MEDIA A2 COURSEWORK

EVALUATION Q.1

Q.1) How did you use, develop or challenge codes and conventions of
real media products?

A continuous narrative allows themes and

topics to be drawn out over many
episodes, creating interest in the viewers

The large cast means

they will accomplish
a larger audience as
they represent more
people for their
viewers to relate to

OPEN NARRATIVE
LARGE CAST

THEME TUNE

SOAP OPERAS
CODES &
CONVENTIONS

SET IN ONE
CENTRAL AREA
Coronation St: Manchester
Eastenders: London
This allows viewers to
become familiar with the
area, and it creates iconic
buildings (Queen Vic pub)

VERISIMILITUDE
This is common of mostly
realism soaps as they want
to create a similar version of
the area they are
representing while tackling
common issues and themes
such as teenage pregnancy
and suicide

CLIFF HANGER

The theme tunes of our

famous soaps are some
of the best known
theme tunes on TV
today, they act as a
signal to families that
the show is starting

MULTIPLE
STORYLINES
To ensure the interest of as
many viewers as possible soaps
will include at least three stories
at once and the audience is able
to follow all of them at the same
time

REPRESENT VAST SPECTRUM

OF SOCIAL GROUPS

Although the narrative is continuous

each episode ends on a cliff hanger to
create suspense and interest with the
viewers

Most realism soaps in

particular represent
people from different
areas of class, age,
culture and also ethnic
minorities

Our chosen sub-genre:

Melodrama
Villains/bad characters
usually appear in dark
clothing

A typical convention of a
melodrama is that all
characters represent a
certain audience
(teenagers)

Lighting is generally
simplistic and rarely
high-key but sometimes
may be low key to
accentuate things
happening in the scene

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

ANALYSING SOAP
TRAILERS:EASTENDERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Qx6-05NCkJA

I watched an
Eastenders trailer and
analysed the four
main categories of
conventions and
codes

ANALYSING
SOAP
TRAILERS:
HOLLYOAKS

https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=mPSDdL191K4

SOAP TRAILER

CAMERAWORK
OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT
USE:
I have used an over the shoulder shot
throughout my trailer as this allows the
audience the engage in the conversation
taking place through the perspective of
the character not facing the camera.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the convention of an
over the shoulder shot to fit my soaps
narrative and the representations of our
characters.
CHALLENGE:
I havent challenged this shot as it is a
typical convention of melodrama soaps

MID SHOT

USE:
I have used mid shots throughout my
trailer as they convey the characters
emotions while showing their body
positioning and what environment
they are in. This shot is typical of
melodrama as many characters will
have been through a dramatic
storyline and will be conveying
different emotions.
DEVELOP:
I have developed this shot as it
doesnt occur outside but in college
(where our soap is mostly set) and
the emotions conveyed will be upset
and anger towards the situations of
my trailer.
CHALLENGE:
I havent challenged this shot as it is
a convention of melodrama and is a
good way of representing character
emotions.

ESTABLISHING SHOT:

USE:
I have used this establishing shot as
it shows the audience where the
soap will be set, this will be the
location where all the drama will
take place.
DEVELOP:
I have developed this shot as it isn't
of a location with characters but just
the location, this verges on the idea
of scripted reality establishing shots
as they will feature road names and
area signs at the beginning of an
episode.
CHALLENGE:
I have challenged the way the shot
is seen by the audience as no
characters feature in it.

TWO SHOT:

USE:
I have used two shots throughout my
trailer to show friction and conflict
between characters. This shot shows
the audience the relationships existing
in our soap, as all the characters are
opposites of each other but still have a
connection and a two shot allows us to
see them interact.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the two shot to show
the development of the relationships
between the characters.
CHALLENGE:
I have used the conventional two shot
and not challenged the way this is
displayed.

HIGH/LOW ANGLE SHOTS

USE:
I have used high and low angle shots
towards the end of my trailer to create
the idea of one character believing he is
more powerful than the other and that
the other character can have pain
inflicted on them due to their lack of
power.
DEVELOP:
I have developed this shot as it was
incorporated into my trailer towards
the end as a cliff hanger for the
audience whereas other soaps have
placed these types of shots throughout.
CHALLENGE:
I have challenged the way the shot is
seen by the audience as it only features
at the end and through straight cuts
shows the narrative of the powerful
character being involved in an
altercation with the less powerful one.

MISEEN-SCENE
PROPS

USE:
I have used the prop of a pregnancy test
in my trailer as the theme of pregnancy
is one of the themes discussed and
presented as this is a typical theme of
teen targeted melodramas.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the prop to my trailer
to only have a small part in it as other
themes are also seen to have a part
(children in foster care, half sisters,
drugs, love, revenge)
CHALLENGE:
I haven't challenged the theme of
pregnancy or teenage pregnancy as this
theme comes up a lot in teen
melodrama and we felt it would be a
good addition to our narrative story.

LOCATION

USE:
I have used the location of a college
environment and outside a building as
part of my trailer which is similar to the
locations used in Hollyoaks.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the use of location to
suit the audience of my trailer. I have
confided most scenes to within the
college grounds as most of the
storylines would take place here.
CHALLENGE:
I haven't used many other places to film
my soap trailer unlike Hollyoaks which
features places of work, the characters
homes, and local social places such as a
cafe.

CHARACTERS/COSTUME

USE:
I have represented a variety of characters and
costumes in my trailer through the six main
characters such as Cole who was a social
outcast and made a point of representing
himself as someone who doesnt follow the
crowd. Then there is Tiffany who was
characterised as being quite upper-middle
class with her perfectly styled hair and high
end makeup. She felt her appearance was very
important to herself.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the characters and costumes
to fit in with my soap and the narrative I chose.
I have developed the characters from the
Hollyoaks characters as mine represent a
younger audience.
CHALLENGE:
I have challenged the class of Carmon from
Hollyoaks as she comes from a working class
background and Tiffany has been
characterised as coming from an upper-middle
class background

LIGHTING

USE:
I have used similar lighting to soaps
such as Hollyoaks to reflect the idea of
ambient lighting and natural lighting
when outside. This adds to the
verisimilitude of our trailer as even
though it is quite dramatic, the basis of
our subgenre is that is follows a realistic
representation of audience.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the lighting to not use
low key lighting to add tension or high
key lighting to draw attention to
things/make them look expensive as
our trailers narrative didn't support
these types of lighting.
CHALLENGE:
I haven't challenged the lighting as i felt
the ambient lighting of Hollyoaks
matched out trailers themes and
narrative well.

SOUND
I have used Sticks N Stones by Jamie T as it has
connotations of being a teenager, is high tempo and is
appealing to my chosen audience who will relate to the
themes of the song which also matches my trailer well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9APEZMeH0o
Hollyoaks Six Weeks of Summer Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIg64PbVRjg

USE:
I have used a similar background track that is high tempo and fast and has
connotations of young, urban music. This song is lowered using sound ducking
to make room for the diegetic sound throughout the trailer of the characters.
This is similar to the trailers I researched of Hollyoaks as characters speech
adds to the tension and allows the audience to understand the sections of the
narrative being expressed.
DEVELOP:
I have developed the sound by using a newer song in the background than in
the other soaps I looked at to represent a younger audience. This Jamie T song
describes some themes which represent the audience, A friend I hadn't seen
since I was drinkin' underage and She screamed out to the party.. and the
song used in the Hollyoaks trailer features no lyrics so that it can be aimed at a
more generic audience.
CHALLENGE:
I challenged the idea of using a track with no lyrics as I felt that was typical of
soaps aimed at an older audience.

REPRESENTATIONS:
By dressing Travis in dark clothing and scruffy
facial hair with a tall posture and confident
stance, and Mary in light coloured clothes
with minimal makeup and a slumped, nonconfident stance, I have created binary
opposites within the narrative. The use of this
stereotype in soap opera is traditionally used
to create tension and so that each character
highlights the others characteristics for the
audience to generate debate.

TV FRONT COVER

USE:

Bold Tv logo to grab

audience attention
Main image as base of
the magazine followed
by a series of smaller
images
Low price is advertised
in a pug to show the
audience that it is
value for money links
to class of viewer
All images are
anchored by text so
reader understands
the significance of the
image and smaller
images are anchored
by the show name too

Strong, bold, gaudy

colours represent the
audience and their
mostly working to
lower-middle class
status

DEVELOP:

Colour theme is
different as we wanted
to exaggerate the idea
of bold colours
Our magazine features
a banner with extra
information about
another soap and the
TV choice magazine
doesnt
We used a circular pug
for our price
advertisement and a
star flash for one of
our subheadings about
the X Factor but the
other magazine used a
star pug for their price
We have anchored all
small images with
their soap names and
TV choice havent but
have featured more
smaller images from
other soaps

CHALLENGE:

We featured a website
name under our TV
magazine logo to
represent our slightly
younger audience as
this allows them to
experience the
magazine on another
platform for the
technology
generation. TV
choice magazine
hasn't done this as
they may not believe
their audience would
be attracted to the
concept of consuming
their magazine in a
different way.

BILLBOARD

USE:

Similar layout of characters

in a row to display the main
cast and their links to one
another
Both feature the institutes
logo in the corner to display
the channel the soap will be
aired
Both feature a
banner with
gives information
for the audience
All characters are looking in
different directions to represent
the tension between them due to
the themes discussed in the soap
(pregnancy, love, revenge, half
sisters, foster care)

DEVELOP:

We didnt air our soap on

Channel 4 but on the
institutes younger based
channel of E4 because
we felt this channel best
represented our
audience and featured
other shows that
discussed similar themes
(Skins, Misfits)
We didnt display an
exact air date or time as
our soap is brand new
and this is conventional
of E4 when advertising
a new soap, whereas
Hollyoaks has been
around for years so
they were more precise
with the date/time.

CHALLENGE:
Most of our characters
have props to help
characterise them and
their difference but the
Hollyoaks billboard
doesnt differentiate
the characters in this
way.
We didnt use as much
editing and Photoshop
on our image like
Hollyoaks have with the
fire as this didn't
conform with the
themes of our soap or
our chosen audience.