Risk assessments are a very important part of preparing for things. Here I have risk assessed filming my soap opera trailor, many things I hadn't thought were a big risk were made evident in this risk assessment. Now I will know, when it comes to filming, what to do if somebody was harmed for any reason. I downloaded this risk assessment form from Screen Hi:http://screenhi.co.uk/production/risk-assessment
All of my risks were low, if not trivial and after ensuring the control measures, they have all turned out trivial. This has put me at ease about filming and feel like more measures are in place for nothing to go horribly wrong come filming day(s). I will make sure all my actresses/actors have a copy of this so they are aware of the risks and what has been done about them pre-filming.
Lighting:
School's strip lighting will be fine as it will make it look more like it was filmed in a school, because it will have been. I am not filming in any areas of the school which aren't well lit. When it comes to filming Eleanor Rose (Lucy Blake) on Mousehold Heath, I will make sure it is in daylight hours, it is now Winter and so they're fewer but as long as we film between 8am and 3pm we should be OK. I shouldn't need any external lighting added onto this but am aware there may be the shadows from the tree on Eleanor but that shouldn't be a problem.
Props:
Blister Packs (shouldn't be a problem or any purchasing required as already take many tablet forms of medication so I go through blister pack trays often!)
Tic Tacs (need to purchase some just so I know I have enough to waste - shouldn't be more than £2? so won't be a huge investment)
Pregnancy test (need to purchase one from Tesco? May get some interesting looks and am unsure how much they are but I'm not wanting a perticularly accurate one as we won't be using it for it's correct purpose)
Miniature MiniGrip clear plastic bags to put Tic-Tacs in in-order to look like drug-deal (easy to retrieve as they look just like the little clear plastic bags you get the spear-button in, when you buy a coat or jack from a clothes store.)
14.12.16 Update: all of these props have now been retreieved/purchased.
- I have two bags of blister packs - should be well over enough!
- I have one pack of Tic Tacs - but the shop didn't have white ones so I had to get pink, but it shouldn't be too noticeable when it comes to filming, and some tablets can be pink anyway.
- I have a pregnancy test - Poundland sell them! So I bought one - and as predicted, I did get some interesting looks from other people.
- Found some miniature minigrip clear plastic bags at home so that's fine.
Costume:
I will ask my actors/actresses to wear the clothes they usually would at sixth form as they're playing the roles of sixth form students. As long as no one wears anything explicit or offensive it should be fine.
Reflective Comment:
This was very complicated to think through however I think it'll be worth it for the reverse-effect. Finding the 'ping notification alert' has also saved me a little bit of time, rather than trying to find that whilst doing all the editing. I am confident about the rough idea and think it'll be interesting to see the final result.
I am aware having multiple narratives, multiple characters, multiple relationships and especially in a cocktail of reverse narratives is quite a complex structure. To help myself, my actors and my teachers understand the general plot and 'family-tree' of my idea I made this little Prezi. It breifly explains who is who, how they're related and their general story I'll be trying to get across in my TV trailer, poster, and front page of TV listings magazine.
Reflective Comment:
This has actually helped me a lot from making this and I now feel I have more of a clearer idea of what was in my head! It has also helped to send to Eleanor Rose, Molly Bishop, Pixie Clinton and Harry Colgan so they also get an idea of what's happening and who they are to each other. Happy I made this and won't be making any changes to it - but I do need to sort through who will be playing John and Lisa Blake.
Reverse chronology is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order.
In a story employing this technique, the first scene shown is actually the conclusion to the plot. Once that scene ends, the penultimate scene is shown, and so on, so that the final scene the viewer sees is the first chronologically.
In 2002, Coldplay released the song 'The Scientist'. This song's music video appeared to feature Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin, singing the lyrics in the reversed footage, he had to learn to sing the song backwards, which took him a month.
This helpful to look at but I will not be using the technique of learning to say words in reverse order as this is quite complex and most of my actors are also doing A-Levels to to expect them to take time to learn a script in reverse order would be quite an ask. Instead, when it comes to speech in my trailer I will either have a scene where they're not doing anything obviously-reversed, or they can be still so the audience cannot tell.
I chose social media pages to represent each character as this is a sixth-age-range related platform where most students communicate after, or during, the school day. Also, through doing it this way you can see where they live, their family/relationships, what school/sixth form they attend, photos of them and three of their social media interactions, being statuses representing current worries or generally to get a feel of their personality, shares of things they're interested in, or photos they uploaded.
Lucy Blake (played by Eleanor Rose)
'Lucy Blake' confirmed to be played by Eleanor Rose, will be my main character in the whole soap opera. Everything is related or centered around her. She has a younger sister, Melody Blake (Molly Bishop), is in a 'complicated' relationship with Nathan Mathewsonn (Harry Colgan), has a friend who's just learnt she's pregnant at a very young age (Pixie Clinton playing Justine Webber). I also am going to feature either one or two of my friend's parents to act as Lucy and Melody Blake's parents who're going to be playing the part of going through a very distressing divorce.
Melody Blake (played by Molly Bishop)
Melody Blake will be one year younger than Lucy Blake, so will be in her first year of sixth form (year 12). She will find her parent's divorce much more distressing than Lucy, she's going to be seen bottling up how she feels about it all. She is going to ask the local known drug dealer (Nathan Mathewsonn) for some pills, Mathewsonn unknowing she plans to take them all in one go eventually ending in her own suicide.
Nathan Mathewsonn (played by Harry Colgan)
Harry Colgan has agreed to play the role of Nathan Mathewsonn, a drug dealer, no good-er. He is in a 'complicated' relationship with Lucy Blake but without her knowledge has cheated on her and got the character Pixie Clinton is playing, pregnant! He will be seen being arrested for supplying Melody Blake the pills she overdoses on and pleading guilty in court.
Justine Webber (played by Pixie Clinton)
Pixie Clinton has agreed to play the part of Lucy Blake's best friend. She tries to support both the Blake children through their parents divorce but becomes aware of Melody's plan to commit suicide. She is in the early stages of pregnancy, Nathan Mathewsonn being the father.
Reflective Comment:
I am pleased I did the Prezis social media style, I think this works well. Also all actors have agreed to playing their role so I am feeling positive about the whole production. More explanation will probably be done on each character, regarding costumes and general characteristics.
I have often struggles with background music, as I am not a musician in any way. Copyright free websites, understandably, often do not have a lot of varying music as they are not profiteering from this music. However on a website called Purple Planet Music, a copyright free music website owned by Chris Martyn, Geoff Harvey and Mark Fildes. Geoff and Chris compose, perform, record and produce and mix all Purple Planet material, and leave it available for anybody to download and use for free. I have found two songs I like the sound of and think they fit a school-like theme and beat. 'Ecstasy' I only really like the first 8 seconds of as a starting beat for the trailer.
I would like to start my TV trailer for my teen-soap with a Rock genre-y song with a strong beat. These are five examples, by four different bands, of what I mean - I would love to use these but that would break Copyright laws so I need to look into copyright free music that's similar to these, if there is any, or look at creating my own music.
This whole advert is given the feeling of being filmed backwards. This is an idea I have never seen in another advert for a soap opera storyline. Obviously it cannot have all been filmed back-to-front as otherwise when she speaks it wouldn't have matched with words. I also chose to look at this advert as it is in first person - something I've been looking into doing for my TV Soap Opera Trailer.
Script:
Kathy: Ten years ago, I faked my own death, I turned my back on my life, my family, my sons, for a man, but I miss my boys, I won't stay away any longer, they're going to hate me but I'll win them back. I'm coming home because home is where my heart is'
Voice over: Kathy's back, Eastenders, next Friday at 8 on BBC one
I picked up on these features of the advert above:
Gives background storyline
'Kathy' says 'Ten years ago, I faked my own death, I turned my back on my life, my family, my sons, for a man'. This gives anybody who didn't watch EastEnders around the year 2000 a recap of what happened. This can allow new people who don't watch EastEnders a gateway into getting into it without needing to research existing storylines as they will already start to understand. It also leads the audience into wanting more into what was so good about the 'man' that she left her life behind for him? Why is she no longer with the 'man' and wanting to go back to her old life?
First person (I, me etc.)
This gives the advert a more personal feeling and helps the audience see how much hiding she was alive so difficult. I want to use first person for part of my trailer for the main character to introduce themselves as I think it'll make it stand out in comparison to other soap operas that may be looked at as similar, being that it'll be prodominately filmed in school, sixth form.
Introduces characters
'Kathy' covertly introduces her sons (or 'boys') in this advert by saying 'I turned my back on my life, my family, my sons, for a man, but I miss my boys'. When 'sons' is said we see Ben Mitchell (her on-screen youngest son) and when 'boys' is said we see Ian Beale (her on-screen eldest son).
Gives insight into her character
Kathy shows how determined she is as a character by saying things like 'I won't stay away any longer, they're going to hate me but I'll win them back'. Script is a very important part of any advert as this is the audiences first impression, usually, of that product or service. I will do a post soon on script alone.
Introduces where she's from
Calling Albert Square 'home' shows the audience she is an original EastEnders character and shows people iconic buildings of Walford such as the Queen Vic pub.
Voice over gives day, time, programe & channel
Very important to let the person viewing know the main details so they can watch it. Otherwise the trailer will have been pointless.
Peep Show is a British sitcom. It was broadcast on Channel 4 from 2003 until 2015. In 2010 it became the longest-running comedy in Channel 4 history. Peep Show follows the lives of two flat mate friends who live in London. Stylistically the show uses point of view shots, with the thoughts of main characters Mark and Jeremy audible as voice-overs. In September 2013, Channel 4 announced that the show's ninth series would be its last. I analysed the promotional trailer released for the last series:
I picked up on these features:
Eachother's point of view (POV) and that we hear what he's thinking:
The point of view shots and the voice-over-ed thoughts of main characters are what has drawn me to the Peep Show, in relation to the TV Soap Opera advert I will produce. To make my Soap Opera more unique and have an edge on other soaps, similar I wanted it all based around one character, likely to be a young women, probably 17 or 18 years old who attends a Sixth Form college. This makes it different from programs such as Waterloo Road and Skins as it'll all be problems that are directly affecting that main character (such as friend's parents getting a divorce, exams that main character has, the sighting of drugs in the school and wondering whether to tell etc.) Many, many British soaps do not follow this format and instead have 6 or 7 storylines happening at once all concerning different people. British comedies, however, have been known to follow this structure such as Peep Show, Miranda, Mrs. Brown's Boys and The Catherine Tate Show. Quite often in these programs the main character breaks the fourth wall (meaning they talk directly to the camera, to the people watching at home). I do not wish to feature this in my soap but instead indirectly talk to those at home, like Peep Show does, by having the voice over being the thoughts of that main character.
Upbeat music:
This is import to give the program a youthful feel. If I put classical, slow music in the background it would give the program a different feel and probably appeal to the wrong audience. Usually, TV dramas or soap adverts only have slow, upsetting music if what it's advertising is a sad storyline or a drama centered around a distressing event. As my Soap Opera is going to be based in a sixth form, it would be good to have a sixth-form-feel to it, maybe featuring a school bell, or the noise of many young people from a playground or something similar.
Titles to break the advert up:
Although I do like this and think it works well in this advert for the Peep Show, I don't think it would be conventional to put them in an advert for a new soap. In the EastEnders 2013 advert for their Christmas Special, it uses 3 title screens. One of 'It's all', one of 'about to', and one of 'Change'. This worked well but is an existing soap and I don't think would make sense in a new soap trailer.
Gives insight into life at home:
I think this in important in a trailer so the public can see to what extent they would be able to relate to this character they know nothing about, if the main character lived in a normal working class house with a ordinary family structure, the majority of people are likely to be more interested in watching this program due to normality and relatibility, whereas if the main character lived in a mansion with butlers then the general public would probably resent this person more if they were to complain about things not as important.
Shows other main characters:
Although the main character will be the people most featured in the trailer, it is vital to show some other members of the cast so the audience can get a taste of what else they will be seeing in the program. This also gives more of an insight into the main character's life and what problems may be occuring in this new series of a new British soap.
Date, time, title of program & channel:
Crucial! How else will the viewer know when, where and what to watch? This is normally shown in a format similar to the channel's ident. I will either look into using an existing channel that would appeal to the audience of youths (e.g BBC 3 or E4) or will create my own channel and channel ident, probably using Adobe After Effects.
Poster
For the poster I've thought about having lined paper for the background. This gives it the 'school' feel, and hinting it will be based around a school without 'throwing it down the audiences throats' that it's school-set. I want the typography used and the positioning of characters to be modern and kind of 'edgy'. I want it to look current whilst slightly 90s - like how Skins promote themselves but not as moody-gungey. The poster would be good in a magazine for my TA like NME magazine or Teen Vogue. Also if it was on the side of First buses that would be an effective way of marketing.
TV Listings Magazine Cover
This is the template I made and also put on my Prezi about what brief I had chosen and why. This shows where what normally goes on a TV listings magazine such as TV Choice or TV Times and it's normal format. This will help me when making my magazine cover.
Here is a survey on TV soap operas I conducted, basing the questionnaire around Waterloo Road and Skins. Feel free to fill it out: Create your own user feedback survey
Here is a Slideshare about the data received and what I've leant from it.
I am really happy with this questionnaire and how many people are responding to it honestly.
Today, on the 19th September 16, I recorded some of my target audience, in an interview style, with what they want from a TV soap and what soaps they already watch etc. After filming this I then edited it on iMovie to make this short, easy-to-follow video.
Reflective Comment:
I am happy with the interview video as you can clearly see how people of similar ages and backgrounds don't always enjoy the same sort of programmes. However, I'm not thrilled with the actual execution of this interview as there were sounding issues with Pixie and the general levels of volume change frequently. On the other hand, it's always good to keep editing videos to learn more and more about how to edit. It also refreshed me of how to use softwares such as iMovie which will come in handy when it comes to editing my final new soap opera TV advert.
Brief 1: A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video together with two of the following three options:
a website homepage for the brand
a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)
This was my favourite brief to start with as it's something new and different I haven't done before. However I soon realised I have no real experience in music promo material. I would also find it difficult to find an artist that would let me use their song or album to use as the music for the video as I can't break copyright laws and don't have any friends in bands or individual artists.
Brief 2: A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:
a website homepage for the film
a film magezine front cover, featuring the film
a poster for the film
This brief doesn't appeal to me as it's very similar to what I did last year for my AS Media Studies coursework. I would feel like I'd be doing the same again and not expanding my skills into different areas as much as I'd like to before university.
Brief 3: An advertisement package for a new product or service, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the following three options
a radio advertisement
a TV programme sponsorship sequence
a web pop-up
I really like the sound of brief 3. If it was a 'here's the product, do an advertisment package for it' I would prefer it more but the face you need to think up a new product or service is what's putting me off as I know I would constantly be changing my mind and a lot of things you think up being a new idea, somebody has already produced. Brief 4: A promotion package for a new computer/video game, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the following three options:
a cover of the game's package
two hyperlinked pages from the game's website
a magazine advertisement for the game
I have no knowledge into computer/video games. Also I presume you'd have to partly make the computer game as if you used a pre existing game such as Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto then that would break copyright laws. For these reasons I decided against this brief. Brief 5: A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include a TV trailer, together with two of the following three options:
a listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap
two hyperlinked webpages (with video extract) for the soap's website
a poster for the soap
This is the brief I chose to pursue. I watch many soap operas myself and have seen them advertised on TV multiple times. I thought I could use the Trailer skills I learnt last year still allowing myself to explore new things without feeling like I was repeating my previous year. Brief 6: A selection of materials related to an original children's TV drama, to include the title sequence to the TV programme, together with two of the following three options:
the front cover to a magazine for the series
a DVD cover for the series
a radio advertisment for the magazine
The modority of children's programmes are either cartoon based (Spongebob Squarepants, Arthur, Danger Mouse etc.), or human-sized characters in large costumes (Once Upon a Time, Tweenies, Teletubbies etc.) I have no experience in computer generated character animation and would find it challenging to produce. Brief 7: An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five miniutes, together with two of the follwing three options:
a radio trailer for the documentary
a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary
a newspaper advertisement for the documentary
In GCSE level we produced the first 5 minutes or so of a new documentary or reality TV programme. This meant I have previous understanding of documentaries however I remember at the time finding it difficult to film as documentaries are professional looking programmes and so having them set in a school/sixth form would be an obstacle being unable to film in school hours. Brief 8: The first two pages of a new local newspaper, together with two of the following three options:
a poster for the newspaper
a radio advertisment for the newspaper
two hyperlinked pages from the paper's website
I am not a newspaper-reader. I much prefer to check the current affairs online or through the Apple News App this would mean educating myself on the format and content of newspapers, something which would be time consuming in comparison to other briefs I ready know things about. Brief 9: A website for a new TV channel (to include a minimum of three hyperlinked pages with original images, audio and video extract), together with two of the following three options:
a newspaper advertisment for the channel
a double page spread for a listings magazine, focused on the channel's launch
an animated ident sequence for the channel
Apart from my AS Level evaluation last academic year, I had never made a website before. Although I did enjoy exploring this new platform of sharing your ideas, I don't feel I have enough familiarity with website design. Brief 10: A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:
a poster for the film
a radio trailer for the film
a film magazine review page featuring the film
In AS Media Studies we had a short task to create the story of a fairytale in a Film Noir genre lasting 2-4 minutes. Although this was fun to do, my group struggled to tell the whole tale in that space of time and felt we didn't get the storyline across very clearly. This put me off this brief as a short film in its entirety includes it start to finish. Brief 11: The first level of a new computer/video game, together with two of the following three options:
the cover for the game's package
a magazine advertisment for the game
a radio advertisement for the game
As I said about brief 4, I have no awareness of how to make computer/video games. I wouldn't have a clue and would be relying a lot on my teachers and peers for help, I want to prove to myself with this brief how I can work well independently so do not want to choose something which goes against that. Brief 12: An extract/package from a local TV news programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:
two hyperlinked pages from the programme's website
a generic radio trailer for the programme
a short title sequence for the programme
I do watch the news and like to keep up with what's happening in the world. However, from watching these I've realised they're usually set in a studio. I would be doubtful I would ever be able to make it look close to the professionalism of the studios. If my sixth form had a green screen ability or something similar I would consider this brief more.
