…………… St. Paul’s Catholic College

Center Number: Kayla Carstens

Candidate Number: 6613

Candidate Name: 64770

A2 Media Studies

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio in Media –

Production Log

Evidence of Planning & Research

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Aims and Objectives

AO2 – Assess candidates’ application of knowledge and understanding in evaluating their own work, showing how meanings and responses are created.

AO3 – Assess candidates’ ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills.

AO4 – Assess candidates’ ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research.

Brief Chosen

A 45 second – 1 minute 30 second trailer for a NEW Soap Opera

that will be exhibited on at 8:30pm (after Eastenders) that will appeal to a Male and Female audience.

YOU SHOULD research when Eastenders is scheduled (Day – Time)

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ContentsTextual Analysis

Eastenders

- Soap Opera Codes & Conventions- Multi Strand Narrative

Coronation Street

“..the home, the family, domestic tribulations and the strong woman, and as such, it has long been said to appeal to the female viewer”

‘Masculinity and Popular television’ – Rebecca Feasey (2007)

A popular theme in the soap opera genre would be issues within the home and like wise family and domestic tribulations. Many people are able to relate to this in a personal level, which is why people are able to form a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz) with some of the characters because of their personal situation going on. The ‘strong woman’ is an archetype that is typical amongst all soap operas. I think ‘strong woman’ is highly present in Eastenders with past and present female characters such as:

Ronnie Mitchell :

Kat Slater:

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Janine Butcher:

Denise Fox:

The presence of ‘strong’ female characters being different ages, race, ethnicity and personality types connotes that any woman in the audience can appeal to this because it portrays the idea that any woman can be described as a ‘strong’ woman likewise it offers multiple avenues of identification.

Research

Purpose of a Trailer Multi-Platform promotion Textual Analysis – Coronation Street and Hollyoaks

Deadlines – Production Work

Filming Dates:

Edited Trailer – Complete:

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Promotional Poster – Complete:

Promotional Magazine Cover – Complete:

Evaluation – Complete:

Production Work

Director: The roles of a director are to ensure that every component of a program runs smoothly. Likewise they decide, with consultation from other members on a production team such as how each scene will be filmed, the producers, on what props will be used within the scene and also how the characters will look and who should cast in these different roles. The director is also responsible for different production work such as Mise-en-scene, lighting and editing to all come together. Furthermore overall a director is in charge of all the pre-production work and production work such as shooting and filming and overseeing the group.

Producer: The main role of a producer is to do all the organization. Producers are responsible for making sure that the program stays on schedule for the filming times and likewise if anything has a deadline that the group meets all the different deadlines. Similarly they are also in charge of sourcing all the elements needed for the program such as who the cast members will be which is done along side the director. A producer also needs to supervise the crew and make sure everything is running smoothly therefore they are in charge of sorting out any problems within the team and make sure they are quick to think of solutions.

Institution research – BBC Two

The BBC and BBC 2 aims are the enrich peoples lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.

Likewise their aim is to be the most creative organization in the world and their values is that, trust is the foundation of the BBC, they are independent, impartial and honest, and similarly audiences are at the heart of everything they do and they take pride in delivering quality and value for money.

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Soap Opera Codes & Conventions – Lesson 2

1) What are some of the Codes & Conventions of this genre?

2) Codes & Conventions of the Soap Opera Genre

The Soap Opera genre can be categorized by the ‘repeated’ (Steve Neale ) elements of:

1. Cliff Hangers

2. Indent

3. Family relationship and/or conflict

4. Antagonism and conflict within the community

CODES AND CONVETIONS

Multi- stranded narrative Drama

Realism

Cliff Hangers

Brand identity theme song

Stereotypes

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5. Realistic events that are slightly exaggerated

6. Multi- stranded narratives.

Eastenders (1985 – Present)

Key information regarding this text:

Eastenders has been one of the UK’s highest rated programs, which has the viewership of 6million people.

Exhibited every weekday on BBC1 at 7:30pm or 8pm and repeated every weekday on BBC 3 at 10pm

Set in the “Kitchen sink” setting of fictional Walford, East London

Textual Analysis Task

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye51O8WBVVM&feature=related -

Age 16 - 60

Gender The majority of the viewers are female however it could also appeal to males and families in general

Nationality British

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Trailer 1)

What is the Focus of this trailer?

“The week of revelations”

Code&

Convention

Evidence

(Verbal, Non-Verbal, Technical)

Impact on the Audience

(Katz, Maslow, Hartley)

RomanceThere’s no romance in this trailer however you can see aspects of relationships for example when Linder and Mic come out of the Vic together.

Within soap operas, the audience can build a ‘personal relationship’ which the characters that are in love, a good example of this is a couple such as Mic and Linder, their relationship is something we can aspire to be like therefore as an audience we want to tune in and see if they can get through challenges as a couple.

Family relationships and/or conflict

There are different aspects of family relationships in this trailer, for example Jane and Ian Beale in the fish and chip shop. There’s a mid close up of the two in a shot to show their facial expressions, which connotes tension between them.

The audience could relate to this as there might be tension between their family. Therefore they can identify this situation.

Focus on working class communities

You can see the a normal working class community as there’s filming of the chip shop, and also the Vic which is where people work too.

This would appeal to ‘social climbers’ as it may make people aspire to do better with their life.

“Multi-Stranded Narrative”

You can see there are a lot of different narratives due to all the different families within the trailer, also because of Denise in the Vic.

This would appeal to the audience because there Is different stories for the audience to keep up with and it similarly appeals to the viewers who want a from of ‘diversion’ (Katz) through the lives of different characters being explored.

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‘Disequilibrium’ (Todorov)

A disequilibrium is portrayed through theThe non-diegetic music is very scary to signify (De Saussure) that the storyline will make the audience feel on edge.

A disequilibrium (Todorov) would cause ‘survivors’ (Maslow) to keep watching as they want to find out the outcome of the situation.

Trailer 2)

What is the Focus of this trailer?

#hollyoaksendoftheline

Code&

Convention

Evidence

(Verbal, Non-Verbal, Technical)

Impact on the Audience

(Katz, Maslow, Hartley)

RomanceRomance is portrayed through the verbal code ‘Steven Hay will you marry me’ which connotes that he’s in love and they’re going to get married.

This scene could identify to those who can ‘personally identify’ according to Katz

Family relationships and/or conflict

When Carmel says “He loves us and we’re going to start new life together” it connotes that she’s doing everything she can to get the family she wants.

This storyline is likely to appeal to females, in particular mothers (Hartley), due to the fact that mothers have a natural protective nature they would more likely want to tune in to make sure the child is safe and no harm comes to her.

Focus on working class communities

Police officers are in this shot to show working class people.

This is a representation of the typical working class which would appeal to social climbers as they might want to boost their own position in society after seeing the power and importance the police officers have.

“Multi-Stranded Narrative”

A multi- stranded narrative is portrayed though the different stories such as the wedding crash and also the court case.

This is important as it keeps the attention of the audience.

‘Disequilibrium’ (Todorov)

A disequilibrium is showed when John might go to jail which means his and Steven’s

This will appeal for those who have built a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz) with these characters due to the fact regular viewers are aware that the two are in love.

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Multi-stranded narrative

A Multi-stranded narrative can be defined as…

A numerous amount of narratives within one story line. This can be showed though different family dilemmas and stories within the soap.

Below is a deconstruction of a 10 min EastEnders extract and I have identified where the following elements have been presented to the audience:

Multi-stranded narrative Family relationships and/or conflict Focus on working class communities ‘Disequilibrium’ (Todorov) Romance

Code & Convention Evidence Impact on the audience Multi-stranded

narrativeDifferent shots have been used when filming each scene, as there are a lot of storylines showed, for example where Jane is having a conversation with Cindy, whilst there’s a conversation about the Shirley wanting custody over her sons baby between Buster and Masood.

The impact this has on the audience is that it makes sure that all the audience is catered to and likewise keeps them entertained throughout.

Family relationships and/or conflict

There’s some family relationships shown when Shirley argues with her boyfriend about her family by saying “you can’t. even begin to care!”

The audience who is most likely going to sympathies for Shirley is “care givers” (Maslow) due to the fact that they feel for Shirley.

Focus on working class communities

When Cindy and Carol are in the café work, when Cindy says she can’t afford to go.

This impacts the audience as they are able to relate to this situation if they are part of the working class community.

Disequilibrium’ (Todorov) There’s disequilibrium between Martin because he’s torn between throwing a party for Kush and upsetting Shabnam.

Audiences who have built a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz) with Kush would want him to be happy, therefore doing what he desires.

Romance The verbal code of Martin saying “I want to show you off” to Stacey connotes he

This would in particular appeal to the ‘female’ (Hartley) audience

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really likes her. because every female has the desire for someone to look at them and feel for them the way Martin feels towards Stacey.

Soap Opera Codes & Conventions continued – Lesson 3Textual Analysis

According to Rebecca Feasey in ‘Masculinity and Popular television’ (2007), the Soap Opera genre tends to focus on:

“.. The home, the family, domestic tribulations and the strong woman, and as such it has long been aid to appeal to the female viewer”

1) – Do you agree?

I do agree with this as most soaps such as Eastenders or Hollyoaks focuses on all the characters family, what’s going on within their home and some domestic tribulations within each narrative in the soap. Similarly there are also aspects of the strong woman portrayed in these soaps, such as Shirley in Eastenders and Mercedes in Hollyoaks, therefore I also agree with this and due to the fact that some females aspire to being strong woman, they may be more likely to watch these soaps therefore it would appeal to them more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8_ApPT6isY (First 5 minutes)

Below is a deconstruction of the opening 5 mins of Coronation Street.

Code & Convention Evidence Impact on the audience

Rebecca Feasey (2007) Ideology:

1. Family: This is portrayed through the muti-stranded narrative focused on the loss of family. Family unity is showed when Jason showed to support his mother and her friend

2. Home: The whole family is affected by the loss within their household.

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3. Domestic tribulations: The argument between Carla and Leanne in the street to show domestic tribulations as Simon running away from Leanne in the beginning of the scene

4. Strong Woman: This portrayed as they are responsible for breaking all the news about the fire.

Soap Opera Codes & Conventions continued – Lesson 4Textual Analysis

1) What is the purpose of a trailer?

The purpose of this trailer is to advertise the program to the audience, through showing them scenes of the upcoming drama, which could entice the audience to watch the soap opera. Likewise the soap opera is a way of informing the audience to what day it is on, what channel it is aired on and the time.

2) What are the benefits of Multi-Platform promotion of a media text?

Viewers are able to catch up on their missed episodes on services such as BBC iPlayer.

It will reach a wider audience The soap is easier to watch if it is aired on more service

Ultimately, some form of convergence is important when promoting a text to the target audience.

3) Institution research –

Their key focus is to appeal to audiences age 35-54 and to reach out to a more culturally diverse audience

BBC 2 is a broad-based mainstream channel that naturally targets an older audience

BBC 2’s fundamental purpose is for factual programs although it embraces all genres

BBC 2 was launched on the 20th April

They aim for their output to be intelligent, rich in content yet accessible and entertaining.

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