Risk Assessment - Group

Location: House 
Hazards: Procedures:
Fire Starting;  There is a fire alarm installed in the house and therefore we have to be careful nothing triggers this off. I will make sure any electricals are safety used and put away after.
Tripping over wires; I will be there to inform anyone walking past of the wires which they could trip over and cause an injury. A first aid kit will be at hand.
Location: Sainsbury’s 
Hazards: Procedures:Other people: Filming times will be crucial as other people will be passing by and if we filmed at a peak time then it will be difficult. Also we will have to respect other people when filming as they may not like to be seen. I will inform anyone around at the time of filming.
Location: Bathroom 
Hazards: Procedures:Water  There may be water spillages on the floor which could result into someone slipping and injuring themselves. After any shot the water will be mopped up to prevent further injuries.
Location: Park 
Hazards: Procedures:Bad Weather: If bad weather does occur then we will have to film another as equipment will get ruined and injuries may occur if someone slips.
Other People: Filming times will be crucial as other people will be passing by . Also we will have to respect other people when filming as they may not like to be seen. I will inform anyone around at the time of filming.
Location: School
Hazards: Procedures:Fire: A fire notice near the door a of a classroom which everyone will be informed about in case of an unexpected occurrence.

{Written by Vinita}

Focus Group Questions

The idea of creating a focus group is get thoughts and opinions from people outside the group to get a non bias view on our given assignment. When creating the group, we thought that it would be better for us to have as many people involved as possible in order to get a variety of opinions which we can feed off. Sometimes asking friends can have an impact when asked what they think as they can be bias; this could result into receiving a dishonest answer which may affect our final product.

1. Do you watch soaps?
2. Having read our treatment, what do you think of our initial ideas?
3. Does this follow conventions of a soap?
4. What would you like to see more of?
5. Is there anything that you didn’t like or could be improved?
6. Would you watch our soap?

Each of these questions, will hopefully help us a group analyse and evaluate our soap and produce it to the best of our ability. 

{Written by Vinita}

Analysis of Questionnaire

Looking through the questionnaires which were handed out; we were able to conclude various ideas for our soap trailer.  We asked both open ended and closed ended questions. This allowed us to get specific responses which are quick and easy to record, as well as longer question which we are able to elaborate on. We handed out our questionnairs to a small group of our targeted audience.

Our target audience are teenagers aged between 15 – 18 who generally watch soaps such as, Eastenders on a regular basis. Some of the key aspects which our audience want to view are humour, twists and tragedy. In particular, one person said that ‘ there is no soap without twists or tragedy’. Scheduling times are crucial as we have to avoid times which clash with other, well established soap operas such as Coronation street and Eastenders.

Having done the questionnaires, it has enabled us as a group to establish exactly what our audience want especially our target audience. As we have a very specific audience, it is crucial that the correct conventions are followed as well as portraying social realism which we hope will relate to teenagers through various storylines.

Having established our findings, as a group we had to clarify our target audience as this would reflect on our scedhuling times. Initially, episodes would broadcast at round 18.30 due to other popular soaps such as Eastenders and Coronation Street would be aired after. However, due to further planning when producing storyboards and track shots, we decided to add storylines which included drugs, therefore we have to consider a later time, maybe around 21.00

{Written by Vinita & Michael}

This Life; Treatment

This Life; treatment.

16 year old Jacob Griffiths is an aspiring DJ/musician. His dad was laid off at the security company he worked for so Jacob takes it upon himself to make money. After a few failed job interviews after a bad case of nerves, his friend, Leigh Collins, introduces him into the dark world of drugs by the local gang; The Shadows. 

Jacob’s girlfriend, Julia Burton, is terrified about getting into trouble; with her father being the chief of police, she has every reason to be. She begs him to stop at the start of the London Riots.

On the second day of the Riots, Jacob approaches Leigh and tells him he doesn’t want to deliver drugs anymore, even though the money was good. Leigh asks him to help him get something from his aunt’s house for his mother. They arrive at the house and Leigh goes around the back, breaks open and window and opens the door for Jacob, telling him that he found a key in a plant pot.

He tells Jacob to make himself at home. He goes to the kitchen and takes out a carton of milk and drinks it. Minutes later, sirens can be heard from outside. Jacob jokingly calls out to Leigh. Leigh rushes down the stairs, pushes a bulky bag in his arms and tells him to run.

They run down the street, trying to avoid the police dogs and Julia’s father. They turn a corner and Leigh threatens Julia if Jacob doesn’t give himself up and only himself. Jacob has no choice but to give himself up to Julia’s father. After being released, he finds that his actions have caused his parents to be evicted from their council flat and they have to move in with their religious grandparents momentarily.

Our soap will have different issues, mainly surrounding family, drugs, gangs, unemployment and urban life in London. The issues we introduce in the first trailer are:

• Crime/drugs/gangs/police.
• Pregnancy/relationships/family/divorce.
• Domestic abuse.
• Death of sister in gang crossfire. 

[Combined effort; written by Naomi and Vinita]

Questionnaire For Soap

Questionnaire.

Key: / = 1
// = 2 
// \ = 3
// \ = 4
***** = 5 

GENERAL:

Age;16    17 *****    18    19

Gender;Female //    Male. // \

Race/Ethnicity;Black // \    Mixed /    Other; Asian. /

QUESTIONS:

Do you watch soaps?Yes //    No // \

If yes, which ones?Eastenders //    Coronation St. /    Waterloo Rd. //    Hollyoaks //    Other?

If no, why not?I’m busy.    I don’t care. /    I don’t like them //

What would you like to see in a soap?Humour *****    Tragedy //    Romance //     Deaths //    Twist in storyline //   New characters /

Do you record soaps or watch them as soon as you can?Record //     Watch ASAP /    Don’t Watch // \

Other information:

Most of the people I asked responded that they have to record the soaps they watch because they haven’t got the time to watch them as soon as possible; things such as jobs, homework, etc.

The people that didn’t like soaps said they didn’t like them because they were ‘pointless’ and would be more interested in them if they had more ‘humour’. 

[Written by Naomi] [Written by Vinita]

Title Sequences - Coronation Street

The title sequence for Coronation Street hasn't changed much since the soaps very first episode as the short graphical sequence contains shots of terraced streets which represent the programmes setting of Weatherfield; this is played along the soaps theme music which is composed by Eric Spear. 

From 1999 to 2010, the episodes writer and director were credited in the title sequence, although in 2010 the title sequence carries no credits and ended with the Coronation Street logo instead.

With very few changes since its debut in 1960, the sequence has pretty much followed the same formula although have changed very slight variations to incorporate recent trends. 

The very first title sequence was in black and white as the titles provided viewers with a glimpse of the programme in 1960 when it first started. The establishing shot consisted of rows of terraced houses, taken from dock buildings on Ordsall Road in Salford with St.Clements Church in the distance, after which the view changed to tilting downwards shot of Archie Street which again was in Salford on which the architecture of fictional Coronation Street was based.
This sequence was used until episode 336 (2nd March 1964), after this, there was a three month period where there was no title and the programme title was shown exclusively over the opening scene or location.

As said the before, with hardly changes, with the programmes move to high definition, a new title sequence was made which made its debut on the Internet first on the 27th May 2010. Within the programme it was first used on episode 7351 (31st May 2010). This particular sequence incorporated shots of Manchester City Centre, including the Castlefield basin, before dissolving into shots of Coronation Street itself. As a new producer of Coronation Street; Phil Colinson moved the Coronation Street logo was moved back to the very end of the sequence with the writer and director credit was displayed over the opening shots of the actions shown in the episode.

End Credits:
The end credit sequence is also a crucial part as a list of all actors and key production teams who worked on the episode were listed. Actors are usually listed in order of appearance. If two or more episodes were broad casted on one day (Mondays and Fridays) then only on the final episode contained the end credits which showed overall cast credits rather than individual episodic credits.
Until mid 2010, Coronation Street's ending credits had changed very little as it usually consisted of an image of the street itself, terraced rooftops or cobblestones, or a black screen which was common in the mid 70's. Since 2000, most ITV programme end credits have been standardised. The programmes credits currently use images from the title sequence, with cast credits displayed at the base against a black backdrop.

Analysis of Coronation Street Trailer - Siege Week

A trailer is a form of advertisement which is exhibited either on TV or in the cinema's. They are used as a form of marketing in order to get audience's watching that particular film or soap. Soaps frequently use this form of marketing as they have big story lines very often in which they need to promote in order to keep their audience watching. These extracts are usually drawn from the most exciting, dramatic and noteworthy parts of the soap but in a abbreviated form. Trailers can last from about 30 seconds up to about 2 minutes as short snippets of the episode are shown as they cannot give too much away. 

Most trailers have a 3 act structure:

Act 1: The beginning; the basis of the story is shown.

Act 2: The middle; The story is shown further in more detail and usually ends with a dramatic climax.

Act 3: The end; usually features a piece of music which is very powerful. This last act consists of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the piece.

Voice over narration is also used to outline the basis of the story and provide explanation when necessary and since the trailer is a highly condensed format, voice over is a tool which is used to enhance the audience's understanding of the plot.

Music is another key element as it helps set the tone and mood of the trailer.

'Siege Week' (Coronation Street):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0CKb92mdL8

The trailer starts off with two policeman's coming into the factory to tell Carla something about her ex husband Tony; then goes to Claire revealing that he has escaped from prison creating an atmosphere for the audience as they know something that Carla doesn't. The news slowly get around to the whole community where they are all talking about it and are worrying at the fact that he may come back to Coronation Street. As the news it getting round, there are quick short edits of a man with his back turned, not revealing himself and slowly the camera is panning up to reveal who he is. He then turns around and it is revealed that it is actually Tony Gorden and is back in town to kill Carla and Haley as he traps them in their own factory. The trailer itself is very fast paste which creates a sense of urgency and intrigues the audience more and makes them want to know even more as well. The use of soundtrack adds to the tension as again it is very upbeat and fats paste but in a more casual tone where as the situation at hand is urgent and serious.

Storyboard for Individual Soap

 






Establishing shot of Jade fidning out she is preganat with her boyfriend, Max's baby





Everyone at a house party. Loud music playing.

Hannah’s mum injecting drugs into herself.

Fight breaks out between two boys. One of which is Hannah’s boyfriend as she is seen to be dancing with another guy.

Jade crying, wondering how to tell Max and also her family.





Hannah and Joe (her boyfriend) arguing.

Individual Pitch Table

Possible Title	Content	Target Audience (age, gender, social class etc)	Frequency
Northenders	Teenagers in the North dealing with general day to day issues.	Teenagers 14-19 Years	2 - 3 Times a Week
Hill Side	Based in a school where again general day to day issues with teenagers are being raised.	Teenagers 14-19 Years	2 - 3 Times a Week
Teen Goers	Based in a school but mainly around a boys football team and the issues with them being typical boys with girls and life in general.	Teenagers 14-19 Years	2 - 3 Times a Week
Totty Lane	Looking particularly at the certain events which have been going on recently to do within the city of London but based around a number of teenagers who get involved in certain events and the consequences.	Teenagers 14-19 Years	2 - 3 Times a Week

Treatment for Individual Soap

When creating a soap, it is crucial that the right elements are put together in order for the opera to work as there is a fine line between making the programme a drama and a soap.

The idea which I have put together for my individual treatment is:

Title: North Hill 

Summary: General day to day life in the North, raising awareness of certain issues with the community. It is situated in a horse shoe type of location where there are locations within a the main location.

Target Audience: Teenagers 

Characters: General day to day teenagers along with the stereotypical good and bad person.

Jade which is the good one has come from a tough background as her mum and dad died when she was younger and was therefore raised by her grandparents but she wants to do well in life; get a an education, job and be very successful. Although she has a boyfriend called Max who does bad stuff like get into fights and smokes. However Jade does try to stop him but is not always successful in this matter.

Hannah who is the bad person again has come from a tough background but instead decides to live with that life instead of trying to change for the better. Her parents have split and she is always moving from one house to another, her mum takes drugs and under the influence has now started to take them to.

Mark is a disabled boy who gets bullied quite a a lot because of this. He had a car accident and is now paralyzed from the neck downwards on his right side. 

Storylines: There are going to various hard hitting storylines to get the attention of young teenagers who are watching it so that they are aware. Bullying will take place with Mark who is disabled. Teenage Pregnancy with Jade and Max who pressures her into bed and then tells her to abort the baby. Other storylines will include: Domestic violence/ family problems/ drugs, Hannah gets beaten by her mother because of the drugs. 

                

The frequency for this soap would be 3 times a week; Monday, Wednesday and Friday at an earlier time of 6.30 on BBC. I feel this would be most appropriate due to the target audience being teenagers and also popular shows such as Eastenders and Coronation Street are on after.

Eastenders: First episode

Eastenders was originally screened twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) which lasted about half an hour each. However, due to the soaps popularity, in August 2001, BBC One increased to four episodes per week with each episode being repeated on BBC Three at 22.00. In addition to this, an omnibus edition broadcasted on Sunday afternoons.

The very first episode of Eastenders was a murder mystery which enabled the audience to establish each of the characters. This was done by the police officers as they questioned each character about the death of Reg Cox. They were asked;

• Who they were?
• How they knew Reg?
• Where they were at the time?

All of these questions helped introduce the soap itself and the characters that were involved.

Thirteen million viewers watched the first episode when Arthur Fowler, Ali Osman and Den Watts forced their way into Reg Cox's flat and found Reg near to death. However, several weeks later, Nick Cotton was revealed as Reg's murderer.

Th casting for the soap was important to the success of Eastenders. Many of the characters were unfamiliar but the inclusion of famous faces such as Wendy Richard and Barber Windsor who are now iconic faces of the soap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGIFPjc54ZM

Heightened Drama - Eastenders

Eastenders itself is a drama with all their story lines and it began right from the very first episode when they started the soap. The first episode was a murder which helped the audience distinguish characters and established a sense of community. 


Gradually, the drama within Eastenders increased and therefore attracted more audiences, one episode in particular was with Angie and Den as 30 million people tuned in to watch her receive divorce papers from husband Den on Christmas which was record breaking in TV history. 


Another heightened moment in Eastenders is when Little Mo hit Trevor with an iron; not only was this another story of domestic violence which was heavily raised to show awareness, but also something out of the blue which happened as we saw Little Mo as the quiet, innocent person who wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone, although at this point she was pushed to limits as she burns Trevor. As a result of this, the audience gets more involved. 

Social Realism and Representation - Eastenders

When in the process of creating Eastenders, programme makers emphasised that it was about everyday life in the inner city; ''A slice of life". Smith, one of the creators had said that ''We don't make life, we reflect it".
Eastenders first featured gritty story lines in the eighties which involved drugs and murder which was reflecting a time in Britain where society and communities had been broken down. Similarly to Coronation Street in the 1960's, Eastenders represented the issues of people, particularly in the working class in Britain. 
Such story lines included Sue and Ali's baby cot death, homosexuality between Colin and Barry which lead to homophobic Nick Cotton, the rape of Cathy Beale in 1988, Michelle Fowler falling pregnant with Den's baby as well as drug dealing, prostitution, mixed race relationships, shoplifting, sexism, racism, divorce and muggings.
Gradually as the show progressed into the nineties, it moved with society, as the issues in the eighties still existed, there was less attention to them. However they still featured hard hitting issues such as Mark Fowler discovering he was HIV positive in 1991 and the death of Gill, murder, adoption, alcoholism and domestic violence. 
Euthanasia was also covered in the early 2000's between two well established characters; Ethel Skinner and Dot Cotton. 
Although many of the issues where portrayed earlier on with Eastenders when they first started, some issues are addressed more now than before. For example, Sexuality; before with Sonia being a Lesbian, it wasn't fully embraced by the audience as it is now with Christian and Syed. Sonia was just a one off and then she was back with Martin, where as Christian and Syed are a couple in the square. 


Issue's such as these are not really thought about unless on a soap although they do reflect on todays society. For example prostitution with Whitney was also apart of Children in Need to address the issue even further because of the amount of teenagers at the time this was happening to. By doing this, they are introducing a younger generation and portraying issues that teenagers do go through. Viewership is crucial and in order to attract certain audiences they have to appeal to them. Recently, Eastenders have been heading more towards a youth audience and therefore the style and format has slightly changed as drama and comedy are combined together. Fatboy being one of those characters as he along with a couple of other people between the age of 17 - 22 came together for E20 which is exclusively online which is mainly for the younger audience. Therefore they have been able to attract a new audience as well as keep the old ones. 

Eastenders:Inception (How it came about)

In February 1983, two years before Eastenders had hit the screens it was nothing but just an idea in mind as BBC One needed a popular bi-weekly drama series that would attract the kind of mass audiences ITV was getting with Coronation Street. When the idea came around, there was anxiety at first as concerns were raised that the viewing public would not accept a new soap set in the South of England. 


Julia Smith and Tony Holland are a well established producer/script editor team who had first worked together on Z-cars. David Reid who originally came about with the idea had presented a vague; two episodes a week, 52 weeks a year.  They are both Londoners; Holland had come from a big East-End family but when researching where to locate the soap, Victoria Square had become a possibility, however they found massive changes to a area they thought they knew well. Although when delving further into the East-End area, they found a place with real East-End spirit; an inward looking quality, a distrust of strangers and authority figures, a sense of territory and community that both Holland and Smith summed up as 'Hurt one of us and you hurt us all'.


The chosen location had various aspects which made everything so significant in the soap, Albert Square itself was a significant figure as it had its own self contained community. Even bench's and parks were notable figures as they allowed characters to meet outside their home. It is also very important as it was soon dedicated to Arthur which also allows the soap to keep initial characters and new ones are introduced. Families within the soap run the market outside the Queen Vic Pub which creates a sense of realism:

• Fruit and Veg Stall - Pete Beale 
• Arthur - Gardens 

And over the years has only gotten bigger and new stalls have been added:

• Stacey - Clothes Stall 
• The Masoods - Food Stall

As well as having a self contained market within the square, they had everything within the one location they were in;

• Laundrette 
• Minute Mart 
• Pub

Everything was real, real streets and real locations which created a sense of familiarity within the audience.

The target launch date was January 1985 as the BBC was planning a revamp in its schedules. Both Holland and Smith had just 11 months to write, cast and shoot the whole thing. 


After a shooting location was finalised, Smith and Holland then had to create 24 original characters which was needed in just 14 days and so Holland had created characters based on people in his own family and their own experiences in the East End; Lou, Pauline and Pete. 

Noteworthy Characters - Eastenders

The entire cast are a family as they all interlink with each other and a self contained community within the square.  Eastenders is built around the ideas of relationships and strong  families, this theme encompasses the entire square, making the community a family of upsets and conflict, but pulling together in times of need.


Like every drama, soap and film there are stereotypical characters;

• Good - Dot Cotton 
• Bad - Janine Butcher 
• Heart throbs - Ryan Malloy

However over the years, female characters have become very strong; Lou Beale (Pauline's mum) takes control of the well being of her family. But a iconic matriarch such as Peggy Mitchell are seen as being loud and interfering individuals but most most importantly they are responsible for the well being of the family and are usually stressing the importance of family, reflecting on the past. This particular role has been seen in various reincarnations since the soaps inception, often the centre of the family unit.









Another element key to the success of the soap is the stereotypical strong, brassy, long suffering women who portray diva like behaviour and battle against tragedy and misfortune. These characters include Kathy Mitchell and Angie Watts. Female characters in general are central to programme such as these. Characters such as Stacey Slater and Kat Moon are recurring characters which are often popular with viewers. Often their promiscuity is hidden with vulnerability and a desire to be loved; "Tart with a heart".

Within the soap a gender balance is maintained as various macho male personalities such as the the Mitchell brothers; Grant and Phil, bad boys such as Den Watts and Dennis Rickman and Heartthrobs such as Jamie Mitchell. Over the years, recurring smartly dressed businessman have come in and out of the soap and they are often involved in gang culture, crime and most importantly seen as a local authority figure who people look up to. Such characters include; Steve Owen, Jack Dalton and Andy Hunter.

Concept of Time in Soaps

The concept of time in soaps is crucial as producers have to keep up with issues circulating in society in order to engage with the audience.

There are various other reasons to why time is an important concept to soaps:

• By keeping up with society, you are attracting various generations in which a particular storyline may appeal to that niche market.
  For example; bullying in schools. A recent storyline in Eastenders was prostitution which was linked to the children in need charity.  
• Time is used to expand an open narrative episode which is continued from a cliffhanger which is shown from the previous episode.
• Time reflects exactly to real life; we miss a weekend, so do they, their lives have not changed between each of these episodes.
• Heightened tenses are created because of seasonal time; for example, at Christmas there is a huge story which has been lead up to a big climax which means more viewers.
• Characters are constantly progressing; characters such as Ben Mitchell in Eastenders, as an audience we have seen them since they were born.
• A sense of realism is created when characters pasts are introduced. For example, Eddie in Eastenders past is slowly revealed as him and Michael eventually come together as father and son.
• Characters who have been there for ages can become predictable to viewers (Ian Beale), therefore as time progresses, so does the soap as new characters are introduced such as Fatboy who is current, fresh and most of all relates younger audiences.
• With time, both open and closed narratives are shown. Everything that happens  is continuous and is the future (open narrative). The only closed narrative is death. An example of this is David Wicks when he comes back to the soap after a number of years when his mother is dying. Therefore, even former characters return with a new storyline or even stick with the same one but with a darker secret.

Here we can see in order for the soap to progress with its storyline, characters etc, time is one of the main aspects which are used to help them do this.

Key Characteristics of a Soap

There are various aspects in which every Soap Opera has which follow the conventions of a traditional Soap.
Below are some of the key characteristics you will find:

• Cliffhangers
• Lots of different story lines going on at one time although there is one main plot.
• Various Generations
• Both sad and happy occasions (Death/ Marriage)
• Stereotypical good and bad characters.
• Twists 
• Social Realism 
• Escapism for viewers
• Heavy dialogue 
• Dramatic 
• Chronological 
• Mysterious Past lives
• Sense of Community 
• A build up to a main event
• Everyone knowing every one's business 
• Dramatic Irony 
• Beginning and end theme tune is the same (this is to identify the brand and brings viewers into the world of that soap)
• Recognisable setting 
• Ordinary people
• Story lines are constantly switching.

What is a Soap Opera?

A Soap Opera, also known as a 'soap' for short is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction which is presented in a serial format on television or radio. The name 'soap opera' originally comes from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble and Lever Brothers as sponsors and producers. The early series on the radio started in weekday daytime slots. This is the time when most women would be housewives, therefore the shows were aimed at and consumed by a predominately female audience.

A crucial element which defines Soap Opera's is the open ended nature of the narrative, with stories continuously running for several episodes. The most defining feature that makes a program a soap opera according to Albert Moran is that they "form a television that works with a continuous open narrative and each episode ends with a promise that the storyline will be continued in another episode".

An individual episode of a soap will generally switch between a number of different concurrent story lines which at times will interlink and affect another or it may just run independently. Each of the episodes may feature some of the shows current story lines but this may not always happen. They rarely bring all the current story lines to a conclusion at the same time; when one storyline ends, there are several other ones differing stages of development. Typically, Soap's end on a cliffhanger.