Investigating the Nature of The Sports Industry

The way our storyline fitted with soap storylines is because the storylines we used in our soap are similar to what soap storylines would use. In our soap we had drugs, affairs, drug dealers who’s supplying drugs to a school child and an adoption which comes back to the mother 20 years later.

Soap storylines often use these events to create tension and a good theme to entertain viewers and keep them thinking and making sure they watch the next episode.

Thinking about the kinds of characters in soap operas there are normally different types for example usually in soaps there is a hard man, prostitute, “slapper”, the town joker, criminal and the local idiot. So our characters did fit in with the way you would normally find characters in soaps for example in our soap we had criminals, dodgy police officer and a male cheating on his wife. So typically soaps normally use these kinds of subjects to keep viewers interested. There are stereotypes in our soap there are teenagers people taking drugs and teenagers stealing money from shops.

Our soap opera would appeal to people of all types and ages because everyone can relate to the issues or understand the subjects in the soap. During the time the viewers are watching the soap opera they may feel that they are part of the programme or part of the subject involved by the way the cameras positioning of the shot in place it can make the audience feel part of the show. We have tried to make this soap opera appeal to all types of people and ages by because the viewers can sympathise with the characters about what is happening to them during the programme and the way they are dealing with the situation. So some people may find they kind of have a relationship with these people even though it is just a soap opera, but the way the soaps subjects are made up they are so believable and some viewers may relate to them for example if there was a storyline were a women has been rapped I’m sure some viewers watching the soap at this time would be able to understand and no how to feel towards the character which would make them feel as if they are part of the soap.
Sport in general is big business. The industry has a complex structure, a large turnover and an impact on many people’s lives through active participation and sources of the media.

During this investigation the structure, economic impact and funding of the sports industry as well as current trends in sport and the relationship between them and the media will be looked upon to see what relevance it has within the leisure and recreation industry of today.

To focus the investigation, I will be basing the investigation on two totally different sports; football and Tennis. These sports will not only be investigated at top level competition, but also at a local competition level and as a leisure time activity.

What is sport?

Before commencing the investigation into the sports industries, the word ‘sport’ must be defined, to ensure clarity. According to the (Collins dictionary) sport can be defined as; “An individual or group activity persuade for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as tennis or football”

From which the definition states that sport involves;

* Some from of physical activity

* An element of competition, whether it be in a friendly situation or in a tournament.

* Rules and regulations that the participants must abided to

* Some form of venue of which the activity is predicated at. For example, football is played on a pitch.

The diagram below illiterates how the principles above are followed for each sporting activities, which people may participate in during his/her leisure time.

Why do people get themselves involved within sporting activities?

There are is a great number of reasons for why people get themselves involved into sport related activities. Just as people are individual in their personnel tastes in food and fashion etc, people also have an individual need for sport. One that meets their own personnel requirements; to lead a healthier lifestyle, meet new people etc.

Either way for what ever reasons they participate in sporting activities, the leisure and recreation industry has a number of outlets that allow the customer to choose what products he/she does/ does not want, and therefore tailor their individual needs to an individual sporting plan of activities that most importantly they enjoy participating in.

From a recent survey, conducted to a mixture of people, from different social backgrounds the following reasons came top of the pole why people become involved in various sporting activities.

1. Leisure and recreation purposes- purposely to peruse an activity that they can follow, whilst not doing activities that they have to do. For example, feed the cat.

2. To earn a living.

3. To organise, officiate, coach or develops sporting activities for the better.

4. To improve the level of physical and also mental fitness, to become a healthier individual overall.

5. To watch or support an individual, team, or country

Whatever the sport and physical activity in which you choose to follow, the leisure and recreation industry will try to accommodate an individual’s needs and expectations. Whether it is to earn a living, as a coach or to just simply participate during your leisure time, there will always be an organisation that would be happy to assist you, at either a private level, public level or at a voluntary level.

The development of football over the last century

Since the start of the 20th century, the sports industry as a whole has undergone radical developments in the way in which they are participated, watched and are available to the general public. Meaning which some of the most popular sporting activities have had to adapt to insure that they remain popular and at the top of the league of sporting activities that people participate in during there leisure time. Football is no exception.

The game of football has developed considerably more so since the end of the second world war, when the general public had more money to spend on themselves, and most importantly time to spend it and participate in leisure and recreation activities, such as football. A clear indication of how football has adapted to the times is through the level of attendance at football matches. (Figure one) Between 1948 and 1949, football match attendance was at its all time high at 41 million spectators a year visiting a football ground; due to the fact that most other leisure and recreation activities which were around in that time, where not wildly available, due to the extensive rebuilding of towns and cities during the bombing campaigns by the Germans. Subsequently as the world rebuilt towns and cities, the development of communication technology, such as television and radio etc, led to the lowest football attendances of the UK since the 1900’s, which reached only 16 million visitors to football stadium.

Although the football industry has decreased in its popularity over recent years, from its hay days in the late 1940’s, it has also had to compete with other leisure and recreation that have come about. For example, since the late 1980’s, skate boarding has also become a very popular activity to participate during leisure time. In addition to the constant threat of trouble within the crowds and the notoriously poor state of facilities the football speciation levels dropped considerably as peoples expectations have increased.

Now day’s people in general have a greater disposable income and a larger variety of leisure opportunities prior to the end of the Second World War. This means that the football clubs that still remain to exists, have had to clean up there act. Not only have they adapted there attitude towards its spectators by improving facilities that are not only safe and accessible to all, but also enjoyable, by installing top restaurants and bars. In some cases, such as Leicester city and Coventry city this meant that they have had to totally start again and build totally new stadia at the cost of millions upon millions of pounds to the team.

Further more so, the game of football has also had to change in the way in which it the teams compete. During the season of 1992, the introduction of the premier league was forced into action by the Football association. (FA) This meant the football industry had to fall into line with other leisure and recreation industries, and embrace the idea of marketing more actively. In this respect this meant foreign players such as Dennis Bergkamp and David Ginola have been instrumental in reinventing the game for this generation and making it a much faster, and exciting game, that fans want to watch. As a result the game was reborn and people wanted to spend money watching live football once again.

However, the introduction was not the only factor that insured the popularity of football in recent years. Unfortunately, a number of footballing catastrophes occurred, that meant drastic changes had to be made. During the season of 1989, the disaster known as the ‘Hillsborough Disaster’ occurred. It was when a number of spectators were crushed against steel barriers when Liverpool fans surged forwards in unison after witnessing a shot from there player hitting the crossbar. This alone prompted the lord justice Taylor to make serious recommendations about the standards of football and other grounds stadia. Following this publication of the report, all clubs whatever there size set out the task of modernising stadia to ensure that this could never occur again.

Taylor’s report recommended the closure of terraces at all grounds, new safety measures on exits and entrances, and a new advisory committee on stadium design to ensure that best practice was followed. Crucially, Taylor also recommended that the Government’s Identity Card scheme (whereby all fans would have to have a membership card to get into a ground) be dropped, on grounds of safety, a suggestion that the Government reluctantly carried out. Taylor’s report did not have the force of law, and not all his recommendations were carried out, but his work in identifying the wider reasons for the disaster has been acknowledged as one of the most significant turning points in the history of English football. The result

was the total transformation of British stadium, paid for in large part by tax-payers’ money, with terraces at grounds in the top two divisions closed by May 1994, and new safety regulations and regimes put in place at every stadium.

Another key turning point that changed the course of football forever, occurred on the 11th may 1985, when Bradford city should have ended the season on a high. For once after a long line of defeats and triumphs they had made it to the third division. However, the day ended on one of the worst footballing disasters in the world. Just before half-time, someone noticed smoke coming up through the wooden floor of the main stand, which had served the City fans for 77 years. The alarm was raised, but nobody had realised that a pile of rubbish had ignited below the seating and within 5 minutes, the whole stand was ablaze. Tremendous feats of heroism from fans and staff alike were witnessed by the television cameras that were at Valley Parade, as attempts were made to rescue people from the stand with the roof alight and raining burning material from above. In total, 56 people lost their lives that sad day and 200 suffered burns.

Following a report into the fire, safety was tightened up at grounds across the country to ensure that a disaster like this would never happen again. The report by Lord Justice Popplewell stated that old wooden stands like the one at Valley Parade were clearly a fire hazard and recommendations for the safety of football grounds were made.

All clubs with wooden stands were forced to provide exits in case of fire. In the early weeks of the following season exits had been made from the seats to the old style paddocks. Similar measures were taken at Reading’s old Elm Park ground. Nowadays stands are made of non-combustible materials like concrete and steel.

In more recent times, the security that follows large scale events such as the world cup has seen many new security features, to irradiate football hooliganism and terrorist threats. Since the atrocities of September 11th 2001, security has never been higher. Now fans have to go through metal detectors and not carry any glass bottles etc. This is to ensure that no “weapons” are introduced into the stadium and therefore it remains a safe and secure environment for all concerned.

Economic significance

Football without a doubt is one of the worlds most important sports ever played. Participated by millions upon millions of people every year and watched by even more- football is the most widely known and participated sport. Through which a considerable economic activity is generated. The contribution to the economy through football can be measured in the following ways; Number of employed within the industry, participation during leisure time and money generated via football.

Employment

The number of people employed in football cannot be totally measured due to its constantly changing scale of volunteers that offer their services for free as they enjoy the game so much.

However, data taken from the “FIFA big count” survey has enabled people to make rough estimation on about the number of people involved within the sport. In total it has been estimated that an outstanding 30 million people officiates and referees are employed to make the game as accessible and enjoyable as it is today. In total with the added 16 million professional players of both sexes that are employed within the industry of Football it is estimated that an outstanding approximately 45 million people worldwide generate economic income via football.

Furthermore, as part of another piece of research conducted by the sports council, it estimates that around 220 million a year would be generated if volunteers revived an average wage of 8.31 an hour for the kind of work that they conduct; making it the second most valuable sport behind the leader’s bowls.

In addition to the direct employment of football organisers etc, subsequent employment is generated from large scale events such as Euro 2000 which alone created approximately 4000 full time jobs per year, through the various occupations that are needed to host such large scale events. For example, hotel workers that are needed to accommodate the large number of fans.

Participation

People from all backgrounds; rich/poor, black/white actively participate in football through various forms. Some participate in the game via a quick game in the park, where as some participate in a local team or organisation. Either way they all help to contribute to the economy.

The majority of football is played on a casual basis according to the recent surveys conducted into the level of which football is played. In basic terms this means that football is the sixth most participated game in the world with the nearest rival cricket. In terms of numbers, there are currently 220 million men and 20 million women which actively participate in the game of football. In terms of how much that represents the population percentage, it represents that around 4%. Or in other words one adult in twenty five plays football on a casual basis with no qualification nor membership to a team.

In addition to the number of people which participate on a casual basis there is also an additional 12.5 million people that play for the 1.5 million teams of the 300,000 clubs worldwide. This not including the additional 15.5 million male juniors and 2 million women juniors which also play as part of a team set-up to the grand total. Thus it can be concluded that an approximately 3o million people play football in an organised manner. Either in a team or club. While it can only be looked at in terms of population percentage as half percent, on another hand it can be looked as the entire population of Canada.

The final participation category is youth football, which without a doubt is where most of footballs participants lye. In the world there are approximately 120 million children/youth players which play in a casual and organised environment. Of which 15 million boys and 2.2 million girls play the beautiful game. This is an ever increasing number that sets to get larger as the population gets ever bigger. The effects of which are set to generate a greater income to the economies of the world as they get older and have greater amounts of disposable incomes that they can spend on football.

Football organisation

The football community of the world is organised into three distinct levels. From the highest; international, where players represent there country, to nationals where players represent there town/area to the lowest in the level of locals where players play for local teams such as pub and charity teams.

Internationally football is organised by the federation de football association; (FIFA) the games governing body. FIFA was founded in France in 1904 and initially comprised of just seven countries.

* France – Union des Societies Franaises de Sports Athltiques (USFSA)

* Belgium – Union Belge des Socits de Sports (UBSSA)

* Denmark – Dansk Boldspil Union (DBU)

* Netherlands – Nederlandsche Voetbal Bond (NVB)

* Spain – Madrid Football Club (today Real Madrid FC)

* Sweden – Svenska Bollspells Frbundet (SBF)

* Switzerland – Association Suisse de Football (ASF)

* Germany joined later on the same day by telegram.

England, which joined later joined a year later in 1905 and was quickly followed by other the associations of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. As the international custodian of football, FIFA has a number of responsibilities that include amending of the rules of the game and organising world cups.

At the less so attractive level; national level football is organised by the country of which football is played. In the case of England, FA organises British football which was established in 1863. Similarly bodies for the other countries that make up Great Britain also exist.

Some of the chief responsibilities of the FA are to not only to communicate with FIFA to ensure equality in football, but also to oversee the development of England’s national teams at all levels, and organise a range of competitions including the annual FA cup. In addition during the 1992 season the FA formed a subsidiary company with sole responsibility for a premier league made up of 20 clubs. A further 72 full time clubs participate in three divisions run by the football league.

In Scotland ten clubs play in the Scottish premier league with a further 30 clubs playing in three divisions of the Scottish league. The national league of Wales contains only 20 semi professional clubs, while another 16 semi-professional sides from Northern Ireland compete in Irish football league.

The overall development of the game from grass roots to the highest level is currently in the hands of the FA’s technical director, who make a number of recommendations in the FA’s strategy document, a character for quality. These include the establishment of centres of excellence for coaching and developing youngsters, and a reduction in 11-a-side football for very young children.

At the lowest level of football, regional and local football delegates a significant proportion to the number of players that play on a leisure time basis only.

In England, regional and local levels of football is also ran under the instruction of the FA, which I turn more than 1.2 million is implemented to ensure key FA initiatives such as coaching award programme to better the lives that participate.

At a local and regional level the game appears to be stronger than ever, with more than 42,000 clubs affiliated to their regional or district associations. Some of this football is organised along semi professional lines but most takes place through a voluntary basis in the local Sunday league pub teams. An example of this is Leicester city football club has open training days for children to go and do basic training and fun activities along side their favourite players and mascot.

Football Funding- The FA

The majority of football funding, goes through the governing body, the FA, which as one of its most import responsibilities, hands out the current 70 million total fund to the clubs; big or small.

There are many sources of which the FA generates the funding to supply the public with football fixtures and training. However, the majority of the funding comes from just four major sources. Firstly television income from BskyB and the BBC, which generates just under 50% of the total funding for football in return for the broadcasting rights of the matches they want to show. Secondly the sponsorship deals of which the FA has with its five major companies Pepsi, Calrsburg, Umbro, Mc Donald’s and Nationwide. These entire put together, generates 23% of the income to the sport. The remaining two sources of income come from international matches and competition payouts which make up a total of 24% of the total income. The pie chart Right expresses this data clearer.

The FA has been able to use its major properties namley England football team and the FA cup, to genertate television income through its domestic contract with BskyB and the BBC. It has also rececently initited with a four year sponsorship that they not only use to generate income for football, but also meet there aims and objectives, by using each of the products to aim at a particular group as shown below.

Each Partner is directly linked to one of the five key strands of football – “the pillars” – identified in The FA’s long term strategy:

* Men’s football – our mass market (Partner – Carlsberg)

* Women’s football – our growth market (Partner – Nationwide)

* Youth football – our future market (Partner – Pepsi)

* Community football – our “classroom” and our “showroom” (Partner – McDonald’s)

* Elite football – our “showcase” (Partner – Umbro)

Each Partner has access to The FA’s top two brands – The FA Cup and England – and a share of exposure to all other pillars.

Partners are also linked to important grass roots development activities in each pillar, which in turn are carefully aligned to delivery of The FA’s strategic plan. The scheme builds the base from which football’s future can be developed in this country. There will be benefits….

* For Fans: The FA Cup and England team “returned” to the country.

* For FA Partners: a more dynamic and less cluttered environment. Clear link from top of game to grass roots

* For The FA: Protection of key brands, less complex commercial arrangements, accelerated activity in key development areas (e.g. women’s, youth), better financial return to football.

Football Funding-The Premier league

The massive interest which surrounds the professional game is clearly reflected in the annual turnover of the FA premier league, which is now exceeds 200 million of income. Most of which comes from its links with big media companies BBC and BskyB. A breakdown of this is illustrated in the pie chart to the right.

As you can see the majority of the funding comes from the 90% of income generated by television contracts. The remaining 10% is made up from sponsorship deals.

Since the inception of the Premier league in 1992 some clubs have reaped unprecedented financial benefits, largely through the redistribution of television moneys, but also through additional funding for professional centres of excellence and stadium development.

The system for distributing television money to clubs from the television companies is as follows;

* 50% is distributed to the clubs in the premiership equally

* 25% for the number of television appearances

* 25% is based upon the final league position in the table. The higher you are, the more money you get.

The table below shows how television funds are distributed to each premier league club in the 2002/2003 season.

Professional Clubs

A full time professional football clubs are now ran on a highly commercial basis, although not all clubs can command the same finacial resources as others. Comercialism has always been part of football, but following the formation of the Premier league in 1992 two different finacial teirs have emerged to split the game. Due to its worldwide appeal, membership of the premier league brings with it a range of commercial oppertunities that simply cannot be accessed by the teams in the lower leagues. These include significant shares in television revenue, interest from high-profile sponsors, increased season ticket and gate recipts, and greater merchandising oppertunities. These trands are perfectly illastrated by Manchester united Football club, which from its excecive merchandiding and comercilaism has become no doubt the richest football club in the world. As you can see from the table below, which shows the income of the club.

Further Evidance that the game is adapting to commercial forces can be seen in the number of clubs that have floated themseleves onto the stock market. Usally to generate substancial funds to create captital and adapt the stadia or buy new players to gain a better reputation. So far there have been 17 clubs that have floated themselves on the stock market, since the first team did, tottenham Hotspurs in the early 1980’s. The share prices for a selection of clubs can be seen in the table below. Data was taken form www.londonstockexchange.com on thursaday 15th April 2004

Football Funding- Voluntering Funcing

There are aproximatly 46,000 vonlantry clubs in the united kingdom, with a combined membership of 1.6 million. Most volountry clubs rely heavily on income from subscriptions, small sponsorships arrangements, donations and a range of fund rasining activities, such as bag packing at super markets. In a growing number of cases, clubs have been successful in securing grant aid from sources like the national lottery and the football trust.

Football Funding- Grants

In 1993 the national lottery Act paved the way fro the Uk’s first National Lottery. Although the lottery is regulated by centeral government, a commercial consortium called camolot was awarded a seven year licence to run it. This was once again renewed again in 2002.

Out of every pound spent on the lottery, nearly 28 pence is divided between six good causes which include arts, sports, charaties, heratiage, celebrating the millenium and a new cause health, education and enviroment. As an average percentage, the sport cause recivies around 16.6% of the total lottery funds. This means that an estimated 200 million will be given to sporting needs of the uk including football causes.

Football Funding- Sport England

Sport England is accountable to parliament throug DCMS. Its members are appointed by the seceratry of state for culture, media and sport. With its funds sport Englandworks in partnership with the public, volountry and private sectors in order to fulfil these stratrgic aims. Thses aims are best understood through the sport England Slogan “More people, More Places, More Medals” In order for sport England to achivie these aims it has developed a number of initiatives, that form part of four main prgrammes, namely active schools, active communities and world class players. As most of these iniatives are ran alongside other partners such as local schools, all of the sports including football and tennis etc will benefit from the injection of cash.

Sport England’s involvement in Football

Sport England funds the Football Association (FA) with, supporting their development plan. Football has been named as one of the 10 England priority sports. In the immediate future, Sport England will be working closely with the FA to produce a business plan for the sport, which includes funding. It does not however fund men’s professional football.

Football is also involved in the following Sport England initiatives:

* For girls’ football, County Sports Partnerships – currently working with 41 partnerships

* Awards for All – with funding of more than 6,726,625 for various projects

* Step into Sport – currently implementing their strategy

* Racial Equity – achieved the preliminary standard

* Club Development Programme – receiving 9.4 million primarily for youth academies

Development programmes

Sport England is a funding partner of The Football Foundation, which was established to bring a variety of benefits to

Local communities through grass roots football. The Foundation’s main goals are to:

* Develop a new generation of modern facilities in parks, local leagues and schools

* Provide investment to increase participation in grass roots football

* Strengthen the links between football and the community, harnessing its potential as a force for good in society.

Previous funding

Year National Community

1995 – 1996 11,250 6,226,654

1996 – 1997 45,000 9,082,435

1997 – 1998 45,000 16,855,978

1998 – 1999 172,990 143,561,034

1999 – 2000 174,025 12,396,847

2000 – 2001 132,000 7,483,498

2001 – 2002 108,000 28,891,218

2002 – 2003 0 8,422,637

2003 – 2004 0 1,128,221

Note: National funding is a total of Exchequer funding and the World Class Programme. Community funding is a total of the following programmes: Community Capital, Safer Sports Grounds, Active Communities Development Fund, all Active Sports Programmes, Community Athletics Refurbishment Programme, Football Youth Development, School Sport Coordinators, Sport Action Zones and Awards for All. The summary is by the financial year, according to the start date of the award period – an award may continue over a number of years.

Football Funding- Players Wages

Although the game in the Premier League is generally in good financial health, there have been concerns about the amount of money that many players are now demanding from their clubs. Players’ of the ‘maximum wage’in the 1960’s, but are nothin compared with the developments since the late 1990’s.

Top Players can now earn as much as 50,000 a week as a result of changes to transfer rules, and the influx of money into the game from sponsors and television companies. This as ypu can well imagine, takes up a considerable amount of money that is given to the Club via the FA and other lucrative deals. The table to the right illastartes what percentage is taken up from the clubs annual income on players wages.

As you can see from the table, as the team gets lower in the premier league, the popularity of the club becomes lower. Therefore there are fewer sponsorship deals, which means a greater porportion of the funds has to go to the players wages, in comparision to the teams in the premier league which has to use up a smaller percentage of the funds.

Football and the Mass Media

The relationship between the game of football and the mass media is very close and has been subject of intense debate. At most people exsperience the game of football via the media rather than activly participating and spectating at events. It is important to understand that as the development in media technoology has evolved, the media relationship between football growers ever stronger.

There are many forms of mass media that play a pivitol role in the way in which the game is ran. In particular the game has been influenced via the following forms;

Newspapers, magazines and books

Newspapers, magazines and books have influenced the footballing world since the middle of the nineteenth century , when a successful sports newspaper, ‘sporting life’ introduced a new idea; to include pages just dedicated to sports- mainly football. This in turn forced many of the other newspapers to introduce sections to there newspapers which reported on sporting events. This is still carried out today, with the largest newspapers etc have full page pull outs dedicated to the game. Football also has provided great subject matter for numerous books and specialist magazines aimed at a variaty of ages.

Radio

The main breakthrough for Radio came between 1926 and 1939, when the number of radio licences rose from 2 million to 8 million and the number of householdswith access to a radio reached 71%. At this time the BBC was the sole broadcater and used its influence to broadcast football fixtuers across the country. Nowdays the BBC still plays a leading role in sports broadcasting, most notably through its 5 live channel.

Due to new technology, sporting events from around the world can be herd on didgitial radios, for as little as 70 for a handset.

Television

Of all of the media, it is television that has exerted the biggest influence on the development of modern football. The BBC began broadcasting a limited black and white service during the latter years of the 194’s. By the time commercial television came around in the 1950’s in the form of ITV, football one of the main way it was used to encourage more people to hire or purchase sets . since then, television owenership has continued to gro, so that nearly all households in the uk now have access to at least one set.

In terms of football broadcasting, one of the most influential developments in providing footballing programmes came in 1984 when cable television and broadcasting Act , which was cleared the way for subscription televisionin the form of satalite and cable. Before this legislation, football could only veiwed on free-to-air terrestrial channels like BBC1 &BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Following the merger of Sky TV with the British Satalite broadcating in 1991, sky Sports was launched as the country’s first subscription channel. In its first year sky sports showed over 7000 hours of sport; of which football made up a high porportion of shows. This was significantly more than all the terestrial channels combined.

In 1996, it screened Frank Bruno’s defence of his heavyweight title as its first ‘pay-per-veiw’ event, which required veiwers to pay an additional one-off-fee to veiw the match. This is now common practice for larger games of football, such as the FA premeier ship final etc.

More recently,the introduction of digitial television has enabled Sky sports to introduce the concept of interactive television, which provides subscribers with extra services such as match staistics and action replays at the touch of the red button.

While satlaite and cable veiwing has increased significantly since its inception in 1989, it should be noted that free-to-air terrestrial channels still dominate the market for television audiences.

In real soap operas are mostly in caf, bar, market square and town for example in Eastenders the queen Vic is created to look realistic because that is like one of the main places in the soap. We created the sets by using props, which were all supplied by the drama centre in our soap we were able to create a living room were we used a dinning table, decorative features like purple covers to create a background, plates, knifes and forks and chairs everything we needed to create a living room. There was a police station were we had to create an interrogation room the room didn’t have to be very decorative it could be very plain so all we had is tables and chairs and that’s about it for the interrogation room. We also had school nurses offices, the main focus in this scene was to focus on the nurse so all we had to use is 1 table, 1 chair and a few papers on the table we only had to use them three objects to perform this scene to the best of our ability. There was a bar scene so we needed a lot of extras in this scene we used a bar with pumps making it look realistic, we had tables scattered around the set floor we also had decorative features to make the public house look realistic. I think the way we created these sets were the best of our ability, which made the sets look realistic for our soap.

In our production long shots, close up shots and middle shots were used. For example there was a long shot in the living room scene, there was a close up in the interrogation room scene and a middle shot in the pub scene just showing the waist up. The technical job I had to do is to be a vision mixer, which was an important job I controlled what was on the final piece of the soap. (What would be on the video) I controlled what the cameras were recording, letting the floor manager no when I was ready and when we are starting to get ready for recording. Long shots close up shots and middle shots were used because it often helped the audience feel part of what’s going on in the soap the issues and subjects.

The messages that were given out in our soap were to not to steal because its just wrong and you wouldn’t get away with it, not to take drugs especially not to supply them to school children, not to cheat on your partner because you will get found out and its wrong. These are some of the issues that came apparent in our soap and the messages just proving the point that drugs, cheating, stealing are all wrong things to do in life.