PROPS INFORMATION

The consideration of props is very important when making a soap opera as the audience have to got to feel as if they are watching real life, so the props need to be everyday items, yet the set and props should not be boring. When deciding what props to have in our soap opera trailer, we thought about items that would mean something and be interesting to watch.
Here are some props we will use:

Props in Pub

As a lot of our trailer is set in a pub, we would like our scenes to look as verisimilitude as possible. To achieve this we will use many stereotypical pub like props as possible. We will take clips from behind the bar of the till, beer pumps, and fridges of drinks, as if it were Marris' memory's. We will also take clips of people making use of the pubs furniture, such as tables in the restaurant area, bar stalls at the bar and benches outside the pub, all showing that people in the community feel comfortable and at home in the pub surroundings. We will include props such as beer glasses, wine glasses, charity boxes, beer mats, spirit bottles, ashtrays and coasters to make our pub scenes realistic to a genuine, working, busy pub.

Hettys cup of tea mug
In the short section which introduces the character of Hetty Clark, we see her in our trailer looking upset with a cup of tea in her hand, trying to console herself. The chipped, old mug which holds the tea will display the word 'love' on it, this relates to the character in question and is also ironic, as she is looking for love but has never fount it.


Kirks dog and lead
In our trailer we hope to have a dog, this will play the role of Kirks best friend and accomplice. In our soap, Krik sees his dog as a status figure, although no one else in the village sees it that way, they just think he has a dog, this angers and provokes Kirk.

Car
In our trailer we will use a car, the reason for this is we hope it will adds to the many questions that our trailer poses to the audience. Who is in the car? And where are they going? We also hope it makes our location show more verisimilitude, as cars are very prominent in todays modern society.
 

Beryls glasses, book and special chair
The character of Beryl will wear glasses when she is reading her book. Glasses tend to have connotations linked to wisdom and intelligence, and this is exactly the type of role we would like Beryl to play in our soap, so hopefully the glasses will help portray her personality to the audience.
In the short time we see Beryl, she will be reading a book, once again displaying her intelligence  The fact that she is using a book instead of the Internet as a source of information or entertainment, tells us that in her life she likes to stick to a traditional, old fashioned way of doing things.
We have decided that if we were to create an actual soap episode, the chair we see Beryl sat in within the trailer, would be a reoccurring prop, it would be Beryls special chair. The fact that she has her own chair, that everybody knows not to sit in, shows Beryls authority and the respect others have for her.


Marris' wedding ring and watch
The main character of our soap trailer, Marris will wear a ring. Audience members who view the trailer, would automatically presume that he has a wife. They would then find out when they watch the actual soap, that Marris had a wife who left him many years ago but he cannot get over her.
He will also wear a watch, this has links to fact he likes to be organised and on time. It also shows how he likes to be out and about where he would need to know what the time is.




- Amy Bowman