Following on from the previous group meeting and conducting our primary research, we decided that our previous treatment would need to be improved in order to gain the best possible audience. We felt that a name change would be in our best interests as "Notice Us" lacks a sense of realism and community. I thought of a possible three other soap names before deciding the final one.
Idea 1. N18
Idea 2. Lopen Road
Idea 3. London vibe
The chosen name was "Lopen Road" this is because we feel that we can express this title better to the audience. For example the road in which we will shoot in is "Lopen Road". We feel we can show our characters working, living and socialising in this road. "Lopen Road" automatically allows audiences to realise this is a road which will be a main convention to the soap. Lopen Road enables the audience to know that the community is based on that specific Road. For example Eastenders, which is based in the east end.Although N18 also symbolises location, it can confuse audiences if the are unaware what area N18 relates to. London vibe was also a good title because it explains the soap is set in London, however it lacks to explain where in London which is unrealistic and audiences may find it hard to understand what area is being portrayed. "LOPEN ROAD" is the chosen name.
Tamika was put in charge of making improvements to the treatment. From our group discussion (meeting) we have decided that our treatment needs a touch up.
Characters:-
Ruth Smith 42 a mother of one, her first husband and father of her child passed away. She is currently going though a divorce with her 2nd husband. She is very protective over her only son and depends on him regularly. She is also employed as a cashier at the local newsagents.
Michael Smith 18 is Ruth's son, he is a vulnerable character, tries his best to stay out of trouble. He has a girlfriend Esther who he has been with since a very young age. He doesn't depend on any one. He had lost his father when he was 12, and mum divorced his step dad recently. Michael is killed tragically for no reason, leaving his girlfriend alone.
Esther Clarke 18 she is currently in university studying Accounting and Economics part-time. She falls pregnant and considers having an abortion. She is deeply in love with her boyfriend Michael. Tragedy hits her life when Michael is tragically killed. She lives with her sister Emily, mother Judy and father Jim.
Billy Gordon is 20. Currently a leader of a gang in North London . He is unemployed and loves to party with friends and gang mates. He has both parents who care about him dearly but he rebels and disobeys them.
Content:-
It contains a bunch of teens terrorizing the city. Gangs are also involved with both girls and boys in them. They will be different issues portrayed such as teenage pregnancy, drugs, family issues and moderate violence.
Location:-
The setting will be in North London . We could shoot some parts of the city such as bus stops, restaurants, pubs, local shops, streets and homes. We would also try to shoot the landmark that makes North London famous so the audience can relate and notice where it is.
Target Audience:-
The target audience for this soap will be mostly aimed at teens 16+, this is because the characters portrayed are mainly teenagers and their issues they go through on a day to day basis. However I feel parents could also find our soap interesting as there is also an adult cast which go through common issues with their children such as dishonestly and misbehaviour along with this they will also gain an insight to the lives of teenagers. I intend to attract male viewers by introducing a lead male character in this soap.
Channel, time of broadcast and frequency:-
The channel that this soap is suitable for is Channel 4 at 8:00pm and will be broadcast three times a week; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I feel with heavy advertising this soap can compete with Eastenders and Coronation Street as this is something fresh and will attract many teenagers. I choose this soap to be on three times a week on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because this will allow it to get maximum exposure. i will end each episode with a mini or large cliffhanger leaving the audience to wait a day for the new episode, this will create some suspense and interest in the soap opera however main cliffhangers will be on Thursdays to ensure the audience watches again the following week.
Episode 1:-
In the first episode a bunch of gang members witnesses a murder and are traumatize by what they see. They were considering of going into the police and telling them what they have seen. The death of the character changes the lives of many people in the community.
Future Episodes:-
One of the gang members loses their parents in a car crash. Esther is finding her course at university difficult and now has to make a decision if she wants to continue or leave to go work. Esther finds out she is pregnant but is unsure if she should keep the baby of have an abortion.
However we have also decided to elaborate on the bullet points below;
-Add more characters
We have decided to add more character's so our soap will become realistic.
Barbara~This is the shop keeper on Lopen Road. She works at the shop (Silver Street Supermarket) Monday to Friday. Barbara is 30 years of age and she is married with two children who are in primary school.
Tommy~Tommy is a 15 year old school boy. He is a spontaneous character, with lots of friends. He has three brother's and sister's and he is the youngest out of the three.
Lucy~ Lucy lives on Lopen Road also, she attends to a near by school with Tommy. She has no siblings and her mother is a single parent. She is 14 years of age and she enjoys hanging out with her friends.
We have not focused more on the location as we are aware what part of North London we will be shooting in.
-Locations (specific Edmonton - train station - landmark
We have decided to elaborate on the trade marks of our treatment (soap trailer). For example the train station, this can portray where people (characters') go to work or even leaving the soap, but we can worry about this issue later, because we are only concentrating on the trailer.
Content
-Content - The content of our soap is to portray common, everyday issues that teenagers and parents face. We want audiences to be able to relate to our trailer rather than soley watch it for entertainment purposes.
- Future episodes- In future episodes we will concentrate on issues relating to teens, because that's our target audience. So we will portray issues that young people can relate to, such as; drugs, teenage pregnancy, sex, obesity, relationships, suicide, depression and peer pressure.
The storyboard and scripts will now be made to follow on from the treatment that Tamika and Maria have made.
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