Group Soap

Meaning

In our project we had to record and show a dramatic scene which would be seen in a ordinary soap opera. Our specific storyline was a parent being called in due to her sons attendance. We used specific performers, props, costumes and mise-en-scene to connote particular roles and atmosphere within out video. The three characteres that were in our video was a student who's body language is extremely relaxed and sloutched which connotes "Elliots" attitude towards the situation and education. This gives a negative representation of students. His costume consists of a black hooded jumper which again suggests and resembles his attitude to education, as he almost "cannot be bothered" that school is just a "doss" around for him. Also it could suggest his personaliy as being dark, moody and almost depressed. At the begining of the video 'Elliot's' attitude is uninterested, he seems like he cannot be bothered for whats happeneing which is all in his body language and tone of voice. At the ends of the video he seems to be genuinly sorry and says "please dont exclude me" which could connote that school children give of the impression that they dont care about school and learning when in fact they do. The teacher body language seems nervous and uneasy, which could suggests shes not a confident teacher which could reflect on her performance in lessons. That she might possibly not be able to control a class.. which would lead to an explanation at why 'Elliot' has been missing lessons. This is a un-sterotypical view of a teacher, as they are expected to be confident in teaching and what they are saying which doesnt seem to be in our video. We felt like this was more or a realistic approach, as it almost shows the truth behind education and teachers, that they are not always in control, and that sometimes pupils have more control over them. Also the costume connotes that shes not a bold and exciting character with the use of wearing all black clothing.How ever it could indicate the role of the teacher as 'villians' are known to always be in black costume. The parent's attitude is very intimidating towards to the teacher which adds more atmospher and tension to the scene.Also at the end of the scene where the parent says "iv had enough of this" and storms out connotes parents in denial about their childrens behaviour towards education, this gives a impression of bad parenting.  The props we used where school equipment such as books and folders to give more of a educational and school atmospher. The setting was set in the teachers office which gives a sense of importance and a personal feel. The lighting had a dull tone to it, to almost match with the characters attitude and personality

Narratives

In our videos I was the teacher and I asked Jay the student to have a meeting with him and his mum about missing a lesson at school. I had a meeting with Jay and his mum about his attendance to lesson and it shows the conflict between Jay and his mother. the purpose of this scene was to show the the conflict between the teacher, the parent and her son, and how the teacher tried to resolve the issue. The narratives in my video are multi -stranded. The meaning of this, is that the dramatic soap is told from many point of views. Our point of view is that we show a conflict between the family and the teacher.  The conflict of our video shows the situation between the parent and her son and how the parent suggest that she doesn't really seem to be interested in her son. There are many other views about this conflicts but we concentrate more on this one. The reason we did this because we were inspired from family soaps such as Eastenders and how they use conflicts between family, so we wanted to try this.For a normal family in a soap a conflict is usually told in a serial because its like never ending but for our video its just one episode because it does not carry on.  For our video we create a sense of conflict between the parent and the kid to show the tension between the family and how the school gets involved in this conflict. I think we have shown this and has been really effective because we have shown how the parent does not really care about her son very well and the tension between the teacher and the parent. Some of the shots we used to show this is close up shot for the  parent reaction and medium shot to show other peoples reactions as well. For our family soap it has to be realistic so the audience can adapt this to their lives. So we used a real issue and in our production we didn't use any cross cutting shots or other effects to make it unrealistic. we also had to make the video relaistic but yet interesting so people could watch it. i think we have show this because in our video we used a real issues but made in interesting.

Camera Shots & Angles
Our video starts with an establishing shot to set the scene and letting the audience know that this scene is clearly about to take place in a school office of sorts. the camera then shows the name of the room the scene is about to take place in ''Interveiw Room 1'' which also clearly gives away what is about to take place, an interveiw. The camera then cuts to medium shots of ruhee (the teacher) and begins to cross cut between ruhee and miss's hider (the mother). One of these Medium shots is not executed well as it isnt from the waste up and is filmed at a slight dutch angle which wasnt the purpose, The shots of miss hider on the other hand are in perfect proportion with head room and matches the rule of going from the waist upwards. The next scene is begun with the teacher in a close up shot showing that she is starting this meeting/interveiw. The camera then cuts to a semi medium shot establishing where and who everyone is in this scene.The scene then digresses into cross cutting close ups between myself (student) and ruhee (the teacher) when in convosation. This scene then goes to cross cutting from medium shots to close ups of miss hider (the mother) and ruhee (the teacher) to give the scene pace and variation. After cross cutting between miss hider and ruhee it cuts to a close up of me to show emotion. This scene ends with a medium shot of miss hider walking out of the scene, ending the episode.

Difference between era's in radio

The difference between todays radio shows in 10 years are quite clear, from the presenters to the jingles, the production of the show and sounds have become more complex and even a more of a variety of music to fit the ever growing audience that radio now has the radio industry has changed dramaticly through out the years, ie

1996:

• Cheesy old fashioned jingle
• Muffled recording
• Muffled sounds
• Introduction of who the dj is
• The plan of the show
• Applause
• Posh sounding host
• Jingle played throughout

The Dj starts the show with the slogan "You buy them, we count them down." The event is then introduced and the Djintroduces himself along with the radio station with a very cheesy tone and background.The Dj speaks with a loud up-beat voice to keep the listeners entertained, loud sound effects are used to keep the audience entertained. Up-beat cheesy pop music is played which relates to the audience of the time. The Dj talks fast paced and up-beat to put listeners in a good mood and want to stay tuned in. The audience of the show at the time were mainly teenagers and young adults. 

2011;

• Includes guest hosts
• No jingle
• No introduction of the dj or plan of the show
• Middle class voice
• Clear recording
• Wider range of music
• Includes audience by using competitions etc

There isnt a jingle at the beggining of the 2011 chart show you just hear the presenter introducing what is happening and tell the listeners that there is a guest on the show. However, if they are on the internet then the audience will be able to see what is going on live. In this extract there is no cheesy sound effects, the audio used in the background is just an up-beat song to keep you entertained. The voices in the particular extract, the (Dj) has a very down to earth and common voice that alot of social groups can relate to so that nobody feels excluded. The tone of the show is very up-beat because of the silly game the presenter is playing and the comedy of the show. The structure of the beggining of the show is the DJ introducing himself and what is going on and then mystery guest enters followed by questions and an interview.

Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions are familiar, predictable forms and techniques used by the media to create a desired impression on people.


Soaps for example cover issues that come up in exagerated everyday life,this will make the soap more successful in terms of viewers because the audiences can then therefore relate to the issues. The issues could be, relationships, crime, violence and drugs etc.






Horror always has obvious codes and conventions such as bad weather, building relationships, blood and gore, attractive girl, strong/smart main characters, scary theme music, villain/scary character and weapons. The victims in horror are usually young teenagers.

At the start of most horrors it introduces you to the villain by killing off a character which normally starts the problem and the fear within the movie because although it often happens in horrors it catches you by surprise and puts you on edge because your in the drama from the beginning. the first scene within the film often uses miss en scene that is going to feature throughout the film.

low key lighting in sets and eary atmospheres create tension with the audience. Horrors often use quite distorted sounds followed by loud sounds (sting) which is used to make an audience "jump". low angles in horror films make the villain look supirior and stronger to the victim but it can also be used on people such as the "hero" or someone that stands up to the villain these are used to show the audience who is the stronger person in the scene. "POV" or point of veiw shots are used to show us what the monsters or killers are seeing when creeping up behind a victim or watching the victim, however it is also used just before a murder from the "victims eyes".

Tracking shots are used to show chase scenes and fast paced scenes alike, these shots are used to intesify fast paced scenes so that you feel involved like you are moving with the characters.

In the Scream 4 introduction it starts off with a phone call , the camera focus's on the phone to show that this is significant, the voice on the phone is deep and intimidating but the female character on the other end presumes that it is a prank call or wrong number so she hangs up, although the character didn't care about the phone call it still gives the audience the impression it had meaning, then there is another female character, which is stereotypical of horrors because two females are usually weak and vulnerable characters, one character builds suspense by revealing she is being stalked on Facebook which adds to the sense that all is not okay, The phone rings again for dramatic effect and the audience already suspects who is going to be on the other end of the line. The female character answers the phone with confidence and anger at the start, which is when the intimidating character on the phone progress's to anger with tense music in the background this puts the audience on the edge of they're seat. The two female (teenagers) become scared and freaked out by the phone call as a close up on one if the females face's show, the phone rings again with a sting in the background and a close up of the phone to show this scene is approaching a climax and intensifying , you then find out the stalker on Facebook and the intimidating character are on the phone which therefore makes the characters feel unnerved , the characters scream at the same time which makes the audience feel as scared as them and then the door knocks with a POV slowly zooming in, by this point you know the characters and fear for they're lives, this is a stereotypical horror introduction.

Romantic comedy is another example , the codes and conventions include things such as girl meets boy, centered around female charecter, awkward moments as charecters get to know one another for comic affect, set in an urban city environment, ending with a wedding.

My Group Soap

Camera Shots & Angles

Our video starts with an establishing shot to set the scene and letting the audience know that this scene is clearly about to take place in a school office of sorts. the camera then shows the name of the room the scene is about to take place in ''Interveiw Room 1'' which also clearly gives away what is about to take place, an interveiw.

The camera then cuts to medium shots of ruhee (the teacher) and begins to cross cut between ruhee and miss's hider (the mother). One of these Medium shots is not executed well as it isnt from the waste up and is filmed at a slight dutch angle which wasnt the purpose, The shots of miss hider on the other hand are in perfect proportion with head room and matches the rule of going from the waist upwards.

The next scene is begun with the teacher in a close up shot showing that she is starting this meeting/interveiw. The camera then cuts to a semi medium shot establishing where and who everyone is in this scene.

The scene then digresses into cross cutting close ups between myself (student) and ruhee (the teacher) when in convosation. This scene then goes to cross cutting from medium shots to close ups of miss hider (the mother) and ruhee (the teacher) to give the scene pace and variation. After cross cutting between miss hider and ruhee it cuts to a close up of me to show emotion. This scene ends with a medium shot of miss hider walking out of the scene, ending the episode.

Narrative

In our videos i was the teacher and i asked Jay the student to have a meeting with him and his mum about missing lesson at school.i had a meeting with Jay and his mum about his attendance to lesson and it shows the conflict between Jay and his mother.The narratives would be in my video is that it is a multi -strand. The meaning of this, is that the dramatic soap is told from many point of views. Our point of view is that we show a conflict between the family and the teacher. The conflict of our video shows the situation between the parent and her son and how the parent suggest that she doesn't really seem to be interested in her son but there are many other views about this conflicts but we concentrate more on this one. For our family soap it has to be realistic so the audience can adapt this to their lives.

The 180 degree rule

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. If the camera crosses the line, confusion results for the film viewers, because it makes it look like the people are switching places as one watches the film. 

Corination Street era's.

The typical conventions of soap consist of:

• bar fights
• cliff hangers
• dilemmas
• gossip
• affairs
• pubs
• hierarchy

I looked at three different episodes of coronation street from different years, the differences between the three are clear as shown through the codes and conventions shown.

1995

In this scene the camera movement is very limited and there isn't much variation of shots. The scene started in at the start of a convocation and failed to include an establishing shot to show where the scene is based. camera shots consist of either medium or ensemble shots and very rarely use close ups. The hierarchy is not clearly shown through the use of camera so we don't know the most important characters until you look at what character is gaining the most screen time. The camera is very static and bad quality it remains in one place for entire scenes at some points which makes the show very slow paced and boring, each character talks at a similar pace and is not standing out in the first moments of the show so it doesn't grab the attention of the audience.

2001

In this episode the quality of picture and sound has improved slightly but they're is still big editing mistakes as there isn't a establishing shot nor is there any indication what is happening as it starts with a pan and then a zoom which doesn't fit in the characters body properly so it tracks back, the shot size pace is very slow and doesn't have a thick texture. This particular scene keeps to pans and medium shots and cannot show any importance in characters or any fast pace, this doesn't show us who is dominant in the scene and therefore are just watching convocations rather than feeling for a character or being or disliking any character. The sound quality is very fuzzy and unless trying to listen properly, you cannot understand what is being said by just relaxing and listening.

2011

In this episode you can clearly see a high improvement in film and sound quality as well as there being a very high range of shots and camera movements, this creates a slow paced scene to appear interesting and for every word to seem important as there are a lot of close ups and the 180 degree angle in the cross cutting has been used well to show that the man and woman are conversing in convocation and the close ups of the upset look on the characters faces emphasises the emotion and importance of the characters. the camera movement in this scene is far more complex then the previous two. The use of silence in the modern episode isn't boring , it is being used on purpose to create drama and suspense, this keeps the audience hooked and on the edge of they're seat.

Differences between radio shows

The difference between todays radio shows in 10 years are quite clear, from the presenters to the jingles, the production of the show and sounds have become more complex and even a more of a variety of music to fit the ever growing audience that radio now has the radio industry has changed dramaticly through out the years, ie

1996:

• Cheesy old fashioned jingle
• Muffled recording
• Muffled sounds
• Introduction of who the dj is
• The plan of the show
• Applause
• Posh sounding host
• Jingle played throughout

The Dj starts the show with the slogan "You buy them, we count them down." The event is then introduced and the Djintroduces himself along with the radio station with a very cheesy tone and background.The Dj speaks with a loud up-beat voice to keep the listeners entertained, loud sound effects are used to keep the audience entertained. Up-beat cheesy pop music is played which relates to the audience of the time. The Dj talks fast paced and up-beat to put listeners in a good mood and want to stay tuned in. The audience of the show at the time were mainly teenagers and young adults.

2011;

• Includes guest hosts
• No jingle
• No introduction of the dj or plan of the show
• Middle class voice
• Clear recording
• Wider range of music
• Includes audience by using competitions etc

There isnt a jingle at the beggining of the 2011 chart show you just hear the presenter introducing what is happening and tell the listeners that there is a guest on the show. However, if they are on the internet then the audience will be able to see what is going on live. In this extract there is no cheesy sound effects, the audio used in the background is just an up-beat song to keep you entertained. The voices in the particular extract, the (Dj) has a very down to earth and common voice that alot of social groups can relate to so that nobody feels excluded. The tone of the show is very up-beat because of the silly game the presenter is playing and the comedy of the show. The structure of the beggining of the show is the DJ introducing himself and what is going on and then mystery guest enters followed by questions and an interview.