In our soap we shall have a range of storylines going on in our 5 min sequence. At the start of our 5 min sequence we will have a high angle shot of Jessica’s husband Johnny grabbing Bruce by the neck trying to force Bruce into telling him the whereabouts of his wife. We will establish that Johnny’s wife was kidnapped and that Bruce has a part to play in it all. It will then cut straight into a romantic meal between a couple called Malcolm and Rosie. We will then have a more tense and action packed scene showing Jessica being tied up after being kidnapped, and her husband trying to get her back. These two storylines will be collaborated into one; cutting from scene to scene and keeping our young audience in suspense. This instantly shows a range of ideologies that we have formed because of these two characters before hand, and the power and authority Johnny may have over the character Bruce. This will appeal to my audience as they are interested in action. Results from our questionnaire show that more than 75%, of our sample of 30, often preferred action to be their favourite genre within the soap. Sid Field believed that the opening is the most important part, and that the opening will determine whether or not someone continues to watch. This is why we found it beneficial to apply the most popular genre (action) in the opening as it will create enigma, suspense and above all keep our audience interested.
In our soap we will also have a range of character types such as Bruce who is a ‘gangster’ and Johnny who is just trying to get his wife back. Bruce fits in with the character type of the ‘boss figure’ and conveys a range of attributes such as being powerful and in the centre of the trouble. Amy is the feisty young female and doesn’t believe that Malcolm is doing anything wrong. Amy, who is having an affair with Malcolm, who happens to have a girlfriend, showing a fair comparison to the character Stacey Slater in Eastenders on BBC1. In terms of institution this will show clear rivalry as our soap will be showed on ITV, however we will be using slight references and conventions of Eastenders.
My soap will also challenge other institutions such as BBC 1 and Channel 4. This is mainly because ITV, the institution that will be launching my soap, will appeal to a target audience of 15-27 and will include some elements of a typical soap like Eastenders or Emmerdale as my soap will have an attractive female- Jessica. Eastenders has a time slot of 7:30pm or 8pm on most week nights meaning it would usually attract more of the working class audience C2 and C1. The language also used by characters shows the audience who the target audience is by their punctuation, their body language, their vocabulary and the way in which they address people. The importance of this is that it will help the audience to empathies more with the characters as they are the target audience.
My soap will include a range of shots; these shots will drive the narrative as it will illustrate the power, relationship and authority between characters. For example when the character Delilah is looking from the stair case down at Johnny and Bruce who are arguing. A high angle shot will be put in place showing Delilah looking over at them and deciding whether or not to go downstairs and confront the two men; one of which is her father (Bruce).
