IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS USE, DEVELOP AND CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

By Joseph Groves

I wanted to ensure that we met many codes and conventions of a typical soap opera whether it be through the sense of community, story lines, or issues covered.

However I felt that codes and conventions are there to be broken also as it makes a more enjoyable and memorable viewing experience for the audience

I aimed to find out the codes and conventions through research of other programs such as Hollyoaks, Skins and Eastenders.

My Aim

RESEARCH

During this project I looked to carry out various accounts of research through watching trailers and regularly watching soap operas

By carrying out this research it gave me numerous details of typical codes and conventions of a typical soap opera, as well as how a soap opera is usually presented through an advert from

Here are some examples of trailers I viewed

FINDINGS FROM RESEARCH

After commencing research of various trailers I found the types of stock narratives/ characters and settings that were used

Stock Narratives: Hollyoaks-love, drugs, deceit, money problems, young relationships Skins- drugs, alcohol, sex, deceit, young relationships, educational issuesStock characters:Hollyoaks- young attractive female (persued by most of the men) corrupt older figure of authority Typical ‘lad’ character with what seems like no cares in the worldGeek character, who is completely focused on studies but gets disctracted on the way

STOCK NARRATIVES/THEMES WE USED

Some of the stock narratives we used included story lines such as: Love Break ups Alcoholism Stress of exams I found that these types of story lines were shown in shows such as Hollyoaks, Eastenders and Skins

EXAMPLES OF STOCK NARRATIVES

Hollyoaks- Holly’s relationship with both Jason and Robbie

Eastenders- Phil Mitchell’s alcoholism struggle

STOCK NARRATIVES WE USEDWe used many stock narratives for example :

Humphrey’s issue of alcoholism

Love triangle between Adam , Lucy and Jack

STOCK CHARACTERS WE USED

Lee: ‘Lad’ character-who is only focused on a good time

Soph: Independed strong female character

Lucy: attractive female character, perused by many male characters

STOCK SETTINGS WE USED We decided to use many stock settings throughout our piece, we knew that typical soap operas mainly used communal settings to help provide the idea of a close community which the soap opera is focused on. Examples of stock settings we used included:

Royal Holloway university- this was set as the new university that had opened, it helped create an idea of a point where all the characters meet and can link back to for the audience

A typical party scene was used also , this helps provide an insight into the usual lifestyle of a university student and help once again establish a point of community where all the characters meet in the trailer.

Lastly another example of a stock setting is the characters Lee and Soph’s Bedrooms. This scene is typically used in soap operas to help give the audience an insight into the most personal space of a character and to help establish what the character is truly like through their possessions. Also we were able to replicate the idea of a stereotypical minimal university students room by research I did. I visited various friends of mine who were at university to see what their rooms looked like and realised it was very bland and minimal and the only touch of individuality was personal possessions.

STYLES OF PRESENTATION We realised that mise en scene was a vital aspect to our soap

opera. This meant that we ensured that every scene had items that related to the style of university life. For example when looking at Soph and Lee’s bedroom scene we can see that stereotypical items you would expect from a university student are in the scene. For example you can identity that Lee is very much living in a party lifestyle as his room contains beer cans, crisps, and condoms to show that he is a character that enjoys the party aspect of university. Whereas when analysing Soph’s bedroom you can see items such as textbooks to show she is focused simply on her education and passing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

How did we challenge the codes and conventions? As group we aimed to challenge many of the codes and conventions of a typical soap

opera, we did this in a few ways. Firstly we took the typical head teacher figure of authority and wanted to give him a

weakness, so we gave him two main weaknesses that linked, we gave him the problem of a lost son and alcoholism, I wanted to do this as I felt when watching a soap opera based on the age range of 16-24 I found that it was only the youth who mainly had issues with drugs, and alcohol and typically the voice of reason would be the older figure of authority. By doing this I added a whole new aspect to the soap opera as a character who seemed so perfect and in charge actually has his own secrets, making for a more interesting and mentally engaging viewing for the audience.

CONTINUED

I also found that I wanted to take the fact of Lee struggling with university life and finding the balance of fun and education, which is an issue used in many soap operas such as Hollyoaks and I wanted to add a slight aspect of light humour and comedic relief to the show by further developing this issue of Lee’s party life style and having scenes such as him falling out of bed and waking up with a twiglet on his face. I felt this further developed the typical hard hitting issues used in a soap opera with the sub genre of comedy, as it helps to overall appeal to a wider audience that may not just be looking for soap opera about real life hard hitting problems.

In conclusion I feel that as an individual the piece would have benefitted a lot more by showing more elements of comedic relief and a short break from the dark issues and overall made for a better balance of light comedy and serious issues, which is something other soap operas have a great balance of.