Photos from filming day

Trailer Planning

Planning to film...

I have created a checklist and filming scheduale to use when my goup goes into Manchester on Monday.
We can use this as a script and it will help us know when and what to film throughout the day
I have included speech, stage directions and shot types, as well as locations and time of day to be filmed.

Looking at storylines

Here is a storyboard of a dramatic scene from Coronation Street in which a villain intimidates a victim. I feel the dialogue is tense and creates a threatening and scary atmosphere.
The camerawork and use of close ups shows expressions of fear and anger, especially within the eyes.
I have created this storyboard with the intention of using a similar storyline in my own soap trailer

Realist Soap Clip [Ideas for my trailer]

Realist soap extreme storyline (start at 17:31)

The storyline I have looked at is an example of a big storyline and climax of a villain and what he does to the victim.
The lighting is low key as it is set at night. The artificial light shines on the face of the villain (Tony) making his eyes look scary, and it also reflects on his knife and the victim (Roy)
Diegetic sound is used for example the wind and the sound of the canal/river which makesw the scene feel more tenste and real.
Camerawork is used to create tension and fear of what Tony will do to Roy. Shots such as:

• Shot reverse shot
• Over the shoulder shot
• Close ups
• Meduim close ups
• Handheld camera shots

The handheld camera makes the scene jolty when the two men are physically fighting and the close ups build up further tension

Emmerdale Clip - Realist Example

 Video clip from Emmerdale - Pub Scene 

 

 

This is an example I have found on YouTube of a scene from Emmerdale which demonstrates a typical feature of a realist soap - a pub.

All realist soaps E.g Coronation Street (The Rovers Return) and EastEnders (The Queen Vic) have a pub where all of the characters meet and usually celebrate events or socialize, as well as fighting and arguments occuring here.

The use of thise locations enable the program to bring all of the characters together as well as portraying the working class community that the soap is based around.

The dark, dull lighting and colour schemes typically used in these pub locations are an extended example of the realist "street" life showed on the program.

Long lasting characters in Realist Soaps

              

A slide I created in powerpoint to demonstrate the tradition of soaps.

The programs run every week for years building a consistency in the episodes. 

This is an example of the longest running character in Coronation Street. Ken Barlow was part of the orignal 1939 cast and is still playing his character in the program. The continuity of characters enables audiences to watch characters develop and it feels like we are growing with them and getting to know them like real people.

These relationships we build with characters in realist soaps are very important to the program's success as viewers keep tuning in to see the cast they know so well.

Realism and the public

My research about how Realist soaps affect the public viewers 

Bill Tarmey who played Jack Duckworth for 31 years was as popular off screen as on, so his send-off was expected to be emotional. 
As he died, he was reunited with his late wife Vera.
One website quotes "Bringing back Vera sounded a bit Dallas-esque until you watched Jack’s last moments with his beloved battleaxe."
This is an example of a UK realist soap breaking away from its usual conventions and traditional realistic scenes. The scenes are typically filled with only diegetic sounds to create the everyday scenes that audiences can relate to. The lack of added music like in Hollyoaks and other dramas makes the soaps like EastEnders and Coronation Street feel more real and less movie like / fake.
The website also says "Cue much sniffing in millions of households as one of soap's greatest husband and wife double acts swayed lovingly to Matt Monro." which is an example of how the realism of these soaps generate real feelings and emotions for consumers who feel like they actually know the characters. 

"Angry Coronation Street fans have taken to forums and social media sites to express their outrage over a controversial scene that aired on Monday night."
In the episode, Owen Armstrong, smacked 10-year-old Faye his girlfriend's adopted daughter - after discovering she had killed his fish by poisoning the fish pond.
A Coronation Street spokesman said: "We most certainly don’t condone Owen’s actions, as will be seen by the ramifications of the slap, and the effect it has on his relationship."

Some viewers didn't approve.
One person wrote: "Faye is not Owen's child, therefore he shouldn't be doing the discipline."
Another said: "Violence is never the answer, and I don't believe you should ever hit a child."
On another forum, a poster insisted: "It was physical abuse."
One fan contended: "It's bullying. They should pick on someone their own size or go to the guardian!"

However, there were fans that sided with Owen, although they were heavily in the minority.
One person wrote: "This is why there were riots. Because parents can't discipline their children and teach them right from wrong."
Another said: "I was smacked as a child. Never did me any harm."

This is another example of how these realist soaps can spark debates with the public due to the every day storylines that are dramatic yet real to our lives.

 Deconstructing Soap Magazine Covers 

 

 Slideshow About Soap Magazine Cover Designs 

Soap Magazine Research from rachaelsilvester

Realism Slideshow

Realism Slideshow

Realism from rachaelsilvester

Realist Soap Trailer Example

Character and Costume

 EXAMPLES OF CHARACTERS AND COSTUME 

The costumes shown in this photo represent the different types of characters you might see in realist soaps. The costumes are all clothes that people wear every day in real life, rather than the glamorous and costly outfits shown in less realistic soaps such as Melodramas and American Fantasy
The shot also tells a narrative as each of the characters are clearly all suspects of some kind of crime due to the mug shot style background.
 When doing a photo shoot for a soap opera, body language of the actors is extremely important 
The way each character is standing, along with their costume can give away a lot about who they are, their personality, and whether they are guilty or not.
This can include minor details such as the way their head is tilted to look at the camera, for example Kevin (second right) is looking front on, straight into the camera which could suggest he has nothing to hide. Sally (right) looks a lot more suspicious as her head is slightly turned yes still looking forward, implying that she knows something that we don't. The way characters are positioned in the mise en scene can also tell the audience how important or relevant characters are within a narrative, for example, Carla (middle) was the fiance of the man who was murdered, therefore she has been placed in the middle. Confidence can also be conveyed for example Carla (middle) is stood with legs apart in a very dominant position with her hands on her hips which could connote feelings of anger or traits of manipulation
This has given me ideas for my own photo shoots as I will take into account the skills and techniques such as matching eye line, choosing specific body language and positioning within the mise en scene, costume, and facial expression.

Hollyoaks Trailer Preliminary task

Preliminary task - Final Hollyoaks Soap Mag Cover

 

This is my final soap magazine cover using my Hollyoaks trailer cast

Flat Plan Prelim Task

FLAT PLAN
Here is a flat plan of my Hollyoaks front cover to go with my preliminary task practice trailer.
I have used sillhouettes to represent the characters shown in my hollyoaks trailer. The two black sillhouettes represent the controlling boyfriend (who will be dominant in the frame) and the naive, 'trapped' girlfriend who looks lovingly and slightly worriedly up at him. In the background is the worried best friend who is not being listened to as she warns of the danger. She is smaller becuase she is almost being disregarded by the couple.

ANCHORING AND OVERLAY
The stars are anchored onto the main feature title to show that they are linked to this storyline and helps the audience grasp the narative in relation to the words in the title. The main stars are overlayed onto the masthead which implies that they are the main important storyline and attracts more attention to the image.

BUTTON AND FEATURES
The button overlaps the masthead but not the star image as it shows she is an important character and would cover her facial expressions which are vital for conveying the narrative.

FEATURES
Smaller features will be shown down the left side of the cover and a slightly larger feature along the bottom, which will have an image anchored to it.

Here is some photo evidence of our photo shoots when creating our practice trailer and front cover of a soap magazine

Choosing A Cover Design



 SINGLE STAR COVERS 

Here are some covers that I have found that use a singlemain star on the cover. This draws full attention to one program and focuses entirely on the character, making the main feature stand out amongst the rest.
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MULTIPLE STAR COVERS

These are some examples of soap magazines which useseveral main stars on the covers. This can either be used to display more than one soap on the cover, or to use one program's characters to convey a story.

I felt this would be a good layout for my magazine as my

hollyoaks narrative invlves three characters which could

nicely be layered on a cover to tell the story without words.

 

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MAGAZINE BRAND NAME IDEAS

Here are some of my ideas for names for my soap magazine, some of these are intentionally made to sound "cheesy" to fit

in with the gossipy women's magazine genre that uses those

kind of names.

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FINAL BRAND NAME CHOICE AND LOGO

I decided to use teleVISION because it is a nice play on words and can look good on a page with effects on the second half of the word. I used photoshop to create a masthead which made this sitle stand out as shown below