Rachel Kellers

I have joined the group now which is really exciting and I am enjoying it alot and I am growing to really like the task!!

I have correlated the scores that I have got from handing out the soap questionnaire that Holly made. I have found that the storylines that most people wanted to see in our trailer was wedding propsal, arguments and missing persons.The things that people like about soaps is their connection to real life and also that there is some characters that the people can relate to. And the things that people do not like is that they try to do to many things and storylines at once and also that the things that are going on are sometimes too extreme. I also found that most people watched soap on their own and on the internet.
The most common areas that are wanted are a woodland area and also a housing estate or a street. The characters that are wanted to be seen are the Heros, Joker, Gossip, Troubled Teen and also an attractive male/female. In the trailer they wanted to see a couple of storylines references but not too many. Also the music should be brash and noisy. They would like too see the soap on a Tuesday, Thursday and a Sunday at 9 till 9.30. And the name should be a reference to where the place is set.

Based on the findings of the questionnaires we have decided on the narrative. We have decided that it will start with a missing person poster and then flash to a proposal and before this a word will flash up like Sadness and we will have different emotive words before the different scenes. The person who has just propsed is the dad to a 14 year old girl who has run away and he goes into her room and  starts to cry and a close up is then on a picture in the background of the girl and her mum who have split up. We then decided there would be a couple with a pregnancy test and it is positive and they are relly happy as they have been trying for ages. There is then the missing girl is first introduced and she is walking through a wooded area with a bag and her bedding. There is then an attractive person who walks down the street of where the drama is set. The second to last scene is of a search party looking for the missing girl and then last is the missing who looks behind her and then the screen goes black and you hear a scream. As we had the lesson off on Monday a drew out the storyboard as my task.

Who reads it?

Following our last post of analysing the codes and conventions of a TV Listings magazine front cover, we conducted further research into who reads TV Listings magazines.

The national readership survey websites gives statistics of who reads these magazines, here are our findings:

The majority of people who read TV magazines are:

• 
  
  Aged 45 or over
• 
  
  Female
• 
  
  Classified in the C2DE social grade

The C2DE Social Grade are those who are skilled working class, working class and those who are the lowest level of subsistence. From these results we now have to consider aiming our TV Listings Magazine to a different target audience to our soap opera (target audience 17-27 years old). We have issued questionnaires asking questions in relation to this issue, so when we receive the results we will then be able to discover the target audience for our TV Listings magazine!

Research part 1..

To begin our research, Sophie and I (Holly) have looked at some current TV listings magazines in order to look at the codes and conventions. We have analysed these magazines and written up our findings:

Codes and conventions for TV listings magazine


We Love Telly

• Main image of characters which takes up majority of the page making eye contact. The costumes they are wearing are similar colour to the background, keeping house style consistent.

• Three similar font styles were used on the front page which, these were simple and clear to read.

TV Choice

• 3D layering effect of images and text – image overlapping the masthead making the image more important and eye catching.

• Bold explosion puff containing the price situated on two areas of the page.

TV Easy

• Table down the side containing days of the week and an image from the best soap of that day.

• Consistent house style in fonts and background colour.

Summary

After collecting codes and conventions from all of the above magazines these are the overall conventions of a TV listings magazine:

• Shots of character.

• Thumbnail images of soap scenes.

• The language is teasing, emotive, and dramatic.

• Bright primary colours are used.

• Several TV dramas are being promoted.

• The characters are not always identified.

• Several layers add depth to the page.

• Familiar format of fashion, glamour magazines – non glossy.

• The cost of the magazine is shown in puffs.

• The image is a studio shot with eye contact and is generally a mid shot.

• One or two characters.

• The lead story = the biggest font which is displayed across the main image.

A new beginning

This is the start of mine and Holly's A2 Media Production. Throughout the course of the production we will be updating this blog to feature all the different stages of our project.
This will include:

• Research
• Planning
• Production
• Evaluation

Before we have even got into much depth in our project changes have already been made. I (Sophie) was originally in a group with another student but felt due to timetable clashes that we would not be suitable to working with eachother as it would have been difficult arranging meeting times to produce our Soap Opera trailer. Therefore the decision was made to move into another group where Holly and I will be working together, due to having similar timetables and living close to oneanother therefore allowing us to communicate in a much better way! I am pleased with this decision and am looking forward to working with Holly on this production!

Sophie