My Soap Opera idea ‘Empire Avenue’ is based around a community of young working class people from a variety of different walks of life; but predominantly represent a modern day British society by mixing a blend of iconic elements associated with our country with the typical London attitude carried so proudly by our youths.
In more detail; Empire Avenue is a made up name for a real area called Green Lanes which is a location based in Palmers Green, London. The reason that this location was chosen was because it is a long road with a variety of different shops which provide many opportunities when considering characters roles in terms of their careers as well as the perfect scenery for my groups Soap Opera. Overall this location will build on the sense of community, following a typical Soap Opera pattern which will allow the working/social lives of characters to be based inside of the audiences view of the world. The time zone of the show will be the same as the viewers, it will be set in real time and the program will portray current affairs similar to soaps such as Eastenders. This is to add to the sense of realism. My typical viewer will be someone from their late teens to mid twenties, who is probably a student with a part time job and an active social life. My target audience is 17-26 year olds, both male and female. Unlike a lot of soap operas which are aimed at a variety of ages, the younger audience who will watch Empire Avenue will be able to relate to it much better than the older audience who may view it. The channel I’ve chosen my program to be shown on is E4, I chose E4 because it is often associated with programs watched by younger audiences and this is a show that will be seen mainly by teenagers. E4 to me seems like the perfect channel for it, although E4 doesn’t have many Soap Operas this will be something different and I’m hoping the mixture of different elements I have here will be successful in attracting a variety of audiences. I’ve chosen the viewing time for the show to be 10.00 pm, past watershed as the program will contain some sexual references and in some cases minor violence. The frequency is 3 times a week, it will be shown on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I’ve chosen it to be 3 times a week because it seems to me like the perfect number, 4 times seems like an overload and 2 seems too little.
The main characters will all be related and will have links to other characters in the Soap, most of the time. One of the main families in the Soap is a White Caucasian family called the Smiths, the head of the family and matriarch is Jane Smith, 47, Jane is a very strong women and has leadership qualities. She is often dragged into trouble because of her familys actions. Mark Smith; Jane's first born son, 19 is the traditional hardnut type of character you would find in Soaps. He is a promoter for a range of exclusive night clubs based in the heart of London, but not so much a hit with the locals. Caron Smith, Jane's second child, 18 is party loving and promiscuouse, often associated with different guys and is looked down upon by her mother. The final character from the Smiths is John, 17. John being the youngest in his family is not fond of all the commotion that comes with being a Smith and is focused purely on his studies, his life is made by hard by his other family members.
The first episode will begin at the heart of a Police investigation involving the Smiths, a member of the family has been linked with a muder case. Police interviews to get to the bottom of this devastating affair play as an introduction to our main characters as well as setting the scene for this drama-ridden place. The first episode will contain intense drama as small detail involving the affair are revealed, at the end of the episode is a shocking revelation. The episode ends on a strong cliff hanger that will want the viewers wanting more.
The episodes in the coming weeks will focus on the issue at hand; whilst more is revealed on who is behind the murder and why, within a few episodes the issue will be a door to other problems until eventually each character has their own parallel storyline. Each storyline will most of the time be linked to that of another characters. Storylines will contrain traditional Soap conventions such as drama, affairs, confrontations, cliff hangers etc.
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