Bargroves Final Trailer

Evaluation Activity 1

Evaluation Activity 1: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of conventions of real media products?

Frame 1: The Title

The first frame is the title of our soap opera trailer, Bargroves. This part of the frame was placed towards the end of our soap trailer; therefore if people were attracted to the trailer, and found it interesting, then watching the full trailer will allow them to find out the smallest bits of information, such as the name of the soap, times, dates and also the channel it will be viewed on. We decided that we was not going to base our soap opera in one particular location, as the popular soaps have one set location, such as Coronation Street being based on a street and Emmerdale being based in a village. Having no particular location for our soap really did benefit as it allowed us to base our soap in different locations, such as the town, people homes and also an estate. As one of our locations within our soap is within a town (drug deal scene and betting scene) it could possibly help our target audience more aware about the soap, not just by the issues raised, but also the location of the scene. After looking at the four main UK soaps, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks, we thought Hollyoaks had a better range of locations within each episode, therefore using Hollyoaks ideas, we decided to use this sort of approach.

Frame 2: Setting/Location

Within our soap opera trailer, we gave the audience 3 different stories that people are facing within the soap, which may relate and effect on the audience’s everyday life. Focusing on one of the locations that we used within the soap trailer, I think that the best issue that we raised within the trailer was the drug scene. The reason why I decided to use this scene for this section of the evaluation is because I feel that this sort of issue (drug scene) would have the biggest effects on our target audience out of the three issues raised. For this scene, I feel that the location set worked really well with the story being addressed to the audience as it was a very quiet and empty location that would be suitable to make ‘drug transaction’ as the area used was fairly dark. Again, watching some of the TV soaps, Hollyoaks was the soap that was commonly using drug dealing scenes, an example of this would be a character called ‘Brendan Brady’ dealing beside a club, within an alleyway.

Frame 3: Costumes/props

Throughout each section of the trailer, were we addressing the issues of the characters within the trailers, we were using props to help the audience get a better understanding of what I happening. From looking at frame shot 3, we decided that we were going to use a mobile phone with a character reading a message which says ‘meet @ 4 in alley’. The reason why we addressed this at the beginning of the trailer was because the phone was going to link to one of the stories that was coming up further on within the trailer, the drug dealing scene.

Frame 4: Drug Deal

Throughout the trailer, we used a range of different camera shots which varied from close ups, midshots, shot reverse shots, panning shots etc. Looking a frame shot 4, I decided that I was going to use the close up shot that we captured within the drug dealing scene, as the two characters are about to make the transaction. Throughout the creation of the soap trailer, we used different sorts of editing terms to help the trailer look more effective. For example, throughout the entire trailer we used many fade shots to help link to the next scene within the trailer.

Frame 5: Title Font and style

For all of the three texts that we created, which were the soap trailer, TV listings magazine cover and the billboard poster, I decided to use the same title font and style. The reason why I used this particular font is because it big enough and clear enough for the audience to see.

Frame 6: Storylines and plot

Once we completed our soap opera trailer, we started looking for feedback from other viewers, to help us improve our work and tell us what worked well within the trailer. Frame shot 6 shows one of the three titles that we used within the trailer showing the storylines happening once the soap begins on TV. After we completed the first draft of our soap trailer, we created a small questionnaire to help us, one of these questions was ‘do the titles help understand the stories within the soap?’ Once we received the results, the majority of the year 11 media group said the titles within helped split the stories throughout the trailer. As we have three different titles within the trailer including drug, financial and family issues, all the stories involved keep the audience wondering, what’s going to happen next in the soap. As a group, we tried to use the most relevant issues that our target audience could face, therefore looking at the trailer; hopefully they would watch the soap to see how the characters overcome these issues.

Frame 7: Introducing Characters

The way we have helped introduce the characters into the soap trailer was by making sure that the target audience was aware of the issue the character was facing. The way we have done this was by adding the titles into the trailer, showing the issue that this particular character is having. An example of this happening within the trailer would be when the financial title comes up onto the screen. Once the audience have seen this, they are aware of the issue and what character is having this issue, as the character is shown straight after the title. The frame shows one of the characters walking out of a betting store ‘Ladbrokes’ relating to one of the main stories introducing the brand new soap, which was financial issues.

Frame 8: Special Effects

Throughout the soap opera trailer that we created, there were not many special effects that we had used throughout. The effects that we had used throughout the soap trailer were mainly fades to show the audience when the scene is starting and when the scene is finishing. As mentioned in frame 6, the titles as well as the fades helped make the cut to the next scene a lot cleaner. After completing the first draft of our soap trailer, a lot of feedback we received was to cut down a lot of the footage, therefore a lot of cutting was also required.

Frame 9: Logo

For this final frame, I have used the BBC logo. The reason why we used the BBC logo as my final frame is because it shows the audience what channel our soap will be advertised on. This is important because it allows the target audience to know what channel the soap will be advertised on, if they enjoyed and though that the trailer was interesting. 

Evaluation Activity 2 (Script)

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

What characters are used within your three texts?

The main common element used within the soap trailer, TV magazine and the Billboard would be the three characters within the three texts, these characters being Edward, Philip and Mark. The reason why I decided to include these three characters within the TV magazine and billboard poster is because they are included in the main stories within our soap trailer, for example the drug and financial issue stories. Another reason why I thought that these three characters would be the most suited is because they relate to the ages of our target audience, which is 16 to 24 years of age, therefore felt that the audience would be more attracted to the magazine and poster.

What Narratives are included and why have they been used?

For our narratives, we had three different stories expressed within our trailer, which were drugs, financial and family issues. Due to the family issues not being our main target audience attraction, we used the drug and financial issue stories which were played by the characters in my TV magazine and billboard poster. We felt that we had a better opportunity in attracting an audience to these two issues, as the characters within these stories are related to our target audience age group. These two particular issues are stories that I feel our target audience can relate to, so watching the trailer, the audience may be able to relate their own lives with the characters used within the soap.

What are the Common Features?

Within the Soap trailer, TV magazine and the billboard poster, the main common feature is the question “How would you solve your issues?” Within our soap trailer we have used a voiceover towards the end of our trailer, this is because after the audience watching the trailer and seeing all the issues raised within, they can have think about the question, especially if any of the issues affect their lives.

How does institutional information link?

I also decided to include institutional information within my TV magazine and billboard poster, such as the channel the soap would be on, as well as the time and date. I feel that this is important, because if the audience found our trailer and the stories raised interesting, then they may what to watch the soap, therefore needing to know these small details about when the first episode is. Adding this to the TV magazine will also be beneficial as it would set a reminder to the target audience.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign:

I think that the campaign could be effective because as a group we focused on the main sort of issues/problems that could occur within teenager’s everyday life. Also within our trailer we made sure that we used the correct characters at the correct sort of ages to take part with the trailer to make the soap more realistic. I also think that the question used within all the texts “How would you solve your issues” is very powerful because it allows the audience to think about these issues, more importantly, if the issues raised within the trailer affect their lives.

Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Activity 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Once we had completed our first draft of the soap trailer, Bargroves, we asked people from the Media group, providing us with feedback to help us improve a project. The feedback we received from the rest of the group can be found within one of the previous blog posts that were completed. We also asked the year 11 media group what they thought about our media project, thankfully they took the time to complete a small questionnaire that we produced to help us improve our project. Below are the questions that we wanted to ask the year 11 media group, with the answers that we received from each of the questions. 

  Would you watch our soap, after watching the trailer for Bargroves?

 

From viewing the soap trailer, although we already knew the issue about the music, they mentioned the song fire starter, produced by The Prodigy was not acceptable due to being a copyrighted source. From taking a first look at the, the year 11 did not think that our trailer was not a soap opera, however they did recognise it as a drama, like soaps, which suggest that our soap is not identified as a soap opera. However from receiving this feedback, we have aimed our soap to the correct target audience (16-24), as skins is aimed at this target audience. 

Within the year 11 media group, there were 16 different individuals, both male and female. After gaining the feedback we asked the group whether they would watch the soap Bargroves. From looking at the chart, out of the 16 individuals, only one person said they would watch the soap, due to the trailer looking more like a TV drama.

Do the stories in our soap trailer relate to you?

 

With our soap, before starting to capture footage, we had to think about the target audience that we wanted our soap opera to be aimed at. In the end we decided that our soap opera would be aimed at a target audience of 16 to 24 years of age. After viewing the soap trailer, the majority of individuals said that the stories raised within the soap would have an effect on them. 

From looking at the chart about, 13 people out of the group of 16 said that the stories raised within the soap trailer would affect. Looking at this show us at the planning stage of our coursework was successful as we have used the correct sort of stories that relate to our target audience. 

Do the titles help split the scenes within the trailer?

 

Within our soap trailer, we added in titles showing the audience the issues that are raised within the trailer, these issues being Drug, Family and Financial issues. After asking the group about the titles, again, 13 out of the 16 said that the titles did help split the scenes. The chart above shows the results we received.    

 Do you think the editing was done correctly?

 

From asking the group this question, the following feedback is what we received?

• Editing needed filtering, for example during the drug scene, more psychedelic colours or black and white
• The two do not necessarily work with one another
• The scene with the couple in the kitchen is too long, needs to shortened down somehow
• The time and channel needs to be added to the end of the soap trailer, as well as changing the font and adding the BBC logo.
• Voice over needs re-doing, slightly distorted.