The Office.

We're looking to base our soap around an office enviroment so it's worth looking at the popular comical drama The Office to see how they've established a location and atmosphere.

-First thing i noticed was that is a very good balance of absurdity and realism. The mise-en-scene seems very believable yet storylines and characters are very far fetched.

-It follows the stereotype that an office is a mans place as its predominantly men, a women is shown as a receptionist.

-All the men are wearing suits, which is the normal attire of an an office.the colours are not flamboyant in any sense.
--For our soap maybe we could push the boundries and show eccentric characters, men could possibly wear brighter colours to highlight the individuality (not all men of course).

-The office does not focus it's priorities in showing realism. It goes on 'funny' sterotypes or assumptions. The office has a 90% white male class, this is something i don't want to follow if were basing it around an office enviroment.
--We can take the eccentricity of Shameless characters and place them in a boring/normal/realistic office enviroment similar to The Office.

-The office's present are not particularly big, you would assume the business is not a multi million organisation but rather an average sized organisation. Its successful with it's mise-en-scene as it has metal cabinets, water dispensers chairs aligned by the side of halls and dull colour schemes throughout.

- The office seems to be very tidy and clean, it doesn't show an working enviroment. People watching the show would not pay much attention on the details but when you focus on them you can see that it is only a set. We would obviously show stray papers and sentimental ornaments on employees desk.


- They employees go out to a club after work. The style is of course very different to how we'd like to do it. Everything is very comical so situations and circumstances are heightened to create humour. We'd like to include humourous elements in the soap but this will be subtly through dialogue or gestures, this so we can keep a relatable, realistic essence of the programme.

- There's a brief scene of a character in the car travelling to work. This came up in part of brainstorm and it's assuring to know we're on the right tracks. We can take some elements of the Office but addapt it to fit a soap style.


This image shows a fair ratio of men to women. But when watching the programme only one women was seen to be involved in any of the sketches/storylines.

Neighbours scene. Mise-en-scene.

-A women is seen on a hospital bed. This is the first establishing thought as the first shot only shows a close up on a womens face with an oxygem tube in her nose. She's also laying on what you can make out to be a reclining bed. This follows a similar form of soaps using accessories as representations of realism.

-Props are used as a tool to allow audience's to help establish a location or used to represent a certain 'something'. Props in association with certain circumstance must be easily distinguised by viewers in associaition with that certain subject/circumstance.
(example above)

Script.


Description of scene:
*A women is lying a bed, she appears to be ill. A man is standing opposite the bed holding a newly born baby. There voices are at a very slow tempo and low volume. An emotional moment*

Man: (describing a beautiful scenario to the women, to imagine themselves in together. Birds singing and warm weather etc.)

Women: Mmm.. Global warming

Man: (Giggles quietly)


This becomes a very lighthearted matter. There's instantly an awakening of blogal issues. This counteracts the insignificance of her illness. Viewers for a fraction of a second think beyound the hospital room. This is also a very small indication of realism within soaps. They only mention such huge topics of todays worlds in very breif encounters in soaps and, sometimes it won't appear at all.


- This convention of soaps is one that i would like to develope and maybe centralise a soap based around the recession. I would like to featured scenarios where people will truely discuss such issues of relevent times.

-I don't think soaps cater for people with more intellect and i would like to develope this further.

Eastenders. Mise-en-scene

In the homes they represent they can be quite realistic. They don't replicate interior design developments and the latest trends and gadgets you can get within the home. ALthough not much technology is seen within the soap such as laptops, this could be because it's showing a lower/working class society.

Around the square/market the retail outlets are not showing any window displays or signs about the recession, nor is there any emphasis on the economic deprivation. The society of eastenders doesn't change often, the dynamics remain the same. There maybe a few indications of the recession within dialogue or one narrative strand. It doesn't keep up to date with a true reality. It shows a very small world that is stuck in its ways.

In homes you can see dirty plates in the sink and beside the basin. This can be a realistic representation showing people do live there. It's showing a certain lifestyle, people of a middle class may have a dishwasher. It also shows characteristics of characters, they show the characters to not be particularly house proud. This does differ amoungst other characters, not everyone is shown to be living like this. Eastenders is very good at giving impressions of diverse living styles.

A man is seen sitting on a dining table looking through documents. He has a smart shirt on with a tie very neatly tied. He looks very focused on his work. This sets of a very easily understood message to viewers; that he's a professional business man that takes his work very seriously. You need nothing more to convince viewers, he doesn't need to have any certain characteristics.
-This is a technique we can adopt. The use of simply costume and accessory ideas.

Shameless trailer 2.

There's a second trailer for shamless this time it follows the recent form of soap/drama trailers. The recents forms are of course using specialist computer designing techniques and not showing any scenes from the programme.

-By having advertisments of the programme in the style of product/service advertisments may sppeal to a larger target audience.
- It shows the 5/6 main characters of the show inside a computer, amoungst the hardware. They're roaming around, similar to the style of the film The Burrowers (very small people lurking amongst normal enviroments).
- It could be metophoric, as a computer can be a maze to many people it could be showing there lives as a maze and them roaming through the vast expansion of space (virtual space).
- Visually the screen is very busy and this can be appealing and interesting to viewers.
- The computer is a neccesity in todays society and the trailer follows this theme. At the end of trailer it has small logo's of Facebook and Bebo which are very popular social networking sites. This is of course a smart marketing stratergy as it can begin a viral marketing chain where people 'spread the word'.


-We haven't the skills or software to produce a highly graphical trailer although we can use the idea of social networking sites to our advantage and feature it in our posters or create links and groups on our website linking to facebook and bebo.

Shameless trailer.

We've brainstormed ideas and we've decided to include quirky characters of various walks of life. Shameless has a remarkable antagonist which makes the program what it is and, is executed so well.

-Very short clip (approx 30 secs) of a scene featured from the series. (this is a traditional form of trailer).
-The short scene highlights the main characters obscenities, it shows nothing that would entice viewers. With this drama it concentrates on characters and their day to day living. It's not primarily concerned with what narratives it must include or keep up to date with.
-He's in a hospital ward and gets extremely loud and alarming. This calming environment really contrasts his characteristics that creates a very comical sketch. The scene is not necessarily in concurrent order as it edits to a shot where he walks out missing the middle dialogue between him and the nurse. Creating a small scene of comical value that remains simple in its structure.
- The contrast of this mans attitude and the environment he's placed in would cause viewers to react stronger to his actions whereas if you placed this character in a quite street at the dead of night shouting and screaming you would think very differently of him. But being placed in a calm environment you would not think this man is of any threat but of comical insanity.

This highlights a few conventions to trailers:
-Short
-Non coherent (no real time lapse)
-Highlights dramatic or satirical scenes
-Introduces characters (personalities)

Shameless is a drama although it seems apparent that the nature in trailers between drama's and soaps does not differentiate greatly. It seems acceptable to consider humor as a marketing strategy to capture our audience. First we must generate a more defined idea as to what we hope to do and who our target audience is. Shameless is a drama that's very satirical, filled with sarcasm and irony. The trailer correctly identifies an appropriate narrative image. We must establish a trailer that correctly communicates the style of our soap.

Neighbours trailer.

20th Anniversery of the soap being broadcasted it had a special episode made.

-Highlights the main themes that are shown throughout the season circulating around particular characters.
-Secrets, lies and villians. All in white fonts contrasted against a black background keeping some esense of simplicity. Simplicity highlights and emphasises the meaning being put across.
-Language with strong descriptive terms are used such as; exposed and villians all portraying a mysterious outlook.
- '20 years' is being repeating which heightens your mood of exhiliration whilst watching this, conjuring in your mind the idea of something big that may occur.
-The titles are edited between footage of scenes that will occur or have occured which build a few enigma's. This tries to keep that essence of realism.
-Althought the trailer includes more action than it would when watching an episode normally, therefore intising the viewer as one would if advertising for a film. It sets off the wrong impression of the program trying to reach across a wider audience or grab the attention of new potential viewers. Some could say it's still lacking in realism but, potrays more realism than other soap trailers shown on television.




1986.
Obviously technology was no where near as advanced as it is today so even slight tools such as colour correctors were not used which really takes away from it's authenticity. Some may argue it's more realistic and can be more appealing.
- It highlights a much friendlier lifestyle than in the present. This can be because soaps may have merged with few conventions from Drama's.
- It's simplicity is key. Similar to EAstenders the sound track is very minimalistic which can be effective in capturing attention. With most adverts today it's very contrasted as the moving image is not busy with a high level of energy (which todays television is filled with extremely eye catching shots).
-It's not over the top nor is it trying to depict anything other than a friendly interface with viewers. It seems very calming and comforting and if placed on todays screens can come across as boring.



-Television today is much more controversial as the boundaries of what can be broadcasted today become more and more extreme. For example sex and violence now dominated or are included in almost every successful programme on prime time.
-Television today is much more competitive and has to be innovative. Although the idea of it's simplicity is something that can work very effectivly if used in the right context. An example could be the music, as music for adverts become increasingly different it seems you look straight past it. As every producer is trying to do something different and original it can be blurred in comparison to everything else that's trying to be different. So by stripping down on ideas and keeping with simplistic forms it could intise viewers more so. If your trying to push to sell someone a product that could be turne off by the idea if you try so hard. So rather than glamourising anything, keep it plain so its easily interpreted and relatable to viewers. You can take this to an extreme and stretch the boundaries by playing a white noise that could alarm viewers and grab their attention or, play one note through the whole sequence to 'hook' viewers and allow them to concentrate and focus more on what their seeing.

Eastenders research. Scheduling.

Eastenders as we know is the most popular soap in the uk. It has attracted millions of viewers since the 80's. In 1986 (two years after it was launched) it got 30 million views which is one of its highest to date.
Eastenders obviously gets prime time on the the BBC as it still continues to attract millions of viewers everyday which is 4 days of the week! Its shown on at approximately 7 30pm. There's also an omnibus you can catch at Sunday noon. Emmerdale and Hollyoaks both have omnibus's on the weekend. This of course is to appeal to that larger market allowing people to catch the 'goss' of it all at any time that suits their leisure.


An idea for our soap would be play it in the mornings as many people now (millions) are off work and there's a gap in the market for a show targeting that minority. For a launching soap maybe targeting a specific market would be a good base.
Sky plus and the Internet are two resources viewers now have integrated into their lives that allows them to make their lifestyle more suited to their needs.

As technological developments are becoming increasingly popular we can be more creative in how we wish to present this soap. Due to the nature of TV today, there's very few programmes that generate high viewings (eg. the development of BBC iplayer). This stresses the importance of alternative, eye-catching advertisements and creative thinking.

Eastenders notes. Research.

Eastenders notes.

- Colloquial sland terms used with regional accents that can relate to many viewers. London is largest city in the Uk with the highest population so to reach high viewing numbers it must be based in the largest region. (this is an idea we innevitably have to adopt which will work in our favour).

- Eastenders tries harder than other soaps to represent a strong realism. Characters costumes are not stylsed dramaticaly, like Hollyoaks, as then concentrate on representing an accurate appearence of working class London.

- Other aspects of the mise-en-scene that reflect this working class lifestyle is seen in the locations/sets and props. This includes the size of houses, the decorative style of the sets.

- There does represent a cultural diversity, there's one Asian family living in the square. Eastenders doesn't focus on cultural issues that effect a large number of people in the country still! Things such as arranged marriages, the ethical issues surrounding headscarfs in school etc. Nor do they show cultural changes in London such as the rise of the Polish community since the new legislation was implaced. It's based around day-to-day routines. Eastenders concentrates more on holding their large fan base then representing realism. People around the country wouldn't really understand the issues that are based within London as, many live in scarce places in the country which are still prodominatly still English.

- In this recent episode a young girl is shown to have a child. This does show a huge issue in politics surrounding social concerns. It's introduced subtly as i can only guess the producers did not want to alarm viewers as today people are becoming increasingly impressionable to the media. People see Eastenders as entertaiment and would not want to view serious concerns, although it would be an extremly effective way of making people aware of what's going on around them.

- Enigma's are featured in this episode but can be mistaken for mini cliffhangers which are part of traditional forms and conventions of soap operas.


During this i also brainstormed a few ideas that we may include in our project:
- Could show the soap in the morning as, if it's based around the recession or a working enviroment, millions of people have been made redudent and would therefore have that extra half an hour in the morning.
- Include subtle enviomental issues. Its a very large global problem at the moment as scientist predict we're on the verge of catastrophe so, showing the enviroment with recycling bins could bring to peoples awarness this is now and the future.
- The Mental Health Department as recently been mentioned to needing a real upgrade. Many people see this as a huge taboo and almost everyone at some stage in there life could benefit from councelling. We could feature characters with stress/anxiety issues or go a step further and include quircky characters with ADHD that need to take medication to calm themselves. This will strip the taboo of the subject, bring it to peoples awareness and create a 'different' soap that shows a realism.

Forms and Conventions of Soap Opera's

Below: A brief list that summarises the most noticeable conventions that define a 'soap'. This is a vague reminder as to what it is we're trying to imitate. This highlights my general knowledge upon soaps thus far.

-Must display a certain accuracy in representing realism
-Substorylines and narratives that all interweave between characters (eg, love triangles)
-Have a communal 'feel' with a common/central location
-Gossip is largely included in story lines/scripts
-Regional accents
-Diegetic music is used
-Cliff hangers and mini cliff hangers
-Relatable characters
-Concurrent story lines and lapse of time
-Themes including - social issues, family, sex
-Archetype/stereotype characters

On the group blog i have posted the minutes from today's meeting. Today we discussed and elaborated on conventions we'd like to keep or develop into our individual style.

From this i believe everyone within the group became aware as to how much research needs to be done. This gave us the initiative to begin allocating tasks.

Questionaire.

I have though of some relevent questions to ask people for the questionaire. This will not determine any of my decisions yet it's something i will consider when brain storming and planning later. It helps you understand a potential target audience, although i don't think the soap (i wish to do) will be of mainstream culture such as Eastenders or Coronation St.



* What soaps do you watch?

* What's your favourite?

* What soap do you think is most popular?

*What do you think of this?

*What's the most realistic soap out there?

*Who's your favourite character? And why?

*What storylines would you like to see more of?

*What's missing from your favourite soap, that you may wish to see?

*Would you like to see something more realistic on soaps eg. realism about the recession?

*What's most close to home in soaps for you? What's most relevent?

*And finally, what kinda situations of stereotypes do you find most entertaining? And why?

*What time would you prefer to sit down and watch your soaps?



I shall find random people of various ages to get a diverse range and see if there is any correlation in there answers. I shall conduct this research over the next few days.

Things to think about.

-So who's your target audience?
-What narratives have you brainstormed?
-How does this relate? Explain the connection?
-Whats styles and themes would you like to apply?
-Explain your artistic vision/direction breifly?
-Do you think your research is enough?
-What's the first 'drama' that will feature? Is it relevent to today/your audiences?
-Do you have ideas about characters/settings?



An excersize Mr. Sim made us do was to interview each other. It helped me understand how large this project is and how it may take us a while to get to the next stage. These were the questions i was asking others, as well as myself. Next week i hope everyone in my group will be clear about what it is we're doing.

First group meeting + first ideas.

Our first group meeting today was quite successful, half the group were not in lesson. We still managed to conduct a civilised meeting, we have no set targets for completion for next week. I took minutes and have created a group blog for us to all communicate on and i have posted the minutes of today on the blog.

For future reference the blogs called mediaunit3.blogspot.com
We also have our own e-mail address which i will the group today.
Serhan's job today was to inform the others of our meeting and that there are tasks set which they can find on the group blog.



I brainstormed a few ideas that we could follow though with.

**Both ideas are based on heavy truths on reality**

One based around a life of deprivation, street life, crime and everything else associated with the lower end/forgotten end of society.

INTRO IDEA 1[[[[[7am, homeless man sits infront of a shop as the shutters open. Grey London streets awakes the man as a car speeds past and over a puddle dousing the man it what could only be described as more misery.]]]]] The drama could come later in the episode as he may get mugged or kniffed.


INTRO IDEA 2 [[[[[Middle class business, entrepernurual. A civilised office enviroment filled with financial times readers stressing daily over exchange rates and the stock market. This has a large target audience for the next year or two. People losing the jobs, relating to the high pressured office enviroment, business managers having to make drastic decisions, staff sneaking out for cigarettes every ten minutes and etc. Reasearch must go into what lifestyles and characters to include and what narrative strands will really grip viewers.]]]]]

Both ideas will be based on a strong essence of realism.