Tuesday 30 November 2010

Settings for Eaton

We were considering this alleyway for the the drug dealing story for our soap however we decided against it as the lighting would be insufficient.
This was another one of our choices for the drug dealing scene but we found the alley was to

In the end we decided on this alleyway setting as it was the only alley that had a significant amount of light source from the street lamps.  

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Soap Websites

Official Eastenders Website from the BBC


http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/
Content 

Catch Up - watch the latest episodes within 7 days after it has been broadcasted. There is also a full outline of episodes that you are no longer able to watch on iplayer but will be able to read precisely what happened in them.
Preview - able to watch a short video of what is in store in the next episode also includes photos from the next episode.
Characters - able to view stories on past and current characters.  It is listed from A-Z or by the families they are situated in.  It gives you a full character profile and will label key dates they were in important episodes.

Blogs - video diaries for current characters.
News - able to read up on news surrounding the programme, this could be characters coming back, choice awards and actors involved in other television events.
Games - testing fans knowledge on the programme.

Layout

The border at the top of the page has the eastenders logo, the channel it is linked to and the iconic albert square street sign.  The background of the page is a picture of the walford with the queen vic at the centre of the picture.  Many picture in links to take you to another article.  Bold headings in black and white. 

Interactivity

Links to facebook and twitter.  Bookmarks also to be added on pages like delicious, digg, facebook, reddit and stumbleupon.

Appeal to Audience



Hollyoaks

http://www.e4.com/hollyoaks/index.html
Content

Blog - has an archive of blogs dating back to September 2009. 
Hot Topics - on topics of storylines that are increasingly interesting for fans
Music - music departments highlights the best songs on that weeks showings, also has a playlist of the songs for each episode linking it to itunes for viewers to buy.
Episodes - spoilers for upcoming episodes and a guide to episodes previously also to watch on 4oD
Video - backstage videos
Pictures - episode pictures, behind the scenes, photoshoots, red carpet and picture specials.

Characters - list of the boys, the girls and departed characters.
Interviews - talk about their characters and issues that are dealt with in their storyline.
Competitions - win various signed photographs from the actors if you win the competition.
Help and Support - has issues that are raised in the programme like drugs and adoption and gives sites were you can be more aware of these issues and also if you are in the problem yourself has a list of sites and people to contact.

Layout

Panelled pictures with description alongside them on that topic throughout all the link on the site. Easy to scroll down the page with the links on the content at the side.

Interactivity
Webchat - can comment about the show and current storyline if you are a member on the website.  Links to E4.

Appeal to Audience


Coronation Street

http://www.itv.com/CoronationStreet/
Content
Storylines - looking into storylines and with the actors speaking on behalf of the characters on what they are doing with that role.
Videos - coming up, backstage, corrie extra's and links to itv player to catchup on the weeks episodes.
Fun and Games - quizzes and games for fans to play and test their knowledge on the programme.
News - latest news from the street.
Characters - an A-Z list of characters.
Blog - blog posts from actors and tv presenters on how the story will play out.

Layout
The background of the page is of a an event that has happened for their 50th anniversary, this has been set to almost tease the fans of this upcoming event.  On other content to the site the pages background is off the rooftops of coronation streets houses.  There are dropdown toolbars listing available links.  The page is quite busy with links for catch up, news etc but has been layed out manageable without  being uncontrolled.

Interactivity
Can become a fan on facebook, and follow characters like norris on twitter.

Appeal to Audience

Sunday 21 November 2010

Target Audience Questionnaire Feedback

This is the returned feedback i was given for my target audience questionnaire.  Before i gave out my sheets to participants to fill out i asked them if they watched soaps otherwise filling out this questionnaire would be unnecessary.  All of the Males that i asked said that they did not watch soaps, so i already know now that my soaps target audience will definiately not be designated to the male gender. This allowed me to hand the form out to Females ranging from 15-25. In the following parts to this post i will outline my results by using pie graphs.









Saturday 20 November 2010

Target Audience Questions

In order for me to find out what makes a soap successful i am going to have to find out what my target audience looks to find in a soap.  To get this information i will have to ask a range of questions to my specified target audience.  These questions will help me find out what is appealing in soaps and what the audience expects from them. These are the questions i will be asking:

1. Are you Male or Female?

2. How old are you?

3. How often do you watch soaps?

4.  Why do you watch soaps?

5.  What soaps do you watch?

6.  What entertains you in soaps?

7.  Do you like the stereotypical characters and why?

8.  Do you think the time slots wher soaps are scheduled are suitable?

I have left the questions i have asked as open questions as it gets the participant to use a wider vocabulary to answer there question.  It will also allow me to get a great more deal of information.

Thursday 11 November 2010

Initial ideas for a new soap opera

Title               
Eaton

Channel
BBC1 iplayer repeats on BBC3 Friday Omnibus
Time                   
30mins Monday - Thursday 7pm

Target Audience
13-50 years
Main Characters
Teen- drugs, middle aged woman and 2 men affair, middle ages older man in gay relationship, young teen - bullying/peer pressure, group of middle ages people in pub
5 Storylines       
Bully, drug addiction, peer pressure, young people, affair, middle aged, gay relationship

Settings               
Pub Eaton Oak snooker club, Eynesbury Dry Cleaners, Houses, School/Park Cafe