Storyline

Challenge Conventions?

So far the modern soap adverts we have analysed have had a surreal theme to it, we are looking to make our advert a cross between this elements but to add more realism. I highly enjoy the adverts that I have analysed but as the brief states that it is for a new soap I feel that we need to convey the characters in much more depth, whilst combining the lighter elements of the existing adverts.

By doing this in some way we will be challenging the conventions of modern soap ads, but focus on plot and characters will hopefully entice audiences more then an advert which glamorises and particular storyline, which the existing ones seem to do.

So with Teenage Pregnancy as our chosen plot, we began research into British soaps which tend to have a strong regional identity, EastEnders is set in the East End of London, while Manchester is the setting for Coronation Street. This is not just to attract viewers from that area, but also to make it more realistic. The area in which the soap is set also has an effect on its plotting and characters, this is important to show in our trailer because it must have a brief overview of the soap.
Many people watch soaps because of its trailers it pleases us to see and hear other people's problems, which in turn distracts us from our own. However, a soap opera has no real victims as the characters are fictional. However, we like to make guesses about their actions and reactions based on our knowledge of them. We like to see them develop as we get to know them and we enjoy learning about the complex relationships between characters, which is previewed in trailers. We become semi-experts on our favourite soaps, and our encyclopedic knowledge of them, fuelled by the above points, gives us great pleasure. In a voyeuristic manner, we like to watch other people's lives like in the case of soap operas they are just like ours, but more interesting.
Rebecca and I, decided to pursuit a story much alike to that of Sarah-Louise Platt. Because when it came to men, Sarah was very unlucky.


In February 2000, just after her 13th birthday, Sarah found out she was pregnant. Her daughter Bethany was born four months later.

The father, Neil Ferns, had no interest in Bethany and was always an "absent father". However, in late 2003, after Neil died in a car crash, Bethany's paternal grandmother, Brenda Ferns, established contact after Sarah took Bethany to Neil's funeral. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah-Louise_Grimshaw

Song Choice

Now the basic premise for our video has been decided its time for the details. The first thing we need to tackle is the background music.

Choices

First of all we discussed have a dramatic instrumental in the background, as we thought that lyrics may confuse the audience away from the narrative of the advert.
We discussed and after some research we found this song on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ait-4080MxU

Although I liked the idea of the an instrumental, after vigorous searching I could not find the up-tempo music I was looking for they would successfully convey the suspense, drama and revelation that we intend to convey.

So we looked at other options. It then came to mind that we had already sent the copyright letter to Universal records regarding the Amy Winehouse song "you know I'm no good."

It then seemed like the perfect idea to use this song for our main video also, especially after closer inspection of the chorus lyrics ...


I Cheated Myself
Like I knew I would
I told you, I was Trouble
You Know that I'm no good


These lyrics seem extremely fitting for the situation that our main character is in, torn between two men. The beginning of the song also has a very catchy and upbeat instrumental that we could use, incorporating our initial idea.

Initial Ideas for Main Task

Today we started discussing ideas for our soap opera trailer. Since Rebecca and I feel comfortable to move on with the task. We developed on the brain storm shown previously, creating new ideas and combining them to establish our final idea. Eventually we decided we would start creating ideas evolving from "Who's the baby's daddy?" because it met both of our likes and interests, with what we enjoy watching. Rejected ideas included: Fraud, financial corruption, greed, kidnapping, rapes, murder trials, fake pregnancies and love triangles.

Initially we agreed on the storyline from Eastenders of Heather. When she remained tight lipped about her baby daddy's identity. Although adapting on that with having the principal character being a teenager. Teenage pregnancies is a growing issue which we can both relate too our gender and age. Teen pregnancy rates have recently been on the rise across the UK its a growing crisis.
We believed that expressing this issue will help contribute to the battle against teenage pregnancies, although with our own interesting interpretation.

Rebecca and I, although we didn't entirely like our Preliminary task. Keeping in form with Eastenders we found a starting point, as we were both keen on the music, the Amy Winehouse track "You know I'm no good" conveys precisely what we want.
Below is the copyright letter that we sent via e-mail to universal records requesting the use of the single.











Above is a mock up of what we want our front cover to eventually look like.
I drew the picture to represent where we will place our images on the page, showing the different sized images as well as accompanying text.

Preliminary Task

We split into groups, were I was partnered with Rebecca Smith we enjoy this part of the A2 syllabus, because over two days of intensive planning and filming we came to edit the final cut of our soap trailer. Rebecca played the principle character and featured in the trailer and due to time restrictions the location was in Rebecca bedroom, since we couldn't find a convenient set in such a short time. Considering the short timing-frame we could not complete the trailer to the extent we expect at A2. It was simply a learning curve to using the software and testing lighting and sound.

Rebecca and I, decided to imitate the well-known Eastenders trailer entitled Sam's return on YouTube. It was a popular plot this year, consequently we endeavoured to re-enact it although adding our own twist. Rebecca plays the protagonist role of Sam, with Rebeccas' room as the background, we believed it mimicked Sams setting of getting ready. Both trailers are below, to show the resemblance.

So our remake advert, its a rough cut and if we were to do this again, I would have like to spend longer filming to get more accurate shots, which would have made the final cut more similar to Sams. Although Rebecca reinforced the fact it was simply to get to grips with the equipment. We both would have liked to have focused more on the colour scheme and balanced the light better to accentuate Sam. We also would have developed it further to get more characters and stage them exactly like the Eastenders trailers. If we had more time, we would have edited it with more similarities to that of the Eastenders, including a voice over.
However we reached our targets, because we both learnt how to use the equipment and the computer programmes, like Adobe Premiere Elements.