Thursday, 17 December 2009- Minutes of Meeting- General Discussion

Present: Anna Constantinou, Elena Antoniades, Anna Philona

In today's meeting, we reviewed our progress and what we still have left to do and who is going to do what how, where and when.

I will not be present during the Christmas holidays because I will be in Cyprus, therefore the group will have to film without me. However, we will be able to fiim the scene with my character in it when i come back.

We need to complete our filming, apart from the scene with my character in it, which hopefully can get done within the Christmas holidays. Every member within the group except me will be present.

Following the completion of the filming, Anna Philona and Elena Antoniades will be editing our trailer.

We also need to finish our website which will be done on the 2nd on Febuary at the CLC. To this, we will be adding our 'sneek peak' which we would have previously filmed.

In adition to this, we have our individual work left to do which is the magazine covers.

Filming day 2 cancelled and Script draft for sneak peak written up

We learned that lesson that Shadeie had had a car accident, therefore filming day 2 had to be cancelled. Also due to me being in Cyprus during the Christmas holidays, this meant that once Shadeie recovered, we would not be able to film the scene with me in it anyway because I would not have beeen there.

Anna Philona wrote up the script for the sneak peak during the lesson. This will be used when filming the sneak peak.

Researching music for our website with Shadei

When we (Shadei and Anna Constantinou) got back to school from the CLC, we sat down at a computer together and went about researching music for our website. We visisted a numder of websites provided and recomended by our teacher, in search of free music samples which we can incorporate and edit to make our own to use as music for our website.

We are researching music so that we will be able to have appropriate music on our website, as an extra feature. With what we find, we will edit it appropriatly using the appropriate software in order to add it to our website.

We are hoping that we will be able to add the music correctly and that, with this, it will make our website more appealing and intressting to our audience.

We found many samples that sounded intressting and different, but only a few that seemed to be along the lines of what we were looking for.

After coming back from the CLC, we researched about potential soundtracks that could be used on our website homepage. We have to use a soundtrack that portrays our soap in the style that we are trying to convey it in and also for it to integrate with our soap layout and colour theme. We will be looking for potential soundtracks and putting a link to them for the other group members, Anna Philona and Elena Antoniades to listen to and as a group we will be deciding which soundtrack will be most suitable for our website.

Soundtrack 1:

http://www.derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/index2.php

Lazy Sunday Morning:

We liked this soundtrack as it is fast paced at the beginning but starts to mellow down as the soundtrack progresses. This represents our soap as we dont have unrealistic storylines that say for example, Tv dramas such as Smallville would have. However our storylines are more realistic and relate to peoples lives and we tackle problems that people may actually face. This we think should be represented in our website soundtrack. However our characters do face big problems, such as rape and this should also be portrayed in our soundtrack. We think that this is a good example of this as this soundtrack starts of fast paced and aggressive, which could portray the problems that our characters have to face and it starts to mellow down which conveys the realism of their storylines showing the audience that these storylines could happen to anyone. We also think that this soundtrack goes with our layout and colour scheme as we didnt use bright or sharp colours and we used quite a neutral colour scheme ensuring it all blended in with each other. However, a downfall to this soundtrack in relation to the website could be the beginning of the soundtrack which is upbeat and fast paced. This could possibly not blend in with our layout which is calm and feminine. This could immediately put our viewers of visiting the website or even watching the soap. This is why it is important to check through many different soundtracks to ensure that we will be making the right decision.


Soundtrack 2:

http://www.derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/index2.php

Blueberry compote:

This is a mid-tempo mood piece featuring a strong groove, which we feel would work well with our website as it sounds modern and the pace stays similarily the same throughout the soundtrack. The only problem we have with it is that in the middle and slightly more towards the end, it starts sounding eery and possibly a bit sci-fi, which is definately not what our soap is trying to portray. Therefore we could possibly edit soundtrack 1 and soundtrack 2 to make a combination of the two. We will have to ask the group what they think but with we like the ending of soundtrack 1 and the beginning of soundtrack 2 which is upbeat and modern. We will have to investigate further soundtracks but this could be a possible idea for us to try and combine these two.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music-04.html This is slow, soft piano music with the slight use of strings. It is called 'Gentle thoughts' and truly gives the feeling of content and unusual peace. It instantly comes across as very sentimental, and sad as if the person who composed it is heartbroken over something or someone or something and has longing. Although our soap contains heart-breaking storylines, we think that this might perhaps be too emtional, because our soap has positive things aswell.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music-07.html This is fast- pace style music with fast-tempo drums. It gives the feeling of wanting to run. It is determined, repetitive and rhythmatic, but in a positive way, like someone playing the drums for pleasure. We think has too much drum-work within it and is a bit too happy for using in our website.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music-19.html This is called 'Urban Spy 1'. This sample is cautious and mysterious, and the word that instantly comes to mind when thinking about it is 'Spy'. Althout it contains some elements which appear with our storylines, such as secrets, and going behind someone's back, we do not think that it is exactly what we are looking for


Group effort by Shadei Rabeie and Anna Constantinou

Going to the CLC to carry on with our website

At the CLC, we concentrated on improving the layout, improving and fitting photos, and rearranging text so that it worked in harmony with the rest of the layout. We changed colours of fonts and background so that everything worked better and looked better together and wrote up an interview of us talking about our characters. These interviews took time to write because we came up with suitable questions, and also had to write the full answers, but it was all worth it. The interviews turned out looking very realistic and we were happy with what we managed to write, as it will give out the correct information about our soap. We want our audiences to read the interviews on our website and see our own opinions on the characters that we are playing. Therefore, the information given out needed to be intressting, informative and funny, so that it is stimulating to read.

The e-cards were made accurate. We made sure the writing fit perfectly on them, and we made sure the presentation of the games added to the website was neat and accurate. We also cropped and re-sized our photos so that they were improved and fitted, and the layout was better construted. We managed to get most of it done, with only a few things left to complete.

Minutes of Meeting- Group Picture Taking

All present: Shdei Rabeie, Elena Antoniades, Anna Philona and Anna Constantinou

As we are visiting the CLC on Tuesday to continue with our website, until then, none of the group members have individual tasks to carry out, therefore, today, we spent our time taking better photos that we can use for our website, and this time, Shadei was there aswell, so we were able to take new photos with her also. We took many head-shots as well as Christmas- themed photos of us that we can use for E-cards on the website.

We also decided to take more comical photos, so Shadei, Anna and I used eye-liner to draw things on our faces so that we could take funny head-shots. I drew glasses onto my face, Anna drew a small moustache, and Shadei drew tear-drops under one eye. We were pleased with the results.

We also used a staircase to our advantage and took a photo of Shadei, Anna and I on different steps, grinning.

Our plans are, that we are going to add all of our new photos to Elena's USB so that we can bring them with us to the CLC on Tuesday. This way, we can incorporate them to our website.

We also changed the second filming date from the 6th December to the next Sunday after that.

Group effort written up by Anna Constantinou

Continuing Website Construction & taking images

Group effort written up by Anna Constantinou

All present except Shadei Rabeie, for personal reasons.

Today, Anna Philona, Elena Antoniades and I attempted to carry on with our website, however, along with the rest of the class, we could not edit our work, only view it- due to software issues. We found this very frustrating, however, we managed to book another day at the CLC so that just our group can go to re-do our website, and then we can tutor the rest of the group about it, as this was the only option we had.

So as not to waste our time,we used the Mac computor to our advantage and took a variety of many character head-shots for our website. We used all of the effects availuable to create comical, casual, and special- effect photos to incorporate into our website.

We are taking photos so that we can use them as character photos within our website. We are taking them any way we can; using digital cameras, and the camera on MACs. Through using these photos within our website, we are adding visual information for our audience to see and be visualy stimulated by our characters and their personalities.

Our First Filming Day

I got dressed for filming before I went to Elena's house so that I would not have to change there. I was not going to be playing an important role, so I did not wear clothes that my character would be wearing, but I wore a navy dress with transparent beige tights and grey leather high heel shoes. I also wore contact lenses and feminine make-up. I think that, even though I was not playing an important role, I could still be playing the same character, however, at a point where Shiffa and Joanna are still not being obvious about their feelings, so my character is dressed feminine, and she is giving soft hints to Shiffa, like walking acroos the room, through everyone else just to touch her on the shoulder and say hello. I think this is realistic.

Shadei arrived late for good reasons, however this did not effect our schdual as we were not filming the party scene yet.

Anna brought her pink fairy lights which we used to add a nice lighten-up dark effect, and Elena had a spinning multi-coloured flashing disco ball, which worked really well once we figured out it needed a bulb.

We took many shots of Shadei and I holding glasses and dancing, and we also took shots of Elena and Anna talking and laughing with each other, aswell as us all dancing together and holding our glasses, drinking from them. We did not use alcohol, just water and apple juice. We had recent pop music on in the background, and although it was day-time when we were filming, we had the curtains closed to create a night-time-effect.

Elena filmed me taking a shot, which I have never done before, and I drank it, and the water almost spurted out of my mouth, so it did not go very well. Therefore, we had to film this serval times, and we needed to make it look like we were getting drunk, because of how Anna's drink gets spiked, and no-one notices.

I filmed the shot of Dervish leading Anna up the stairs, and Shadei filmed the shot of Dervish locking the door, while Elena filmed the shot of Anna lying unconscious on the bed and then Dervish walks towards her.

There was also a shot where Shadei is talking to Anna, and I walk through them, thouch Shadei on the arm and ask how she is. I think this was a nice effect...

Overall, this filming day was a success, and we are pleased with what we manged to get done in one day.

Starting Our Website at the CLC

Shadei and I managed to get to the CLC before Mr Sim and the rest of the class,so we decided to talk to the heleper about what we wanted to do and we said that it would be great if we could make a game for our website, but it would take too long, so we were going to just say on our website- 'Coming Soon'. But, the helper showed us an easy quick way of making games that we wanted and how we could incorporate our characters to make it ideal for our soap. This was brilliant! We could actually include a game afterall. I left Shadei to do the game,as she is in charge of extras for our website,and I went to do the main website with Anna and Elena.

As we were beginning our website, we realised that unfortunatly,the layout was restricted, so things that I planned for us to do for the layout, we could not do. This was really frustrating and dissapointing. However,along with Anna and Elena,I helped to acheive what the programme would allow us to. Elena brought along all of our photos,which we selected carefully to put on the website,and cropped accordingly so that they would fit where we wanted them to. Anna was writing the text for the website,where it needed to be. I am in charge of the layout,so I was telling Anna,as she was in charge of the mouse, where we could change things,where we could make the layout more presentable,and what we could do to make our website look more youthful and suited to our soap. I also made sure that we selected our photos correctly so that we did not select any with faults.

At the end,we had what we had acheived burned onto two CDs so that we could workon it in schoolon the Mac computers.

While we were working, we also changed some of our characters' names. I chose my character's name to be Joannah, we thought Maria would be a suitable name for Anna's character, and we chose Shiffa for Shadei's character. We are pleased with the changes.

Research- Magazine covers

Soap magazines portray soaps and their characters and their storylines as if they are the real lives of people, in a similar way to how celebrities are always shown and talked about in magazines. It means that these magazines are a main way of soaps getting known and talked about through gossip, and this is important for the soap getting an audience.

This is a photo of a magazine cover which I have uploaded. I aim to analyse this magazine cover in order to understand better the conventions of an average soap magazine so that I can create my own.

Large character photos are used to take up space against a white background. There are warm/hot colours used for the bold-fonted headings to make the writing and the story stand out against everything else. 'NEW AGONY!' and 'PREGNANT!' are only small tabs against the much larger headings and photos, but are in all-capitals and on bright orange tabs which works in making them stand out.

The masthead 'InsideSoap' is in bright red block text to stand out completly from the rest of the magazine, so that the customer makes no mistake about what magazine they are purchasing.

Sad facial expressions within the images emphasize daunting captions such as 'Reunited-then torn apart FOREVER!' and 'PREGNANT! ...by a dead man!'

Smaller juxtapositioned images add room for more stories and therefore more information, and more more the eye to look at, making the viewer want to buy the magazine because it has alot of information in it, and they are therefore getting more for their money.

The huge puff 'HEARTBREAK' across the magazine diagonally catches the eye immediatly and draws the audience into being intressted in the storylines given away in the magazine.

The white background at the top means that everything else stands out from it, and everything catches the eye so that nothing blends in with anything else.

The pug in the top right corner is brightly coloured and has a circle around it. This ensures that it gets noticed quickly- and the viewer sees it and believes what it says. In this case, the viewer wants to purchase the magazine because it says 'First for BIG soap news!' which makes the viwer think that this magazine will offer them the best information possible within soap magazines.

Website Planning- My Layout Draft of Website

This is my rough plan which I presented to the group which shows my thoughts and ideas about what we should or/could include within our website.

*We can have games.
*Main photo either either behind photo or beneath it.
*A block colour as the main background- behind everything you click on.
*We could have something else- a photo or something to add contrast to the main things you click on. This should go behind the main page- so therefore will appear on the sides.
*Music- optional= audience have the option of switching the music off if they want to.
*Webcam character's house- "Come and take a look at our setting!"
*More photos of characters around website.
*The photo underneath the title can be a group photo or a snapshot of a few, or one actor just being who they are- (in character of course).
*For the background image- we could have smudged make-up, crushed eye-liner, lipstick smudged, or a cigarette in an ash-tray with the smoke circling upwards.
*A chance for the audience to give their opinion/have a say- this will make them feel appreciated and welcomed.
*A video of a snippet of our trailer- or a short video of an up-coming episode of Liberty- teaser trailer- to make our audience want more. It could say "See early footage of our up-coming series!".
*There could be an advertisement above the title- advertising a company product or an online shopping company.
*We could give our audience the chance to make votes to say which episodes they prefer, and say if they like episodes or not. This will allow them the chance to be honest, and will also provide us with a constant source or feed-back on our series.

This is just a rough idea of the sum-up of all my ideas from my website layout research. I have given these ideas to the group, and we are organising our thoughts together as a group to ensure that our website is as good as we can make it.

Filming Dates which we decided last lesson

Last lesson, we decided on the filming dates which are going to be on the 29th November and the 6th of December. We all agreed that these dates are suitable and we will all be able to make them. The first filming date is for Anna and Dervish's scene so I will be wearing party clothes, as I will be in the background of the scene. The second filming date is for mine and Shadei's scene, so I will be wearing clothes suitable for my character.

Website for soap: Layout Research

I am going to analyse the 'Skins' website in order to gain some ideas and knowledge of how we could possibly present the layout for our own website. Here, I have provided a print screen of the 'Skins' homepage by putting the image into Paint, saving it, then uploading it.

The 'Skins' homepage shows a brightly coloured, information packed page set against a grey background.

The main photo at the top of the screen is dulled down and not as bright as the ones on the rest of the page. It shows two female characters; Effy and Naomi, the former in the foreground, the later in the background. Both have their mouths wide open as if the photo has been taken while they were laughing. This conveys youth and the fun that teenagers have with eachother which appeals to its young audience. Effy is wearing a red checked shirt which is very fashionable with both boys and girls at the moment and has smudged black make-up around her eyes. This shows the viewers her edgy and fuss-free character, while the pearl necklace around her neck shows her classy taste on how she likes to look. Her loose natural looking long curly hair also shows that she is a sort of go-with-the-flow kind of girl. Naomi seems to be wearing a black and white T-shirt and has a chunky silver bracelet around her wrist. This photo alone says alot about these two characters , and anyone who has not seen the programme before can definetly find out that Effy has a cheekiness to her, just by looking at the photo.

The background shows jagged rough writing in pencil that I cannot quite make out on lined paper. There is broken glass across this. This conveys that the characters like drinking, but at the same time, attend school , but do not exactly put effort in to be academic. This shows to the audience their ruthless and humorous behavior and perhaps, this is why the small paper-torn notice in the corner of the photo says 'Adult content alert! You must be 18 to proceed'.

Furthur down the page, there are videos of clips from previous episode, where viewers can vote on how much they like it. There is a competition for viewers for a chance to be an editor for 'Skins'.

The web page seems very friendly to its audience which is appealing because it reminds us that the stars themselves are as normal as the audience are. This may be an approach that our group would want to try.

There is also a video of the beginning of series four. I think this is a good idea, as it is being generous with the audience and reeling them in before the new series has even begun.

By researching this web-page, I have gained in ideas and my understanding about website- layout has grown. I will take this information back to the group where we will find it very useful research for our own website.

Website Layout Research

'90210', 'Skins'. I will be analyzing the websites of these soaps and dramas, because, although some of them are not soaps and are not really aimed at the same primary audience as ours is, I think it will still be good to consider them within my research towards the layout of our website so that we have more of a choice to go on. I think this will be effective because, even if a certain website is about a drama, rather than a soap, it can still give us very useful information and ideas about what we could include in the layout of our own website, so soap or not, we need all the information we can get, and this will also mean that our approach will not be biased either. Therefore, researching widely has all round benefits.

Filming Dates and Plans for Group which we discussed in class today

Our filming dates are as follows:

Sunday 22nd November

Sunday 29th November

My job for Thursday is to do research into the layout of existing soap websites in order to provide my group and I with the right amount of understanding and knoledge so that we can have a better idea of how we can present the layout of our own website.

My own analysis of a soap website- 90210

As a group, we will also be making a website aswell as a trailer, our individual blogs, the group blog and individual magazine covers. So each group member has had the job of doing individual research into different soap's websites, and we decided that we should each look at the websites of soaps that appeal to a younger audience and the same focus audience as us. These soaps are typically 'Eastenders' and 'Hollyoaks', however Anna has also looked at 'Gossip Girl' and I have also looked at '90210'.

Each group member has posted their individual research onto the group blog aswell as on their own individual blogs.

The '90210' website is fresh- using bright colours such as bright green and bright yellow to make it look young and attractive and asociated with young life and spring. There are cast and character photos on almost every page of the website- making it intressting and showing their audience their personalities through what they are wearing and their body language. The audience can relate to this and find it crucial to the overall programme, and they feel drawn to watch it. Henceforth, the website is very important.

The images are large and invite the eye to look and observe the attractive characters which makes them interested in watching the soap because they want to see what happenes to the characters.

There is alot to do on the website. There are many pages and things to click on, inviting the audience furthur into the information contained.

The colourful pages and bright colours used keep the website modern and youthful, as well as attractive.

There is an advertisement at the top of the home page saying 'views too good to ignore' which means that the programmes are being advertised to watch, because '90210' is not the only programme that is availuable on this website.

There is a different main image on every page of the website which shows the characters looking like models- all beautiful, slim and sexually attractive and wearing the latest fashion. The audience which probablly consists of mostly girls and women see their outfits and how good they look and want to wear the same thing so that they look good and fashionable.

The website works as a whole in harmony with itself and with the soap so that it is extremly appealing to its audiences and they get what they want from the website. This is what we want to acheive with our website, only we wont be so determined to make our characters look like models, as this is pretty unrealistic and we want our characters to look like average Londoners. For this reason, this research has been really useful.

Group effort written by Anna Constantinou

Research- Skins review and magazine photos shoot

show

"It's like a more adult Gossip Girl with better humor and more likable characters. They may have a different cast now but it is honestly one of the best shows on TV right now. You have to relate to one of the characters or know someone who is like them, they are too human to not relate to. While the story line may be a little far fetched at times it is always interesting and always has something to teach you. You can always pick up a message about how love isn't perfect, or friendships are fragile things only with a twist of humor which all of us need now-a-days. Personal Favorite, and I hope it continues."

I agree with this person. They have talked about why Skins is so good at attracting their audience, and I agree with them completly. This is why 'Skins' is such a good drama to look at as research. It has a wide range of personalities, issues and relationships portrayed that keep its auidiences constantly wanting more, especially mature teenagers who find this programme a good way of taking them away from their own daily stresses and probelems and enjoying 50 minutes of stimulating and realistic footage every week.


I have posted videos from Youtube showing 'Skins' participating in magazine shoots. I found these videos interessting because 'Skins' is a very successful drama that has been going on for 3 series now, and the young cast still seem to be learning when it comes to group photo shoots for magazines. I think these videos are good to watch as research because we are producing magazine covers aswell as photographs, and I am able to see what an exising soap get up to when they are not filming; distributing and advertising their soap furthur- which is something we are also doing, apart from producing our trailer.

Research- Soap Posters

The 'Hollyoaks' logo is clear in the bottom right-hand corner of this poster. Perhaps why the 'Hollyoaks' stars are on so many posters in this way is because of the theme within the soap which is the two genders: male and famale, and how these interact. In this sense, the posters work in advertising their soap opera.



This 'Friends' poster communicates the close relationship of the characters to the viewer. We are able to see that they are together, on a biulding site, all happy together. They are also all wearing funky clothes. For example, Rachael is wearing boyish 'builder' clothes, but at the same time, she looks attractive and fashionable. The poster is kept simple black and white, with only the name of the programme at the top of the poster. As 'Friends' is such a well-known programme and is loved for the loving relationships between all the main characters, this poster needs nothing else and works, conveying its point straight to its audience.

This 'Skins' poster has a lot going on at once. It has a lot of skin showing, and perhaps this is the selling point of the poster. The female actress in the middle of the poster is only in her underwear and is posing in a way that makes her seem tired, alluring or bored. Her make-up is smudged which makes her look like she has either splet in it or she has been crying. It is probablly not the later, because she does not look upset, but like she truly has just woken up, looking rough, and she is sitting on a bed. It looks as though many characters have slept in the same room over night, and they are still kissing each other when there is daylight coming through the window whose shadow is on the wall. The boy lying in bed is staring at the girl sitting on the bed which suggests he loves her or is having sexual fantasies about her. The girl sitting on the bed also seems completly careless, not at all bothered by what is going on around her, whilst everyone on the floor around her is involved in kissing eachother half naked. The overall message of the poster is the care-free attitude of the teenager characters portrayed within 'Skins'.

This poster is only a photograph- but it works because it has every main character of series three dressed in their own individual way, and the way the characters are positioned tells us alot about them. Effy is the closest to us- in the middle- perhaps conveying that she is a very big character within the drama, or that she has a loud personality. She is not looking at any other character, but at us, which in itself tells us about her, saying that she is mysterious and looks at people to maybe see their reaction- and if it is negative (which is unlikely- then she does not care). The fact that Freddie and Cook are on either side of her suggests that they are both infactuated by her and are both wanting her for themselves, yet she is care-free and does not really care much about 'love' at the moment. Freddie's sister is perched on a mini stage and seems completly self-centered, emersed in her imaginary singing, whilst the twins next to her look odd and blank, standing up straight with no individual poses, showing that they are perhaps awkward, or awkward together. JJ looks very nervous- this shows his personality- because although he is extremly bright, he has some sort of problem which makes him different to everyone else, and even if someone was not a fan who knew the characters, they would be able to tell this, just by looking at this photo.

This is a 'Hollyoaks' poster and is obviously created, solely to attract the opposite sex within its audience.

'Hollyoaks' have many revealing posters which are looked at and admired, showing the women or men in swimming costumes. I think this is because, as well as portraying a stylised way of life within 'Hollyoaks', they are also portraying that image in real life- as actors and actresses, showing that this is one main thing that is recognisable about 'Hollyoaks'. If I am to make a poster, I want to portray our characters across within it, therefore, I would not use sexually attractive images.

Focus group 19 years +

Whilst doing the other primary research as a group, we have all had the task of individually asking people aged from 19 to 25 to ask them about our soap.

I told my selected people about our soap's storylines, its characters, its name, its style, scheduling times, our cast photos, plans for a website and magazine covers, and they told me what they thought.

They thought that the storylines would be gripping, and people would definetly want to watch our soap because of the drama included. They said it was a good idea of how we included a range of different races and religions because a large audience needs to be able to relate to at least one character when watching the soap, in order to ralte to and feel involved within the soap.

When looking at the cast photos, they said they looked very professional, mature and well put together, and that the characters each stood our amongst each other which is good, because it is easy for our audience to see that there is a range of personality and style for different people in our audience to relate to. They also said that from the photos, they could tell that our soap is not aimed at young teenagers, because our photos are arranged with a sensible amount of colour, and mature dress sense.

The idea of a lesbian relationship going on within our soap seemed to really interest them. They said that not many soaps or dramas take on this storyline because it's hard to act out, so us having it within ours should attract a large audience, because they want to see what happenes, and if the characters' relationship works out. They found the rape storylines really intressting and that they would certainly watch this soap because of the realism portrayed.

They said they thought that advertising using a website and magazines and posters is a smart choice, because of how much this area within the media industry is growing. The internet is used every day, not just by young adults, but by people of all ages, ranging from primary school children, to buisness men and women in their 50s. This way of advertising is definetly going to attract a good amount of our audience, and using advertising within magazines is a good idea aswell because of how many people buy them as a way of keeping up to date with the media.

The thing about having sinister storylines like this is that it has to be shown on television at the right time, and they approved of our newly planned sceduling times, saying it is a time when everyone is actually looking to watch good television after a hard day's work and all they want is rest and entertainment. With this factor sorted, our soap should do well.

Liberty came across as really 'young' to them. They said that it reminded them of revolutions and 'hippie times'. But they said that the idea of breaking free from a mould that your culture or background is trying to keep you within is pretty much what every young person is trying to do. They said that it fits, to call the soap this, because almost every young adult will be able to relate to this, and fighting for equality, or to be able to act by one's own rights is still happening. Overall they found the name very suited to our soap and thought that, as long as we keep on coming up with gripping storylines, it will stay that way.

From researching the opinions of our second target audience, I have gained an understanding of what they think, and this has helped me to make sure everything is suited well, based on this research. I understand better their opinions about our soap, and the ways in which this will impact our audience overall.

Focus group 16-19 years

Today, in class, we carried out our proper focus group primary research. This video shows the questions Anna asked a few of our selected people, and their answers. We were aiming to find out what people our age think about our soap, and all of our choices and thoughts about it, however, we asked people who are not in our media class, as these would have clear minds and be able to tell us what they thought, honestly, and also, as a proper audience.

We told our random selection of people about out soap- telling them the name, the sceduling times, the storylines, and we showed them group photos aswell. The one below was the most popular, and we are happy with this, as we agree that it is one of our best photos.

They thought our title was sophisticated and original, whilst our photos showed the costumes that we created for our characters and that they are mature and show that perhaps they are university students.

They also liked the idea of advertising online and within magazines, saying it is the best way to get our soap well-known and viewed the most.

Reflecting on pilot group excercise in class as a group

We approached a small group of people in our lesson and provided them with the information on our pitch and treatment, and also our broadcasting times.

We learnt that we could actually improve our planning and soap plans by learning from others and what people had to say about our soap. It was good to hear their opinions and learn that, if we wanted to get as wide an audience as possible and please our audience and most importantly, our target audience, then we would have to listen to them now.

The feedback we got was very useful and we decided to incorporate it. We learnt that our decided broadcasting times clashed with 'Eastenders's broadcasting times and were also too late which meant that our audiences would be fewer because this was the time that the parents put their children to bed. Eastenders is also a popular soap, so audiences would probablly watch that instead. So we decided to have Liberty play before Eastenders, that way they can watch it as they relax for the evening, and it wont clash with any other soaps.

We were glad that we did this pilot exercise because it helped us to make better decisions and improve our plans.

Group photos that we can use for our magazine covers and our website

Saturday 24th October- Meeting up at Elena's house to take the group photo for our magazine covers

On Saturday, I went to Elena's house to meet with the whole group so we could take pictures for our magazine cover.

I put on my make-up when I got to the house. Apart from the usual natural looking make-up, I put on bright aqua sparkly eye-shadow and pink lip-gloss. This was because of my character and we think that as I am a lesbian, I do not have the dress-sense or same sense of what is attractive because my character is not trying to appeal to the opposite sex.

Shadie's boyfriend Moji was there and so was Anna's boyfriend Dervish. These two boys are going to be playing crucial parts in our soap trailer, so it was important that they were in the photo. Elena will not be playing one of the main roles- so she was taking the photo instead of being in the photo herself.

In the end, I chose to wear purple tights with dark blue denim shorts, a bright pink lace-up corset-style top, a short-sleeved zip-up star-pattern hoodie and low black peep-toe heels. I wore grey ankle-high converses to Elena's house however i took the black heels in my bag so that as a group, we could decide which ones were more suitable for wearing during the photo being taken. So we decided that as everyone else was dressed quite formally, and what I was wearing was already really colorful and punkish in style, the heels would be better, to make my character look like she had made an effort as well as the others, despite her character.

Shadie wore more plain clothes. Her character is not openly lesbian so her true sexuality is a secret, therefore she would not be wearing clashing clothes unless she was with my character, and we also felt that we did not want to give away too much of the storyline away in the photo, so therefore, she is dressed plainly and normally like the other characters.

Anna was wearing a black long sleeved top tucked into a black mini-skirt with black tights and black court shoes. I think this fitted her role nicely because she is a nice sensible girl, however she also likes to party. So the sensible colour black- however- fitted and sexy- conveys both sensibility and maturity to wear something like that and pull it off with confidence.

Dervish was wearing a shirt and jeans. This portrays his character as the sensible, caring boyfriend of Anna. He will probably also be playing the role of Anna's rapist, however, we will never see the rapist's face. Although, as a group, we are thinking that, when playing the role of the rapist, dervish should wear dark clothes including rough jeans, a dark top, a large over-coat and a cap- for keeping his head down.

Moji was wearing a shirt tucked into jeans with a belt. This portrays his character as sensible and caring more about being obedient and smart rather than sexually attractive. This fits, because his character is the suitor Shadei's parents find for her to marry.

We took a number of different group photos in different ways, based on group photo research from existing soaps and dramas such as 'Gossip Girl' and 'Friends'. For some of the photos, I was lying down at the front, and for others, I was standing up next to Shadie. In other photos, I was holding Shadie's hand and laughing, and then for others, I was just sitting on the same chair as her so that we would all fit nicely into the photo, but there was nothing sexual going on between us. We were just looking at the camera.

We took at least four pictures for each different type of photo so that we would have more than enough photos. Because- the risk of taking too few photos would have been that- becuase there are six of us- there would have been many mistakes and situations where expressions were inappropriate because photos were taken at the wrong time. So the more photos taken- the better.

At the end, Shadie and I had a photo taken together so that we can use it on our magazine covers if we want to. It is one of the main stories so it is important.

Anna and Dervish are going to photoshop the photos to improve them and pick the best ones, and then Anna will put them as a draft onto her blog so that, as a group, we can look at them in class and chose which ones we want to use.

Creating the personality and costume of my character

This lesson, I am coming up with what I am going to be wearing for the photo which we are going to be taking for our group photo for the magazine cover, and also what I am going to be wearing during filming.

I have decided that I am going to be wearing shorts with brightly- coloured tights and a star- patterned hoodie. I am also going to be wearing a brightly coloured top beneath the hoodie, bright eye-shadow and a spiky bracelet. For my feet, I think I will wear my black and white converses. They are not a very feminine shoe and I think that wearing them for the photo-shoot will be appropriate. However, the other members of the group are going to be dressed formally, with mid-height heels, so I have decided that I am also going to be taking my low black high-heels in my bag so that, as a group, we can decide whether they will be good enough for the photo- shoot while I have the rest of the costume on.

I have decided that I will also wear contact lenses so that the reflection off my glasses will not ruin the look of the photo. This will also help to add to the stylized look of the photo, that I think we want to achieve. Actors usually do not wear glasses in photos like this for magazines.

We are still to decide whether I should wear glasses during filming. Glasses will appear casual, which is what we actually want, however, my character may actually have nothing wrong with her eye-sight.

Soap Name

Today in our lesson as a group, we took a vote and chose the two names each that we would individually prefer for the name of the soap. I chose Liberty and Khol.

Overall, Liberty got the most amount of votes, so this is what we are going to go with.

Soap Name Ideas

Overall, as a group, we came up with a small amount of possible names for our soap.

Orange: Different segments could represent different plots and story lines and the peal could represent how a plot unravels.

Liberty: This just means how people have the right to act themselves, and we thought this would be relevant for our soap seen as the story lines and characters in our stories are going to be conveying our generation and how we want to be able to live our lives the way we feel is right.

Kohl: This was my idea, and I think it would be a good title because Kohl is a type of black eye liner and people wear it to feel better about themselves in real life because they think they do not look good enough natural. It could also represent darkness in a character, and also how some characters may want to put on a tough front when really, they are really sensitive.

Laburnum Grove: This is the road our school is on and thought it could be a possibility for the name because other soaps use the location of their soap such as 'Coronation Street'. This could work.

Leopard: This was Anna Philona's idea and came from the pattern on my jumper. She thinks it could be a good name for our soap because of how ''leopards change their spots'' and how this could relate to human behavior.

Finalising Character Roles

Our character roles were finalized in todays lesson. I now know that I am going to be playing the role of Shadei's secret gay lover. I am going to be acting out the role of a lesbian.

I will have two main costumes:

Casual clothes- jeans, T-shirt, flat shoes/trainers.

Party clothes- dress/skirt, mid-height heels.

Anna Philona will be playing the celibate girl.

Shadei Rabeie will be playing the role of the religious girls who is sceretly a lesbian.

Elena Antoniades will be playing the Shadei's mother.

Dervish will be playing the role of Maria's boyfriend.

Gary will be playing the role of Shadei's father.

Moji will be playing the role of the arranged marriage partner who will marry Shadei.

Dervish will be acting as the rapist.

We have chosen extras and members of the group who we feel will be the best people to suit the characters we need. With this decided, we just need to make sure that everyone will be availuable on days that we need to film.

Research: Inspiration for our own group images from existing soap/drama/programme images and posters

As personal research for ideas on what kinds of photos we could take for our group photos, I have looked at existing posters which include the whole cast within the poster. I think this research will prove useful because we will be able to see how existing soaps and dramas present their characters in a casual way, and we could do something similar.

These posters have provided me with just a few ideas that we could use for our group pictures. We will try different poses and see what works for us.

Risk Assessment Forms and Location Recce Forms

Elena Antoniades and Anna Philona have now completed the recce form and risk assessment forms. So we have now completed the planning process of our project.

Storyboard

We now have a rough storyboard of want we want key shots to look like in each scene of each separate story.

Anna Philona wrote what was happening in each shot and i drew the characters' positions and what was mainly happening in each shot.

We are going to develop this once we become more clear about the detail we want to include in our shots and I will also include more detail in the drawings so that we can see clearly what we want to achieve with the camera.

We chose not to scan this in because it is only a rough storyboard, however, Anna Philona wrote up the details of it onto the group blog. So that is where the full version of the storyboard is.

Soap Trailers

I found this trailer on youtube and thought it had similarities to what we want to achieve in our own trailer. It is a 'Hollyoaks' trailer and is the one I found with the fastest-cut shots, which I think is something that would interest us as we do not want to have cuts in our trailer that are too slow as it can seem quite boring and not- exciting to watch. One trailer shows most of the cast made up of youth, with a sexual nature to the shots. The music is fast-pace and comical.

There is a male voice over throughout, talking directly to the audience. The voice is self-advertising the soap, addressing the audience and engaging them in what is being said. 'Hollyoaks Later' is made to look much more sexual than the normal 'Hollyoaks', and contains scenes of a much more sexual nature. There is a girl sitting in a van who says 'Honk is you're horny' and then beeps the horn of the van herself. The voice over says: 'For five night, join the gorgeous lads and lassies'. It is obvious why this trailer is intended for an older audience, however, we want our audience to be wide and able to watch our soap in the evenings, not late at night, so it is important that we keep the sexual inuendos to a minimum.

This is a link to the video on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88C2a_kHkt

Written up by Anna Constantinou

Research: The super-imposed image portrayed in some soap operas- Hollyoaks

I looked at this photo in class and am looking at it again now to document my understanding of styalising in soaps.

These photos show how Hollyoaks has an uncommonly attractive cast, styalised to look good and attract the opposite sex, and henceforth, an audience. Also, it shows how real life would be like on the left, with an average pub and the people in it being normal and over- weight with average looks, but on the right, it shows how the cast look in a soap wanting to look sexualy attractive to its auience, and the people look like models, slim, stylish and beautiful. They also have an expensive breed of dog with its own little pink coat on, and the woman in the red dress is smiling in an attractive way and holding a wine glass to show her extravagance and class.

However, this way of being extravagant is unrealistic, and we want to keep our soap realistic, so this research has been realistic.

Research- Life changing issues protrayed in soap opera- Rape

'Victims of rape can be severely traumatized by the assault and may have difficulty functioning as well as they had been used to prior to the assault, with disruption of concentration, sleeping patterns and eating habits, for example. They may feel jumpy or be on edge. After being raped it is common for the victim to experience Acute Stress Disorder, including symptoms similar to those of posttraumatic stress disorder, such as intense, sometimes unpredictable, emotions, and they may find it hard to deal with their memories of the event. In the months immediately following the assault these problems may be severe and very upsetting and may prevent the victim from revealing their ordeal to friends or family, or seeking police or medical assistance. Additional symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder include:

• depersonalization or dissociation (feeling numb and detached, like being in a daze or a dream, or feeling that the world is strange and unreal)
• difficulty remembering important parts of the assault
• reliving the assault through repeated thoughts, memories, or nightmares
• avoidance of things, places, thoughts, and/or feelings that remind the victim of the assault
• anxiety or increased arousal (difficulty sleeping, concentrating, etc.)
• avoidance of social life or place of rape

For one-third to one-half of the victims, these symptoms continue beyond the first few months and meet the conditions for the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. (See also Significant Emotional Event.) In general, rape and sexual assault are among the most common causes of PTSD in women.'

Above, I have posted some information from wikipedia on the effects of rape on women. I think it is important to do background research into an issue before portraying it and publishing it within the media. I think there needs to be a good understanding of the issuse in order for it to be portrayed the right way. Of course, it would be difficult to actually film a rape scene, however, the after-effects of rape on the victim can be acted out realistically with the correct level of understanding. Women can form depression following a rape attack. If this is portrayed poorly or incorrectly to the public, then it gives the public a wrong impression of the behavior of victims of rape, and I strongly feel that this is something soaps and dramas have the duty of not doing, as their goal is to give public understanding. This is useful information for me, because one of the issues that we are portraying within our soap is rape, and I now have a better understanding of how important it is to treat these issues with care when filming them, and obviously, there will be victims of rape within our audience, and if anything, we want them to feel comforted by our soap, not distressed.

Treatment

Treatment- Group effort written up by Anna Constantinou

The main idea for our soap opera is a culture clash in a small area. The point of the culture clash is that with two different cultures conflicting, there would be a lot of drama to portray to an audience over a long period of time which would make it a success. There is a lot of culture clash in the world we live in today where people from different backgrounds do not always see eye to eye and find it very difficult to understand each others’ cultures and religions. This is not always the case, however, something small; for example, romance between two people of different religions, or arguments about how people should dress cause conflict, and this makes it an issue in our lives today and it always has been. It is usually the older generation which enforces the tradition which they feel their children must obey, but young people and our generation seem to crave difference and change, and this is what will allow our audience, which will consist mainly of older teenagers and young adults, to understand our storylines on a personal level.

The overall view of our soap is basically English or non religious family conflicting with a religious family such as Indian or Greek. This would provide the ideal basis for a conflict clash in a small area. It would be better to use a small area rather than a larger one because it would then be easier to focus on the two families and the world around them rather than the world with two families conflicting within it. It is not 100% clear about the details of our characters, but we are basically going to have a gay or lesbian character from a religious family who is forbidden to be gay or lesbian because of how religious they are and is not yet aware of their sexuality and has not yet told anyone about it. There is going to be the friend of the gay/lesbian character who is actually religious, but at the same time, a ‘’live and let live’’ sort of character. The religious family will be new to the area, or the non religious new to the area (what ever one benefits us depending on what characters we can pull off). There is going to be the parents of the two characters, and the boyfriend of the religious friend who agrees with her about not having sex until they are married. There will be the non religious family with an openly gay/lesbian daughter/son and a friend of this person who is also non- religious. There will also be the not- so important characters, but these are not very clear. There will need to be a sense of community, and for that, there will need to be a mixture of characters, but for now, we are focusing on the main ones.

The small stories we have decided upon for the episodes are:

*celibate girl gets pregnant (drink gets spiked and she gets raped)
*love triangle (jealousy and turning against each other)
*cheating affair (needing company turns into something more unintentionally)
*suicide (a history of grief…flashbacks)
*drug addicts (relief- influence)

*At a party, the friend of the gay/lesbian religious character, who has agreed with her boyfriend not to have sex until they are married, is drinking with her friends and without realising, while she is dancing, has her drink spiked by a stranger. Completely drugged and not realising what is happening, the girl is lead into a room without anyone noticing and is raped. The next morning when she wakes up, she remembers nothing about it and thinks it is because she has had too much to drink. A few months later, when she checks the calendar, she realises she must be pregnant, but has no idea how until she starts to remember bit by bit what happened, in her dreams.

*With two boys and a girl, both are infatuated by the girl’s charming quirky character and beauty, but which one will win her heart? Or will she refuse both of them and go for another?

*A woman who’s husband is hardly ever home feels lonely and in a desperate moment befriends the younger man who brings her shopping rounds every weekend, where it unintentionally develops into something more and she cant control it. Over time, when it develops into a full blown affair, it is no longer her feelings, but the huge secret which she is fighting to keep under wraps.

*A teenager troubled by the shame of their parents past takes their life leaving behind a mystery.

The setting that will probably work is the school, as we want our soap to have a youthful modern feel to it. However, we could also use one of our houses for the party scene, a high wall with a drop for the suicide scene, or with a bit of fake blood, and a knife, cutting the wrists. (I think this could work quite well).
We could also make an effort to find a busy street in order to get the community feel within it, and a playground scene to capture children playing football. This would portray the normal behaviour of the local children playing.

Our target audience will be from about 16- 25. We will make it appeal to that audience by portraying enough interesting storylines to keep the audience reeled in. The audience will sympathize for some characters and dislike others. We will only be making the trailer to a soap, so the obvious choice for music would be music that the characters cannot hear. ‘Hollyoaks’ uses this approach often, not just in their trailers, but in their episodes as well. It is not exactly realistic, but it gets its audience in the mood. The trailer for ‘Skins’ always uses upbeat music to convey the energetic mood of the series to the audience it is trying to real in, and this is what we want to achieve. We will leave our sense of realism basic, however we have already discussed the kinds of camera techniques that would work to heighten this. We thought that opening and shutting the cap on the lens of the camera could create the effect of eyes blinking when the raped girl is waking up. Obviously, in the trailer, we do not want to reveal too much, so cliff- hangers are the key to keeping the audience wanting more. Amongst all of the characters, the sense of gossip will be strong, and is a definite must for our soap as well as the trailer. It could be an element of why a character decided to commit suicide, what the woman having an affair fears most, and what all the youth do amongst themselves while one of them is unknowingly pregnant with an unwanted child. The time within the series will be realistic like ‘Eastenders’, with only a night passing between each episode, so that the audience feel more like they are within the action. The realism of the soap will be even more evident as we will be using real locations such as the school, the streets, and real houses.

Overall, we think this idea for a soap will be a good idea as it brings something slightly new to the world of television with the storylines fit for a film, and we feel it will be successful if it were a real media product.

Pitch and research

Pitch:

*Culture clash in a small town.
*Dramatic, emotional relationship issues.
*Cellibate girl gets raped at a party.

Treatment:

Main stories:

*Celibate girl gets pregnant- medium term. She has never slept with her boyfriend. She goes to a party without him. Her drink gets spiked, she gets raped, and she falls pregnant as a result.

*Cultural clash in a small town- medium term. Young man/girl (undecided)- from a very religious family and background, and is trying to come out as homosexual.

Possible smaller stories:

*Love triangle between two boys and a girl- medium term. The two boys fight for one gril's affection.

*Cheating affair- medium term (undecided on characters).

*Suicide (flashbacks from past, story has been going from before)- long term.

*Drug addictions.

Research- Hollyoaks- How is it different?

I am analyzing 'Hollyoaks' so that I can understand how it is different from other British soaps and how this makes it sell. This research will be useful for my own coursework because it will enable me to use similar techniques and character qualities if we want to make our soap different and modern like Hollyoaks. Below is a youtube video of the launch trailer for 'Hollyoaks'. This is what was braodcasted to advertise that the soap was going to start being shown for the first time on television.

Each character takes it in turns to say who they are seductively to the screen, but when it comes to one woman's turn, she stumbles upon her words. Then the camera cuts, and another ones shows the girl ending her lines, and showing all the camera equipment. When a man says to the woman, c'mon its only a small part, she says: yes iv heard and looks down. Everyone laughs, and the trailer ends. This shows that this soap has always been sexual and more casual/ modern and more about looks than anything else. We want our soap to follow the conventions a bit more and be less about looks, and more about conveying realism and relationships.

Research: Analysis of Eastenders Christmas special trailer

Above is the trailer on youtube. From this trailer, I am hoping to gain a better understanding of the kind of dramatic storylines that are used within conventional soaps such as 'Eastenders', and how they are used. 'Eastenders' has been running for 25 years, so it is obviously a successful soap opera, and I think it is good to look at as research.

The trailer begins with jolly, merry Christmas music and slow motion shots of characters embracing, hugging, kissing cheeks, shaking hands, putting the roasted turkey down on the table and wishing each other a merry Christmas, all muted, with the non-diagetic chistmas music playing. Many different camera angles and shots are shown portraying Christmas joy and festive happiness amongst the characters. Then the camera cuts to a shot of the characters sitting down at a dinner table like a family, all holding Christmas crackers together and moving their hands up and down, about to pull, and then, they crack the crackers and the camera cuts to a single character taking a piece of paper out of his cracker. At this point, a female voice over says ''Who's the daddy?'' and the music turns into a low eerie decellerating whirring noise. The audience see the character's expression, and because of the sudden almost-silentness, we can tell that the character has just found out something really bad and devestating from the piece of paper he has found in his cracker. The camera fades to black and back into action over and over, we see the devestated character kneeling down next to a female character looking into her eyes. He then gets up quicklyand leaves from our view at which point the voice over says ''The truth is out''. From this, we understand that a secret has been made known to this character, and he does not like it atall.

This trailer works because it is full of sudden tension and questions. The audience are constantly asking narrative enigmas after the trailer finishes, which makes them want to watch the episode when it plays.

This research has been useful because I have seen how useful a cliffhanger can be, because this trailer leaves the audience in great suspense, and this technique would be really useful within our own trailer. If we could incorporate a devestating storyline and have a cliffhanger at the end of our trailer, it would leave our audience in great suspense, and they would want to watch our new soap, which would make our trailer successful.