Analysis of existing media products 

The first existing media product that I will be analysing is Eastenders, I have looked into the conventions for a soap opera. I had to look into the conventions because I had to identify how micro elements were used to create a soap opera. The reason in why I chose Eastenders is because its perhaps the most popular soap opera in England.

The opening shot of this episode is a close up of a sign for property sales. This shows the audience that this episode will be based around the sign and as we see later on in the episode nearly all characters are talking about the  Queen Vic for being up for sale.

Eastenders has stereotypical editing for  a soap opera with mainly shot reverse shots to show two characters reaction when they're communicating. Each Eastenders episode follows more than one character suggesting that there isn't a main character and  also it follows more than one storyline, keeping the audience updated with all the characters lives and it again shows that there isn't a main character. All characters get the same camera angles no matter what their race or ethnicity is showing that the soap opera isn't prejudice in any way also the angles are ordinary for a soap opera because there aren't any high or low angle shots because that would make it into a TV drama, therefore the shots are stereotypical or a soap opera.

Each Eastenders episode starts of with its iconic music, the theme song for  Eastenders has been voted as the most recognisable piece of music even beating the national anthem. This shows that the theme song is very significant because the audience know its the Eastenders theme song whenever they hear it. Eastenders is based in the city so therefore there will be a lot more ambient sound however that doesn't mean that the characters are having to shout when they're having a conversation. In a soap opera it is very rare that non-diegetic sounds will be used because that would take the realism out of the soap opera.

Soap opera

What is a soap opera?

It is important that I know what a soap opera because I will have to produce a soap opera trailer. A soap opera is a drama made as a serial, it is based on real life events. Most story lines effect most characters and it is very rare for a soap opera to focus on only one storyline, as audiences expect multiple intertwining narratives. In the research  I have carried out I found out what the soap opera conventions are; teasers, dramatic irony, multiple story line, hooks, mini-cliffhangers and cliffhanger. These conventions create a soap opera, it is very rare for a soap opera not to include any of these conventions. Soap operas raise issues in the community such as affairs, family issues, drug addicts and etc. An example of these issues would be when Alfie gets back with Kat after she cheated on him and he got rid of Roxy, he cheated on Roxy on the night before his wedding and got back with Kat.

I have also identified that soap operas never finish , soap operas introduce different characters to create different narratives. A soap opera is recognised by the length of the episode an average episode is 20-30 minutes long where as a TV drama is an hour long. There are different ways in which audience can view a soap opera, they could watch on soaps on demand such as the BBC I Player and on omnibus where all episodes from the week are put together in a long episode.

Soap operas exaggerate story lines to create tension between characters for example a character the comes back from the dead that may not mean literally dead but they maybe long forgotten or have come back from somewhere far. They shake up the story line and make the other characters feel uneven because the characters that have "come back from the dead" catch everyone by surprise.

Prelim Task

The prelim task was different this year because I had to change the location so I wasn't allowed to film in school which made it a challenge. I had to think of where to film my prelim task so the location for the prelim task was a car which is very different to the genre because soap operas are usually filmed in houses or central meeting points for example in Eastenders  theres the queen vic where everyone meets, the location I picked is different because I wanted to experiment and see if this location would work. I also planned the costumes I was going to use because I had to make the characters look casual by wearing jeans and hoodies and t shirts. I have done my research by watching soap operas such as Eastenders which helped me create a list of soap opera conventions and therefore I used some of theses conventions for my prelim task. This is similar to last year because for my thriller opening scene because I researched Thriller films openings and again I made a list of conventions however the conventions that I identified weren't used for the thriller opening for example I identified some conventions for the sound of a thriller however the conventions weren't applied to the soundtrack we chose and it made the thriller look like a TV drama. 

This year I used different web tools to make my blog look more attractive and more interactive, the website that I used was Picmonkey.com, this website allowed me to edit pictures and add special effects to them, I done this because I wanted people that go on my blog to actually look at the pictures that I have uploaded because normally people would just scroll down and have a quick glimpse also I wanted this years blog to be different from last years and I am planning on using other creative websites such as  Glogster.com. For the prelim task I didn't incorporate much conventions of soap opera because I chose a different location to a soap opera, the location I chose was a car this is unconventional for a soap opera. Even though the location was unconventional the storyline was, the storyline was about a character who had a wild night at a club and had sex with girl whom later  him saying she is pregnant.

This year I have been using resources to help me complete my posts first time and without having any breaks to do some research and completing the posts later on, the resources have helped me complete  tasks quicker which means I meet deadlines set by the teacher for a blog post to be made. Another change this year is that I ask for the teacher to give me feedback on every post I make so that I make   changes and improve the work whereas last year I didn't meet deadlines and parts of my work were rushed also some tasks weren't complete so I didn't get the marks that I should've got.

In my work for As my prelim task wasn't as good as this years because I didn't do my research and planning.

How are soap opera conventions important to the soap opera trailer you will be making?