Primary Research Results

Name: TJ SalangoCandidate Number: 1220Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

Soap Opera Logo HERE

What would your ideal Soap Opera be called?Q1)

The majority of responses to this question focus on either a particular location or the name of an area. Names featuring hills such as ‘The Hills’, ‘Hill’, ‘The Surrey Hills’ or ‘Hanging Hill Lane’ were prevalent through the results, connoting that this is a fairly popular idea. Names featuring more specific areas such as ‘London Bridge’, ‘London Road’ and ‘Langley Vale’ are targeted at particular places which I feel restricts filming locations, especially since our group would prefer to film more locally.

What themes would you include in your Soap Opera?Q2)

This feedback connotes that the random sample of people I used think that Family and friend relationships are one of the most appreciated themes used in soaps with a majority vote of 56%. The second most popular vote was for Violence which earned just under 20%, denoting that Family and friend relationships is the most prevalent theme by far compared to the rest of the other options. I can apply this information to my own soap trailer, including these highly rated themes to attract a larger audience. By giving audiences what they want they will be more willing to watch.

Who is more likely to watch a Soap Opera?Q3)

The graph above denotes that the majority of the random sample of people felt that women are more likely to watch soaps than men. Only 5 people of the 16 who answered felt that men and women were just as equally likely to watch soap operas whilst no one felt that men are more likely than women to watch soap operas. This information can be used for my own soap opera, I will try to target my themes more towards the female audience whilst still keeping a few male features. The fact that men are 0% more likely to watch soap operas than women connotes that the soap opera genre is a female dominant one.

What age range is more likely to watch a Soap Opera?Q4)

From observing the information above, it is evident that people feel that the age range of 25 to 35 and 36 to 45 are the most likely to watch a soap opera with the majority of 4 votes each; this fits into the adult age category. In second place people thought that the youth, 16 and under, as well as older adults, 55+, are the next most likely to watch soap operas, this may be linked to the free time a lot of seniors have and the drama and escapism younger audiences tend to enjoy. Young adults seemed not to be fond of soap operas, possibly due to its realistic genre and lack of action. From this information I will aim to target my soap’s trailer more towards the popular age groups.

Where do you think a Soap Opera would take place?Q5)

The graph above denotes that of the three possible options I had offered to a random sample of people, the majority, 75% or 12 votes, thought that a Soap Opera would most likely take place in a small village or community. The remaining 25% was divided into 2 categories. 3 of the 16 felt that a soap would be best suited in a large and busy city, for example, London, however, the majority of soap opera trailers that I’ve observed don’t take place in this kind of environment due to its large scale. Only 1 person thought that an isolated and empty town would be the most suitable area, however, the lack of people and a small community ruins the purpose of a soap opera.

How many characters would you expect to see in a Soap Opera?Q6)

This feedback represents that the average number of characters to be featured on a soap opera is between 16 to 20. I will try to apply this information in creating my own soap opera trailer, keeping in mind that audiences typically wish to see a larger range of characters. 3 people expected between 11 to 15 characters and 26 or more characters, connoting that the value between the two is ideal. Very few people wanted to see only 5 to 10 characters and no one expected a cast of just 1 to 5 or 21 to 25 people. From soap opera trailer analysis, although they may only feature few of the main characters the entire cast of the soap is of a much larger scale.

How often would you expect a Soap Opera to show on television weekly?Q7)

The data above connotes that a typical soap opera would show on television every day of the week. Of the 16 people that took my survey, only 2 felt that a soap would air only once or twice a week, which is unconventional for popular soaps such as EastEnders and Coronation Street. 6 people expected a soap to show every other day, which was actually the response I’d expected to get the majority vote; BBC One tends to air EastEnders every few days, occasionally leaving a 2 day gap in-between, whereas Coronation Street shows every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on ITV1, leaving Tuesdays Thursdays and weekends to film new episodes.

What time would you expect to see a Soap Opera on television?Q8)

This question links in strongly with my previous question as it focuses on the show times of soap operas. Here you can observe that most people felt that a soap would show between the hours of 8:01 pm to 9:00pm, whilst 7:01pm to 8:00pm came at a close second. Personally I would’ve agreed with the later show time due to the more mature themes I would like to feature in my own soap opera trailer. EastEnders, on the other hand, tends to air their episodes slightly earlier at 7:30pm or 8:00 pm depending on the day, offering my soap opera a chance to show on BBC One after watershed. Coronation Street is exhibited at 7:30pm and 8:00pm, putting my soap on focus.

Has a trailer ever persuaded you to watch a Soap Opera?Q9)

This feedback is extremely important in determining whether or not a soap opera trailer actually has an effect on random audiences, and you can identify that a surprisingly larger number of people felt unconvinced by a soap trailer than those who have. The data connotes that despite the promotion and advertisement of soap operas, they are widely ineffective in drawing in potential viewers, this could possibly be due to the ‘dull’ genre of soap operas. This doesn’t mean that my own soap opera trailer shouldn’t be well done, instead it means that the more exciting and intriguing a trailer, the more likely it is to persuade audiences into regularly watching the show.

If answered 'Yes' from the previous question, state the Soap Opera below.Q10)

The feedback denotes that EastEnders was the only soap opera with an effective enough advertisement campaign to persuade people into watching the programme. I have previously analysed the EastEnders Mother’s trailer as part of my trailer analysis task and have personally thought it was a great attempt to sell the show. By observing the results above I believe the best course of action would be to continue analysing various EastEnders trailers and comparing them to less popular trailers to determine what actually makes them successful. I would hope to apply those conventions and techniques to my group’s own soap opera in order to better convince audiences.

ConclusionPrimary research played a vital part in the planning process of my soap opera. In order to make the full use of my information I have to consider applying the statistics to the decisions I make; for example, the most popular theme voted by the public was ‘Family and Friend Relationships’, therefore I would need to think about applying this theme to my own trailer. Despite the fact that the majority of people voted that women were more likely to watch soap operas, I will make the decision to target my trailer towards both genders in order to attract a larger audience, I will have to include new conventions that will attract males whilst providing a USP to make it stand out from the rest of the soap opera genre.

I have decided to ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) a few features generally shown in other soap operas such as the location; soaps typically tend to base their location in a small town or village as opposed to large cities or isolated rural landscapes. EastEnders proved to be a convincingsoap considering the amount of people who’ve been persuaded to watch it from the trailers,therefore I must pay close attention to majorconventions such as themes, cinematography,characters and music.