Progress Of Group Ideas

So far we are comfortably into our coursework process and have come up with numerous ideas, and through discussion and analysis of different soap operas, we have been able to elaborate on all of these ideas, all having our own individual input.

Ethnic groups, sterotypes, middleclass Vs Lower class, are just a few of the ideas that have crossed our minds.

Some of the ideas I thought of, for example Echoing thoughts, another group member added the idea of a heartbeat sound and another group member mentioned her being locked in her bedroom; We definitely work well as a group taking in everyones ideas and moulding them to suit everyones liking.

So here are some of our ideas so far:

• Echoing thoughts throughout, heart beating backtrack- her sitting on her bed, discomfort, moving, shaking, crying.
• Board- Characters pictures, sums and equations(shows life's difficulty, struggle) closes in on character scene.
• Final image a dead body, back to girl on bed rocking, close up of face.
• Heart beat-flashing images on every beat
• From picture of girl on bed, to board to close up of her face etc.
• Mother trying to talk to her and get into her room- turning of the door handle- but she cant hear her because of the noises in her head.
• IV drip-dead body-
• girls face-running makeup- crying frozen with hands on ears-
• zoom out and Iv appears on screen with siren sounds.
  

By Elena Christodoulou

Minutes For Second Group Meeting

Discussing character types, ideas for trailer and story boarding first episode.

Tuesday 6th October

Start Time: 11:06am

People Present: Elena Christodoulou, Thegla Savvides, Natalie Michael, Natalie Nicolaides

• As a group we first discussed different character types that we think would appeal to our target audiences, We began mapping out different characteristics that individually appealed to us.
• Some ideas where a posh character that doesn't look posh, bad looking characters who are very well behaved, The popular girls and the misfits.
• We discussed numerous ideas for the trailer, one of us comes up with an idea and by the end we all have had an input.
• Some of the ideas for our trailer, we've elaborated upon and decided it for the first episode, allowing us to leave numerous cliff hangers in the trailer and prolong them onto the episode.
• We asked ourselves many questions like...Is the trailer going to be a spoiler of an unrealistic scene-e.g. like at the beginning of Hollyoaks with the supernatural and flashbacks etc.
• We also set each other targets in order for things to all be completed in time and in order, keeping us up to date.
• We discussed a few locations, and the advantages and disadvantages of these.
• Some of the ideas we came up with, where more of a challenge than others we discussed how we would work around certain problems and in some cases lack of required props, i.e. recording in a shop-copyrighting issues- and our main idea of having a clear board for characters thoughts.
  

Finish Time: 12:20pm

Written by Elena Christodoulou

Review of Emmerdale

Emmerdale Review
REVIEW 1:" Very real life storylines and brilliant acting. The coverage on cot death was excellent. Very sad. Very true to life story lines which really appeal to the general public."

REVIEW 2:" I am afraid Emmerdale is going to lose popularity if the writers don't do better than recent episodes.This is not the Old Emmerdale..."

REVIEW 3:"I have watched Emmerdale for many years it was excellence. All the script writers need axing as do most of the cast..."

REVIEW 4:" After so many years of watching emerdale I am now watching the one show on BBC1 and you wonder why the ratings are going down.... get rid of the script writers and TRY to bring it back into something worth watching and stop taking the viewers for a load of idiots."

Review of Coronation Street

Coronation Street reviews

As part of my groups secondary research into soaps we looked at some reviews of the previous soap we analysed. This research allowed us to understand the audiences views/opinions on the soap,commenting on what they liked and disliked, giving my group the advantage of knowing what to include in product to attract our target audience.

• REVIEW 1:"I've watched Coronation Street for many years but have come to the point where I switch off some of the episodes. I am 76 although I don't think I am priggish. At one time Coronation Street was a family show but now there are so many unmarried mothers, youngsters love etc when it would be more appropriate to be involved in school. I am fast coming to the conclusion that the Street no longer considers morals to be of importance and in fact I am extremely disappointed that is going from being a family show to one only fit for teenagers."
• REVIEW 2:"I think Coronation Street is a rather good episode and am rather keen to keep updated on characters like Gail, David and Audrey I recommend Coronation Street to anyone who is stuck with ideas on what to watch one evening"
• REVIEW 3:"I have watched Coronation Street on and off ever since I can remember. If you miss a few episodes you can soon pick up again. Many of the actors/actresses have been in Corrie for years, making it a little more realistic than some soaps where the actors keep moving on. Tracey Barlow is a great character, one you love to hate! Cunning, devious and wickedly clever, that cheeky little grin lets you know she is up to something! Although my opinions on this soap go up and down, depending on the current storyline, I have to give this one a 10/10 as it certainly is one of our longest running and best loved soaps of all time."

Review of Home and Away

There are an equal amount of negative and positive reviews for Home and Away, with some mentioning its better than any British soap, and others saying there embarrassed to say they watch it. It is fair to say everyone has there own opinion and some say you do either love or hate it.

"This show is awesome it just keeps getting better and no one can doubt that. look at past story lines, psycho stalkers, killer cops, explosive weddings, hostage situations, drugs, on the run, storms, shipwrecks and much more...Have you ever had juicy and gripping plot lines like that on things like Coronation street, and Neighbours. NO. and you probably never will...Home and Away is way before its time and its one show that Channel 5 shouldnt ever let go of, i hate it when people say ozzy soaps arent as good, i cant stand neighbours the show has bad acting and story lines were as Home and Away is off the scale juicy ahead of its time storylines what more can you ask for in a soap."

"The charaters are perfect for the part they play and it is directed so well. The person that invented Home and Away should become a saint"

"its a great show to watch, focusing on everyday issues "

Alot of people compare it to Neighbours, they say Home and Away has gripping sorylines and gets to the point faster, avoiding long dragging story lines.



"Utterly pitiful. Made even more hilarious by the original boast of its cast members that it was more "realistic" than Neighbours... If realistic means a town where all the inhabitants have white teeth, there's no smoking, everyone is politically correct, there's lashings of bizzare family disharmony, morality is policed by local "tough nut", there's *never* any swearing, I haven't bothered to watch this soap since 1991"

"The show does need fine-tuning. It is very, very predictable and the twists are not as good as they're made up to be. I think I will stop watching Home and Away soon"



EVALUATION
From the positive reviews to those of which are highly critical, we can take down things some audience members dislike and some audience do like, some enjoy the unrealistic story lines, some find it extremely annoying, others are just unaffected, With everybody voicing there own opinions of soaps, it is impossible for everybody to be fully satisfied, however you could try and touch upon many different aspects, making it enjoyable for many people rather then just a particular type- some unrealistic story lines, some realistic ones but then this would most probably raise criticism, so i have gathered that it is something that's unavoidable and is dealt with accordingly to keep as many people happy as possible.

Review of Hollyoaks

In the nineties we saw the birth ofmany fantastic forms of entertainment. Take That sparked sexy malepop, The Spice Girls introduced us to ’girl power’ and hollyoaks stormed on to our screens with its young and beautiful cast. Only oneof these has fully survived the last decade, growing from strength tostrength and eventually gaining the respect of the British public andcritics alike: Hollyoaks.
Over the years we’ve seen rape, murder,drugs...to name but a few! Hollyoaks has repeatedly gained theattention of young adults in Britain, but has in its beginningsfailed to gain the respect of critics and the wider population. Thatwas until the hard hitting story lines of 2007 were aired.
In recent months we have seen bulimiaending in tragedy, teacher student relations resulting in a prisonstabbing and a murderous gold digging wife. These are a few storylines amongst many that have made the wider public and critics reallysit up and take notice. As we have clung to the edge of our seatsawaiting numerous revelations, the standard of acting has rapidlyimproved. This years soap awards have seen Chris Fountain secure bestactor for his role as Justin Burton, the vindictive school boy whobedded his teacher only to have her incarcerated. Emma Rigby followedhis triumph by securing best actress for playing Hannah Ashworth thepretty A Level student ravaged by bulimia. Roxanne Mckee maintainedHollyoaks’ reputation as the soap that stuns, by once again beingnamed as sexiest actress. Overall Hollyoaks swiped 6 awards, puttingour usual favorites to shame!
Aside from its award victoriesHollyoaks has smashed the storylines that have broken others. In thepast month incest has been on the tips of everyones tongues, inBrookside it was gut wrenching, but the cast and crew of Hollyoaksmade it heart wrenching. Elliot Bevan, the resident geek, broughtabout the tricky subject of alien activity. This was far removed fromEl Dorado’s ridiculously farsical attempt, instead it was a tearjerking story of a confused young man searching for his father.
The story lines may be slightlyobscene, the characters may be overly gorgeous, but theres no denyingthat in the past twelve months Hollyoaks has really come in to its own.

[ By: ljmckeever1 May 07, 2008 09:59 PM ]

Written By Thegla Savvides

Review of Neighbours

Reviews about soaps can allow people to form opinions without even watching it. People have mixed views about a soap including criticisms and positive feedback

• Neighbors' features poor acting and bad storylines'


• Neighbours is my life along with home and away. They are fake but yet so real. Once you start watching neighbours you just can't stop it is additive,in a good way. The way it is directed is incredible it makes you feel that the events happening in the episode are happening right beside you,it is very believable. The actors and actresses in it know just how to play the roll of the character they are playing and make it very believable and realistic. Neighbours is a show that can get your attention very easily and I would recommend it to anyone at anytime.'


• 'This show is the best. It makes you cry and be sad but it also makes you happy in some ways. This is a awesome show and everyone knows it is the best. I end by saying the only words that can describe this show "The best show ever made on Earth."'


• This show (without doubt) is popular, and why is it popular? I intend to argue that it is the sheer quality that has brought this show to its extreme popular standing which it now holds in many nations. One only has to do a quick scan of a neighbours forum to see just how many and how extremely intent the viewers are. There are many intense forums which are both criticising and proving that this show is so great.'


• 'Neighbors is definitely the only soap that i allow myself to watch. The show is quite dramatic and a lot of stuff happens in such short periods of time. But then again that is what a soap is. Neighbors is one of those shows that you get hooked to and i have been watching it for the past 3-5 years. The actors and actresses aren't spectacular but there have definitely been some pretty talented people come out of the show. Take Kylie Minogue for example. To all those soapie lovers out there choose Neighbors over Home & Away and you will not regret it.'


• 'It's a great drama, helped by the fact that it has a huge cast, meaning there are always a lot of different, varied storylines going on at the same time, so you'll never get bored with what's going on. The great thing about the show is that it mixes drama with some light-hearted comedy every now again. The dramatic storylines are truly enthralling (like the fire in Lassiters), while the comical scenes can be quite amusing too (think of some the more recent episodes!).Overall, it's a fantastic show, and definitely worth watching!'


• 'Neighbours is a great show, full of drama'


• 'Getting worse'
  

From these reviews, it is easy to see what most viewers enjoy from a soap. They enjoy drama, good storylines that are believable and realistic so we can take this and incorporate it into our planning for our soap to ensure it will be successful.

Written by Natalie Michael