Treatment

The soap revolves around different storylines which are all occurring within the same neighbourhood. The soap tackles challenges faced by individuals in society; some of which are real life stories I have witnessed. Many of the issues addressed in the TV soap are those which are possibly faced by our target audience. Each plot will link with each storyline as the soap will be based in the same area. The soap opera will begin with introducing characters on a highstreet, making their way to work, college, etc. As this is realistically typical start to a day, viewers will be able to relate to this.

The different plots will include:

·         The first storyline reveals the lifestyle of two different cultured families; one a Pakistani family, and the other an Indian family; living side by side in society within the same neighbourhood. Rizwaan (from the Pakistani family) and Riya (from the Indian family) are madly in love, starting off as a teenage relationship, and developing into something strong and serious, after being together for almost four years. However, their relationship is not as perfect as a fairytale. Both Rizwaan and Riya are living double lives; cultural at home, and code switching to a more British identity outside their home. They face conflicts and challenges of being together, as both their families would never accept the relationship. Riwaan’s family wants a traditional Pakistani daughter-in-law, whereas Riya’s family wants an Indian son-in-law.

·         A nineteen year old boy, trying to balance the stresses of his home life and university life. Michael has recently found out that his father is suffering from cancer, making it increasingly difficult for him to focus on his exams and deadlines. Unable to cope with the stresses experienced, Michael’s social life begins to take a downfall as he becomes very depressed, and rather than his old habits of partying with friends, he spends all his free time at home looking after his father.

·         16 year old Tamika and her boyfriend Sam have an on and off sexual relationship, where Tamika becomes pregnant. Tamika wants to keep the baby as she is strongly against any forms of killing, whether it is to take the pill or have an abortion. However, Sam seems to be totally against it and is not ready to become a ‘daddy’. Tamika has full support from her single mum; however, she does not want the baby to end up fatherless and therefore becomes stressed.

Target Audience

This soap is particularly aimed at a family orientated audience, as it tackles issues that people in the contemporary society may have to deal with. Issues dealing with the family, such as the storyline of Riwaan and Riya, would benefit the families of those who are strongly cultural; by maybe helping them understand how difficult it is for the couples that love each other.

Frequency

This soap opera will be aired three times a day during the weekdays at 20:00. The time is effective in attracting the family audience as this is the time where families come home from institutions such as school, college, work etc.

Pitch Table

Title	Content	Style	Target Audience
Astray	Teenage girl is reported missing.	Drama	15+
In the UK	Different storylines of	Romance/ drama	Families
Clue	Boarding school (boys and girls). Students are killed. A group feels unsafe and tries to investigate.	Horror/ thriller	18+
J’adore ?	Love triangle with two boys and one girl, all best friends.	Romance/ comedy	18+

Analysis of an Episode - Coronation Street

1)    In the first shot we see Chris walking into the kitchen where Maria seems to be making breakfast. This can be referred to as the typical traditional stereotypes of women in the kitchen. Chris wants to take Maria out to lunch since she has a day off work; however, she thinks he would rather be at his favourite place, the pub. The atmosphere during this scene is very tense and ends with an argument.

2)    The second shot shows Becky and Sylvia. Becky has just woken up and seems in a mess, whilst Sylvia is washing up. Sylvia teaches Becky to hold herself together after her break-up and do her part by helping around the house.

3)    Kylie and David are hair spraying their hair, showing that they’re interested in their looks. “Gran won’t be there”- this foreshadows how things will be bad at the salon later on. Gail and ___ talking about his breakup with Becky, seems quite miserable.

4)    Owen has a go at Chris for not turning up to work. Chris accidently hits Jason with a pole whilst working. Owen gets mad and threatens to dock time of Chris’ wages.

5)    Kylie and David are at the salon talking about their first day of changing their lives around. Rita comes in and already complains about the music being too loud. She wants her roots to be touched up, however Kylie and David try changing her hair and insult her, calling her old and mentioning her grey hairs. During this scene, Kylie and David are shown together in one shot, whereas Rita is shown on her own. This shows the separate sides. Also, as Rita is shown sitting down whereas the other two characters are shown standing up, it shows Rita as the vulnerable character.

6)    Matt is shown stitching up Jason’s head. Whilst Chris is leaving after Jason, Matt says: “Chris, you really should tell Owen” – this shows that something is wrong and that Chris is hiding something.

7)    Sophie is seen working, saving money to pay back her dad, whereas Sian and Sunita are making other plans. This shows the tension between the three girls.

8)    Leanne and Peter are shown getting into a car. Stella walks by and speaks to Peter, however, her daughter Leanne doesn’t seem to want to talk to her mother.

9)    Owen has another go at Chris and threatens to sack him. Chris, looking angry says “stuff it”, quitting his job.

10) Kylie is shown talking on the phone. The business doesn’t seem to going well. Gail walks in to check of Kylie and David. Kylie persuades Gail to get her nails done.

11) Stella and Eccles are talking about Leanne and Eccles invites Stella over to her house.

12) Maria finds out from Jason that Chris has left his job.

13) Eccles brings Stella home to where Simon is. Stella sits down and starts talking to her grandson.

14) Chris and Maria talk about Chris quitting his job. There is a great use of over-the-shoulder shots during this scene; this shows that they are having a serious conversation.

15) Gail compliments Kylie’s work on her nails, and Sunita walks in waiting for her appointment with David.

16) Simon and Stella get talking and Simon asks Stella about how Leanne was when she was little. She shows him a picture of when she was a baby.

17) Julie walks into the salon asking if Kylie does reflexology. She does the wrong thing and ends up doing reiki.

18) Marc and Audrey relaxing in the garden. They mention the salon but Audrey feels like she has left it in good hands.

19) Sunita seems to be flirting with David whilst Kylie is doing reflexology to Julie. As Kylie becomes annoyed with Sunita, she does something wrong to Julie’s feet, who then walks out in pain.

20) Maria asks Owen to give Chris his job back

21) Whilst Stella and Simon are playing rock paper scissors, Leanne and Peter walk in. Leanne seems annoyed and rushes Simon out.

22) Sian is getting ready whereas Sophie is sitting on her couch miserably. Sian comes to sit with her and manages to make her smile. Sophie then agrees to go out with Sophie.

23) Gail shows her nails to Rita telling her how Kylie and David are doing a good job at the salon. Rita then tells her about Kylie and David insulting her and how they are not qualified. Julie walks in limping and tells Gail she has a mind to sue Kylie.

24) Peter, Leanne and Simon are sitting at the table talking about Stella. Lean seems unhappy with the fact that Stella was talking to her Simon. Simon is confused at why his mother is acting so horrible whilst Stella is being nice. Peter talks to Leanne and tells her not to punish Simon just because she doesn’t like Leanne.

25) Chris and Maria are back at their house, talking about Chris and his job which turns into an argument. Chris throws his plate on the wall and turns the table over.

The episode begins with the Chris and Maria’s scene at their house and ends with the same scene showing that this is the main storyline in this episode. Altogether, there are five storylines presented in the episode where some seem to link to one another. I have shown this by grouping the stories with the use of different font colours. For example, scenes that involve the storyline around Chris are shown in red, etc.

The way in which the soap episode is edited is really effective, as the audience seem to be jumping back and forth between scenes, or in and out of the lives of different characters. The purpose of this is so that the audiences are exposed to the realistic nature of the soap, where although we may have left a scene to join another, the characters within the soap will continue to get on with their lives, showing the progression of time. The cutting between scenes enables the audience to understand the different storylines as well as how the characters and the storylines link up to each other. As the soap comes to an ending, the atmosphere becomes tense, ending on a cliffhanger. This causes viewers to want to follow the next episode in order to find out what happens next in the soap.

Analysis of a Trailer - Coronation Street

The trailer first introduces two policemen to establish that there is some sort of illegal problem within this week’s episodes. The policemen are presented in bright coloured uniform to show they have authority. In contrast, Carla is seen wearing dark, black clothes, blending in with the depressing background which is effective in foreshadowing the events that occur later on in the episode. Also, the shadows of the blinds create a sense of imprisonment symbolizing jail bars, emphasized by the lines presented. This also foreshadows the scene later shown in the trailer, where Carla is held hostage, where the implication of imprisonment is presented.

After the policemen tell Carla “It’s about your husband”, the scene cuts directly to Tony Gordon, slowly panning up from the ground, with the launch of a strong, steady beat that continues until the end of the trailer to attract the audience and strongly signify the importance of the story presented. The appearance of Tony Gordon is also emphasized by the voice of Claire who introduces him as soon as the scene cuts to Tony by the dialogue; “Guess who’s escaped… Tony Gordon”. Here, it cuts to her scene and then back at Tony, still panning slowly where the last cut had left of, in order for the audience to make a clear connection to the narrative structure. During the second clip of Tony, Maria is presented with her dialogue; “Where did they think he is?” with a sense of fear shown on her face to foreshadow her being held hostage. Within this trailer, Tony is presented in all black with a hoodie. This effectively emphasizes the stereotypical views of a negative character. Also, the fact that the scene of unraveling Tony Gordon is almost in black and white suggesting that there is some sort of unfolded mystery in his character, making the audience feel edgy.

The trailer consists of many quick cuts as the prisoner, Tony Gordon, is constantly shown after each short clip of a different scene. This emphasizes the narrative image of Tony being on the centre stage of the story. The quick cuts play a significant role in building up tension in order to attract the audience and make them question what will happen next. This curiosity in turn sells the program by obtaining more viewers to watch the soap opera.

Researching this trailer has allowed me to gain a better understanding of what is expected when promoting a storyline of a soap. As I will also be creating a soap trailer, I took a few things into consideration when analyzing this trailer. Firstly, there needs to be some sense of an interesting storyline shown in the trailer, using every possible convention to get the idea across to the viewers. The mise-en scene, as well as the editing and camera work are important elements in building up the tension, and revealing the hidden character. This will all be taken into account whilst I’m producing my soap. One thing I found effective was the emphasis on the main character in this particular storyline, where he is shown on the centre stage of the story with the majority of the trailer focusing on him. This is something I particularly liked about this trailer, and I will try to use this technique in my own trailer.

Analysis of a Title Sequence - Coronation Street

The title sequence of any soap opera holds a significant importance as it sets the theme for the audience before the soap begins. Coronation Street’s trailer begins with a crane-shot of a neighbourhood, as well as the appearance of the title ‘Coronation Street’ in the bottom, left-hand corner of the shot. The instrumentation plays a tune that seems to be rather sorrowful; however, the rhythmic double bass is able to merge an air of pensive wistfulness with vigilant optimism. The steady pace of the hum-drum seems to encapsulate the common day-in, day-out feel of the atmosphere in the soap. Also, as the music possesses an ‘old-time’ feel, it suggests that this soap is intended for an older audience, aged perhaps 25 and over.

The sequence continues with a cross-fade presenting an alley that looks on to a street. These clips all lack the presence of any characters, only showing blurred people in the background, almost seeming anonymous. This may suggest that the company may not feel the need to introduce any characters within the title sequence as this is left for the episode to present the characters, seeming as though this setting is waiting to be populated by the characters. Otherwise, the lack of characters in the title sequence may be due to the fact that the audience should maybe already know the characters as it is a soap opera after all, where the viewers follow the episodes.

As the sequence progresses to cross-fade, the back gardens of the neighbourhood is shown with a cat walking along the shed, also introducing the writer ‘Peter Whalley’. The presence of the cat can be acknowledged by the audience as a pet being a part of family life. It could also be associated with an older generation, again signifying that the soap is intended for an older audience.

The end of the sequence proposes a final cross-fade to ‘Rover’s Return Inn’, the local pub, with a train emerging in the background. The use of the shot in which the pub is shown, clearly suggests that this pub holds significance throughout the soap and could also be the setting where majority of the excitement and drama takes place.

By researching and analyzing the title sequence of Coronation Street, it is clear that music plays a huge role in attracting the audience’s attention to the soap by helping viewers identify with the music played in the title sequence. Editing is also big when it comes to creating a title sequence as the transitions used, as well as the blurring effects, are essential in setting the theme for the soap, which is something I have to consider when creating to my own soap trailer.

Researching Soaps - Plan For Group

In order to gain a better understanding of the conventions of soap operas and what is required for an effective trailer, as a group we decided to research the following soaps:

1.    Eastenders

2.    Hollyoaks

3.    Coronation Street

4.    Emmerdale

As our group consists of four members, we decided to split the research task between up. The plan is as follows:

Each group member will produce research and analysis of the title sequence, trailer, and episode for one of the above soaps which we will all then put onto our group blog to see what conventions have been used for each of the soaps.

Each of us then chose which soap to base their research on:

1.    Eastenders - Dena

2.    Hollyoaks - Katie

3.    Coronation Street – Myself (Varsha)

4.    Emmerdale - Tansu