Evaluation Task: In
what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
City High title
challenges a real opera stereotypical name by misleading the audience to make
believe that it is some sort of an American Drama series, however it is based
in England and based on real life events that teenagers live within their
everyday life. City High compared to a typical soap opera name such as
Hollyoaks or Eastenders does not giveaway the area which it is set in or the
type of characters it might have. This is effective because it misleads the
audience therefore it may keep the audiences interest interacted to the soap.
The setting used in
City High challenges a real soap opera such as Eastenders because it is not a
set. The settings used for City High are natural settings such as the house,
the school, field and grave yard. These setting were chosen because they are
typical settings of an everyday lifestyle of a student, therefore the
conventions used for the setting is not challenged but used due to each
lifestyle and situation has different settings linked to them. This was
effective for City High because it makes it different compared to other soaps
therefore the audience of a young audience is able to relate to the settings.
-Camerawork/editing
The slides used in
between the clips of the trailer are very simple with a black background and
the writing is in white to stand out. The font used is straight forward font (Calibri)
so that the audience can read it clearly, this does not challenge the conventions
of a soap opera because title/font/style are all developed in a specific way so
that the audience can read it. This is effective because it does not cause any
difficulties for the audience to read it, therefore the audience does not have
to struggle with the pace and the clear view of reading it.
There are many
storylines and narratives in City High. The storylines all can relate to
todorovs theory with having an disruption, equilibrium and a resolution, because
just like reality there are ups and downs. All characters have their own
storylines however they are all connected. This conveys the conventions of a
soap opera because in a soap opera all characters have their own story and
events however they are still linked. This is effective because the audience is able to relate to the characters.
-Title
-Setting
-Costume/props
In City High the basic costumes
and props are used to make the soap look as real as possible, due to the
realism which is expected in the soap of real life situations and the realism
of characters, therefore as seen in this picture, the characters are wearing
simple normal realistic costumes, and the people who are walking in the back
ground as casual students are real students. Compared to a real soap opera City
High is not a set which also challenges the concept of a real soap opera. This
is effective because the costumes and props make the soap more realistic, therefore
the audience is able to relate to the soap as normal people, without
exaggeration.
The Camerawork used in City High
does challenge the kind of camera work used in a stereo typical camera
conventions of soap opera because some of the camera shots used are from a
handheld camera which makes the shots look as if the audience is placed
directly in the soap. The City High trailer is editing to be both fast and slow
so that is it able to give the audience a sense of storyline but also to
mislead them. This challenges the conventions of a soap opera trailer because
it isn't as quick and it shows backgrounds to more than one character or
storyline. This is effective because the camera techniques and editing
techniques are either able to mislead the audience or keep them questioned.
-Title/font/Style
-Narrative/ storylines and how
they are set up
-Genre and how the sequence
suggests it
The trailer sequence suggests that
the soap operas genre is partly a chick flip, however this is a Drama and a
social realism soap opera. This sequence suggests this by show that all four
girls have different back stories and regrets. The trailer suggests that City High is mainly
based around girls, however the trailer only shows parts of the cause and
reaction of situations. This is effective because the audience is mislead
therefore they only believe what they see from the trailer but when they watch
it, they will see other vital characters.
-Soundtrack
The
soundtrack is slow and smooth to cause a slow effect that sounds like a Bob Marly soundtrack, however the soundtrack
was chosen not only because it is slow but the lyrics also because it is able
to indirect to situations in the trailer. The soundtrack is able to cause
emotion and even more tension for the audience, also the way that the trailer
has been edited with a sum of slow motions and a sum of fast motions that
soundtrack works well. This makes it very effective the trailer sequence is
able to convey more emotion with this soundtrack, therefore the audience is
able to sit down and watch the trailer,
