Trailer Planning.

When filming the soap opera trailer we want to set it out like this scene from the film "Mean Girls":

Apologies for the bad quiality*

By setting the trailer like this characters within the soap will be revealed, allowing the audience to grasp an idea of the different groups within the soap's community; it's fast and easy for the reader to understand.

We are trying to find the sets for our trailer, and for this we need an external establishing shot to set the mood and to create good mise-en-scene. We are going to visit Canterbury HM Prison and get a pan shot of the front entrance to use. Here is a print screen from Google Maps of where we are going.

Pencil Drafts for the Poster and TV Listings Magazine

We have made pencil drafts for our promotional poster and TV Listings magazine in order to plan how we will create the products on the computer. Alice has decided she will make the TV Listings on Photoshop and I will make the Poster using Microsoft Word 2007. However we need to wait until our days of filming for the pictures.

Trailer Research

Before we began to plan our own trailer, we looked at several Teen TV Drama Trailers and some soap trailers. Although TV Drama is a slightly different genre, it was important for us to see how Production companies targeted the Teen audience in Dramas such as Misfits, Skins, The Inbetweeners, etc.









And additionally the trailers at the following links. (Youtube wouldn't allowed these videos to be embedded into other sites)
The Inbetweeners - First Day of School Trailer

Audience Questionnaire

We constructed an audience questionnaire to gain an idea of what the general public would look for in a new soap trailer, a TV Listings front cover and a poster advertising the new soap. We included questions that required qualititative answers - as its good to get a mixture of quantitative and qualititative results. Below is the questionnaire questions we asked:

Soap Trailer
1. Suggest some names for our soap
2. What do you enjoy most about soap opera?
3. Which soaps do you watch and why?
4. How do you watch soap?

Scheduled TV Online

With Family With Friends By yourself

5. Which are your favourite soap characters?
Why?

6. A new soap produced by which channel would you be most likely to watch?
BBC 1 BBC 2 ITV 1 Channel 4 Channel 5

E4 Sky 1

7. What time and on which day(s) would you be most likely to watch a soap?
8. How many characters would you expect in a trailer for a new soap opera?
9. What information would you want to see in the trailer for a new soap?
10. What style and pace would you like for a teen soap trailer?

Black and White Slow motion Accelerated

Colour Sepia

11. Which camera techniques would be appropriate?
High-Angled Low-Angled Pans Zooms

Tracking Mid-Shot Long Shot Close Up

Shot-Reverse-Shot Over the Shoulder Shot

12. How many locations would you like to see in the trailer?
13. What narrative would most encourage you to tune into a new soap?

Poster Questions
1. What information would you find useful to have on the poster?
2. Where would you like to see the posters placed?
3. How many characters would you like on the poster?
One 2-5 Most of the Characters

4. Would you like the characters to be looking at the camera in the image(s)?
Yes No

5. Would you like the people in the poster to be in or out of character?
In Character Out of Character

6. Would you like the image to be taken on set or a studio shot?
On Set Studio Shot


TV Listings Front Cover Questions
1. What type of image would you like?
2. How many characters would you like on the cover?
One 2-5 Most of the Characters

3. Would you like the characters to be looking at the camera in the image?
Yes No

4. Would you like the people on the cover to be in or out of character?
In Character Out of Character

5. Would you like the image to be taken on set or to be a studio shot?
On Set Studio Shot

6. What colour scheme would you like for a TV Listings front cover?
7. How much would you pay for the magazine?
50p or less 51p-£1

£1.01-£2 £2.01 - £3

£3.01+
8. How often would you like the magazine to be released?
Weekly Fortnightly

9. What font style would you like?
10. Would you like lots of information on the front page or snippets?
Lots of Info Snippets

11. How many other soaps would you like advertised on the front page as well as ours?
One Two Three Four Five

12. Which soaps would you like also advertised on the front?
13. Would you like TV Drama being advertised on the front cover or just soaps?

TV Drama too Just Soaps

Channel 4 Reply

Here is the reply we received from Channel 4.


"Dear Alice,
Thank you for contacting Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries.
We would advise that Channel 4 do not actually make any of the programmes that we broadcast, they are all made by independent production companies. As such, we would not be in a position to assist you with your project as we get a huge volume of requests from students for information on their chosen project/assignment. We simply don't have the time or resources to answer individual enquiries.
We are sorry we could not assist you further, but we wish you all the best with your project.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us here at Channel 4.
Regards,
Ed Black
Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries"

We were a little dissappointed by this email as it's a 'non-response' email and didn't really answer our question, but this is quite typical of institutions. It however did leave the option open to create our own '4' brand of magazine which we have decided to do for our coursework.

We felt supported in our decision by the fact that X-Factor now has its own weekly magazine, called 'X' which stretches from the music magazine to TV Listings to Women's magazine genres, but it also shows that a more specific magazine can be successful and as Channel 4 is a successful franchise - it is quite possible that a '4' magazine would sell.

Research and planning.

To grasp an idea of TV listings magazines, we enquired Channel 4 about whether or not they would make their own as a promotional tool for their tv channels and programs.

Here is the confirmation email of our enquiry:

Subject: Your Channel 4 enquiry [Ref 992009]
Dear Alice Sarah Launa,
Thank you for your enquiry.
A member of our Customer Support team will review your email and get back to you within the next 7 days.
Your Enquiry Case number is 992009. Please make a note of this.
Please be advised, that we don't send individual replies if the information you require can be found on the FAQ section of our website
(www.channel4.com/faq) so please check there for your answer.

Initial Ideas Mindmap

We have decided not to opt to do a school soap opera, despite having easy access to a perfect set, but to do something new and exciting, set in a Young Offenders Institute. Our initial ideas map is below.

Research into Codes & Conventions of Soap Opera & Soap Opera Trailers

We watched several clips from soaps, e.g. Eastenders, Coronation Street, etc. to develop a clear list of codes and conventions that we could use in our trailer.

Magazine Codes and Conventions

We researched into the codes and conventions of magazines, listed below is what we found that were common in magazines:

• big title-top left mainly (mastheads)


• one main centralised image


• smaller images of scenes surrounding


• main image - studio shot, eye contact, out of character


• main storyline goes with the main image


• colour scheme - mainly primary colours


• main headline is usually vague to tease the reader


• ellipses, exclamation marks - emphasises drama


• usually quite busy on the front cover


• mainly aimed at a female audience

Codes and Conventions of a Trailer

We researched into the codes and conventions of trailers for films and tv dramas, listed below is what we found:

• usually are fast paced to keep you entertained


• advertisement of the title of the film/programme


• music to accompany the image


• introducing the characters


• variety of colours - depends on the storyline etc.


• the time that the programme will be on


• the date it will start


• the channel the programme will be on

Introduction

Hi our names are Alice, Jess, Launa and Sarah, this is our A2 Production Blog.




The aim of our project is to produce a TV Trailer for a new soap along with its front cover of a TV listings magazine and a poster. We are going to update our blog at each different stage to show our progress within the assignment.