Our Film Pitch

Mark Ollie Edgar

Our Soap PitchHeartbreak United

Channel

We have decided to produce our soap opera for Channel 5. Channel 5 do not currently have an English soap on their channel so we have seen a gap in the market that needs filling. Channel 5 currently have shows like Neighbours and Home and away showing on there, we feel that channel 5s audience need a British soap that they can relate to.

We have decided to choose channel 5 as currently 94% of all UK households can receive Five, which is around 54.3m people. This is a massive demographic so we would be able to reach to many different people, but our target audience is predominantly male 16-45, but we feel we could have a small female audience too.

Channel 5

Channel 5 currently have two foreign soaps which are the Australian Neighbours and Home and away. Both of these soaps gather a massive audience of all ages who tune in regularly to catch up on their twisting storylines.

We want to create a soap which will look interesting and new to this audience, and also be more focused at the male audience.

The Brief

We have decided to choose the Soap Opera project because we all feel that our abilities would be best suited for it instead of the alternative projects.

If we were to do the Documentary Project, we would have to narrow down the type of documentary and carry out a lot of research into the topic we would be discussing and we could not find a topic that all three of us enjoyed, and knew enough about to create a documentary.

The Brief

In our Foundation Portfolios (AS) most candidates lacked in certain areas of work at different points in the project.

For example, I (Edgar) did not do enough research and planning into the kind of Mise en Scne that was required for our film, as we were producing a detective crime drama and so as a result our film was not as believable and realistic as it should have been.

The Brief

For the Advanced Portfolio we intend to go further into depth with my research and planning particularly for the realism of our work.

All three members of our group were originally from different groups for the Foundation Portfolio which we feel will work to our advantage as we have all learnt from our mistakes of last year and intend to work on these for our soap.

Title of Soap

We have decided to create a Locker Room soap. This soap will be from a different angle that the press see and will be from the point of inside the club and all the affairs that happen.

We gave our soap the title of Heartbreak United as a way to merge the emotional problems going on in the club with the outside, press supported view of the club.

We came up with the name early on in our brainstorming process and it stuck with us ever since.

Title of Soap Heartbreak Utd

This soap will be from a different angle that the press see and will be from the point of inside the club and all the affairs that happen.

The team will be a U18 team but at a championship side level club. The club is called Staines Town Saints

We thought for a while over how we could make our soap work, at first we were thinking of doing the first team of a championship side, but we realised it would be less realistic when we came down to casting the soap, and the age group that is easily available to us.

Narrative For Soap

Themes

The themes of soap opera are all very dramatic. The target audience for soaps being aimed at housewives to listen to during the day, meant that the dramatic storylines gave these women something to gossip about with each other. Across all of the most popular soaps in Britain all have the same recurring themes. The themes themselves have developed over time. This could be down to the change in the position of women in society

The usual themes of Soap operas include: Marriage, Divorce, Affairs and Deceit. Like most Soap Operas, our main themes will be highly dependant on the storylines that are presented, but we can expect to see; Lust, Greed, Love, Hate and Violence and the major reoccurring themes.

For our soap we have based it around a football team a subject that would probably attract a predominately male audience; but by using the same themes as the standard soaps we can also attract a female audience to our programme.

Themes

Settings

The settings in soaps vary depending on country. In British Soaps there are various different areas soaps are set in, but nowadays a lot more soaps are being set in the south of England especially London. The most popular settings include: Pubs, Salons, houses, newsagents, police stations.

It is vital to have a communal meeting place. This is a place that all different members of the show can meet in one place, allowing flow across storylines. An example of this being the Queen Vicin Albert Square in Eastenders.

Settings

For our soap we have decided it is vital for us to have a communal area.

We put a lot of thought into the different places we could have this area, originally thinking the locker room, but we then put a lot of thought into that and realised that it is unlikely that the WAGs would be allowed in there, making it impossible for all members of the cast to meet in one place.

Setting our soap around a football team our main problem will be trying to create a setting that is unique but also maintains the identity of being a soap opera which is why we have decided the communal area is going to be a pub/bar.

Soap Stock characters

There are certain types of characters that can be seen to be common among many soaps:

The grandparent figure: A wise old person, usually female. This character helps others with their problems with advice and support. In EastEnders' This character is Dot Branning.

The strong woman: An independent, powerful, aggressive woman. She can usually be found at the centre of conflicts Eg. Peggy and Sharon Mitchell.

Tough guy : A male character that manipulates others to his own ends. Often the stock 'baddie'. This character may become softened over time, and this often leads to him becoming the comic relief of the soap. Examples include Phil Mitchell onEastEnders.

Young couple: A couple that bravely face the difficulties of life, through their own, serious relationship problems. Feisty young female: A strong-willed girl, almost always young, who desires independence. She is usually argumentative and miserable. Eg Alfie and Kat Moon

Troublesome oldie: An older, grumpy, meddling, interfering character, always with his/her nose in everyone else's business. For all his/her faults this character is still loved for his/her generally good intentions. Eg. Peggy Mitchell

Our Characters will all revolve around the team Staines Town Saints

Although the team on the field play well together, there is a lot of conflict amongst them in the locker room.

Some players like to stay to themselves and keep quiet but they are Dark Horses and often sleep around with other WAGs.

Players are in constant conflict over who will make the starting 11 as they all want a shot and one day play in Englands greatest league, the premier league.

Characters

Possible Storylines

New player in the team kisses the captains Wife.

Team have a game in the morning but two of the players are seen out at 4am drunk.

Star player is caught having an affair with Managers daughter and they get into a fight at half time.

Player has rough time finding form so turns to steroids, his mood changes to angry and he takes it out on his wife.

Affairs with the chairmans wife and arguments between players.

Rivalries between different players of who is going to be picked for the next game.

Old hero being shown up by a young 17-year old player.

Transfer season and a heated changing room of who is leaving and who isnt.

4. Sub- Genre

Our Stock Narrative will be based upon what goes on behind closed doors. All the things that go on in a Championship Football Club that dont get released to the public, focusing on the Youth Team (the future of the Club). From Sexual Affairs to which players are getting picked for the next game.

We can expect to see rivalries between players over personal grudges, unexpected plot twists to shock our audiences.

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4. Sub- Genre

All three group members are fans of football so when it comes to Iconography, we should all have a reasonably good idea of what needs to be included in a Locker Room set, as well as the training ground.

4. Sub Genre-Themes

Like most Soap Operas, our main themes will be highly dependant on the storylines that are presented but we can expect to see; Lust, Greed, Love, Hate and Violence and the major reoccurring themes.

Soaps target audience

Soaps are mostly built around domestic, relationship and family concerns, which women usually are more interested in men.

When we chose this project, as a team we immediately said to ourselves that we want to make a soap which is also appealing to men. Then we came up with the idea of mixing a sport with these domestic, relationship and family concerns which lead to Heartbreak Utd being created.

Our Target Audience

Our target Audience would be predominantly 16-45 year old males. Our soap involves the loved sport of football mixed with the dramatic and realistic everyday problems which evolve in modern day Britain.

Due to dramatic storylines and frequent affairs and gossip, our soap would also be appealing to women and could be enjoyed by young couples, as something they can sit down together to watch.

Print work

Our print work will involve the different characters, pictured separately, all merged into one setting, where just by looking at it, The audience will know what type of people are being showed to them.

We will do this through Costume, Mise en Scene and Facial expression. We want to be able to do this as we feel that the audience will be more intrigued if they are able to identify with the characters.

We want to create posters that will stand out from the crowd and attract more people to watch the show. But also want them to be easily identified by one glance, as what show it is.

Next Three weeks (outline of jobs)

Over the next three weeks there are several key things items we have to work on. The First thing we have to do is finalise our characters (who we would like to play them) write a first draft of our script, correct script, finalise our script. Do a recce to find the setting that suits our product best. Once weve finalised our script start to write up our storyboard. Get the improvements that need to be made to the storyboard back then finalise our storyboard. Then find the correct actors together and find the times and dates that suit us all for our filming. Write up our filming schedule and distribute it to all the people that would need it.

Next Three Weeks (Whos Doing What?)

With each of our roles in planning over the next three weeks we have delegated tasks that suit all of our skill sets. Edgar will be doing the storyboard, Ollie will be doing the script and Mark will be doing the recce and finding suitable actors to play each role. We feel that if we stick to our strengths it will lead to an extremely efficient working group with a high standard of work produced.