Q1: How did you USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE codes and conventions of

real media products?

Soap opera

• A soap opera is usually called soap for short and adopted this name as they were usually shown with soap adverts due to them being shown to stay at home housewives who were expected to clean the house.

• Modern day examples of soaps are Hollyoaks, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Eastenders.

Codes and conventions of my chosen genre

Soap operas

Vladimir Propp character rolesMultiple narratives

Ends on cliff-hanger so audience watches more

Realistic storylines

Create realism, for example placement of objects

Based around one particular place

Social realism

Codes and conventions of my chosen sub-genre.

Location Shooting (not in a studio)

Multiple parallel storylines

Semi-improvised scripts to achieve realistic dialogue.

Mostly medium and close up shots to show facial expression and background.

Episodes end on cliff-hanger.

Mise en scene – set in everyday locations.

Natural lighting used

Comparison to existing product

Kingley GroveHollyoaks

Both products have used a close up to show the emotion on a characters face during a key scene, the close up also forces the viewer’s attention to be orientated around the star’s face. They also are both maintaining eye contact only slightly away from the centre on the camera.

An establishing shot is a key feature of every form of visual media and that is why I have included it in my trailer. The purpose of an establishing shot is to set the scene for the audience right from the start. Therefore I have used this convention as my trailer features an establishing shot.

Both trailers feature a over the shoulder shot allows the viewer to see things from the perspective of a certain character. This allows the viewers connect with the character as the shot allows the viewer to feel as if they were the character and plays on the soap’s feature of escapism.

Both products feature location shooting, so it is actually shot at the location instead of a set constructed in a studio. This makes the scene more realistic and believable for the audience. Also the Mise-en-scene represents everyday locations which the audience can relate with.

An extreme close up has been used in both products to point out something to the viewer that is very key to the plot or scene. Extreme close ups are usually used to present the emotion on a characters face, however as a group we decided to challenge this convention and use our extreme close up in a phone screen.

This demonstrates the use of a low angle shot which follows conventions as shown through the use of one in Hollyoaks. However they are used for two different reasons. In Kingley Grove the low angle shot is used to show the emotion on the star’s face as he looks down, however in Hollyoaks it is being used to show the male star to be in a position of power over the female star as he is being made to look higher up than her. Therefore my use of the low angle shot could be seen to develop codes and conventions.

Both have used a two shot in order to show the emotion on the faces of both characters. In both scenes the two shot is being used to show the intense romantic stare between the characters. Therefore it would appear we have used this code and convention of the two shot.

Close ups are used to show features in the scene in their entirety, as demonstrated in my clip. This shows I have used codes on conventions of the close up shot. Although they are focusing on different thing the close up in both scenes is being used to provoke emotion.

The way I have used common codes and conventions for my billboard product is in the use of a logo to show the viewer what channel they are from, although I have developed it in the sense of the position of the logo, as shown the logo is usually in the right hand side, placed in the middle. Whereas I have placed the logo in the bottom right hand corner as to not obstruct or pull away focus from the main image. In terms of the image used, the Hollyoaks billboard features more characters and also features more female characters which could be used to express female dominance. The Hollyoaks billboard also features more stars on it, which shows character diversity, If I were to redo my billboard I would aim to put more emphasis on this, however I wanted to avoid an overcrowded shot because I wanted one point of focus. It could be said that I have challenged this element as I didn't want to over-complicate my shot.

This demonstrates the progression of my TV magazine front cover. I aimed to use codes and conventions of real media products when producing my front cover. I aimed to closely replicate the existing cover which is pictured right. The reason I aim to closely replicate the existing product is because it uses common codes and conventions

and will give my product a professional look if I follow them.