Q1: how did you USE, DEVELOPE OR CHALLENGE codes and conventions of real

media products?

My trailerWaterloo Road trailer (05/12/12)

Big close ups to show emotion but in quick shots to build suspense when used with a series of quick flash edits they create suspense

Action shots to anchor the audience and over the shoulder shots to give the audience a point of view to make the audience feel like they are there

Showing quick shots of the most intense part if the episode to draw the audience in and make them want to tune in

I wanted to end my trailer on an intense line of dialogue that would want to make my audience keep watching I thought that the waterloo road line of ‘this isn't over’ wasn't intense enough so I decided to use ‘ you touch my baby I swear to god’ because it relates to my story line more

In this waterloo road trailer the protagonist is saying ‘this isn't over’ but because I wanted my characters to be more threatening I used the line ‘ill kill you’ I wanted to developed more interest and make the trailer more intense and there for more exciting for my audience

Soap Forms And Conventions

Multiple main characters this allows for multiple story lines to run at once this keeps the audience interested

Lighting this effects the mood in the scene of a soap and also filters are used for example when filming outside you would use a blue filter

Soaps are filmed on locations and rarely on a set this anchors the location and the dialect of the characters e.g. coronation street is filmed in Manchester which is famous for its cotton mills that's why in the opening credits the audience see a long shot of some cotton mills. this reinforces cultural identity

They are sponsored by a company (product placement) if they are not funded by a public service broadcaster (BBC)

There are normally 3-5 storylines all running at once this keeps the audience engaged and allows for more episodes to be aired

The camera is used as the 4th wall a mixture of shots like a point of view shot help the audience to feel the emotion portrayed by a character and helps makes the soap more real to the viewer

Soap Forms And Conventions

Minimal make up and casual everyday clothing are used to connotations realism

Different types of conflict are used every episode

The accents of the characters anchor the location of the soap

the problems experienced by the characters are normally relatable to the audience

the use of non diegetic sound in these soaps is rarely used to keep the soaps seeming realistic

They focus on working class communities

Conventions of social realism

Made to not look constructed with natural transitions between scenes and needs to be relatable to the audience with common storylines including money , love , marriage and death

There is an elements of continuity with each scene running smoothly into the next with no heavy transactions

Current social realism soaps include coronation street , emmerdale and eastenders

Narrative – can be anything relatable to the British lifestyle and culture and the end of episodes normally end on a cliff hanger to keep the audience interested

Lighting – is natural and glares are rarely used because these make the characters look fake soaps such as eastenders use a gritty grey lighting

Characters drive the plots and the audience normally come attach to the characters because they portray such real situations

Catharsis – purging of emotions this realism allows the audience to connect with the characters

Sound- other than the opening theme sound is rarely used because it keeps the episode realistic. For example in coronation street the opening theme is played by a brass band because Manchester is home to cotton mills which in the 80s had a brass band for each mill

Conventions of a soap magazine ‘classy’

simple colour scheme showing a high quality product

Anchoring audience

We can tell who the stars are

The words plus and new are used all over the magazine showing this isn’t a soap magazine with regular features this is for new TV programmes

Name of new TV programme date time and channel

Having a sub – story that the audience will be interested in

having additional benefits to entice audience

Brief descriptions of each feature to give the audience information with out giving to much away which will make the public buy the magazine

Having the name of the magazine bold and bright so its stands out in the shelf

Date of the issue

Website for more information for the audience

Date, time and website

New and plus features

Brief description of each feature

Big close up of the stars

Name of the soap in big so they know the stars are from this show

Extra feature that I know my audience will be interested in

Anchoring audience

Extra feature that the audience can see from the shop shelf which will make the audience buy the magazine

Using the same lighting as in the trailer

My front cover challenges conventions by being a lot cleaner than other front cover and by only having the 2 enemy's on the cover and I've dedicated the whole of my front cover to my trailer and not really advertised many other character

Strap line that relates to the story that the audience can identify with

Details on when and where the soap is on

Large branding so passing cars can see them the drivers will only be looking at them for a few moments so the billboards have to be clear

The protagonists are at the front to show the story line is mainly about them and the lighting is stronger on there faces to anchor this

Using a simple background so the text is clear. I didn’t want my back ground to be boring so I used a brick wall

Using a hash tag creates brand loyalty and allows the audience to have an opinion on the show

Having all the characters in black which co notates fright and fright is something the audience will associates with the characters

Ways in which I challenged conventions

One way that I went against the normal conventions of a trailer is by using Dubstep in my trailer as my background music because it hasn't really been used before because its difficult to work with and to hard to make your edits fit in because of the inconsistent bass line. but I found a song that would work quite well in my trailer (Skrillex – scary monsters and nice sprites) because the bass drops perfectly in time when my trailer is at its most intense. Also Manchester has quite a big Dubstep and drum and bass scene so the music also anchors the regional identity if my trailer. I felt that water loo road was to safe with there choice of music ( Dappy- rock star) and although it did appear to there age group it was also quite dated and I wanted to use something fresh and different.