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Questionnaire - Research

Questionnaire

What is your age?

5-9 [1]                         10-14 [4]                    15-19 [9]                   20-24 [3]                    25-29 [2]    

30+[1]    

What is your gender?

Male [6]                   Female [14]

What is your favourite soap opera?

Eastenders [4]                       Coronation Street [2]                           Emmerdale [2]                         

Home and Away [6]              Neighbours [4]

What time do you watch soap operas?

3pm-4pm [0]                         4pm-5pm [0]                       5pm-6pm [0]                    6pm-7pm [10]   7pm-8pm [5]                         8pm-9pm [5]

Would you like another soap opera on TV?

Yes [18]                        No [2]

What channel would you prefer a new soap opera to air on?

BBC1 [5]                     BBC2 [1]                     ITV1 [4]                      Channel 4 [4]                               

Five [1]                       Other (please specify) [5]                E4 [5]

What issues would you like to see in a new soap opera?

..............................................................................

The feedback gathered from the questionnaire was beneficial as it help me acquire a target audience that want a new soap opera. The most prominent age category within our research was the 15 to 19 years of age category, meaning our soap will have significant competition from other soaps such as Hollyoaks (coincidentally the most popular soap amongst the people who filled in the questionnaire) which appeal to a similar audience. Therefore in order to avoid competing with Hollyoaks due to its strong established fan base, the most logical way to solve this problem is schedule our soap opera after Hollyoaks, possibly on the same channel E4 which received joint equal votes with BBC1. However this could be an opportunity to bring a contemporary soap opera aimed towards a younger audience to a very established and widely syndicated channel such as the BBC, although this may become a problem due to Eastenders audiences overlooking our soap due to the overwhelming popularity of Eastenders.  

The ratio between men and women is significantly more towards A female audience members thus meaning the soap must deal with certain issues such as teenage pregnancy in order to appeal and educate the audience with real life issues which are relatable. Overall this questionnaire was very helpful and could potentially determine the outcome of our creative project.

My Pitch Idea Treatment - Town

'Town' is about a community of people living in a small town in Manchester that go through a lot of drama within the characters, the interweaving storylines which are shown are an evil character who reeks havoc on all the other characters, a child with two possible fathers, love triangles which lead to affairs, interrupted weddings due to a scandal, relationship problems, black mail and other dramatic events within this soap opera. 
The characters are of different ages, gender and races which is diverse and can attract different audiences. 
The age range of Town are all different ages because it has different story lines and different ages of characters. Town would be a mix of Eastenders and Hollyoaks as it taps into both of the target audiences.

It will air on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 8pm on Channel 4. 

As an audience we are eavesdropping into these characters lives (voyeurism).

The first episode will introduce Anthony (55) is one of the eldest characters who owns a pub, he is talking to Betty (32) who owns a catering company about a wedding which is happening in the episode. We see the town people talking about the wedding and the preparations. The reason for having a big event in the first episode because the audience expect something to happen as wedding are always a big event which happen in a community of people. Towards the end of the episode, a mystery character which the viewer is unaware of interrupts the wedding at the end.

Main characters in the first episode:

Anthony (55)  -  He owns the pub, he owns the heart of the town where people gather.

Betty (32)       -  She owns a catering company 

Karen (27)      -  Bride 

Tony  (29)       -  Groom

My Pitch Ideas

Title: Runaway
Content: a group of teenagers who cause havoc in a small town as they are bored.
Channel & Time : Channel 4 / 7:00pm
Target Audience: Young Audience; Teenagers 
Frequency: Monday,Wednesdays & Friday


Title: House
Content: A hotel which has main characters that work there, which the staff have affairs and other events occurring.
Channel & Time : Channel 5 / 8:00pm
Target Audience: Broad Audience
Frequency: Monday, Thursdays & Friday


Title: Gene
Content: A caravan site where families live.
Channel & Time: Channel 4 / 9:00pm
Target Audience: Adults
Frequency: Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays


Title: Family
Content: A town of wealthy families, a bit like Desperate Housewives but a british version.
Channel & Time: Channel 4 / 8:00pm
Target Audience: Young Adults/ Broad Audience
Frequency: Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays


Title: Town
Content: A small town with different people with dramatic events.
Channel & Time: Channel 4 / 8:00pm
Target Audience: Broad audience, Middle class
Frequency: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday




These were my pitch ideas, I think they are good ideas, but they never made it for the final idea for my group, because of the narrow target audience which i appointed for them. I am happy with my groups decision for the final product.

Group Pitch Ideas

Possible Title	Content	Target Audience (age, gender, social class etc)	Channel and time of broadcast	Frequency
The Campus	A large university campus with a wide range of young people living there to fulfill their academic ambitions.	Youth between ages 12-18, girls, working class	Channel 5 at 5:00pm	Every weekday
Suburbia	A small suburban upper class road where the characters have dramatic lives.	Young adults (primary audience) to Middle age (secondary audience), working to middle class	Channel 4 at 8:00pm	Monday, Tuesday and Friday
Concrete Jungle	A group of employees at a business in the city, following everyday lives.	Broad audience, mostly targeted to young adults, girls, working and middle class	Channel 5 at 9:00pm	Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
Town	A small town with different people with dramatic events.	Broad audience, Middle class	Channel 4 at 8:00pm	Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

Soap Opera Slideshow

In class we had to present a slideshow of a few things Soap Operas/TV Dramas need. I used Eastenders as an example because I am familiar with the soap and watch it religiously which helps me to analyse as a student and a viewer, and i am able to write a brief background on the characters.

The different representation of characters are for the audiences to become familiar with them and the characters have to relate to audiences and realistic.

Realism has to be the key element in which audiences can relate to the different topics and issues which are  happening in the soap opera for them to be believable.

Soap Operas must be sensationalised in order for the viewers to be able to believe what is happening. UK Soap operas are much more gritty and tap into sensitive issues rather than other soap operas from other countries who make their soap operas much more unrealistic.

These are the few issues which Eastenders expose to their viewers.