Script: Voice overs

Ideas for our character voice overs:

• "looks like it's a new start baby"

This voice over is for Aleisha and Charlie when they arrive at the train station- the voice over implys that the young mother has run away in order to start a new life.  

• "ohhh!"

This voice over is for Helen when she realises that there is a problem with the baby she is carrying- the voice over implys that she is in danger. 

• "what is this?!"

This voice over is for Mark when he receives a picture of his girlfriend cheating on him with another woman- the voice over implys that he is angry and upset.

• "is this it?"

This voice over is for Cara when she arrives at her new home with her grandparents- the voice over implys that she is disappointed.  

• "i can't deal with this anymore"

This voice over is for Eva when she decides to run away from home- the voice over implys that she has had enough of her family or that she may be being bullied. 

Equipment

The equipment we need to film our soap trailer is:

• HD Video Camera
• Tripod
• Still Camera to capture production photos

Altered Production Schedule

We had to change our production schedule as we found out that another group had use of the HD video camera, and therefore we couldn't film what we had panned. The other group do not finish with the video camera until monday 28th November, and therefore we had to delay our filming.

Final Storyboard

Deadline

Our Deadline for the final product is the 16th December 2011

Characters and costume ideas

Mise-en-scene is crucial: every decision about costume reminds us about the type of people the characters are. These characters are from Eastenders and Hollyoaks and demonstrate typical stereotypical characters.

What channel should our programme be broadcasted on?

I think that our soap programme should be broadcasted on BBC as their is a gap in the market for a young soap on the BBC. The BBC is traditinally known for its famous soap 'EastEnders' which is aimed at the older audience and doesn't appeal to the younger audience. BBC3 is a channel aimed at the younger audience, however there are not any soaps aimed at this age group. So therefore, i think the soap should be broadcasted on BBC1 as it will get worldwide recognition and attract greater attention than if it were on a less significant BBC channel.

Research on advert for inspiration

I looked at the McDonalds Advert 2011 for inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIiRwGWKjQA

I really liked this advert as it inspired me as i really liked the narrative of the story behind the advert. The guy is walking to mcdonalds and passes different places and streets. I liked this idea as it shows continuity and has a sense of destination; similar to our idea for our soap programme. This is why i am really enthusiastic about the guy riding past each scene on a bicycle as it shows a sense of continuity throughout the advert. I also liked the angles of the camera and shots, as well as the cuts, used in the advert as it is quite exciting and fast paced. The camera shots are slightly obscure; therefore not like a traditional soap programme and could may be targeted at a younger audience. 

Target Audience

Our Target Audience for our soap programme is the younger generation; tennagers/young adults aged 16-24 years old. Our soap challenges traditional soaps as it is not aimed at the older audience. Our soap will contain issues that relate to the youth such as sex, violence, alcohol and drugs, etc.

Our soap has been based around programmes such as 'Hollyoaks', 'Skins' and 'Shameless'.

Production Schedule

Friday 25th November

- Film the first scene of grandparents getting out of the car onto the street.
-Film pregnant Lihenna walking down an alley way with someone walking toward the street.


Sunday 27th November

-Film young people from the local ramps making their way towards the street.


Tuesday 29th November

-Film luci and charlie at the train station making their way to the street.

Rough storyboard for final idea

Final idea for new soap programme

Our new idea for a new soap programme has now changed. We decided as a group that we could film different groups/types of people making their way to a street. one group could be getting the bus, one could be getting off the train, one man could be walking and for continuity; we decided that a man on a bicycle should be in every scene that we shoot, showing that he is also making his way to the street.

Complications on idea for soap programme

When planning for our soap programme, we found that we wouldn't be able to get everyone in one street at the same time. Also, we were struggling to think of an idea for the flashbacks. Another complication was that we couldn't find people who would drive and someone who was pregnant and available the days we needed her.

Ideas for soap name: photographs

As a group we all selected these road names as possible names for our soap programme; we didn't notice that all the roads name we'd selected begun with 'c'. Before we took pictures for our name we had decided that we wanted a name that didn't sound too city-like, we wanted something that was refreshing and new, as well as a name that targetted a younger audience. We also wanted a name that had two syllables and that was quite catchy. Overall, we decided that we preferred 'conway' as it had a ring to it and sounded quite catchy.

Ideas for location:photographs

We took a photograph of this street as we maybe wanted to film a scene from our soap programme here. We liked this street as it is quite long and looks as if a lot of drama could happen here. 

We took a photograph of this train station as it is a public local place which could create a sense of community or it could be a meeting place for social activities. 

This location is a dead end road; i liked this location as it looks very secluded which is typical of a soap setting. It is also a modern housing estate which targets a younger audience and looks like a friendly neighbourhood which would attract lots of different families in the soap programme itself.

Theses two locations are also roads but they are main roads. As they are main roads they look slightly more dangerous which may suggest that the families and people in the soap are hostile and unfriendly.These photographs create a very urban feel of community.

This is a liitle woods area, we chose to photograph this as a possible location as it looks like a place where children would play to create their own world or den. We chose to target different audiences in the location photographs as we could later decide what age target audience we would want to make our soap programme for.

These three photographs are alleyways; we chose these locations are they are a symbol of violence and teenagers. They are quite secluded, meaning that anything could happen.

We took a photograph of a wide open field as we wanted a space that wasn't enclosed. We could film a fight here or children playing; or perhaps film something that brought the community together like a party.

Our last location photograph is also of a road. However, this road is really busy and would be set in a busy street or town/city. I think that stereotypical mums would live on this street and perhaps business people. This street feels alot more urban compared to the others.

Possible Character list

We created a rough charcater list for who we could use for people in our soap programme. We wanted stereo-typical people in our soap such as chavs, blondes, posh people, a pregnant lady, homosexual couple and obviously the main character. We wanted people from different ages, genders, ethnic origin and backgrounds.

Initial idea for new soap pogramme

This was a rough sketch for our first plot; a man walking down the street past groups of stereotypical people. He's either on drugs or he has been arrested by the police. As he walks past each group he has a flashback or incident that happened between him and them.

Initial idea for soap programme

Our first idea for our soap programme is to have someone, preferably a boy, walking down a street. He/she would have to walk past groups of stereotypical charcaters of a soap programme such as: pregnant women, chavs, sluts, matriachacal characer, homosexual and well as people from a different ethnic background. The man/woman walking down the street would either be on drugs or un handcuffs.

We then thought that as the main character walked past each of the groups; there could be flashback to him being involved with somethingwith them particular people.

Mindmap for initial ideas for a new soap programme

We made a mind map for our initial ideas for our new soap programme. As our soap is aimed at a younger audience of around 16-24 year olds we scheduled our soap to be on the TV at around 7pm on monday-thursday and the omnibus repeated on a saturday/sunday at 3pm. We thought that our soap could be broadcasted on BBC as the BBC have a gap market for soaps aimed at a younger audience. We thought about using stereotypical characters such as 'chavs', 'dumb blondes', pregnant women as well as having different people from different ethnic backgrounds. Originally we thought of having a fight or someone on drugs as the main idea of the soap trailer in the setting of a park or a pub. We also wanted the soap to be set in a small town or village; somewhere that would appeal to the younger audience. We want to use face paced cuts and obscure camera angles in our trailer to make it more refreshing and appealing rather than old fashioned. We also wanted the theme tune to be upbeat and energetic. Lastly, we really struggled on a name for our soap; we thought of road names like the soap 'Coronatiom Street' but we thought we would take photographs of signs for inspiration.

Launch Trailers

We looked at the original trailers for EastEnders and HollyOaks when they were due to be released as new soaps. The EastEnders trailer was traditional (a lorry driving around London with an advertisement for EastEnders written on the side and the classic theme tune) whereas the HollyOaks one was post modern and broke the verisimilitude (young group of characters from the soap talking about the programme in a studio setting; they acknowledged that it was something that was going to be put on TV rather than real life). 

Screen capture from a trailer for EastEnders, aired before the show began in early 1985.

In 1995 Channel 4 introduced Hollyoaks, a soap with a youth focus till this day (original cast from launch trailer for Hollyoaks)