that people are people and we just see them as jobs instead, like a tool.

group meeting 22/09

In lesson we looked at the conventions and forms of soaps. With this list we then (in our group) discussed possible conventions we'd like to keep, others which we'd like to develope and ones which we would discard.

Our ideas so far:

-Realism is crucial

- Eccentric characters

- 'Big Brother' soap

- bizare characters in reality

- Viewing time is not crucial as with the internet and sky plus intelligent viewers can view it at any time that suits their leisure.

- Relevent to the year (eg, finacial year)

- Include more ethnic groups (possible sub titles)

- Documentary style (as similar to dramas such as desperete housewives)

- More depth than a love triangle

- 'ghetto twist'

- Keep strong narratives with gossip

- show more of a minority lifestyle within the mainstream (eg homeless people)

- Two sides of life in one location

- Have quirky camera work to appear glamorous/stylised

- Show glamorous lifestyle and reality

Trailer Research - Eastenders "Under his control?"

The trailer starts off by Peggy looking like she is happy and doing something she would always do. The music in the background is like from a music box. She spots Archie from the mirror and starts walking towards him. The set looks technological because the lights on the floor go on and robotic arms starts whirring and takes off a flower from her dress. She is not happy about it but she continues to walk towards Archie as if she is walking down the aisle in her wedding. It seems as though he is controlling the machines and that they are "editing" her the way he wants her to look. He makes her dress shorter and replaces her tiara with a simpler minimalist tiara. Towards the end she is sprayed with something on her face making her face look younger. It looks as if he is in a mid-life crisis and wants something new in his life, a change. They are both quite old and they are surrounded by technology.

There isn't much to this trailer in terms of characters and speaking. There are only two characters and no one speaks, the background is very simple and not presenting the set of EastEnders. 

The main aim of this trailer is to attract their audience through their story line and through enigmatic shots. Why is he doing that? Why did her pupils go smaller?

Trailer Analysis: Trouble's Back (Return of Charity Tate)

The trailer begins with a shot of Charity’s back looking onto a partially naked man on a bed in a diagonal position. Charity is wearing a cream/gold coloured silk dressing gown, as is the colour scheme of the room’s decoration. The room looks regal. This gives the impression on indulgence and the richness of this character's lifestyle, she is portrayed as though she has alot of material weath or a woman on a mission to own wealth, maybe through the men she chooses to have close relationships with. The audience do not yet know this character is charity because her back is turned to the audience. We then see her face and she gives a satisfied smile in a sinister way, as if she has acheived something, her goal, as if she is proud of her self; she turns behind and seems to be walking towards the camera. She walks to the bathroom where there is a bath tub, surrounded in red rose petals, placed in the centre of the large room, the long shot emphasises the size of the grand room. This shot suggests also to grandness of the house she is in, it has high ceilings and alot of trouble has gone to prepare the bath by decorating it with red rose petals- red roses are symbolic of passion and love.. but because she goes into the shot by her self to indulge in this luxurious bath, it is suggested she is selfish in a way.. maybe the passion and love which is portrayed is involved with herself - her passion for her acheivment and going into the bath to wash away her sins. There is then a close up of her eyes but she is not looking directly into the camera. The close up shot continues to her hand stroking her neck; she is wearing black nail varnish and a big black and gold ring on her finger. There is also a close up of her lips while she is putting on lipstick and strokes her neck again. After these close up shots, a medium shot assures the audience she is looking into a mirror sitting at a dressing table while she takes off her black short wig, another close up shows her kissing the mirror; the close up makes it seem like two people are kissing. There is then a medium shot of her back, this time with long, blonde, wavy hair taking off her gown followed by a shot of her feet where the gown piles to the floor. These shots are very sexual and makes her seem vain because she kisses her self in the mirror, maybe she is just making sure by looking into the mirror that it was all her who did this; being in this place was her personal goal and she had acheived it. She sinks into the tub, her back turned to the viewers; she is surrounded by candles and her head in the shot is aligned with the mirror on the dressing table making her seem centred. The water overflows and flows to the floor on the rose petals. Maybe the water washing away her sins finally wash away the passion and love (the red rose petals) away and the water is now mixed with the petals. There is a zoom of her face while relaxing in the comforting water, the zoom carries on to her eyes while they are shut. The zoom then reverses and zooms out from her eyes and shows her unsatisfied face and we see she is under the rain on a dark road, she looks up to the road sign where it says ‘Emmerdale’ which is ‘2’ miles away showing how close it is. From the sign it pans down where we can see her with the sign, she hitchhikes a ride towards Emmerdale and we see in a long shot the long dark winding road. She is back to square 1, at the beginning and the image contrasts with her indulging character. Just as though she seemed like she had lost everything, she gives a smile to the driver - a satisfied smile, and we realise that this is the beginning of a new journey; a new goal she has set out to acheive. The narrator is a woman and with a calm voice: “Trouble’s back, Charity returns”. Throughout the clips, the song “Trouble blues" is being played. It is a slow song and the lyrics ‘I won’t be trouble no more’ shows she is actually someone troublesome, or used to be at least. This trailer gives the idea that she will be trouble again and she is ready to use someone.

This trailer works very well because of the camera shots. The biggest effect it cause is the way it demonstrates contrast. From and indulgent character to a soaking girl in the middle of a lonely road. The camera shots are an obvious success; the close ups create

The Office

"The Office" is a situational comedy based around an office. The idea of our production is also based around an office however it is different in terms of it's narrative structure. "The Office" has elements of realism in terms of mise-en-scene and the setting but the characters and the fact that it is a sit-com is only for entertainment purposes. The target audience is probably wider than our target audience because we aim to attract and approach the audience through the narrative and plot whereas the sit-com is just to make people laugh. It does not explicitly aim to inform the audience of the work they do or their financial situation but surrounds more of the funny side of working. Their ethic is understandable: people work in offices and they just want something funny in an enviroment they are familiar with; this is what makes them successful. In our project we aim to use similar mise-en-scene:

- clothing: smart clothes
- props: desks, chairs and computers

The actor/comedian Ricky Gervais is well known for entertaining people and this sit-com may just attract fans and not only the fact it is based in an office. This means it is not exactly a realistic representation of office life and because our production is a soap, this means we have to show realism and representation of work life in an office. And, because it is a soap we also have to show places other than the office, weave into the lives' of the characters showing their personal life too. The office in our soap would just act as a central meeting point.

Eastenders and soaps

A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction usually broadcasted on television. What differentiates a soap from other television drama programs is the open-ended nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. A soap opera, according to Albert Moran who is Senior Lecturer in Media at Griffith University, (Brisbane, Australia), is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode". Soap opera narratives run concurrently, intersect, and lead into further developments. Soap operas rarely "wrap things up" storywise, and generally avoid bringing all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliff-hanger. [1]

Soap operas have emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflicts; some coverage of topical issues; set in familiar domestic interiors. Most UK soap operas focus on working-class communities.

EastEnders programme makers took the decision that the show was to be about "everyday life" in the inner city "today" and regarded it as a "slice of life".[2]

“Working-class” audience as a target for Eastenders has worked well and has become popular in this class. “Working-class” is a group of people associated with people who are employed for wages, especially as manual workers. People from this class usually have time to watch television and do not have “hectic” lifestyles as opposed to, for example, a doctor would, with emergency calls to a late surgery.

The setting is in the fictional “Albert Square”. The characters in Eastenders all live in this area so it makes the audience feel as though they are a member of this community because they are presented into the lives of the different characters so it makes the audience have a sense of belonging to the soap. It also has a sense of familiarity because the area is a local place with markets, businesses and schools. It is a “middle-class” area where it is linked to the target audience as most of the population class themselves as “middle-class”. The East end has a history of, at one point, being a place of industry and work and was a place of poor quality of life, so it is iconic to feature characters of families which face problematic issues in their life.

There are varied age groups of characters where audiences can relate to characters in a way. There are middle aged couples in the soap are in love with each other and this may be interesting for people of this age who are in a similar state in reality, or this may just be interesting to the age group because it may be an experience the audience has not had recently. There are also younger characters that are still in full-time education and younger audiences can relate to these characters because they have a common interest among the similar aged characters. So, it is just a pleasure to watch what their “peers” are doing.

In Eastenders there are homosexual characters present. These characters that are featured in this soap are an example of how soap operas, and the media, have changed and developed over some time to become parallel to modern society. Years ago, being homosexual and to explicitly show this sexual preference would have been rare and difficult to accept by both the person and society; Eastenders puts forward, by featuring these characters how homosexuality has become something casual and a part of society.

Eastenders also features concepts of paedophilia in recent episodes. Even though the purpose of featuring this thread in the soap is not to promote paedophilia or to attracts paedophiles it raises awareness of the idea of this sort of behaviour which could be happening anywhere, even in your own home; the characters Tony King has a relationship with Whitney Dean a 15-year-old school girl. The child abuse storyline is an issue which had been created in association with the NSPCC and in accordance with BBC editorial policy. The soap’s storyline shows tackling difficult social issues such as domestic violence and mental health. This feature among other features can subconsciously educate the audience of what could be going on in their neighbourhood and even make the audience who have experienced such social issues to feel united to the characters in similar dilemmas.

Each episode is about half an hour but the day of the soap is no longer than a day. Time still carries on as it does in the “real” world of the audience, so if an episode were to be shown once a week, the life of the characters would have also passed a week since the last episode, however, Eastenders is broadcasted almost everyday, which adds to the realism of “everyday life” of the soap, so the audience are constantly “visiting” Eastenders.

During the time of the absence of the soap audiences have a chance to discuss or predict what could happen next. There is a past and present of the soap but the future is the discussions or gossip of the audiences about the soap.

Different races in the soap represent the multi-cultural state of London and “mirror” the audience’s life in London. There are different ethnicities present in Eastenders such as Black and Asian. Viewers, again, is in knowledge about different cultures; one of the characters refused to eat pork because of the rules of their religion.

Eastenders may be able to “teach” the audience about different concepts of society whether it is ethical issues or cultural issues, on the other hand, the soap also uses stereotypical characters. A female character in the soap is known to be as a “gossip”, whereas, there are no men characters who gossip. Another stereotypical type of characterisation is that men have more successful businesses as opposed to women. Some teenagers are presented as rebellious and classified as “trouble makers”. Another character where stereotypical features are implied to be a homosexual man who speaks in a feminine tone of voice and seems to be “bitchy” towards a past partner who he thinks is flirting with another man. Using stereotypical characters can be unrealistic but it is helpful in a way to identify a certain character in order to understand them better.

Eastenders, being a British soap opera mirrors the social issues of London well. The storylines and threads of the soap may well make it seem bleak and over exaggerated but this is assumed to be a way of capturing and keeping the audience to view the soap. Eastenders is built well as it is a long-running soap with history of characters and past events which have occurred making the soap more realistic. Most soaps could get less ratings as time goes by because of the “dragging” series, however, Eastenders has used the typical techniques well of time, narrative and repetition.

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[1] Extracts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera

[2] Geraghty, Christine (1991). Women and Soap Opera: A Study of Prime-Time Soaps. Polity Press, p 32.

Realism: A crucial element in Soaps

Eastenders which is set in London has certain elements of realism regarding location and storylines, they are obviously dramatised and exaggerated for entertainment purposes, however it holds onto alot of realism whether it is social issues, politics, philosophy or anything else really. But what the main point is, it gives accounts of daily and possible dilemmas which could happen to anyone living in London. For example, keeping up to date with current issues and up to date with news i.e, HPV vaccinations for girls in schools, swine flu pandemic, the recession, maybe a current football game or current music within the soap would make the audience feel more familiar with the storyline.

It is clear that realism is a massive part of soaps because they are portrayed to be "a slice of life". Traditional soaps such as EastEnders are community based and most of the character know one another somehow. The idea of having an altogether community would have been realistic years ago but in contemporary London, where EastEnders is actually based, this is not realistic. London is an individualistic society and people are becoming more independent and private. It could be argued that the reason why Eastenders is actually successful is because it has a community feel; that everyone shares their problems and it is ironic that the viewers of this soap actually are involved and part of the soap community too just by watching characters' everyday lives. So, how ever unrealistic it may be to have such a close knitted community at that time and place, it still works well in attracting the number of audiences it does.


The central issues underlying the study of realism are:

• Conventions creating the effect of the real

- Realism consists of codes and conventions which aim to convey a sense of reality to audiences
- Realism comprises the effect of the real and is thus created by codes and conventions which refer more to other codes and conventions than reality it self. What we see in the media are copies of copies

• Codes of realism differ and are constantly open to change

- The codes and conventions of realism vary over time and are constantly open to change. They can be extended and modified as audience perceptions about what counts as "realistic" change
- As new technology develops through the means of media production new conventions of realism are established.
- Therefore, A sense of reality can be conveyed in several ways.

• Realism is a version of reality and is an ideological representation of reality.
  

Conventions of Soaps

It is conventional of soaps to have realism. Realism is a crucial element within soaps and this involves the storylines and the setting. The structure of the soap episode is also conventional, it uses a structure where different narratives interwine and there are also mini cliffhangers.

Storylines involving love, family life, school life, workplace, economic and other issues surrounding audience lives are present within soaps; mostly typical issues surrounding working class lives.

Soap opera narratives run concurrently and intersect. The structure has worked well; the intersecting storylines are like mini-cliffhangers keeping the audience waiting. The main cliffhanger at the end keeps the audience waiting until the next episode. The interweaving storylines keep the characters updated and gives a chance to unravel more and more storylines to keep the audience interested. It also creates a way to bond the characters and even introduce new ones.


Soap operas also have central meeting points. In EastEnders these are identifies as the pub, laundrette and the market are the main points in which characters meet each other and also to form gossip (another convention).

Viewership: Eastenders

Based on market research by the BBC commissioning in 2003, Eastenders is most watched by 16- 24 year olds, closely followed by 25-34 year olds. An average Eastenders episode attracts a total audience share between 45% and 50%.

The 10pm repeat showing on BBC Three attracts an average of 500,00 viewers, the omnibus attracts a further 3 million. Eastenders has the highest audiences in British television history.

Despite a decade and a half of high viewership, it was the most popular in the early 2000s. Attracting an average of 15 million for most episodes and peaks of upto 25 million for the climaxes of popular storylines. Sonia's shock birth in 2000 was watched by 19.3 million viewers in 2001, Mel's marriage to Steve Owen was watched by 22.5 million viewers.

So, what is a soap?

A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction usually broadcasted on television. What differentiates a soap from other television drama programs is the open-ended nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. A soap opera, according to Albert Moran, is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode". Soap opera narrative run concurrently, intersect, and lead into further developments. Soap operas rarely "wrap things up" storywise, and generally avoid bringing all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. Soap opera episode typically end on some sort of cliff-hanger.

Soap operas have emphasis on family life, personal relationships, sexual dramas, emotional and moral conflict; some coverage of topical issues set in familiar domestic interiors. Most UK soap operas focus on working-class communities. Eastenders programme makers took the decision that the show was to be about "everyday life" in the inner city "today" and regarded as a "slice of life".

Working-class audience as a target audience for Eastenders has worked well and has become popular of this class. People from this class usually have time to watch television and do not have hectic lifestyles as opposed to, for example, a doctor would with emergency calls to late surgery. Working-class people have jobs from 9pm till 5pm most of the time and the broadcasting time for Soaps are usally around 7 or 8 pm.

The Creation of EastEnders.

The BBC already had a full schedule while Eastenders was still only an idea. However, BBC One needed a popular bi-weekly drama series which would attract mass audiences like ITV’s Coronation Street. The success of Coronation Street spurred off BBC’s Eastenders, which was initially just an idea, into a popular British drama.

David Reid, head of series and serials at the time, turned to Julia Smith and Tony Holland, a well established producer/script editor team, where they would have to work around Reid’s outline of two episodes a week, 52 weeks a year. The team, being both Londoners, researched Victoria Square and found a real Eastend spirit – an inward looking quality, a distrust of strangers and authority figures, a sense of territory and community. The impression of the setting already reflected ideas on what sort of storylines could be expected – family issues, secrets and rumors (because of the closeness of the community).

Julia Smith and Tony Holland had 11 months in which the write, cast and shoot the series. After deciding to film in Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, Smith and Holland created 24 characters in 14 days. A meeting with the BBC confirmed that the programme was to be tough, violent on occasion, funny and sharp – and start with a bang. Simon May (music) and Alan Jeapes (visuals) created the title sequence, and it remains as one of the strongest title clips in television.

After a delayed start of one month, the press was invited to see Elstree and meet the cast. Stories circulated that there was rivalry with Coronation Street. The first transmissions on 19 February 1985 viewing figures were confirmed high at 17 million with favourable reviews. By Christmas 1985 the tabloids were all about the show. ‘Exclusives’ about Eastenders storylines became a staple of tabloid buyers’ daily reading.