Summary of research

Internet research

Through Internet research I found that there is no soap primarily aimed at school aged teens. The closest to this market is Hollyoaks- which is aimed at teens and early 20 year olds. I also found that soaps are mainly aimed and watched by females. Soaps follow story lines that are close to the heart of the viewer. EastEnders tackles a wide range of issues, to keep the large audience range entertained. Whilst Hollyoaks shows mainly teenage story lines. This showed me that the audience like to watch story lines about things that are going on in their life.
The Internet research helped me to find the target audience range of 12-19 (mainly school aged) year olds as there is no current running soap that is focused solely on them.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire responses helped me to gain ideas of story lines that appeal to the target audience. It showed me that they like shows such as Hollyoaks and Waterloo Road, that deal with the issues most closely to them. They like the story lines to be gripping and full of drama. The final question asked was met with a range of responses- to 'If you could make your own soap what would it be about?'. However, the main response was school and university life. This showed me that there is a clear need and gap in the market for such a soap, suggested that it would be successful if it were to be produced. The questionnaire showed me the target audiences likes and dislikes which is something I will be needing to follow closely when designing the concept for the soap and characters that it will involve.

Focus group

The focus group showed me the expectations that the target audience have of all three products.
They said that they liked trailers to end on a cliffhanger, and to be really dramatic. It showed me that they like action filled trailers which don't show the ending which would make them want to watch the soap. The responses showed that they like tension and awkward scenes, also making them want to see how the story progresses. This is something I found conventional to most soap trailers in the existing product research. These are elements that make the most successful trailers.
With regards to soap listings magazines they said that they were drawn in by bright colours and many pictures. They commented how the main image is always the most dramatic, new story of the week. However the teasers are always something interesting to look at as you pick the magazine up to look at further.
For soap posters the focus group commented that they thought the most eye catching posters were made up of all image, with as little text possible. They said that the main focus needs to be the image as it would draw them in most, rather than having to read lots of text to grasp any understanding of what is being shown. They also commented on how important colour was to the poster, making it catch the eye and stand out. This shows me that I will need to think carefully and selectively about the text I include on the poster, as not to overwhelm the audience and keep it as clear to them as possible.