1. OCR G324 Advanced ProductionPALMER, JoshuaAquinas College4690

2. Question 1 - How does your product use, develop and challenge conventions of real media texts? 3. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media textsIn order to get an understanding and plan my soap trailer,I decided to carry on some research on the history ofsoap operas. This allowed me to channel the conventionsinto my final piece making it as professional as possible.Main Conventions There is always a central place that the soap is based around. Forexample, The Rovers Return in coronation street. Position the camera to make a fourth wall. Lots of extreme close up lingering shots to show the emotion ofcharacters. A dilemma in each episode in order to capture the viewer towatch again next episode. Consistency of realism or parody; by this I mean that you wouldnot expect Downton Abby to suddenly have an extremely comicalepisode as it would cheapen the image. 4. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts -How does my soap conform to the conventions?TITLE CARDSEXTREME CLOSE UP End title card showingname of show, time it is tobe aired and channel.(Following e4 style guide). CLOSE UP HIGH ANGLE SHOTPAN 5. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media texts-How does my soap conform to the conventions? Filmed in passage covered with trees therefore we had to find the perfect spot where there was enough natural light. This addsOVER THE SHOULDERrealism to the sequence.EXTREME CLOSE UP.SHOT. More of a shadow on Samsface as he is playing the badguy.Minimal makeup to createrealism, also fitting in withthe genre of my soap. 6. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media texts-Similarities and differences between my media product and a real media product. FRESHERSDifferences -I have added title cards in between each scenario to help reinforce whatSimilarities each part is about.-Program based on a small group of people. - Each story line is very dramatic.- Type of music shown reflects the visuals in thetrailer.- To start off there are conversations betweencharacters to show the storyline, then as the musicdrops or reaches maximum volume and tempo there Cross blurare quick edits of each character on there own.transition moving- Stereotypes used in the type of clothing worn toreflect personality.the sequence- Transitions on the beat of the song thought beats.from Shad to- Similar young target audience.Harriets phone isexactly on thebeat (guitarstrum). 7. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts -Comparison As you can see the title cards from Made In Chelsea are simply black and white, which makes them look very sharp and clean cut; this reflects the glamour aspect of the program. On the other hand FRESHERS is a lot more rebellious and catered for a slightly younger audience. This is shown by my use of colours making them look quite fun and eye catching. Even though I may have changed the colour of the title card I have kept the consistency with the size and font of the text in order to keep it looking professional. By having the title cards it helps guide the audience through the trailer and letting them know what is happened in the storyline. 8. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts-What makes your trailer a Soap Opera? CLOSE UP FRESHERSEXTREME CLOSE UP FRESHERS Title card to end showing brand, dateof air and program name. FRESHERS 9. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media textsSimilaritiesDifferences-The framing of both these shots are the- On the misfits screenshot the actor issame with the actor in the centre.being focused on by the camera; you can- The shot type both using a close up.see this by looking at the blurrysurroundings. I did not want to do this as Iwanted to make it clear to the audiencethat Sam was stood outside in a passage.ChallengeIn this shot instead of the actor looking away I wanted him looking straight intothe camera in order to show the audience his emotions and serious naturethrough his eye contact. 10. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media textsSimilarities-Both using an over the shoulder shotDifferencespositioned in such a way where the actor In the FRESHERS trailer there is athat is being focused on is in a mediumnatural source of light coming fromclose up.the left of the frame however in the-Background visible in order to instantlyskins trailer it is a lot more dull andsee where the event is happening. In the definitely artificially lit. The dullnessskins trailer in a bedroom (poster) andwill reflect the mood of the scenario.then outside for FRESHERS (brick wall).-Medium close up helps show emotionon the characters faces, this confirms howthey truly feel; the audience can clearlysee this. 11. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media textsDifferences-The FRESHERS shot is lit by lights inside the room whereas the Hollyoaks shots light comes fromnatural light.- A lot of shadows in the Hollyoaks shot this is because Justin is up to no good therefore darkness andshadow creates a sense of eeriness.-There are a lot of props and clutter surrounding the Hollyoaks stars however in the FRESHERS trailerthere is nothing in sight, this suggests to a viewer that the conversation could be serious as there are nodistractions which allows you to concentrate purely on the facial expressions.Challenge Similarities Both using two-shots however the shot for-Both Hollyoaks and FRESHERS using aFRESHERS is a long shot instead of a mediumtwo-shot with the characters quiteshot. I have done this so you can clearly seecentral in the framehow JP is sat on the sofa. He is sat in a-Both are set in what it seems to be astereotypical homosexual way thereforehome, one set in a kitchen and anothershowing his whole body gets this across toin a living room, shown to the viewer the viewer as quick as possible this beingwith the sofa being in shot.imperative in a short trailer. 12. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and 1challenge conventions of real media texts-What messages do you locations and costumes send to the audience about the class and status of the characters Costume/Props Looking at the locations that reoccur in both SkinsOne of the characters in FRESHERS is called JP, he is aand FRESHERS; it is clear to see that both soap operasyoung male who is just coming out that he is a represent a similar class of people. Both include whathomosexual. In order to show is homosexuality in the seems to be an average sized houses and the clothingquickest concise way we decided to choose his costumeworn in both are of similar style; casual day to dayvery carefully fitting in with many stereotypes. On thewear. Taking all this into account I think that bothtrailer JP is wearing faded skinny jeans, a bright pink polo soap operas represent the middle and working class.shirt tucked into his jeans, two earrings and a pair ofglasses. We decided to all this so that it would comeacross to the viewer very quickly without JP actually having Another program similar to FRESHERS is Skins; in thisto state that he was a homosexual. Especially in a trailer there is a character called Naomi and she is also afor any sort of soap opera, movie, documentary it is homosexual. Below is an image of how she wouldimperative you get your point across quickly as they are normally dress when appearing on screen. As you canonly going to last for around 60 seconds on the TV orsee she has the stereotypical short hair, minimal make-YouTube etc. up and baggy clothes. Her costume is chosen to match up with how she acts etc; for example in the program Naomi stereotypically enjoys watching football which is seen as a slightly manly thing to do. Once again stereotype. FRESHERS 13. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and 1challenge conventions of real media texts- Do the lighting, props, locations and costumes reinforce audience expectations about your programme?LocationIn this scenario in the FRESHERS trailer it was imperative we got thelocation perfect as it was the drug dealing scene. We knew that thisneeded to take place outside otherwise it would not have looked realisticas there would be too much light and not enough risk of being caught.We chose to do it in a dark passage with just natural light, this workedvery well, fitting into the stereotype that a lot of things can happen in adark passage/ally-way. This made the viewers on edge as they naturallyno that crime is very high in these sorts of places.Props LightingIn the drug dealing scene we used migraine reliefIn this scene there is a lot of shadow aroundtablets in a small plastic bag to resemble a bag ofGrimmers face this made him look more dark andpills; this was our main prop and on camera it camemysterious. This is the ambience we wanted tooff very effectively and realistically. (view health and surround this character as he was up to no goodsafety video for detail).and in fact a drug dealer. Also it allowed us to Costume contrast with his girlfriend Mon who is simply innocent therefore when she is on screen weIn the scene where Grimmers is persuading Mon to take drugs we had to choose the positioned her in such a way that there is plenty ofcostumes carefully. We decided to make Grimmers wear all black; consisting of black light on her face.jeans, hat, jacket and tee shirt. This was done to fit in with the stereotype that chavswho are strongly associated with drugs always seem to wear dark clothing no matterthe weather or circumstance. We also made the peak of his hat point slightlydownwards covering a bit of his face and creating shadows. This made him lookslightly more menacing as his whole face could not be seen and the unknown isusual a scary thought. The choice of this costume was all very important because itmade the viewer make an assumption that this character would not be up to no goodbefore he even got the drugs out of his pocket. On the other hand it also allowed usto create the badboy assumption and then surprise the viewer by him having thetotal opposite personality and mannerisms as his stereotype; we did not go downthis route but that may have been an option. 14. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts - Evaluating an existing E4 trailer SKINS At this point in the trailer (image below) the party seems to be getting worse and things seem to going wrong because of the drug use. In this screenshot there is a body lying in a bath = a shocking image which is reinforced by the crescendo in the music. Tension is built and then silence at the end with this shot above to leave an eerie lingering sense of shock in the viewers mind.Uses the song Roads by the artist Portshead.This song is a very slow, chilled song, thisrelates the effect you may have whilst ondrugs. Fitting in with the mise en scene in thisshot where you can clearly see a bunch ofteenagers at a party. 15. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts - How my piece of music worked for my trailer FRESHERS I thought this song worked very well throughout the trailer; I realised that I needed a song featuring strings and a soft tone in order to get the emotions across to the viewer. The song starts off upbeat and then drops in tempo and finally back to being upbeat. Also what attracted me to using this song was that the beats were very distinctive and spaced the right amount of time apart so that I could make sure each transition was on the beat. It was quite fiddly and needed to be done on Imovie however it was not to hard as the beats were very clear.As this shot comes on screen on the trailer themusic starts to slow down and there is more of amelodramatic tone in comparison to the upbeatstart of the music. This is fitting as it is when Shadcomes in the room to find that her sister has ranaway; the slowing of the music highlights what isgoing on in the scene for the reader thereforemaking the whole scenario seem more emotionaland shocking. 16. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts -Creating are character namesOnce we decided that our show was going to similar to the likes ofskins and misfits we started to do some research into thecharacters that appear in these sorts of shows.After some research we realised that a lot of the character nameswere nicknames of some sort. For example in Skins there is acharacter called Cook, Jay-Jay and Freddy; none of these being fullnames. This is done to make the program seem realistic as people ofElizabeth Stonemsthe targeted audience (16-20 year olds) within a friendship group do nickname being Effy in Skins. Letter Enot normally call each other by there full names whether it just be out of Effy comingJosh short for Joshua. from her first name.In FRESHERS one of the characters is called JP simply because his realname is Joshua Palmer, this is a nickname and it is very catchyand concise a name that will stick with the viewers very easily. Byusing the convention of nicknames for our final product the charactersnames were as follows: JP, Mon, Grimmers, Shad, Hal & Soph. 17. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts -Characters of FRESHERSSam/Grimmers Drug DealerGrimmers is quite a mysterious character in theprogramme who comes across rather moodyand always seems up to no good. In the trailersfor FRESHERS he is forcing his girlfriend Mon totake some drugs; this causes a lot of conflictbetween the two as Mon is a girl who hardlyputs a foot out of line.Mon Grimmers GirlfriendMon comes across as quite a shy person who canbe easily overpowered and manipulated. This istaken full advantage of by her drug dealerboyfriend Grimmers. She always seems veryfrightened of Grimmers because he seems tochange a lot when he is under the influence ofdrugs this scares her. 18. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts -Characters of FRESHERSJosh JPJP has been best friend with Soph for a number ofyears now as they went to the same secondary schoolhowever he has never told her his little secret. Thesecret being he is a homosexual only now has hecame out to her about it as he has now plucked up thecourage to tell her. In the actual trailer for FRESHERShe tells Soph, this creates a little bit of conflict as Sophwould have expected to be told ages ago as soon ashe knew himself Sophie SophSoph is JPs best friend, they do everything togetherwhether it be go shopping together or go out in towntogether clubbing. They are basically inseparable, the bestof friends. In the trailer JP confesses to Soph that he is gayand that he has been seeing guys for a while; this createssome tension between them as Soph is slightly annoyedthat he has been hiding it from her, she feels slightly letdown by her best friend. 19. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media texts-Characters of FRESHERS Hal The runaway teenHal has been struggling at home for a while now, her mum and dad have just split up and everything seems to be going wrong; the divorce, exams, arguments with her sister and boys typical problems faced in the life of a college girl. In the trailer we see Hal about to runaway, she leaves a small letter on the kitchen side for her little sister informing her that she has gone. Later on you see her at the train station ready to go with her bag in hand.Shad Hals sisterShad is the younger sister of Hals, at the momentthere has been a lot of arguing and bickeringbetween them two due to the circumstancessurrounding the family at this moment in time. Inthe trailer Shad is the one who finds the note offher sister telling her that she has left, this is veryhard for her as she doesnt want to lose her onlysibling no matter how much they fight. 20. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1challenge conventions of real media textsLOCATION 1 - KitchenShad is wearing quite dull clothes (browns and darkmaroons), this could be to match the mood of this part ofthe trailer. Shad has just read a letter from her sisterinforming her that she has ran away.Mise en scene clearly in a kitchen as inthe background we can see a toaster, afridge and Shad is sat around a table. 21. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and 1challenge conventions of real media texts LOCATION 2 - Lounge Neutral coloured wallpaper and no flash objects in sight therefore fitting to the conventions of an average university students household.Soft lighting coming fromeither corner brighteningup the shot. Making thescene look more realisticas the light looks to becoming from a lampshadewhich would typically bein a lounge/living area.Framing two shot (wide angle) thistype of shot makes the viewer feel likethey are involved in the scene andsomewhat close to JP and Soph. 22. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and 1challenge conventions of real media texts LOCATION 3 Alley Way Framing You can see the other end of the passage however not clearly; this makes the passage look very long and slightly daunting. Making the viewer address the assumption that anything can happen in an alleyway.The lighting is quitedark due to the treescovering the skyline.This is to make thesetting seem a realisticplace where a actionof this manner wouldgo down. Mon is backed up against the wall which highlights the lack of escape she is feeling brought on by her forceful, aggressive boyfriend Grimmers. 23. Question 1 How does your product use, develop and1 challenge conventions of real media texts LOCATION 4 Train StationDull atmosphere which could representthe negative vibe at this point in thetrailer. Hal has just ran away from hometherefore she feels like this. Framing train is in the shot this shows that Hal is stood at a train station. Quick and obvious for the reader to see; imperative in a trailer.