Q1 transcript:

What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of a soap trailer?
Use:
My media product uses similar conventional characters that are featured in a
soap trailer. For example, my trailer includes a bad boy archetype character
called Jamie who causes destruction and likes to seek revenge on people that do
him wrong. This is similar to characters featured in soaps like Hollyoaks Trevor
and Coronation Streets David. These characters can be used to incorporate
narrative with darker storylines like drug taking and murder. The character Jamie
exercises Propps theory of character types, as he appears to be the villain of the
trailer. This is shown through the use of props and mise en scene. In the trailer
he is carrying a gun and looks sternly at the camera, whilst trying to conceal his
identity to the audience, which is a conventional feature of a soap trailer as the
villain can be used to develop the dramatic narrative by scheming. We also
feature characters like the chavvy, cheeky character Ben in our trailer, that is
based around characters like Fatboy from Eastenders. This character brings some
humour and light heartedness to the soap as well as helps to include different
stereotypical classes. In contrast to this, I used other conventional characters like
Sophie, the young determined character that reminds me of soap characters like
Esther from Hollyoaks and Abbie from Eastenders. I also featured a younger
character Tilly, who appears very vulnerable and caring. These characters can be
used to show the more positive characters in life which brings more of a range of
storylines and characters and enables the audience to marvel in the success of
these characters as well as empathise with the negative storylines. By using
conventional characters the audience can recognise them and understand the
sides of their personality as they have a base from other soaps, meaning that the
history of characters can be formed by the audience and not featured in the
soap, keeping them actively involved in the soap world of Memory Lane as it is
very personal to them. My audience feedback showed me that the audience are
able to identify between the contrast of the character type, and they state that
they find the different characters relatable, such as Sophie who appeals to an
older audience who are working full time whilst their friends are still out partying,
and Tilly for the younger characters as she is still in school and growing up.
Other conventional features that I have used in my soap trailer are settings.
Based on my research, I found out that it is conventional for soap trailers to be
filmed in one location, usually a neighbourhood or domestic setting like a kitchen
or bedroom. This can been in soaps like Eastenders, where all of the charcters
live in a square, and Emmerdale. In my soap, I filmed down one long road and in
a house and school, which are all locations that my audience will be familiar with
as they are of school leaving age and still living at home with their parents. By
using these locations I can tailor my trailer to be more appealing to my target
audience as they will be used to being in settings like this every day, so it will
enhance the realism which the soap genre focuses on. The effect of this is
illustrated by the theory of Semantics, syntactics and pragmatics by Altman,
which describes that the semantic elements can be used to connote the genre of
a media product. The semantic elements of the soap genre that feature in my
soap include locations, shots and characters. The locations are all places that the

audience would have also lived in or been used to, which include a house, street
and school. The trailer features a lot of close up shots to show the characters
facial expressions which show how they feel about the themes featured in the
trailer. The syntactic element of narrative and relationships between characters
can be used to create storylines that the audience can relate to as they will have
been experienced or seen someone experience them such as the boy who lies to
his girlfriend about going to the party.
Develop:
In my soap trailer I developed conventional narrative themes such as alcoholism,
drug taking and murder. Usually these narratives are portrayed using characters
in their 20s and 30s, but I developed the narrative so that it was based around a
much younger age of 16-25. In soaps like Eastenders and Coronation Street it is
normal for the characters to deem the pub a place for social gatherings and
there is only one or two storylines that feature alcohol abuse, like Lauren
Branning in Eastenders. In my soap I decided to develop this storyline to show
alcohol abuse as one big problem with young people, which sends out a negative
message to the audience as they are of a similar age, so will be able to watch
and understand the issues of underage drinking instead of being subjected to
see it as a social gathering place. The hypodermic needle theory states that
television can be a way of sending a message to the audience and influence
them, so by developing this narrative, I can make more people aware of the
effects of alcohol. I decided to develop this narrative theme in particular as I feel
that young people do not understand the consequences of underage drinking
and many of them are pressured to do it, so they will be able to understand and
learn from my trailer as well as be entertained, making it more socially accepted.
My audience feedback illustrated that the themes involved in my trailer are
identifiable as, in my podcast, my audience were able to list a number of
different themes including underage drinking and crime. It also showed me that
my audiences do accept these storylines in a negotiated reading described in
the theory of audience reception. This states that the audience do know that
these events do take place in real life, maybe not to them but other people,
meaning that even though they might not find personal relations with these
soaps, they relate because they understand people like themselves go through
similar situations.
Another conventional feature of a soap trailer I developed was the genre. Soaps
are very dramatic by nature, so I developed this to make it more relatable to
younger people. I was trying to avoid the route that stated that the characters
had been over stereotyped, which is described in the hyperreality theory by
Baudrillard. This theory states that the media has so over exaggerated the
stereotypical character types that they are no longer relatable to the audience. I
wanted to avoid this as it not a conventional feature of the soap genre, which
tries to concentrate on realism. The semantic elements were featured but we
adapted the syntactic elements to make sure that the relationships between
characters and the enigmas were more understanding and appealing to our
target audience. We also developed the age of the characters that are used in a
conventional soap trailer. Usually, younger people are featured but they are not
always used as a main storyline, whereas in our trailer we decided to make them
the centre, and we decided not to feature any older parental characters. We have

featured drugs, relationships with both couples and families, murder, crime and
alcoholism, which are usual elements involved in a the soap genre, and
developed them to show how they are an issue with younger people. By
developing the genre we have created a soap that is more appealing to our
audience as they are more likely to have felt the way the characters have or
experience similar things, so can use the soap as a way of escapism because
they feel like they are involved.
Challenge:
I challenged the camerawork and editing in my soap trailer, making the trailer
less conventional but more effective. I have used conventional shots like over the
shoulder shots, close ups and wide shots to show the setting and characters
facial expressions which are conventional for a soap trailer, but I have also
challenged the conventions by including POV shots and long shots as well as a
freeze effect. During the party sequence, I used a POV shot throughout to make
the audience feel as though they are seeing the party from their eyes, making
them feel more involved. I made the shots faster so that it looked like the
character was becoming more intoxicated, and added a dip to black and blur to
show the end of the night before and the morning after. This differs from usual
soap trailers as they rarely use POV shots and are more likely to use wide shots
and long shots to establish the setting and act as though they are an onlooker to
the town of characters, which can ruin the verisimilitude that the soap genre is
based on.
The way I introduced the characters in the soap also differs from those featured
in a conventional soap trailer. To introduce the characters in the first scene of the
trailer, we used a range of different shots to show Jamies movement, and then
moved around the actors using the 180 degree rule using one long take which
then sees Ben walking away. which then moves on to his drama that is in the
trailer where he is seen lying to his girlfriend about going to a party. This is
different from the way conventional soaps like Hollyoaks and Eastenders
introduce characters, as they usually use jump cuts from one storyline to the
next and then introduce the characters as they appear, like the return of Stacey
or the arrival of the Lomax family where the first few shots of Tegan are seen
when she is in labour. These are big debuts for new characters, whereas we have
taken a much smoother approach and used long takes to move from storyline to
storyline, as we felt the audience would have found it over the top if characters
were to be introduced in a similar way because it is not realistic for them. Using
an original way to introduce characters the audience can understand them a lot
better as they are able to follow the character and view the world from their eyes
instead of as an onlooker. This can be a way for the audience to be entertained
by the trailer, as the uses and gratifications theory states that the audience
watch media products for a use of personal identity because the characters are
much like themselves.
In conclusion, I decided to use conventional character types and settings in my
soap trailer because I felt that this enhanced the verisimilitude and the audience
would recognise these places as it is filmed in the same country, and in a similar
location to somewhere they would live. I developed the narrative themes and
genre of my trailer to tailor more to the taste of a younger audience, as some
narratives could be too mature for them and therefore they would find them

boring. I developed the genre so that the dramatic elements would revolve
entirely around teenagers, instead of around families as I feel they could relate
more personally as the soap will try to portray things as they would see them. I
challenged the camerawork and editing by introducing more long takes and POV
shots as well as a unique freeze effect to try and bring new, unique ways of
viewing a soap to television to keep my audience entertained, as my market
research showed me that people are getting bored of seeing the same narratives
used over and over again. I believe that I have been successful when trying to
achieve these similarities and differences, as my audience feedback showed me
that they can accurately identify the media products created and the narrative
that is involved.