Lauren Guyver A2 Media: February 2012

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

1- My first image is taken from the first shot of my soap opera trailer and immediately introduces what channel my media product is to be broadcasted on. This is important to the audience as they need to remember what channel the programme is going to be on. Many real media products have the channel on their trailers and it was important that my trailer mirrored this as it was therefore using conventions from existing media products. For example: the audience recognise that EastEnders is on BBC one and Coronation Street is on ITV1; and i wanted them to associate my soap opera with BBC one so therefore, placed the logo on my teaser trailer. The logo 'BBC' is placed at the bottom of the trailer in the middle and fades out of my media product in roughly ten seconds; however, it re-appears at the end, this time with 'BBC one', in order to stay fresh in the minds of the audience.

Also, as this is the first scene in my soap trailer it also introduces the music that compliments my soap opera trailer; as my music is associated with my soap trailer i'm hoping that it would create interpellation with my real media product much like the theme tune on EastEnders.

2- This image is taken from the beginning of my soap opera trailer and is important as it represents the mise-en-scene throughout my media product. Mise-en-scene is important as it shows that conventions of a real media product needed to be used. For example: in the scene the girl is holding a suitcase and carrying a young child. The young child connotes that she is a young mother and the suitcase connotes that she has perhaps run away or is planing to start a new life. We chose this character and mise-en-scene as it has a stereotypical stigma attached to the young generation and as well as being a stereotypical character, she also mirrors existing characters in real media products. This scene is filmed outside of a train station which further develops the idea that the girl has run away or is starting a new life; furthermore, train stations are public places and are often featured in many soaps such as EastEnders. The use of mise-en-scene in my media product therefore uses conventions of real media products.

3- This third image shows the beginning of the love triangle scene and pictures Rowen and Toni walking hand in hand along a path. By editing on Apple Mac PC's i had a wide range of video effects and transitions that i could use in my media product. On this particular long shot i used a radial effect which made the screen look like it is looking through a fish-eye camera lens. This effect was used as it made the soap opera trailer appear more exciting and fast paced, which was one of our conventions when compared to a real media product. As i was editing my soap opera trailer with a young demographic in mind i wanted the trailer to appeal to them in order to get them to watch the soap. Furthermore, this highlights the story-line of the scene which is stereotypical to the younger audience; the radial effect makes the shot blurry which connotes confusion. This could be mirroring the characters state of mind as they are confused as to whom they love. Overall, by using fast paced editing effects and stereotypical story-lines, i feel my media product uses and mirrors conventions from real media products.

4- This image is of one of the title screens from my soap opera trailers. Overall, i have five title screens in my trailer and each individual one introduces a separate character. For example, in this title screen i have used the phrase 'new heartbreaks'; this represents the love triangle scene. Furthermore, the word 'new' emphasises that the soap is brand new as well as introducing that the characters and the story lines are new. Throughout my trailer I have 'new enemies', 'new life', 'new heartbreaks', 'new choices' and 'new beginnings'. These title screens introduce that the issues that are happening in my soap opera trailer are conventional of real media products and therefore, my trailer has a sense of realism and verisimilitude.

Also, after each scene and title sequence i have used the transitions 'cross dissolve' and 'directional angle' from the editing programme 'Final Cut Pro X'. These transitions represent the change in story line and scene as well as moving the flow and pace along of the trailer. In real media products transitions are rarely used, but as i was aiming at a younger demographic i wanted to make my soap opera trailer appear exciting and edgy to engage a younger audience. Therefore, with editing my soap opera trailer i have challenged conventions of real media products.

5- This is a screen shot of our love triangle scene between two young girls and a young boy. This scene is conventional of real media products as it deals with social issues such as sex and perhaps peer pressure;the audience is able to relate to these issues as they gain uses and gratifications and maybe have past memories. This scene is filmed outside a pub which is conventional of a real media product. The pub in soaps is often seen as a place to gather or gossip; just generally a place to socialise. Other conventional settings i used in my soap opera trailer are a train station and people's houses.

6- This image is also from our love triangle scene but demonstrates some of the camera shots i have used throughout my footage. This camera shot is shot reverse shot and is extremely conventional of real media products as most soap opera rely on conversation. Shot reverse shots create a sense of realism and therefore appeal to the audience; also, shot reverse shots are similar to point of views shots so allows the audience to feel more involved with the soap. Filming a wide range a camera shots as well as camera movement I had to be careful of the 180 degrees rule, however, i think that the majority of my footage was successful at achieving this aim.

7- This screen shot is of grandparents and a grandchild getting out of the car and looking around. I used characters that had an age range in my soap trailer so therefore it could appeal to all audiences. The grandparents are wearing stereotypical clothing for the older generation such as cardigans, glasses and scarves and the grandchild is wearing stereotypical clothing for young children. The grandparents represent a matriarchal character in my soap opera as the grandmother could be seen as quite motherly as well as a figure that people look up to. This is a conventional character of real media products; for example, Dorothy Cotton is the matriarchal character in EastEnders. Furthermore, the child conveys her attitude through her body language; she is standing as if she is agitated and therefore not happy. This connotes that she is not happy with the look of her new home and the audience may recognise that she will cause disruption in the soap opera.

8-This image is from the final scene of my soap opera trailer. The final scene introduces the 'bad boy' type character in the soap programme; the audience recognise that he is bad as he is wearing stereotypical dark, baggy clothing, big jumpers and trainers. The audience is able to connote that something bad is going to happen due to the stereotypical stigma attached to teenage character. As this scene is the finale to my soap trailer it has the title screen 'new enemies' appear followed by the teenager looking directly at the camera. This direct action of the character makes the ending of the trailer very dramatic and suspenseful; leaving my soap opera trailer on a cliffhanger. I left it on a cliffhanger as it mirrored conventions of a real media product in order to re-create the same dramatic tone. Also, this part of the final scene has the voice-over running along on top of the footage. The voice-over is 'how would you survive a new life?'; this makes the audience almost fear the teenage boy and it appears as if he is out to cause trouble.

9- This is a screen shot of my end sequence; although i used the convention in real media products of the typical BBC sequence i challenged it as i editied to blue rather than red. By using the colour blue i'm hoping to appeal to a different audience as my end sequence is unusual so therefore, will hopefully attract the attention of the younger demographic. My end sequence introduces the name of my soap opera 'Conway', it also tells the audience what channel it isgoing to be broadcasted on as well as the fact that it is 'coming soon'. This information is all enhanced by a male voiceover; i chose a male for the voiceover as it would sound more dramatic and dominant. also, stereotypically, females are supposed to answer to males so subconsciously, women are likely to be more attracted to my soap opera.

Furthermore, my end sequence uses a font that i tried to recrate throughout my soap opera trailer. By using a synergic serif font throughout my trailer the audience will hopefully then associate that font with my soap opera 'Conway'. I tried to use a synergic font as this follows a convention of a real media product: for example, in EastEnders soap opera trailers the BBC uses their own indent font. This is then associated with all BBC media products so the font is recognisable across the world; this is what i tried to achieve in my trailer. Again, like a convention in EastEnders, my music throughout my film carries on into the end sequence by a sound bridge.

This is my draft planning for my soap opera poster. I have decided to put some of the characters on the poster with the road in the background of the poster. I have also included the sign 'Conway' which relates to the road but it also the name of the soap. There will also be the website address on the poster as well as the BBC logo to show which channel it will be broadcasted on. I have also included a date for when the soap is starting and the word 'new'; this emphasises that the soap programme is brand new. The word 'new' also makes the soap appear more exciting and gives the poster a sense of mystery as no-one knows what is going to happen. Lastly, i have included the slogan 'how would you survive a new life?', this ensures that all the media products relating to the soap are connected so the audience will be able to recognise it easier through synergy.