Soap Website Research

Following our meeting, we felt it was important to take our some research into websites and the common features that they show. Conducting research into soap websites is important because it gives us an idea of what we would like to include and what features we feel will be unsuccessful for our soap be it the target audience or broadcast.

I researched on websites such as:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/
http://www.itv.com/coronationstreet/
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od

It was important to research on different websites as it will enable our website to attract audiences who view all different soaps. I was able to take ideas from all different websites before deciding the final pages that I will include on our website. I put myself as a viewer and had a look around all pages to see what it feels like for a member of the audience.




The image above expresses where I got some ideas from when deciding the page headings. I decided I wanted to add a episodes and characters page from this information. I also like the large image as the main picture on the website. I felt the next research to do would be into the character page. The image below also explains other features on the home page of Eastenders.





I like the weekly quiz application which is something I would be interested in doing on our website. I also think the script is a effective feature as it gives audiences a sneak peak of what will be shown in the soap. This will entice audiences. I also find the character poll a great idea as it makes audience members feel involved with the narrative and leaves them with a mystery regarding the narrative.




This research enabled me to understand important information that should be shown in a character profile. I will take this information on board when producing character profiles, however I may not include so much information as Lopen Road is a new soap I don't want to audience members to have an overload of information.

I next researched on the Coronation Street website for further information regarding website headings and what kinds of information should be included on separate posts. The image below shows what the home page looks like on the Coronation Street website.



This research aided my decision to add in a games and blog page onto the Lopen Road website. I feel that games page will draw in our target audience as they are at the ages were they like to play games. I also feel a game page will be useful as it can familiarise audience members with the characters. I want to add a blog onto the website as this can draw in a older audience. The images below show what these two pages look like on the website.



The image above shows the fun and games page that is on the Coronation Street website. I feel this page is effective because it is colourful and they have used images of real game stations to allow audiences to understand what kind of page this is. I want to add a games page onto my website as this will attract the younger side of our target audience which is 16.




The image above symbolises the blog page on the Coronation Street website. This blog has generated many different posts over a certain period of time. After researching into the different posts that could be added onto a blog I have the ideas to post a day in the life of one of our characters. I also have an idea to enter posts regarding the filming process of our soap, this could interest audiences as they will have an insight to how the soap was put together along with spoilers and behind the scenes information.

The last bit of research I did on soap websites, was on the 4od website. This was vital because our soap will broadcast on channel 4. This means that catch up sessions will be available on 4od. The image below is a copy of the 4od catch up page.



The above image has given me the idea to give a episode description on the episodes that can be viewed online. This will give audience members an insight to what narratives will be portrayed in the episodes.

I feel that the research that I carried out on soap websites has been very effective. It gave me time to think about what the sort of pages I would be interested in implementing onto my own soap website. I was able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of other websites which will work in my advantage. For example I feel that these websites are dull and need more exciting images and text to excite viewers. I will take this on board when designing Lopen Road's website. I now know what kinds of pages work well on these websites such as episode catch ups, character profiles and games. The next step is to produce the website. I will be producing the main bulk of the website as I have previous experience on using the iMac computers. However I will be receiving constant input from Tamika.