1. Do you watch soap operas? Why?
2. Do you consider yourself as a casual or religious viewer? Why?
3. What would you like to see in a new soap out of the following? Why?
Death
Relationship Issues
Teenage Issues
Any others?
4. What channel do you watch the most? Why?
The answers we received are as followed: Naomi - Girl - 16 "I find soap operas unrealistic and pointless so I don't watch any at the moment. So I would not consider myself as a casual or religious viewer of any soaps. If I was to watch a new soap it would have to include real issues so that I can relate to them. I don't really watch anything on television channels, I mostly watch things on the television." Nathan - Boy - 16 "Yes I watch soaps with my parents. I see myself as a casual viewer because I don't find all soaps interesting, only some of them. I would be more interested in watching a soap with more of a twist. I watch channel 4 mostly because I think it is more realistic." Ashley - Boy - 17 "Yes I do watch soaps because I have watched them for a long term. I am a religious viewer, this is because I enjoy watching them all. I would like to see relationship issues because that is what I am interested in. I watch BBC1 and Channel 4 because the programs I watch are on these channels." Ipek - Girl - 18 "Yes I watch some soaps, this is because I fin them entertaining and interesting. I see myself as a casual viewer, I am not obsessed. I would like to see more Teenage Issues because I am a teenager, I can relate to them. I watch BBC1 most as I watch Eastenders." Ibrahim - Boy - 19 "I don't watch any soaps at the moment, I don't find them interesting. I am neither a casual or religious viewer. I would like to see Death in a new soap because I find the aftermath interesting. I watch Channel 4 because they have interesting programs on."
In order to attract Naomi we needed to make our soap as realistic as possible. We also decided that we would broadcast our soap online from Naomis input as we felt this will increase our audience base and the overall success of our new trailer. After speaking with Nathan I felt that I will need to ensure my soap can keep the audience interested and attract people such as Nathan who does not watch soaps regularly. Nathan insisted that he would like to see more twists in a soap. This gave me the idea and fuel to put more changeling narratives within our soap. Ashley insisted for my soap to stand out I should aim to make it as realistic as possible as he finds some of the story lines very unrealistic. He also would like a narrative regarding relationships to be shown within our soap. This then aided our decision to have a large narrative around relationships and how different some relationships can be. After speaking with Ipek we decided that our soap would relate around teenagers. We felt that as teenagers are our target audience we will have many narratives revolving around them. This lead to our decision of having teenagers are shown in the trailer in order to identify the character base straight away. I felt that in order to grab the attention of audiences like Ibrahim we needed to make something our new and exciting. Ibrahim said he would watch a new soap opera if it included death in it and how the characters lived resulting this death. We included an unanswered death scene in our trailer to interest audiences and want them to find out what happens to the character Michael after stealing Billy's Money.
Overall we learn't a lot from this focus group session. We were able to understand that many people have there current viewing habits due to force of habit rather than because they find the soap story lines highly entertaining. Four out of the five interviewed insisted they would be more than happy to watch a new soap opera if it included more realistic events and circulated around teenagers/ relationships and death rather than adults who they are unable to relate to. I also was able to identify that the most popular channels for these people where channel 4 and BBC1, I felt that broadcasting our soap on BBC1 would be an issue as Eastenders is a well established soap and we will be unable to attract audiences to watch two soaps on the same channel. We decided that channel 4 will be the best channel for our soap as there are no soaps on around the time of 8.00pm on this channel.
Next round of feedback , after filming
After filming for our first day, we felt as a group it was important to show our focus group and media class to get some feedback regarding the shots so far. We also had another day of filming planned but felt before filming for a second day it would be a good idea to get some feedback regarding the current filming. We picked Ashley, Ipek and Nathan from our pervious focus group, we showed them the current filming one by one, to receive their opinion and get feedback. The feedback we received is written below. Ashley "I think that the scene of Michael running away from the two other characters is hard to understand, I was unsure of what was happening because of the lighting. I think that the storyline between these two characters is unclear. I think some dialogue in this would be better." Naomi "I think that most of the filming is good, the framing looks good. I think that maybe the end scene should be re-shot because its quite dark and unclear to see what is going on." Ipek "The storylines are good and would get a audience interested, but I think another storyline would be better because at the moment you are just focusing on one main character." We took on board all the feedback and opinions that our focus group gave us.
This lead to our decisions to improve filming. We also came to the conclusion that we needed to make some changes to the current storylines. We decided that we would re-shoot the fighting scene in the daylight so that audiences can see what is going on. Taking on board Ashley's comments we also decided to add in some dialogue to explain the conflict between the two characters. We also decided to add in another character to our trailer to express the parallel storylines that will appear in our soap. The results from this focus group were very important and enabled us to see issues with the current filming that we were unaware of. We then to our second day of filming with a clear idea of what needed to be filmed.
Next round of feedback, after editing
After completing our first draft of our trailer we felt it would be a good idea to show some of our focus group the trailer so far. We wanted to receive feedback on our trailer at this stage so that we would make some changes to suit our target audience. It was important for us to take into account all views as the more feedback we received the more successful our final trailer became. The review below is from Nathan which is a member of our focus group.
"I think the trailer is pretty good, the first couple of storylines are very clear and easy to get the jist of, Soap is set in Edmonton (good use of the train station). Sinthuja is reminded of what seems to be her ex-lover Philip and is upset about it, there is one small bit where it looks like shes about to cut herself that bit is like so quick happens in a flash you should get rid of that bit and just make it Sinthuja holding the knife edging it closer to her wrist."
"Next storyline is the character finding out their pregnant that's cool the character makes a shocked face, surely if you were doing a pregnancy test already you had a feeling you were pregnant you wouldn't be that shocked. Then the whole "where's my money scene" i didn't 100% get, because in the trailer the two characters seem to have nothing to do with each other then all of a sudden they have a history. Apart from that everything is great. Subtitles are good. Also the soundtrack is amazing, dramatic but yet sad track which relates to all the storylines in one way or another."
We also gained feedback from Ibrahim who is another member of our focus group.
"The narrative seems clear and it feels real to me which is something that is not shown in all soaps on at the moment. I think the black pages explain what is going on in the trailer which is good if some watchers don't understand. I think that scene of Michael being stabbed should not been in the trailer as it gives too much away, the audience want surprises not everything explained. I think the locations are very realistic and the transitions work well with the filming. The editing was done well."
The results from our focus group were very important when making decisions regarding the trailer. They enabled us to understand some issues with the trailer that we hadn't realised ourselves. I feel gaining these results at that particular stage was a good idea because it allowed us to have some time to edit the product again with the input from our target audience and focus group. From this information we decided to cut the scene of Michael getting stabbed as this will explain our main storyline early on which will not give audiences something to be surprised by. We also decided that we will change the text on one of the subtitles as it can be seen that we are explaining the narratives too clearly and not leaving room for speculation or mystery. We also decided to cut out the scene of Priyas character cutting herself with the knife as it is too quick and not explained well enough by the audience. We will leave that narrative to be explained further in episodes. The final change we will make is to extend the pregnancy scene showing a upset facial expression rather than a shocked face as we have taken on board what Nathan expressed that the character would already have suspicions that she is pregnant.
Next found of feedback, after edit of trailer
After making the changes to our trailer we felt that it was important to show the new trailer to our media class before finishing. We felt our class will give us some new and extra feedback before making the final edit of the trailer. The whole class watched the new edited version twice before they gave feedback. After watching the trailer twice, Chris from our media class suggested that it will be more effective if we changed the font size and different font on black screen texts. Gemma and Michael felt that the font and font size that appears at the end of the Trailer should be different from all other pervious text. Finally Saul's feedback and suggestion was that the still image of the pub was placed in the wrong order, he expressed it may be a better idea if the still image of the pub us taken out from the trailer or move to a different order just after character Michael leaving the house. After receiving this feedback we decided as a group that we would take out the pub image as the pub is already shown in the conflict scene, we also decided that the font style and size should be changed on our black screens to make more of an impact and to make sure that there words are clear to the audience.
Next found of feedback after final edit of trailer!
After producing our final trailer we felt it would be great to show our focus group the final cut and get some feedback on how or if we meet there needs. It was important to gain feedback from them as they gave us some of the initial ideas to get us started. They are also our target audience so there feedback is vital. I interviewed each member alone to ensure there results were not influenced by anyone else. I first interviewed Ashley his response is below.
He explained that he really liked our trailer which is important because we aimed to please him along with all our focus group. He also expressed the storylines were clear which was important as previously we had some difficulty in portraying the narrative clearly. He was said he was happy that we took on board what was said in his focus group meeting. We are very happy with his response as he said no other changes needed to be made. I next interviewed Ibrahim as you can see below.
Ibrahim he explained that he felt the camera work was really clear. This response was great because we had experienced issues with our camera work before which lead to us re-shooting so it was good that the camera work is finally clear. He also insisted that the editing was really good which is another great response as Sinthuja had no previous experience on iMovie and was able to edit our trailer so well. This showed us that if we was to make another project putting Sinthuja in charge of editing would be best. Ibrahim also said that no improvements needed to made and that he wants to watch more which is good because we want our target audience to be enticed by our trailer and want to watch more. I then interviewed Ipek which you can see below.
The response we received from Ipek was fantastic. She insisted that she loved what we have done with the soap since the last time she gave us feedback. It was important that we have made progress from our very first meeting with Ipek. She also explained that all the issues shown comply really well with teenagers which was what we set out to do as in our first focus group meeting with Ipek she insisted on us making a soap around teenage lives. She said no further improvements need to be made and that the directing was of a high standard, which is good because in the future we would use the same directing skills. Lastly I spoke with Naomi as you can see below.
Naomis response to our trailer was vital because she explained in her first focus group that she doesn't watch soap operas because she finds them unrealistic. After watching our soap trailer she insisted that although she doesn't watch many soaps she would watch our one because it seems quite interesting. She also insisted that she watches mainly channel 4 which means she would more likely to watch our soap as that is the channel of broadcast. To conclude she said "I think its going to be great". Which means she had a very positive feeling towards our soap. We were very lucky to receive such positive feedback regarding our soap trailer, however we had to re-film and re-edit many times before reaching the final outcome. The 4 members interviewed all expressed how excited that are to watch this soap which is important because they are who we are targeting. If I was going to hold focus group interviews again I would target more people as we should have gained feedback from more than 4 to 5 people. I would also have targeted slightly different age groups as our focus group only ranges from 16-19. After showing our focus group we decided to post our trailer onto Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. We decided to do this so we could gain more feedback from our target audience and other viewers. The more feedback we receive the better knowledge we will receive on what went well and what we could improve on if we was to make another project.
Feedback from Facebook
Tamika posted our trailer onto her Facebook first to gain some feedback. What she received is shown below. CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO ENLARGE
The comments we received back from Tamikas facebook were great as they were from our target audience of teenagers aged between 16-21. Daniel said he thought the trailer was quite good which we are happy about. Dee's comment was great as she said it looks like a soap and the editing was good. We wanted people who have never seen the trailer before to feel it looks like a soap as this symbolises realism. Ally's comment regarding the music was good as constructive criticism. Although we do not want to change the music for our trailer, if we was to make another trailer it may be in our interest to play soundtracks to our focus group before deciding. Tash's comment was useful as she explained the trailer looks good and that we done a good job which was important because we wanted it to look as good as possible. Next I posted our trailer onto my own Facebook to gain some more feedback from my own list of friends which varies from Tamikas.
The feedback I received is shown below.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
The responses I received were both positive and constructive which I am happy about because it is important to understand what we could improve if we was to produce another project. Andrew,Michael and Gerhard's feedback was great as they insisted the trailer is very good and amazing which is great because it expresses that they liked it, it is important they like the trailer because they are our target audience and we wanted to make sure we could attract them. Kevin's feedback was very important as he stated "who needs eastenders when we got this?!" which is excellent feedback as Eastenders is a major competitor of ours and we wanted Lopen road to stand out against other soaps which Kevin insisted it does. Savva expressed that we have followed soap conventions as our trailer looks just like a soap. He also likes the different storylines which is important because the storylines will progress in future episodes. Loulla's feedback was interesting as she expressed that the lighting was dark in places, this critism was important as we know understand if we was to make another project we would try to film on days which the natural sunlight is visible to ensure no filming is dark or unclear. Natalie's comment was good as she explained that she likes how we have shown different characters which was a decided from previous feedback. She also insisted she wants to watch what is going to happen which is excellent as that was the intention we had in making this trailer as we want to interest audiences into watching our soap.
Sinthuja then posted the video onto her Facebook to gain further feedback from her friends on the trailer. Her responses are shown below.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
The feedback we got from Sinthujas Facebook was very positive as all the people who left a comment said how well they liked the trailer. However some constructive criticism would have also been useful to allow us to understand what we could improve if we was to make another project or in the future. Ramya's feedback was useful as she quoted a piece of text we put into our soap regarding peoples past. She expressed she could relate to that quote which shows to us as producers that our editing worked well with audiences as it allowed them to relate to certain text. Ajenth also said he liked the issues shown which is an important piece of feedback as our focus group helped us choose what issues would be shown. We felt choosing the narrative had to be something teenagers would find interesting which it seems we have done well. Joseph and Sanjay both agreed that the editing was done really well which is another positive comment regarding the editing. This allows us to understand that Sinthujas editing skills are of a high standard.
Feedback From Youtube
Our trailer has been linked from Youtube onto Facebook and Twitter as we used Youtube to upload our video. We received some comments on Youtube regarding our video which we recorded as feedback. The page where our video is shown and the feedback we received is shown on the images below.
CLICK THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Jen's comment was interesting because she expressed she likes the storylines which is a common piece of feedback we have received along with the statement that it seems very realistic for her as a teenager. This is a great piece of feedback as we want teenagers to feel the soap is realistic and be able to relate to it in many different ways. Misstsmith expressed the trailer is exciting and has a great scene of community which was an effect we were trying to show within our soap by using the pub and corner shop as icon locations. She always feels the soundtrack and editing goes well with each other which was something we hoped would. She felt that a downfall was that the trailer is not long enough, however we choose to not make it too long as we do not want to give too much of the story away, we want to leave some round for speculation and mystery. We are glad that her favorite channel is channel 4 as we hoped we could gain a younger audience on channel 4. Apetrou explained the trailer is well edited however the lighting was slightly dark in places which is a comment we should take on board and improve on next film we film something as the lighting of a frame is vital as it can depend on the clearness of the shot. He also said he liked the pregnancy test which is interesting as this shows he liked this character and the narrative behind it.
Feedback from Twitter
I tweeted a link to my trailer with some information bellow for all my followers to read so they could watch and comment about the new soap trailer. Below are two images. 1 of my tweet and 2 of the feedback received. CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Anna expressed that the storylines seem interesting which is important we aimed to keep audiences interested in our soap. She also made the point that our soap is not over the top which is great because we wanted to keep it real and allow audiences to be able to relate to it as much as possible. She can't wait to watch more which is great because it shows she was interested and it appealed to her as a viewer. Michael said the trailer looks really good which is a nice response. Jankisutra said our trailer is the best soap trailer around which means that we have managed to compete with other soaps and interest others into watching Lopen Road rather than other major soaps. Gemma said the camera work was really good which is an important piece of feedback as Sinthuja and Tamika were in charge of filming. This feedback allows us to understand that if we was to make another project we would put Sinthuja and Tamika in charge of filming again. Overall we gained a huge amount of audience feedback throughout the planning and making of the soap trailer along with after the soap was finished.
I feel the feedback received after the soap trailer was finished was vital as it explained to us as a group what we did well and what we could improve on in the future. To round up the feedback gained, it would seem that the storylines were a major hit with our audience members as many of them insisted they could relate to them and that they seemed very realistic against other soaps. Many audience members also insisted that the editing and filming was of a very high standard which is great as it made the storylines stand out to viewers and entice them into watching the soap episodes. The negative feedback we gained was mainly regarding the lighting in some of the scenes and the length of the trailer. The lighting in some scenes was slightly dark which made it hard for some viewers to see. If we was to produce another trailer I would ensure that we film on a day when there is as much natural light as possible to ensure we do not face the same issue. As for the length of the trailer we did not want it to be too long as this would result in giving too much of the storyline away. We can take the length issues on as a positive because it shows that audience members are excited in watching the soap and want to see more of what is going to happen. To conclude the audience feedback was very useful to us as a group and allowed us to have extensive knowledge on our target audiences thoughts and feelings regarding our new soap trailer.
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