A2 Media- Soap Operas

My Own Research

2010-02-26T04:51:00.001-08:00

I decided to do some research for the YouTube evaluation, i looked for a few more videos on youtube which can relate to our final product.

I found- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjnQGsGKS4

They use the idea of words an questions to the audiences aswell involving the audience and gaining more of their attention.

I also found one of Hollyoaks trailer that involved an annonymous note similar to our notes,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzJc7TIsbO8&feature=related Letters were cut out of paper and magazines to spell the word "Murderer"

Evaluation Three - (c) What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

2010-02-26T04:25:00.001-08:00

Our Focus Groups:

At the very start of production, as a group we carried out a pilot focus group consisting of our class mates, this enabled us to gain a brief understanding of how a successful focus group should be. It also gave us the opportunity to prepare our model questions in order to ensure they were wide enough for our target audience to refer to. This also aided us in making sure our pitch and treatment was clear and understandable.

We then carried out our first official focus group. We randomly selected a group made up of both genders aged between 17 and 18. These people fit directly into our main target audience. However, it was unfortunate that the results we received didn't provide us with the answers we were hoping for which could have helped us improve our soap storyline and character ideas. Positively, there were no criticisms of our product, which could show that we succesfully appealed to their age group.

Once our trailer was finished, we decided on creating another focus group. We chose the most beneficial way was to set up the trailer in a room with an audience of our target group. We then filmed them watching it and then their responses to it straight afterwards. This turned out to be very successful we received positive feedback on things that worked well and nothing was pin-pointed that didn't work well, people enjoyed working out the mystery and found the characters easy to relate to. We then edited it and it can be seen on out soap website.

We also created a questionnaire which we gave to people of our target audience. This was to help us to find out what soaps they prefer to watch and why these particular soaps appeal to them. We concluded that most people enjoyed the good, mysterious story-lines, and found different characters they could relate to. This helped us to incorporate more beneficial ideas into our product.

Our soaps website was also shown to a group of similarly aged people from our target group. This enabled us to identify whether or not we was successful in targeting our chosen age group. Many believed the wide variation of pages and the basic layout was easy to use but at the same time attractive and interesting to read and there was a wide variation of information that would appeal to different teenage types.

I presented my TV guide front cover to a group of random people of various genders and ages to see what they thought of it. Many commented on the use of colour and the designs, many also commented on the use of fonts in order to portray the more important information. They agreed that it would be the sort of TV guide they would happily purchase and read.

Facebook:

We uploaded our trailer onto Facebook in order to receive even more positive and negative feedback, many people commented with positive feedback, mentioning the music, the use of fades to create more tension and the camera angles which created suspicion. Someone said it would have worked better with more of how the girl was killed, but after a debate with other audience members they agreed on it then giving away too much.The people who had access to watch our trailer fit into our target audience.

Evaluation Two - How effective is the combination of your product and your ancillary text?

2010-02-25T03:11:00.001-08:00

Trailer

The main strengths in our trailer are the effective use of fades and dissolves. i believe they help create the eery and confusing mood we are trying to create. I believe the music also best benefited our storyline aswell, it helped the storyline progress keeping the audience interested.

The main weaknesses for our trailer would be the length, it is slightly too long for an ordinary trailer but with it being our first and only trailer for our soap we made it long. Also, we created quite a difficult storyline to follow so we explained everything atleast once breifly in our trailer.

Overall i believe that we have learnt many things along the way during the experience we have had in making the trailer.
From day one filming where we where extremely unorganised, even though we had created plans they was no where near as detailed as they should have been, looking back to the filming day one all of the footage we shot hasnt been used, that really shows the unprofessional approach we began with. However, we learnt from our mistakes and began planning properly, we word processed everything leaving it to be easily edited and corrected.
Despite our trailer not being an exact follow from the plan, it still created a basic structure for us to follow giving us room to expand on ideas and our knowledge of the camera work/skills. If i could re-do the coursework my main priority from the beggining would be the planning.

Website

The main strengths regarding our website would be the planning, i believe without the planning as a group we would of run out of time and forgotten some of the good ideas we came up with. I also think we was creative with design and colours attracting the right audience types. We also have character pages and due to the type of software we used we were unable to create drop down menus meaning each character profile would come up as a page at the top, so we put full stops instead and hyperlinked the pages.

The main weaknesses about our webpage is that we could of had things that appealed to other target groups, we mainly focused on youth that surf the web, and this could work against us.

Overall, from just learning how to use iWeb this year im very proud of my success within helping to create a website for our soap, with all of our combined creativity we was able to create a unique web page which best represents our soap and targets its specified audience. With the bright colours and big shapes and writing we have targetted it at an age range of 16-25.

We showed the trailer to a number of teenagers and recorded their feedback, this is also uplaoded onto the website for other teenagers to see what others think about it. If i had the opportunity to re-do the trailer i would make sure we have even more different shots, despite us having different camera work for the same shot i believe it would also benefit if we had more creative shots.

Front Cover

I learnt how to use photoshop recently, i used youtube to get onto step by step guides on how to use photoshop. i also bought a Photoshop starters manual aswell, and so i began structuring and designing my Television magazine front cover. i researched other magazinge guides and i decided to stick to the more sophisticated and modern front cover, despite our audinece being youths i still felt that with students they like to handle things they would never usually buy.

The main strengths of my front cover is the creative use of a black and white backround with the characters in colour and the colour red highlighted, drawing in attention. I also like the panel at the bottom which says IV on it, it makes it look proffesional which appeal to different audiences.

On a negative point the weaknesses in my front cover could be the idea that i dont advertise any other dramas or soaps and only IV, this could leave people to buy other guides which give out more.

If i had the chance to do this again i think i would change the layout and add other things like maybe a competition, for example "WIN a holiday!" drawing in more readers that would read the IV summary and watch it every week.

Evaluation Three (b) - YouTube annotations

2010-02-18T07:17:00.001-08:00

We researched other soap trailers as inspiration and to back up our ideas. For example,

Eastenders:

This is the Eastenders trailer of Archie and Peggy's wedding. This supports our idea for having a single storyline, leaving it unconventional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDHBOfalY84

Hollyoaks:

This is a trailer from Hollyoaks supporting the questions to the audience in order to involve them more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjnQGsGKS4

The trailer below uses the idea of anonymous notes to help create suspicion and confusion regarding the audience, all similar to our ideas with the IV trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzJc7TIsbO8&feature=related

Evaluation Three - (a) How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

2010-02-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

Andreas, 18

- He is seen as a comfortable member of the middle class. He lives in North London and aspires to become an architect. He enjoys a regular game of football, currently studying Alevels. Enjoys his evening relaxing in front of the TV, watching documentaries and is a fan of Skins. He is in with the recent fashion trends. He plays guitar and enjoys all sorts of styles of music from Rock to R&B. He enjoys having friends over competing on Xbox and Wii.
Favourite genre of film is comedy and thriller. He is a regular reader of the Sun Newspaper as well as Car magazines and enjoys Art. He enjoys watching Friends and other American sitcoms.

-I definitely believe our soap would appeal to him, especially with our current murder storyline working with his liking towards thrillers. I also think that with many of our other concurrent storyline's his liking of Skins will definitely attract him more, with the young, good looking characters with dramatised lives and problems. His liking towards the more gossip based newspaper could prove his interest in our magazine and website.

Anna, 15

-Lives in the North of London and is also seen as a member of the middle class. She is a young, bubbly girl into fashion and music. Listens to mainly R&B and Pop. Favourite films are Mean girls, St Trinians and Pretty Woman. She's into her pink and fluffy and loves to shop. She has a close group of girl best friends and enjoys sleepovers eating chocolate and sweets. Frequent veiwer of Hollyoaks and Eastenders. She reads gossip magazines weekly and visits style websites and shops online.

- I think our soap will appeal to Anna because shes into the young, bad girl type films like mean girls based around a group of popular girls as is St Trinians. She can relate to the idea of close friends and fashion aswell as the wide range of music styles. Also, positively our main inspiration was Hollyoaks so she would be able to find interest in soaps similar such as IV. Our TV magazine front cover will appeal to her with the young fashionable girls at the front. She would also enjoy the website which is bright and full of gossip and information about each character.

Andrea, 20

-Andrea is in the older range of target audience. She is currently in university studying social sciences, she fits in under a working class background and has been a worker since the age of 10 during her paper round. She likes partying and getting drunk. She has a big friend group but doesn't do "best friends". She listens to mainly Rock and loves a good holiday. Favoroutes Thrillers and Action film over Comedy and Chick Flicks. She isnt one for gossip magazines however enjoys browsing the internet.

-Although Andrea is an opposite character in terms of the target viewers so far i think that with IV's follow of a mysterious murder it will attract her in trying to work out who did what and why. This risky start to the soap would work to benefit us if viewers such as Andrea tuned in. The website is full of time enduring and interesting information and i am confident she would enjoy browsing through it.

Elena, 17

- Is currently an Alevel student, she is moving on to university soon and is seen as a working class constituent. She enjoys shopping and watching soaps like Eastenders, Hollyoaks and Coronation street. Favourite films are Sex and the City, Wild Child and Adulthood. A fan of Skins, Material Girl and Waterloo road. Prefers to listen to classical music but enjoys R&B. She enjoys reading gossip magazines and loves chocolate.

-I feel confident with Elena's interest in IV. Her strong liking towards soaps, films and dramas such as above stated will definitely attract her towards this soap. The soaps friendship conflict, relationship and school storyline's work with people in order to help them relate and feel a part of the soap. Her strong interest in gossip will also benefit from the gossip friendships present in IV. I feel Elena will definitely fit within this category.

Anthony, 18

-Anthony comes under the middle class category, he is at his first year at college he is doing a BTEC course in media. He is a very big football fan and likes going out with his friends. Enjoys watching the occasional soap and loves Waterloo road and Skins. Favourite films are Scar Face, You Got Served, and Rush hour.

- Similarly to Andreas he enjoys his football. He enjoys browsing the internet for funny videos and jokes and he enjoys his regular read of classic car magazines. I believe that being a young teenager he would find the storyline's present in IV easy to relate to. With the competitive nature between many of the characters in a school based environment could also leave him a lot to compare himself to. He may find the IV website appealing with the outake videos and character blogs. I think being a young teenage boy himself he may take a liking to the young, attractive characters that are involved in the soap.

Evaluation Four- What I Have Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing My Product

2010-02-18T07:12:00.000-08:00

1. Photoshop

Applying the new skills and techniques i have learnt on Photoshop this year, i have managed to create many different things throughout my project, including this collage and the TV guide front cover, where i experimented with the blurr techniques, cropping tools and slice tools etc. This is the first time I have ever used Photoshop properly so I feel I have learnt a lot, especially how to use the basic functions of it.

2. Final Cut Pro

Using my developing skills on Final Cut Pro i managed to edit our trailer, i learnt how to cut music and footage effectively adding transitions and fades. I also experimented with different shortcut keys making editing a faster and easier process.

3. Vimeo

This is the video sharing site we uploaded our trailer to in order to make it easier to show and upload to our blogs. It was easy to upload in HD giving us the opportunity to show our trailer in the best quality possible.

4. Google

Google search engine came of extreme help to me, i was able to easily access relevant research and pictures

5. Blogger

I used blogger to upload my weekly schedule, uploading pictures and evaluations of my work.

6. iWeb

iWeb was the software we created our website on, completed on the apple macs. From the group all being new to this software we learnt off of eachother, experimenting with different ideas, colours, fonts and pictures.

7. iMovie HD

We chose to edit on iMovie HD when editing our interview and outtakes, we wanted to take the opportunity in learning two different editing softwares, however this one was very different to Final Cut Pro, there are less effects available and is harder to understand.

8. London Grid For Learning- Audio

Here is where we found our soundtrack from, available to download copyright free. We also used this website last year for our Thriller coursework.

9. YouTube

Here is where we uploaded our trailer in order to add annotations this was also a part of our evaluation task.

10. Apple Mac

Due to iMovie and iWeb software only being downloaded onto the Macs we used them more often. We where able to create and publish our project to the best we could with access to the Macs.

--------------------------------------------

The camera was simple to use and easily held and balanced, with the wide angle lense we was able to get more of the shot in and in better quality. The Tripod ensured a steady balance and also allowed us to experiment more with the techniques available on the camera i.e. zooming.

We connected the camera to the TV in order for the whole group including the actor to see what was being filmed and for everybody to have the opportunity to comment and give positive/negative feedback.

We connected extension leads to the microphones in order to get as close to the action as possible, eliminating any natural sound coming from the crew and camera. we also used one of the microphones pointing towards an open window, this helped to create a more realistic silence also helping to set the mood with singing birds and distant sounding cars.

Evaluation One- In what ways does your media project use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2010-02-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

1. Title - IV: independent Variable

The title of our soap is shown in the first box, it was created on Final Cut Pro, It is the font "Neon" It is also 3D and spins on its axis

We decided on the title I.V simply because of its definition, it is short for "Independent Variable", defined as a thing or object that is changed or manipulated over time. We believe that this best relates to our soap because through the duration of the soap characters continue to develop as a result of experiences and things happening around them.

Our chosen font gives the soap a sense of drama and also helps it remain "cool" with the almost bubble writing effect.

The continuing line which extends in sync with the music plays with the idea that the soap follows a continuous storyline, and also symbolises the idea the soap will be broadcast longer

2. Costume/props - Bedroom

I chose a picture representing the main focus of our trailer, the bedroom scene. It is the most referred to throughout the trailer and best symbolises our characters and soap. It shows a teenage girls bedroom, with close attention payed to the mis en scene with posters on the wall and books and pictures helping to create a realistic feel, leaving audience members the ability to relate.

3. Props- Olbas Oil

I chose the Olbas Oil picture because it was a technique we used in order to make the main character in the trailer cry. It was good fun and an interesting experience, it also really help set the mood, leaving it a lot more realistic.

4. Camera Work

I chose this picture because it shows our group at work, dealing with the sound and the lighting behind, it also shows our effective use of digital technology using the zoom technique and focusing in and out.

5. Editing- iMovie HD

Despite using Final Cut Pro on our trailer i chose to put up the picture of us using iMovie, it successfully shows us editing the focus groups to put onto the website, we experimented with fade in and out and dissolves, we also added black pages in between cuts showing the questions that where asked.

6. Storyline- Dead body

i chose this picture because it is the most powerful shot in our trailer, it pieces the storyline together and the build up to it is flashed throughout the trailer starting from the first shot shown. I believe it broadens our target audience because of the broad and confusing storyline.

7. Genre - Drama Soap

Our soaps story-lines are different as the show progresses so identifying one particular genre is difficult. However, for my picture i have highlighted the main story in the soap, the girl group ganging up together against one girl who is left to the side. With the black and white version it creates suspense and mystery playing up upon the genre of this particular storyline.

8. characters (how they are introduced) - Girl Group

The picture best represent the stereotype of a traditional girl group, close, attractive and stern. It portrays them as being hard to talk to and harder to be a part of, they look like the type to get what they want and are never let down.

9. Soundtrack- London Grid For Learning (lgfl) Audio

I uploaded a picture of the lgfl website logo, this was one of the websites where we could download tracks without breaking copyright laws, we found a suitable track and altered it in order to fit in sync with the surroundings and movements in our trailer.

IV Trailer

2010-02-09T03:04:00.000-08:00

We uploaded the video to Elena's brothers Vimeo account, Vimeo is an easy video sharing site giving us the opportunity to upload videos wherever and whenever .

IV Trailer from Louis Christodoulou on Vimeo.

My individual analysis of everything i have done so far

2010-02-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

Trailer

Overall i believe that we have learnt many things along the way during the experience we have had in making the trailer.
From day one filming where we where extremely unorganised, even though we had created plans they was no where near as detailed as they should have been, looking back to the filming day one akll of the footage we shot hasnt been used, that really shows the unprofessional approach we began with. However, we learnt from out mistakes and began planning properly, we word processed everything leaving it easily edited and corrected. We added fades and dissolves where we wanted which helped benefit during editing, we also planned more than one shot for most of the filming in order to give us a wider variation when editing.

Despite our trailer not being an exact follow from the plan, it still created a basic structure for us to follow giving us room to expand on ideas and our knowledge of the camera work/skills.

Website

From just learning how to use iWeb this year im very proud of my success within helping to create a website for our soap, with all of our combined creativity we was able to create a unique web page which best represents our soap and targets its specified audience. With the bright colours and big shapes and writing we have targetted it at an age range of 16-25.

We showed the trailer to a number of teenagers and recorded their feedback, this is also uplaoded onto the website for other teenagers to see what others think about it.

Front Cover

I recently learnt how to use photoshop , i used youtube to get onto step by step guides on how to use photoshop. i also bought a Photoshop starters manual aswell, and so i began structuring and designing my Television magazine front cover. i researched other magazinge guides and i decided to stick to the more sophisticated and modern front cover, despite our audinece being youths i still felt that with students they like to handle things they would never usually buy.

The Planning For Group Filming Day One- Three

2010-02-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

For every filming day Me and Natalie M organised a plan in order to make our filming days run smoothly.

Day 2- Filming Schedule Sheet

FADE IN

1. Wide shot

- Thegla sitting on the bed, crying, everything in shot.

-Hair down, make up running

-Props: tissues on bed scrunched up, notes on bed, artificial lighting.
2. Close up

-Front shot of Theglas face, crying red eyes, looks down at notes
3.

(i) Point of view shot

- looking down at notes, Theglas hands and legs in shot.

(ii) Over the Shoulder shot

-Side of Theglas head in shot, her head begins focused, notes can be seen but out of focus, she picks up note “WE”, note focuses, head unfocused.

FADE/DISSOLVE

4. Low shot (floor)

- Feet walking past the camera, shadows help to add to the dreary effect
5. Wide shot

- (i) letter box, post dropping

- (ii) Post drops, Thegla walks into shot picks up post

- Props: Newspaper, note: “WE”, basic letters, leaflets (-focus on newspaper to allow audience to understand note later on)

FADE/DISSOLVE

6. over the shoulder shot

- (i) See Thegla putting the note “WE” away from the other notes

-(ii) same shot, Thegla in focus, picks up the note “KNOW” , she fades out of focus, the note focuses .
Props: tissues on bed scrunched up, notes on bed, artificial lighting.

FADE/DISSOLVE

7. Side shot, panning around Thegla from right hand side to over the shoulder-

-Thegla sitting at the table- sorting out her books, getting a pen out of her pencil case.

-when camera stops over the shoulder she opens her folder, turns pages, sees post it note with “KNOW” written on it, goes to pick it up- assuring the audience she has seen the note.

-Props- Folder, pencil case, phone, pens, highlighters etc

FADE/DISSOLVE

8.
(i) Reaction shot-Close up, shocked, loud breathing closes eyes, tear falling.

(ii) Pans around from front shot to over the shoulder- Theglas head in focus puts down note “KNOW” next to note “WE” which is separated from the others, notes out of focus.

(iii) Thegla picks up note “WHAT”, as note is brought closer to her, it focuses- shows her hand shaking.

Props: tissues on bed scrunched up, notes on bed, artificial lighting.

FADE/DISSOLVE

9. Wide shot-

- shot from the hallway, (sound of keys) Thegla opens the door walks into the house carrying shopping bags, walks directly past the camera.

10. side shot-

- Thegla walks into shot, stands with the camera on her side, tips open one of the bags onto the table, and she picks up the clothing- now on the table, as she unfolds clothing, note falls out drops onto the floor- doesn’t take much notice of it.

Props: keys, shopping bags, clothing, note

FADE/DISSOLVE

11.

(i) Reaction shot-Close up, shocked, loud breathing closes eyes, tears falling.

(ii) Wide shot - Thegla picks up note “DID”, as note is brought closer to her, it focuses- shows her hand shaking.

Props: tissues on bed scrunched up, notes on bed, artificial lighting.

FADE/DISSOLVE

12. DID - outdoor scene walks in note is in pocket

13.

(i) Reaction shot-Close up, shocked, loud breathing closes eyes, tears falling.

(ii) Pans around from front shot to over the shoulder- Theglas head in focus puts down note
“DID” with the other notes.

(iii) Point of view shot - Thegla looking at notes in order of “WE KNOW WHAT DID”.

(iiii) Reaction shot – Thegla looking confused but still worried, tears and make up running down
her face.look of recognition appears.

FADE/DISSOLVE

14.
(i) Wide shot Thegla sitting watching tv, phone beeps

(ii) Over the shoulder shot – Thegla opens text from unknown sender

(iii) Point of view shot – text on the screen showing just the word “YOU”

(iiii) Reaction shot – looking worried but not taking too much notice of note. Puts phone down

Props: tv, phone

FADE/DISSOLVE

(v) Wide shot - Thegla gets up off bed and gets her phone

(vi) Point of view shot, phone in focus, hand shaking – text seen earlier with the word “YOU.”

(vii) Thegla places phone in place between notes “WHAT” and “DID”.

(viii) Reaction shot – Thegla looking terrified, panic in her eyes

15. Point of view shot- all notes including phone.

Props: tissues on bed scrunched up, notes on bed and phone, artificial lighting.

BLACK OUT/FADE IN

15. Close-up of dead body, camera zooms out showing a wide shot of dead body lying in the street.

FADE IN

17. I.V appears on screen

FADE OUT

by Elena Christodoulou

Group Filming Day Three- Photos

2010-02-07T03:57:00.000-08:00

Theres a picture of me and Natalie M dealing with the lighting issue, there is also a picture where Natalie M is laying on the ground, we believed that this position particularly was to staged and unrealistic so we opted for the more rundown end of the alley, which really added to the realism.

Finding The Music

2010-02-02T04:12:00.001-08:00

There was an OCR sheet that had a number of links for music websites, many of them had to be bought and prices ranged from $30-$50.

I found a track i liked from "West One Productions" however after emailing them if it would be possible to use there track i decided to take the safer option and just carry on searching for copyright free music.

I remebered that from last years music problem we found the London Grid For Learning (lgfl) website where track downloads are free and downloadable via the school, however they where still low priced so i decided to just purchase it from home and get on with the editing straight away.

Editing progress

2010-02-02T02:12:00.000-08:00

EDITING

We chose to use Final Cut Pro because i feel more confident with this programme and feel more comfotable using it.

I ingested all the film from day one and two filming including the interview scene too, within correct time codes and waited for the clips to render. i used keyboard shortcuts to cut in (I) and cut out (O) of the film in order to save the clips i renamed them in order to make editing easier. For example, during the interview scenes i renamed them as Question one Take two, Question two Take three, Question 3 Take one, etc...

I arranged the scenes in order of the way they come up, for example, the note DID comes before the note WE is found.

............................................................................................................................................

Yesterday (Monday 1st February) I ingested the film from Day 3 filming and watched it through to make sure the sound was alright, because during filming we noticed that the sound was jumping, so we changed the tape just incase it was faulty.

I went through the clips and marked them in and out, renaming them to make it easier to establish between the different scenes. I began editing together the clips adding fades and black outs, i decided a dissolve effect was better than a fade in fade out effect because it looks more dreamy, asif the character was having a flashback.

Our planning was beneficial because i new exactly how the group wanted it and was able to follow through faster. The group came round to see my progress and gave valid points on things which they felt needed to be added and changed.

With the music, i found one which best suited the video, its low percussion, piano with a slight beat 30 seconds in, i like the way it fitted perfectly with the scenes i have editied so far and i wont need to edit the music as it ends dramitally already.

............................................................................................................................................

Today (Wednesday 3rd February) I did a bit more editing, i experimented with a few random shots we'd filmed, arranging clips in order to confuse the audience more, i added a few more fades/dissolves and edited a bit more of the interviews scene, the interview scene is by far the most difficult, we didn't plan it very well and so the shots are all over the place with no real structure to show where everything goes.

.............................................................................................................................................

Today (Saturday 6th February), i set myself a target to finish all the editing for the trailer today and i did. I began with picking out all the clips that looked best again trying to avoid the ones that had the mic boon at the top, after i had found all the good clips, i began arranging them from where i wanted them to cut in. i experimented with the saturation, mids, blacks and highlights, adjusting the warmth of the pictures by adding oranges and more blues to make it colder.
Under Video filters- colour corrector then i had a choice of yellows, greens, blues etc.
I took down the saturation by about 15% , shifted it slightly to the blues.
This was all a part of colour grading perfecting the lighting in order to create the moods we wanted. giving it a uniform feel, making some scenes warmer, for example, the scene with the dust and the sun coming through the letter box. i changed the colour magnitude making the door richer in colour. bumping up the highlights made the sunlighting coming through the letter box sparkle more.

With the IV Natalie N came up with the idea of having IV written along a line, so i downloaded a Font called Neon, under Video Generator effects, i clicked Boris then text scrambler, i increased the reveal time , decreasing the opacity creating the effect on IV....................
I experimented it with 3D by adding a spin in the axis, i then decided to add INDEPENDENT VARIABLE to the IV effect i did the same making it 3D nd put it underneath the IV line...............

To create the words, i clicked Apple V (paste) to keep pasting new clips and on each one i typed different words that best represented our soap, For example, like Love, Revenge, Hate, Success.etc it was rendering slowly so i created new sequence and pasted the words in because the text requires rendering and laying them all on top gives it a lot to do at once so it takes longer.
However one problem i had with the words was when the computer froze, after a quick panic, i was thankful to have saved it just before it closed but i still couldn't add anymore to it but i think i had added enough words anyway so i am grateful that worked out too.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some of the techniques i used:

Additive dissolve- added the pictures together, and as a result the contrast inbetween becomes lighter

in order to render i typed Alt- R

During the bag swinging in the trailer i changed shot making it look more effective

Snap time line, blade it and click A to select it

One problem was with the mic boon in the top, so we zoomed in inorder to cut out the mic and keep the shot we had selected

experimented with blurs, motion blur, wind blur, slit scan, bad tv, we finally chose effect light rays because it worked better than just a blur, it gave a dreamy/confusing effect.
In order to make editing easier for me, i printed off a shortcut guide for editing.

Group Filming Day Three

2010-02-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

Sunday 31st January 2010

Today was the day we planned to finish off the filming for the trailer.

We all met up at my house and began discussing the props, we spoke about the lighting outside because we was going to film the dead body scene aswell and we wanted the most beneficiallighting we could get.

We decided to film a few of the note finding scenes before going outside to use the powerful glare of the sun throught the window.

The first note was found through the letter box. We set up the camera up on the tripod and prepared for the wide shot, we positioned it at an angle to the front door which best benefited the effect we aimed for. The camera was positioned by the side of a plant, we decided to have a part of the plant in shot as well to add to the dark atmosphere, we focused on the plant and then focused on the post (pull focus). we also decided to use the dust in the air as another benefiting factor. the overall outcome was extremely creative.

Natalie N was posting the letters through the door, we filmed numerous different shot, wide shot of the hallway, close up of the letter box, close up of the floor underneath, wide shot of thegla walking into shot and picking up post.

In a number of these the note blew out of the pile, we used this to our advantage and took a number of close up shots, narrow depth of field etc in order to show the audience the notes. However the light became too strong so we decided to cover up the window with dark paper in order to eliminate some of the glare.

The next note was Thegla (Andrea) walking into the house, as she goes in her pocket to find the keys she finds a note, we again took a number of different camera shots, wide shot, over the shoulder, tracking shots close ups and reaction shots. With the tracking shot, in order to create a steady cam effect we dismantled the tripod pole and attached a clamp to it in order to gain weight at the bottom in order to equally weight out the camera. attached

The third note was found with Thegla sitting at the table about to do some work, she has her folder and laptop etc in front of her, with our added props like the pens and highlighters it looked very realistic. As she flicks through her folder she sees a post-it note stuck on one of the pages reading another word. For this shot in particular we decided to film from the side establishing where she is and what she was doing and then panning around to over the shoulder, in order for the audience to see the note at the same time as she does. For this shot we had a slight problem with the lighting it seemed very dark as we was shooting against a window again however we turned up the brightness of the camera and it fixed the problem substantially.

For the fourth note, we filmed Thegla walking in with shopping bags, tipping them out and a note being tucked in between one of the items of clothing. This was filmed as a wide shot, and then a zoom/pan of the note.

The last note we filmed in the house was the one she received via text, we chose a realistic acting with Thegla watching television when she receives a text, she simply picks it up to read it and it cuts, a fairly quick and easy scene to shoot. then when she receives the text a close up shot was filmed.

The day ran smoothly and the weather stayed dry, for the final part of our trailer we decided to film a dead body. Natalie M played the role of the dead body. We found a alley way with all sorts of rubbish and graffiti around it, it looked dark and dreary and with the advantage of the beutral density filter it looked even better. We filmed extreme close-ups, panning shots, wide shots and low shots, shots behind trees and branches and experimented with focusing.

My Individual developments

2010-01-30T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today (Saturday 30th January) i decided to look through all the footage we have shot and i wrote down all the time codes of the takes i felt where best in order to make it easier later on during the editing stage.

Some of the problems id noticed was the microphone sometimes being in the top of some of the shots, i also heard a lot of crackling in some of the scenes which can be eliminated next time by fiddling with the sensitivity of the microphones and maybe not having two microphones and sticking to the one in order to control the sound closely.

Development of the Website

2010-01-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

As a group on Tuesday 24th November we visited the CLC centre in order to learn how to use a programme called iWeb. We was taught how to create our own webpages and also creating games that can be played on them.

People present:

Me, Thegla and Natalie N.

We all experimented on our own computer practicing and experimenting on what was available. We got our work saved onto Cd's and went back to school. however once we had got back and attempted to retrive our work it only came up as a picture so we was unable to edit it further.

So we came to the decision on making a new website together at school, so combining all of our developed skills and techniques we began on deciding which templates and colours to use, I drew out a plan for what styles and fonts we wanted and we began designing.

...........................................................................................................................................

The downside of iweb is that we can only use the computer that we started on, there isnt a way of saving our work and moving it somewhere else, so the time we have to work on our website is limited to school hours only.

................................................................................

Tuesday 26th January

Today i had a look at what the girls had been up to with the website, i gave my input with some of the designs and colours and booked in a day i was going to do some too. We have character pictures which are hyper linked to their pages, which say their favoroute colours, foods, films and music, it also outlines their character type in the soap and has a small gallery of on and off set pictures.

We also added competitions where people can win a day on set and meet the soap characters. This helped it look realistic and can help draw in people from different age ranges.

........................................................................................................................................

Thursday 28th January

Today Me and Natalie M stayed behind after school for a few hours to add a few more things to the website, we discussed colour and font, i suggested to change the font to "Bradley Hand ITC" i felt that this looked nicer than just Arial and it looked more appropriate for a young audience. We also decided to change the colour of the titles to red, this stood out more drawing in attention to the important points on our page.

.......................................................................................................................................

Tuesday 2nd February

Today as a group we went through the website again, everybody gave their input, i asked other people in the class what they thought and if they think i should change anything on it. i took in all useful comments and applied it as much as i could.

When looking at the pages i felt as though they seemed empty, i decided to put speech bubbles on the characters pages, i wrote comments from the real characters and quotes that best represented the characters, this helped fill up the pages, making them look more interesting and allowing the viewers/fans to get a real understanding of the characters aswell as the people who they are played by.

........................................................................................................................................................

Tuesday 4th February

Today we altered the website again slightly, i asked the group what they thought of the colour on the homepage, we decided to change it to something more plain.

when looking over 'Andrea's Diary' i felt as though it was very plain and basic, Natalie M agreed and so we tried to think of something different to add, i came up with the idea of putting stars on two of the sides of the page, i experimented with the amount of points on the stars i wanted, i added shadows to highlight th

em more, we couldn't find a way of adding colour but the shadows gave a good effect.

.................................................................................................

Our drawn website plans and the macs with the website character page open.

Final Draft of Magazine Front Cover

2010-01-25T14:51:00.000-08:00

I designed my magazine front cover based on the 'Radio Times' i believe that it looked lot more proffesional and still targeted a variety of age groups. I felt that this best emphasized our soap, leaving it to look more professional and most importantly watchable.

For the design of my front cover, i used photoshop.

I used different colour schemes and fonts, i finally found the font i felt best suited my design and the most beneficial colour.

I experimented many times creating many rough drafts, id finally found what id wanted and i used a tool which made the background look asif it had been drawn, this helped target at the younger audience.

I also advertised the fact that it was a new soap and went against the idea of promoting the first big story line of 'MURDER' and instead stuck with a critics comment.

Pictures from Filming Day Two

2010-01-25T14:43:00.001-08:00

Group Filming Day Two

2010-01-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

Saturday 23rd January 2010

Today we began filming for the trailer of our soap. Thegla, Natalie M and I met together early and organised set, we set up the camera and the microphone, altered the lighting and organised the props.

From the last filming day being less organised that we had hoped, this time around we typed up all the shots we needed etc (on the blog above)

After everything was sorted on set we got together and went through the plan, we decided to do all the over the shoulder shots first, then allow time for Thegla to prepare to get in character and cry for the reaction shots and close ups. We again managed to get numerous shots from many different angles so that when we are at the editing stage we would not be limited in our choices.

So we got filming, the over the shoulder shots where the hardest, we had to make sure we never moved anything/ or placed things back in the right place before filming again. We had the slight problem with Thegla sometimes moving in front of the camera but we filmed this take so many times there are still many to pick from. Some of the shots we experimented with where: Zoom, close-up shots, over the shoulder shots , panning shots , wide shots, reaction shots.

Me and Natalie M took it in turns to film and to hold up the microphone to which we attached to a pole in order to get closer to out actor and it not pick up our own movement.

With the lighting we used the daylight to our advantage, in the close up scenes the daylight lighted up half of Thegla's face really adding to quality of the picture as well as the emotional effect we was aiming for.

Some problems we experienced was with the text on the phone, it came up very small and the camera found it hard to focus, so we came up with the idea of taking a picture of it from the newspaper and leaving it widescreen.

We also changed the plan slightly, mixing up the order Thegla finds the notes leaving the audience more questionable and confused.

Overall today was extremely successful, we covered everything we needed to and there where no problems throught filming.

Reflection on Focus Group

2009-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

As a group we decided on completing the final focus group. However, although this was more successful than our pilot focus group, it still didn't benefit us as much as we had hoped it would.
Our group consisted of 5 people aged between 17 and 18. They were of both genders (3 girls and 2 boys). We decided on this age group as it is our primary target audience. we started off by reading out our pitch to them, then followed by our treatment, and a rough outline of our trailer and website.

Here are the questions we asked and the most common answers:

Does the different approach we have, in terms of the trailer being based on one individual character and storyline, affect your perception of our soap?- no, it makes you want to watch it more, it wont confuse the audience
Does the trailer sound like a typical soap opera trailer, would you be inclined to watch this soap over another, already existing trailer?- it sounds more like a drama
With the time of the soap being 8pm, Tuesday to Thursday, would you watch this?- yes
How does the fact that we have a huge storyline in our first episode affect you?- it gets straight to the point
Are there any other comments regarding our soap?- no

After we had asked them the questions as a group we had a quick meeting to discuss how successful we think it went. The responses we received didn't benefit us as much as we thought and we have decided to re-do the exercise later on with different group of people.

My Photoshop Practice

2009-12-03T01:28:00.001-08:00

I decided to pick one of the pictures we took, and attempt on using photoshop. i experimented with different styles of font and colour.
Im going to use my skills i have gained to help me with designing my own TV guide cover. I like the idea of it being black and white with the red lips and jacket being highlighted; we wore red clothing because it symbolised danger and it also showed us to be on one side.

Magazine ideas

2009-12-01T04:28:00.000-08:00

On our first filming day, we took a number of photo ideas for our magazine.

-I used phtoshop to make some of them black and white to experiment on different approaches.

However, before we got used to thecold, and mastered staying in the same position for a few more seconds then we had liked we took a few pictures, which didnt prove to be as succesful.

You can see in the picture on the Left that there is a gap in between me and Natalie N, we all look fairly cold in both pictures so we decided to carry on taking more till we was all happy.

Minutes for Sixth group meeting

2009-12-01T04:20:00.000-08:00

Discussions on General filming and ideas

Wednesday 1st December 2009

Start time: 11:00am

People present: Elena Christodoulou, Thegla Savvides and Natalie Nicolaides

Planning ideas for our magazine covers.
we went through all the pictures and each chose our own.
We planned another day that we are going to meet up for filming, and we also discussed the editing process. We are planning to meet up this sunday to organise the film we have and which shots we are going to use. where then going to draw out another storyboard to make sure everything fits together perfectly and that we have enough shots for the editing stage.
We also spoke about the music, what kind of music, theme tune we are aiming for..catchy,singing, lyrics...

Finish Time: 11:40am

My Individual analysis :)

2009-11-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

Another thing i am challenging is the idea of taking a more formal approach with the television guide. Instead of creating one like "TV Easy" (Left) which are very basic and are sold inexpensively. I have decided to go for a more formal and realistic approach like "Radio Times" (Right).

Analysis of Radio Times magazine

2009-11-30T09:56:00.001-08:00

-At the very top there is the website address, which is good for more information and details about the shows and competitions etc

-Below that there is the date and the price of the magazine- very formally set out

- Title stands out, bold

-Festive, front cover follows whats happening in the world (Christmas-snow)

-one main picture, covers most of the front cover, eye catching.

-Catchy Title (Who's The Doctor?) leaves audience questioning, "only in RT" persuading people to buy it to read who the doctor is.

- "exclusive previews", "Plus", "open the cover to find out who their up against.." this helps draw in more potential readers.

-Its main emphasis is on Doctor Who, it has slight advertisement of other programmes on the side but they are not very eye catching in comparison to Doctor Who.

EVALUATION

Analysing different front covers will help us to decide what we think will be the most beneficial. i like this fact that its festive, relating to contemporary seasons, i like the idea there is exclusive previews and interviews to draw in readers attentions. we can take alot from this, and help make our radio magazine cover just as succesful.

Interview Speech And Questions

2009-11-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

During our first filming day, we filmed an interview scene where some of the cast were asked a few questions about their character.
Here are the questions that were asked:

Here today i am joined with some of the cast from the new soap 'I.V'

So, 'I.V' thats an unusual name for a soap, where did the idea come from?
So would you say that the lives of these characters get manipulated and changed throughout the outcoming episodes?
So, Thegla you play the character of 'Andrea', tell me about her.
So how would you say that 'Chloe' influences her?

A question for you all...

7. What makes your soap different to other contemporary soaps?
8.There are alot of soaps already out on tv, how are you hoping to attract the viewers fior yours?

Group Filming Day One

2009-11-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

Sunday 15th November

Today we began filming for the episode of our soap. Due to the challenge where taking with the trailers focus on one character only, we have decided to film a snippet of the first episode and put it on the website of our soap.

Before we started filming we got together and discussed which parts of the storyline we where going to focus on, we discussed different shots and how each would fit together during editing. We shot numerous different shots from many different angles so that when we are at the editing stage we would not be limited in our choices.

We set up the scene and got the actors ready. Thegla was the main character and we also had her mother character ( my mum) in one part of the scenes.We begun filming her(Andrea) having her breakfast in the kitchen when her phone vibrates and she gets a text saying 'Are you in school today?'. We then framed the shot specifically for the audience to see her mum walk in at the back and tells her to get to school. Some of the shots we experimented with where: Zoom, close-up shots, over the shoulder shots , panning shots , wide shots, reaction shots.

Due to us finishing up filming the first part of the scene on time, with no problems we decided to film the cast interview, i was one of the characters being filmed alongside Thegla(Andrea) and Natalie N, i answered some of the questions Natalie M asked about our individual characters and about the soap in itself.

When we had finished up our filming, we quickly decided on whether the darkness outside would help benefit us with the photos for our magazine and website, we all changed into our characters outfits and went outside to practice on different angles. we took ones from high and from low, experimenting with the lighting and using the sun and the environment to our advantage.

Me practicing filming...

Natalie M and Natalie N practicing with filming.

<-- light reflector

Me organising the props, making sure they don't block the cameras view of the other props we needed in shot.

Interview set

(Natalie M- interviewer)

(Me, Thegla and Natalie N- Interviewees)

Natalie Michael at work with her interviewing skills, you can also see the way we positioned lights and the camera.

Having a laugh on set, especially when we messed up the words.

2009-11-10T02:28:00.001-08:00

Just filling you in with where were up too so far...

So now we are organising our first filming day possible date Sunday 15th November, we have found extras and written out scripts for them just have to ensure we are all free on the same day now. We are also finishing up our Recce forms, shooting schedules and booking forms. i believe where definitly working on time and as a group where all participating equally. Excited for filming day one :)
Elena

Risk Assement

2009-11-10T02:24:00.000-08:00

RISK ASSESMENT

Location: street/sidewalk

Hazards and Procedures

Cars/traffic:

Make sure all extras and crew are away from the road, keep an order under where people film and stand.

Bad Weather:

In case of bad weather occurring I will make sure my entire group will be under shelter to film so that they can somewhere it is dry, and so they do not slip and the equipment cannot get damaged.

Passers by damaging equipment:

Could accidentally break equipment, ensure we do not obstruct the whole pavement and keep all equipment not in use away from the sidewalk.

Location: Bedroom

Hazards and procedures

Tripping on wires:

Make sure all extras and crew are away from the wires and camera equipment when filming isn’t taking place, and ensure all wires are kept tidy and away from doorways etc.

Fire Starting

There will be a fire extinguisher on the side of the room, which everyone will be aware of, and be guided through before filming, we will also cover which way to get out of the house in case of a fire.

Location: Garden
Hazards and Procedures

Bad Weather:

In case of bad weather occurring I will make sure my entire group will be under shelter to film so that they can somewhere it is dry, and so they do not slip and the equipment cannot get damaged.

Tripping over:

Ensure all production team and extras are wearing safe clothing until filming, to prevent them slipping.

Location: Cafe
Hazards and Procedures

Fire Starting:

There will be a fire extinguisher on the side of the room, which everyone will be aware of, and be guided through before filming, we will also cover which way to get out of the house in case of a fire.

Tripping over:

Ensure all production team and extras are wearing safe clothing until filming, to prevent them slipping.
Disruption to public and Passers by damaging equipment:

Could accidentally break equipment, ensure we do not obstruct the doorways and passages and keep all equipment not in use packed away safely, also ensure we keep the noise down and only relevant amount of people present, preventing any accidents etc.

Location: Corner shop
Hazards and Procedures

Tripping over:

Ensure all production team and extras are wearing safe clothing until filming, to prevent them slipping. Ensure boxes and shop items are not obstructing any doorways or passages.

Disruption to public and Passers by damaging equipment:

Could accidentally break equipment, ensure we do not obstruct the doorways and passages and keep all equipment not in use packed away safely, also ensure we keep the noise down and only relevant amount of people present, preventing any accidents etc.

Location: Kitchen
Hazards and Procedures:

Fire Starting:

There will be a fire extinguisher on the side of the room, which everyone will be aware of, and be guided through before filming, we will also cover which way to get out of the house in case of a fire.

Tripping over:

Ensure all production team and extras are wearing safe clothing until filming, to prevent them slipping. Also ensure all wires and leads are kept in order and not running past doorways, if this is the case I will put up signs of warning.

By Elena Christodoulou

2009-11-02T16:08:00.001-08:00

This is my final cut of the video, however there is no real storyline to it, i chose something simple like walking up streets, so i had something to edit during work experience and to simply learn all the techniques available on Avid. i did fade alot in and out of scenes, which i felt helped create this sad and dreary effect.
Enjoy :)

Untitled from Elena Christodoulou on Vimeo.

Minutes for fifth group meeting

2009-11-02T14:27:00.001-08:00

General filming discussions

Friday 30th October 2009

Start time: 7:30pm

People present: Natalie Michael, Thegla Savvides and Natalie Nicolaides

* We began by deciding we wanted to make a start with our TV guide magazine front cover.
* We then decided we wanted who would take on the role as the main character – we decided on Thegla.
* Next was the discussion about how we wanted the main picture on our cover to look. We decided on the victim as the main image in the foreground and the possible murderers in the background. It was settled that Natalie Michael would be the Victim and she would be dressed in white (to symbolise innocence or a coat to symbolise closure). The suspects in the background will be wearing something red to represent the danger.
* We selected a day that we would take a photo. We decided we would take these photos in school as we are going to be using photoshop to change the background of them.
* Our next main discussion was as to who would be filling out which pre-production forms we would each be completing.
* Next on the agenda were the locations we would be filming in. These included; -the house (Natalie M’s house), the cafe, a supermarket, the streets, the place where the girl bunks, a park and a kitchen.
* We finally discussed possible people who could act as the extra people.

Finish time: 8:05pm

Reflection of Pilot Group Exercise

2009-11-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

So far i would say our group is heading up into the mid section of research of soap operas, were still analysing and discussing how we are going to challenge, use and develop conventions.

Previous to the exercise I believe we should have had a more in depth meeting to discuss and pin point what research and analysis had been completed in order to brain storm more ideas based around our individual findings.

The pilot exercise even though was not the success we expected, still successfully aided us towards the understanding of what a real focus group will be like. With this, we realised that the group of people that we are going to interview later on will not have the amount of information and understanding of our ideas and analysis than the people we practiced with had, so therefore we have decided to generalise our question leaving them the ability to expand on there ideas giving us a wider opportunity to receive as valid information as possible.

Day 5: at my Work Experience

2009-10-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today i spent the whole day in my own AVID suite, i experimented with all sorts of fades and effects you can achieve on Avid.
I also searched some more music, and once i found what i liked, i made sure it was copyrighted before i ingested it into my edits.
I learnt all the short cuts on the keyboard and i learnt how to fade the music at the end.

Overall today was a great success, i also digitised another load of tapes that were sent in, it just came so easily that i felt i had been doing it for ages.

EVALUATION

My experience has definitely benefited me, i feel more at one with our contemporary media technology and i most certainly can bring back all of my knowledge to the group in more ways then one...like with editing, importance of copyright, music ingesting, tape ingesting, digitizing, different equipments jobs and importance and also more advanced things such as digibetas and betas.

Pilot focus group

2009-10-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Focus Groups:

This involves a small group of our target audience being analysed with the aim to produce data on the specific topic of our new TV soap that being with help on story lines and characters. They will be asked to express their opinions of elements of the soap which could affect them in some way. It allows the viewers to express what they feel is in need of improvement, after this our group can decide on whether or not these judgements are strong enough before we make a change.

We will be asking around 5-8 people aged 16-25 to be a part of the focus group, they will each be given an outline of our pitch and treatment. We will also have a few quesions discussed by the group in order to help us recieve the correct information we need to reach our best potential.

Day 4: At My Work Experience

2009-10-29T12:19:00.001-07:00

Today I digitised a few programmes that had just come in, I was also introduced to the producers and directors of a recent programme being aired, they ran through there responsibilities and pros and cons to their work.

I spoke to an Editor of the programme, he showed me some more affects that can be used on an AVID, and so I carried on editing my practice piece.

Written Storyboard for Trailer

2009-10-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

We have drawn our storyboard for part of our first episode (names of characters still to be decided). It will go as follows:

Scene 1

Girl 1 in kitchen eating breakfast. She gets a text saying 'Are you in today? x'
Her mum appears in the doorway saying 'hurry up or you are going to be late'
Girl 1 walks out and slams the front door whilst her mum is still talking
Girl 1 walking down the road

Scene 2

Girlfriend and boyfriend walking down the street together talking
close up of the girlfriend looking uneasy whilst the boyfriend is still talking to her
close up of the boyfriend looking down at his girlfriend with a smile on his face

Scene 3

Boy 1 cooking his breakfast, his phone rings
He talks on the phone saying 'yeah I'm going to be late again'

Scene 4

Girl 1 smoking in the street
A group of girls walk past her, they say hi, one asks girl 1 for a cigarette
She passes her one
Girls say thanks and walk on
Close up of girl 1 smiling

Day 3: At My Work Experience

2009-10-28T05:28:00.001-07:00

Today I began working on my practice piece I filmed last week, I digitised it first and loaded it onto an AVID, I was then taught the basics of editing on AVID and began experimenting with all sorts of effects and themes. I never completed the editing today but I am going to carry on tomorrow.

I also researched some music, and went through some copyright Cd's they had in the office, I have selected 3-4 tracks i like and I am going extracts specific sections from each track I like and attach them along with the video to create emotion and a real affect on the audience.

EVALUATION

Today i can almost be certain that today's skills I've learnt will benefit my group, the opportunity to edit on such a powerful and expensive programme was amazing, i learnt shortcuts and all sorts of technique. i feel i could definitely use this to my advantage during the editing stage of our coursework.

Final draft of Treatment

2009-10-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Our soap opera will have a mixture of short and long term storylines which will all run concurrently with each other. This will allow the audience to get to know the variety of characters. Some of the less important storylines will be short term, only lasting for the period of one episode. The long-term storylines will run for perhaps two episodes with the effects of it lasting for the episodes to come. This will allow the audience to possibly connect to the characters that are having similar life events to them and may possible use the way the characters react to it to influence the way they deal with their own problems.

The characters in our soap are going to be mainly teenagers of both genders. We also hope to include the families of the teenagers and some of the teachers working at the school. The characters we are hoping to focus on include a “gossip”, a “dodgy geezer” who supplies drugs to others, a group who have parties and do not focus on school, “geeks” who focus on school work, “lower class” people who may be considered “chavs”, good-looking males who all the girls fancy and a mysterious new character who is known as an outcast to the others as they are new to the setting. They will be new only at the start but will not completely fit in as all the groups have already been formed between the characters that have been together for a longer period of time. This “new” character will be picked on and included into groups for particular reasons and then will be shut out. The main characters in the soap will change as the storyline does, one story will evolve around one group/character whilst in a different week it will change.

Our soap opera will be based in a school setting, including the classrooms, library, staff room and the playground. We will also include the homes of the characters and their local areas. The homes will be used so the audience can get an insight into the lives of the characters and the homes may also be used to hold parties. We will have a meeting place where all the characters go; this may possibly be a café. We may also include the park as many teenagers hang around in the park.

Our target audience is going to be teenagers and young adults of both genders as our characters are mainly of this age group too. By having teenagers as our target audience and as the main characters, we hope the audience will be able to connect with the characters and possibly relate their own lives to the characters. We also hope that our soap will appeal to an older group of people and that they will be attracted to the issues we will be dealing with.

As our soap is aimed at teenagers and we will have moral and educational content.
Our media product will follow the expected and unexpected elements of a soap opera. It will include all the necessary conventions of a soap opera such as narrative enigmas, a sense of realism, concurrent storylines, social representations, and a central meeting point and will deal with real life issues. Each episode will end with a big cliff-hanger and the storylines can sometimes end with smaller cliff-hangers. We will also challenge everyday conventions of soaps by having events such as a lesbian wedding, a teacher getting in trouble instead of a student and a person not fitting into a tight community.

We decided on the name I.V for our soap. This will stand for Independent Variable. We believe this fits into the nature of our soap as the definition of an independent variable is a variable that gets manipulated in order for the outcome to be different each time. The lives of the characters will get manipulated by other characters and by social factors in order for outcomes of the soap to be interesting and to keep audiences watching.

Group Effort: Written by Natalie Michael with contributions from Thegla Savvides and Elena Christodoulou

Minutes For Our Fourth Group Meeting

2009-10-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Discussing our Tv guide cover

Thursday 22nd October 2009

Start time: 2:10pm

People present: Natalie Michael, Thegla Savvides and Natalie Nicolaides

We began by drawing out a draft of how we want our cover to look.
We planned where we wanted everything to be placed and how we wanted out title. We decided we wanted out title to be in the top left corner and we wanted it to be placed inside a TV.
We then discussed possible titles for our cover. These included:
-Teleh
-Just TV
-TV Rush
-Ultimate TV
-TV Revealed
-TV World
-Big Mouth

Finish time: 2:40

Day 2: At My Work Experience

2009-10-27T05:45:00.001-07:00

Today has been more of a tutorial lesson, i was shown all of the equipment and explained how each one works, which kind of productions would use which and why, this was very beneficial because it helped me understand the budgetting side to production as well as learning all the technical equipment.

I was also shown CD printing, and had a run through of what to check before you print and also about playing back the DVDs before you send the off to clients, a bad disc doesnt look proffesionl and isnt good for the company if its sent out.

EVALUATION:

Today i learnt more of the financial side of media, this can be beneficial to our group to understand thealmost 'behind the scenes' of media, and to remember theres always more than we may see.

Day 1: At My Work Experience

2009-10-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

My day started off with being taught 'Digitising' , i was ingesting tapes and i also learnt how to make a digibeta copy (dub), using a DW500P Machine.
I was introduced to professional editors and a few camera men. I asked loads of questions about editing and I as shown how to use an AVID, i was taught how to cut and use effects such as fading in and out, using this i helped edit something for Disney channel, adding fades and cutting out bits they didn't want.

(Digital Betacam) -->

I also got the chance to have a look at different cameras, which ranged hugely in size but similarly close in quality- shows the rapid increase in technology and equipment.

EVALUATION:
Overall today i definitely learnt alot and feel i could bring alot of this information Ive learnt back to my Alevel media and hopefully benefit the rest of my group as well.

My Individual Practice: Filming, Camera shots and Movements

2009-10-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday 25th October) with the Camera i was borrowed by the Production company North One, My two brothers and I went out for a practice filming session where they ran through the basics of how to film, zoom, focus etc with me.
I decided that as i was working for a week at North One that i should film some clips and edit them on AVID with the professionals, they said they are happy to help, and so we went on to film a few shots.

(Sony DSR-PD150) -->

We used the sound and sun to our advantage, taking close shots of blowing leaves and shadow shots against the sun to create effect.

We filmed basic shots of me walking in different directions, as if i was looking for something.

An idea that came to mind was to do a voice over of thoughts and music.

Slight problem we found was with the camera mic, it was very powerful and due to the weather being windy it picked it up more then we would of liked, however it did in some cases add effect so they equal each other out.

I filmed some shots of road signs and i also had the idea to film me walking with the camera and turning around to look at houses, i thought this would add to the realism, helping viewers see what the character (me) could see.

I also liked the idea of keeping in the sound of my footsteps, i felt this really built up tension and really helped in creating an atmosphere of suspense as well.

EVALUATION

From even the slightest bit of experience i have gained i have definitly began to feel alot more confident when faced with new technology. I love the way things have developed over time and so rapidly aswell. I am positive that any form of knowledge and understanding i gain, will be beneficial for my group too, i can teach them things that ive learnt helping them to progress as much as i can.

Minutes for our third group meeting

2009-10-20T12:50:00.001-07:00

Discussing locations and the Treatment

Thursday 8th October 2009

Start time: 2:10pm

People present: Natalie Michael, Elena Christodoulou, Thegla Savvides and Natalie Nicolaides

We began by discussing what types of locations we would need for the specific moments we want to film for our trailer.
We decided upon a school which led to us needing corridors and a classroom.
A bedroom
A central meeting point which we then decided we wanted to be a cafe.
We then discussed the advantages and disadvantages of these locations
Included in the advantages were; a school is easily accessible for us to film in as we have access to classrooms and corridors and included in the disadvantages was whether we would be able to film in a cafe and we then discussed that we would have to get permission from a cafe owner before filming there.
To overcome the cafe problem we decided that we could create a cafe in one of our gardens and get people to pose as a waitress and customers.
We then went through our treatment together as a group and discussed what we could include in each section.
We also went through the tasks we had set each other from our previous meeting and gave new ones to each other.
We discussed having to complete location recce forms, risk assessments, production schedules, shooting schedules and scripts and any booking forms for equipment and rooms

Finish time: 2:50

Group Effort. Written by Natalie Michael

Analysis of Home and Away Website

2009-10-20T12:28:00.001-07:00

Analysing Websites - What? Why?

As a group we have decided to analyse the websites of the soaps we have been researching, including; Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, Home & Away, and Corination Street. This research, we believe, will help us decide what is acceptable of a conventional soap website and what we will include in our own. Colour schemes, features and amounts of pictures and text were taken into consideration throughout our research.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/home-and-away/

The official Home And Away website is on the Yahoo TV website. Theres options for fans to catch up on missed episodes, see trailers, read spoilers and have the chance to see behind the scenes footage.

Its special features let you comment on forums, read newsletters, characters personal blogs and see episode galleries. Also after every aired episode the website is updated and new imformation is given, featuring new pictures, news and gossip everyday.

Theres also options to watch and read the characters being interviewed, joining the fan club and also the music used in the episodes.

EVALUATION

I Definitely will take some of the links and features they have into account.
Like a Gallery and the ability to catch up on missed episodes i think is benefited from.
I also think trailers and spoilers are a brilliant idea to have, ensuring fans regularly sign on to the website to see what's up next.

Evaluation of Websites/What we have Learned:

What my group has learned from researching websites is that the features we allow our audience to have is very important. We must make our theme match the personality of our audience and provide what they would need to acomplish their desired task. Research from all of these soaps' websites has allowed us to see what they have in common but what they offer individualy. Our aim is to cater to all the needs of our users by taking on board what we have found and put it into our own website.

Progress Of Our Group Ideas

2009-10-08T03:17:00.000-07:00

So far we are comfortably into our coursework process and have come up with numerous ideas, and through discussion and analysis of different soap operas, we have been able to elaborate on all of these ideas, all having our own individual input.
Ethnic groups, sterotypes, middleclass Vs Lower class, are just a few of the ideas that have crossed our minds.

Some of the ideas I thought of, for example Echoing thoughts, another group member added the idea of a heartbeat sound and another group member mentioned her being locked in her bedroom; We work well as a group taking in everyones ideas and moulding them to suit everyones liking.

So here are some of our ideas so far:

Echoing thoughts throughout, heart beating backtrack- her sitting on her bed, discomfort, moving, shaking, crying.
Board- Characters pictures, sums and equations(shows lifes difficulty, struggle) closes in on character scene.
Final image a dead body, back to girl on bed rocking, close up of face.
Heart beat-flashing images on every beat
From picture of girl on bed, to board to close up of her face etc.
Mother trying to talk to her and get into her room- turning of the door handle- but she cant hear her because of the noises in her head.
IV drip-dead body-girls face-running makeup- crying frozen with hands on ears- zoom out and Iv appears on screen with siren sounds.

By Elena Christodoulou

Minutes of our second meeting

2009-10-08T01:48:00.000-07:00

Discussing character types, ideas for trailer and story boarding first episode.

Tuesday 6th October

Start Time: 11:06am

People Present: Elena Christodoulou, Thegla Savvides, Natalie Michael, Natalie Nicolaides

As a group we first discussed different character types that we think would appeal to our target audiences, We began mapping out different characteristics that individually appealed to us.
Some ideas where a posh character that doesnt look posh, bad looking characters who are very well behaved, The popular girls and the misfits.
We discussed numerous ideas for the trailer, one of us comes up with an idea and by the end we all have had an input.
Some of the ideas for our trailer, we've elaborated upon and decided it for the first episode, allowing us to leave numerous cliff hangers in the trailer and prolong them onto the episode.
We asked ourselves many questions like...Is the trailer going to be a spoiler of an unrealistic scene-e.g. like at the beggining of Hollyoaks with the supernatural and flashbacks etc.
We also set eachother targets in order for things to all be completed in time and in order, keeping us up to date.
We discussed a few locations, and the advantages and disadvantages of these.
Some of the ideas we came up with, where more of a challenge than others we discussed how we would work around certain problems and in some cases lack of required props, i.e. recording in a shop-copyrighting issues- and our main idea of having a clear board for characters thoughts.

Finish Time: 12:20pm

Written By Elena Christodoulou

Review of Home and Away

2009-10-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

There are an equal amount of negative and positive reviews for Home and Away, with some mentioning its better than any British soap, and others saying there embarrassed to say they watch it. It is fair to say everyone has there own opinion and some say you do either love or hate it.

"This show is awesome it just keeps getting better and no one can doubt that. look at past story lines, psycho stalkers, killer cops, explosive weddings, hostage situations, drugs, on the run, storms, shipwrecks and much more...Have you ever had juicy and gripping plot lines like that on things like Coronation street, and Neighbours. NO. and you probably never will...Home and Away is way before its time and its one show that Channel 5 shouldnt ever let go of, i hate it when people say ozzy soaps arent as good, i cant stand neighbours the show has bad acting and story lines were as Home and Away is off the scale juicy ahead of its time storylines what more can you ask for in a soap."

"The charaters are perfect for the part they play and it is directed so well. The person that invented Home and Away should become a saint"

"its a great show to watch, focusing on everyday issues "Alot of people compare it to Neighbours, they say Home and Away has gripping sorylines and gets to the point faster, avoiding long dragging story lines.

"Utterly pitiful. Made even more hilarious by the original boast of its cast members that it was more "realistic" than Neighbours... If realistic means a town where all the inhabitants have white teeth, there's no smoking, everyone is politically correct, there's lashings of bizzare family disharmony, morality is policed by local "tough nut", there's *never* any swearing, I haven't bothered to watch this soap since 1991"

"The show does need fine-tuning. It is very, very predictable and the twists are not as good as they're made up to be. I think I will stop watching Home and Away soon"

EVALUATION

From the positive reviews to those of which are highly critical, we can take down things some audience members dislike and some audience do like, some enjoy the unrealistic story lines, some find it extremely annoying, others are just unaffected, With everybody voicing there own opinions of soaps, it is impossible for everybody to be fully satisfied, however you could try and touch upon many different aspects, making it enjoyable for many people rather then just a particular type- some unrealistic story lines, some realistic ones but then this would most probably raise criticism, so i have gathered that it is something that's unavoidable and is dealt with accordingly to keep as many people happy as possible.

Analysis of Home and Away trailers

2009-09-29T01:05:00.000-07:00

Analysing Trailers - What? Why?

As a group we have decided to analyse trailers from our allocated soaps (Natalie M=Neighbours, Natalie N=Emmerdale and Coronation Street, Elena=Home and Away and Thegla=Hollyoaks). These soaps are from both the UK and abroad. We are hoping this will benefit us when we go on to deciding how we want our trailer to be. We hope to use these trailers as inspiration and as a guide as to how to make our trailer successful.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home And Away

Trailer from 1991:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DJbfUUADxQ

The colour and quality is very different to the 2008 trailer as expected
There is a narrator over the trailer
No music
Camera work is very basic
Storyline seems plain
No real drama with tension is shown
Lies and secrets seems main issue
based around the village area

Trailer from 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX5hyur0rjc

No speech
Tension music throughout whole trailer
Music creates an atmosphere for the audience as well as emphasising the acting
Camera works are alot more advanced, under water shots
Death, lies, injuries, weapons
No love, happiness etc
cliff hangers
based around the sea

Evaluation

From this we can see how through technology, the trailers have changed, this can also have influence on the story lines and how different plots have become more popular amongst soaps and dramas overtime, with what is more accepted and common in society today.

How analysing trailers has helped us progress...

Analysing trailers has definitely helped us and guided us into making decisions about our trailer. Some of us have compared previous trailers to more modern ones and others have focused on one trailer. It was noticed that we usually see trailers for soaps when there will be a huge life changing event on that soap. for example, the Neighbours trailer was advertising the death of a loved character and the Emmerdale trailer was advertising the return of a character. Trailers are modern and according to their time period. This is done through the technology used, the music and the storylines advertised.

Analysis of Home And Away Opening Title Sequence & How it has helped us progress..

2009-09-22T04:31:00.000-07:00

Analysing Opening Title Sequences - What? Why?

Orange/red bright colours- based around the sun, sand and sea.
Pictures kept basic, trees, sea, boats, pier, houses could represent in some ways relaxing and easy going.

However, the pictures are puzzled, cut out in seperate squares moving around, this could show how the perfect images and scenery, are not soperfect in reality.

They are also fast moving, could show how long the timeline of the show is, or how fast time flies.
Trails to the right, its asif we are driving through their lives up to the end where it all breaks apart and zooms in.

In one of the seperated boxes there was a close up of a net, this could represent the feeling of being trapped.

There was also an image of a tree, which then was cut up and seperated into seperateboxes, this could show family breakdown and losses.

The last image, is a picteresque, empty beach at sundown, could howloneliness, empty feeling etc.

It then all breaks apart and zooms in, shows we are moving into these charaters lives.
Boat sailing away, could be communicating trying to escape, break free?

Music

Lyrics are catchy, contain soap title, theres a regular beat- both a man and a womans voice- complications? love? relationships?

Colours

Red-deep, love, blood
Orange-sun, happiness bright
yellow-summer,peaceful innocence

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also found the opening sequence from 1991 and 1995, i decided to compare them to the new opening because i feel this will help see how technology has developed overtime, and how some aspects have remained intact i.e. the theme song.

1991 Opening sequence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJOJekRZ_-c&NR=1

1995 Opening sequence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN8M0rjrNu4&feature=related

In Both Sequences

The soaps theme tune has stayed the same throughout all the new openings.
They both portray clippets of a happy lifestyle.
laughing, smiling, playing around
friends and families all getting on together
sun, sea and sand
Doesnt show any problems

In the 1991 Sequence

has a black washout around all the clips-could represent dark backround/secrets
It looks asif a black screen has been rubbed away to reveal pictures of the characters lives.
The characters stage names are written with the characters real names.
All happy pictures
Theres are sterotypes of women relaxing by the beach, kids playing beach games and the men on boats.
No images of sadness and i couldnt pick up much that could portray any kind of sadness
at the end the black around the screen zooms out to show the 'n'- all the black borders could have been a close up of the letters of "Home and Away".

In the 1995 Sequence

There is a sun and a sea image at the bottom of the screen throughout, giving off the idea of it being based somewhere hot and at the sea.
Again happy images
family and friends happily together
As the song plays along, the picture of the sun and sea at the bottom of the screen becomes a bigger wave, could represent difficulties and drama.
At the end someone dives in the bigger image of the sun in the sea, then "home and away" zooms out.
Theres is the same sterotype of women relaxing by the beach, kids playing beach games and the men on boats.

Evaluation
Majority of the soaps we have analysed, have shown me a similarity commonly used, they tend to base there opening sequences on the setting of their soap, or like Hollyoaks include all the characters.

Taking both the old sequences and new sequences into account i will definitly refer back to these to see what influence and ideas i can retract from them.

How analysing Opening Title Sequences has helped us progress...

I feel that it has definitly benefited us, we have looked at how the music differs between soaps, with 'Hollyoaks' using an upbeat tune, aiming it more at a teenage audience, and something like 'Coronation Street' keeping it very original and basic, aiming more for a mature audience but at the same time leaving it broad. We also saw how as technology has progressed through the years like in 'Home and Away' i found that they had a new opening sequence every few years, and each time it getting better and more advanced.
We can see that it is important to find a very catchy tune, something people will want to here and automatically recognise it as our soap. We need to make sure it appeals to our target audience as well as opening doors for different audiences aswell.
Written by Elena Christodoulou

Analasis of the soap ''Home And Away''

2009-09-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Analysing Opening Title Sequences - What? Why?

One of the main stages of production in my groups research and planning stages is the insight into current soap operas and their use of conventions in order to create a realistic viewing experience for the audience. From the viewing of current soap operas we hope to gain the correct knowledge and understanding of how to create an effective soap and also the efficient techniques to make our product either conventional or unconventional. The analysis of different types of soaps (e.g. Australian, English.. ) will broaden our knowledge and also allow us to understand how each is different through their use of convention elements.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unlike the majority of soaps aired on television in Britain the beggining of Home And Away shows what has happened on previous episodes to keep audiences updated and also introducing new viewers.

Audience:

Im not a regular viewer of Home and Away, but the first viewing gave me the impression it was aimed at teenagers, the first scene was a drunken teenage party. However the more i watched into it, i felt it opened out to a more mature audience , with worrying parents and family problems etc.

Its based around a small community, with locals meeting points being a school and a cafe. There are the common problems that arise in groups of friends, like gossip and rumours.

Representation:

Older characters are at home, worrying about the younger characters out partying.

The younger characters who are at a party drinking alcohol, dancing and acting disordely, sterotypes as a typical teenager.

Man is in the kitchen washing the plates, the woman sits down, goes against traditional sexist sterotype of women.

Narrative, storylines:

The storylines are realistic, troubled teenagers turning to alcohol, accidents and family fueds. There was interlocking storylines and also big storylines that viewers of a similar age can relate to taking advice, like underage sex. relationships. hospital check ups etc.

Evaluation

This soap like many other soaps contains cliff hangers, over dramatization, love relationships, family breakdowns etc...
The difference between this soap and a UK soap is the flash back reminders of whats happened in previous episodes, UK soaps such as eastenders and Hollyoaks tend to steer clear of these.

Overall from my research of soap episodes i have come to understand that the producers key target in creating an effective episode stems from their representation of creating a sense of realism through out the soap. From my research into the soap episodes i have clearly understood that producers create a sense of realism through a number of techniques codes and conventions

Minutes For First Group Meeting

2009-09-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Discussing general ideas, pitch and treatment

Tuesday 15th September

Start Time: 11:37am

People Present:

Elena Christodoulou, Thegla Savvides, Natalie Michael, Natalie Nicolaides

As a group we decided to involve our soap around a teenage lifestyle, involving school, relationships and typical teenage problems.

We discussed various locations and central meeting points like school, home and cafes.
Characters we decided are based around a stereotypical teenager. leaving the audience the ability to relate to them.

Heirachy:
-Popularity Vs Geeks
-Rich Vs Poor

Popularity/Rich/Education

Relationships/Jealousy/Revenge

We also discussed targets for the week and allocated eachother different assignements in complete. e.g research (questionnaires, tv soap analysis, trailer analysis evaluation of questionnaire etc.)

Finish Time: 12:26pm

Group effort: by Elena Christodoulou