Computer Games Part 2: Censorship

Computer Games Part 2: Censorship Debate
By Jaimie Denholm

Censorship is a dangerously political word. In this country, it is often associated with George Orwell’s 1949 novel: “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. And it has been used more and more over the last eight years with technological advances beyond the imagining of previous generations. With the evolution of the internet our personal information is now available via social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, and with long thought-about government plans to make all of this information available on a national database, all sorts of different people will soon have unparalleled access into our lives at the click of a button- whether that be on a PC, Iphone or even an Xbox 360 console. One of the biggest debates of our times, censorship is hardly something we can ignore.

Broadly, Censorship means "the suppression of speech or communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor."(Wikipedia) In this essay I will be exploring Censorship with a focus on gaming and its possible effects.

There are several institutions set-up to censor media output. For the purposes of this debate, the most important is PEGI - Pan European Gaming Information. PEGI is the organisation that gives restriction ratings to video games. Starting from the age of 3+, ratings are given on a range of issues that are/are not explored in any particular game, such as violence, sex/nudity, implied violence or strong sexual innuendo and drugs.

Ofcom, founded in 2003, is a regulatory organisation that has taken on the mantle from several other lesser known regulators in the UK and has become the definitive regulator for Television and radio. In 2007, after Jade Goody and several other “Big Brother” housemates were heard giving racist remarks against Shilpa Shetty, Ofcom received the biggest number of complaints a regulatory body has ever received- over 44,000.

In 2008 after the Daily Mail newspaper slammed comedians Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross for a rude phone call to actor Andrew Sachs, Ofcom received 42,000 complaints(After an initial thirty-two, before the article was written). This is an example of the "Hypodermic Needle Theory" in action(See below).

The BBFC(British Board of Film Classification) is an organisation which monitors every film that is screened in cinemas- something it has been responsible for since 1985- and gives rating for each film based on different factors- Violence, sex/nudity, addictions etc. The age classifications are as follows:

U- Universal: Suitable for all ages
PG- Parental Guidance: There are no restrictions however parental guidance is advised- there may be one or two scenes in the film which are unsuitable for children under 8.
12: The film is unsuitable for under-12's and nobody under that age may see the film.
12a: Under 12s may watch the film if they are accompanied by an adult. Introduced in 2002, this certificate has replaced '12' in cinemas.
15: The film contains scenes unsuitable for under 15s and anybody under the age of 15 is not allowed to see the film in cinemas or buy the DVD release.
18: Restricted access to over-18s only in cinemas, may contain scenes of heavy violence/explicit sex.

So, is censorship a necessary precaution or a backward concept that in excess can only lead to totalitarian, power-crazy governments? The answer must surely lie somewhere in between. There are two main opposing theories about censorship. One, as mentioned earlier, is the "Hypodermic Needle theory". This theory suggests that mass media has a direct and powerful effect on it's audience, who are seen as passive - i.e, they are helpless to the effects of the media and are brainwashed into believing everything they read, watch or listen to if it is drummed into them enough. In the novel 1984, the totalitarian regime known only as 'the party' used many media devices - slogans, posters and the authoritative omnipresence of its leader, Big Brother, which demonstrated the Hypodermic Needle theory in action, albeit fictionally. Some people have argued that religious texts are also evidence that support this theory. In the gaming industry, much controversy has been raised over several violent games that have inspired "copy-cat killings" - most notably the Grand Theft Auto series, which is known for its focus on American gangster/Mafia culture, and the freedom it affords the player to do pretty much what he or she wants in terms of the law without much consequence, dealing with violence, theft, drug addiction and prostitution. The games are rated as 18 in the UK, however this does not stop parents from buying the games for their children. Many schoolchildren as young as five and six have played these games, which puts into question the point of a censorship body that cannot control what media consumers use - in this country, the government's guidelines are that the main responsibilty lies with parents and the children themselves(Efficiently taking the blame/responsibility away from themselves). However, I would argue that children do not really care about the content of something, as long as it is entertaining - especially if it is something they can interact with like a game. And of course, if it is set in a 3D graphical world, they do not see it as reality, and so may perceive this behavior as acceptable in real life - I.E they would face no bad consequences were they to treat people the way they treat other characters in the games. And this is not limited to young children - On 4th August 2008, BBC Newsbeat reported that an 18 year-old student had been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand after he killed a driver while attempting to steal it. Bangkok police captain Veerarit Pipatanasak stated "He wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game."(Wikipedia)
In Cinema, many movies have been censored or banned altogether because of excessive sexual or violent content. One of the most famous examples is Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm Mcdowell. The film contained many scenes depicting "orgies of random, unprovoked ultra-violence"(Wikipedia) and was banned in the UK in 1972 after a personal request from Kubrick himself, following an incident in which a 16 year-old boy killed a 14-year old classmate who pleaded guilty after telling police that his friends had told him of the film "and the beating up of an old boy like this one"; the judge summarized "the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable doubt".

So, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the hypodermic needle theory is correct. However, does this mean that any media source depicting violence, rape or other such crimes should be removed from the public eye? Does the media really make its passive audience murder and rape each other? The statistics say No - although it can have an effect on people, these cases are few and far between. In 2007 27 teenagers were murdered on the streets of London in knife related incidents. Does gangster culture depicted in games and popular music influence these teenagers to stab each other? Yes, the human anxiety to fit in(especially in a country that gives them no clear sense of identity) does prompt teenagers to buy the same clothes and listen to the same music. And occasionally a criminal will state that they were influenced by Grand Theft Auto. However, surely other factors such as family income, future prospects and personal safety fears in an increasingly crowded, poor and dangerous city must come into play here? Would these crimes still be happening if these media sources did not exist? Of course - look back at any time in human history before this kind of interactive media was available and these atrocities still occurred. Ultimately young people do not carry knives because they want to copy a game, but because of circumstance; it just so happens that 2008's weapon of choice is the knife.

The opposing argument is the uses and gratifications theory. This theory states that, rather than being brainwashed by media as a passive audience, people use the media to get specific gratifications - I.E Entertainment or the way people identify with certain characters, places or events in a media text, fulfilling an inbuilt need to belong and have an identity. This argument is clearly true in one sense - otherwise why do people use media at all? However, certain gratifications can of course be bad - for example the representation of women in television, film, pop music and gaming. For example, in the male-dominated gaming world of the 1990s Lara Croft was one of the most popular characters around. Lara's image was created by men and for men and her design has influenced almost every female character since in games - slim, wearing fairly little clothing(especially for an archaeologist) and with large breasts. There are very few fat female game characters. Over the last decade very few women pop musicians have succeeded without being attractive and more importantly slim. This has encouraged young girls, feeling that they cannot succed unless they are attractive, to slim down and has caused major anorexia problems among teenage girls.

Of course, another media source, now the most free and uncensored in the world is the internet. With the advent of Myspace, Facebook, twitter and blogger, everybody is entitled to express their opinion freely, and even advertise it. Is it acceptable to have hate material on the internet? Unfortunatley what is acceptable for one person isn't nessecarily acceptable for the next, and so their opinion must be tolerated to uphold free speech. Of course, in some countries like China, much of the internet is censored, often to uphold the government's power - and this is why free speech is vital to any potential democracy - the people must be allowed to have their say. This is at the fore-front of the censorship debate. It is everyone's responsibilty to protect children and society from hate-material and prejudice, especially on the internet where it is hard to censor or even avoid, but you cannot stop people having their own opinions, because that way madness lies. After all, who is to say who is right and who is wrong?

Apocalypse Now

"Apocalypse Now" is one of the greatest war films ever made. Most good war films- well, those that aren't spoofs/comedies are- essentially- anti-war films, and nothing has ever got as close to showing us the true horror and insanity of it as "Apocalypse Now". Perhaps only a film about Vietnam could present us with that side of war so wholly, considering that a) it's set in the jungle, which is wild, manic and insane anyway, and b) because of the presence, or lack of, any US official in the movie--it really is every man for himself, as if they're tigers that have just been let loose in the city centre. This comes across best(i.e worst) when Willard's boat arrives at an outpost a long way up-river, and finds that it is somewhat of a death-zone, as one of the army postmen tell us before running randomly off into the jungle. There is no commanding officer in this particular outpost, it's just alot of insecure young men firing machine guns at anything that moves--this is shown really effectively when Willard confronts one of the soldiers about the lack of a CO:

"Hey, who's in charge here?"

"Ain't you?!"

The plot of the film is extremely simple; Willard is sent deep into Cambodia(restricted territory, even if there's a war going on) to find and 'terminate...with extreme prejudice' Col. Walter E. Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando. Kurtz has gone insane and is now acting as a deity like figure to a native jungle tribe. It is directed brilliantly by Francis Ford Coppola(The Godfather)- the film is his vision, having mortgaged everything he owned back in 1979 to make it. Brando's first scene with Willard is genuinely scary, as his face flits in and out of the shadows.
The standard of acting in Apocalypse Now is first rate, with early roles for Harrison Ford and Lawrence Fishburne(The Matrix Trilogy)- who was only 15 when it was filmed. Dennis Hopper plays a crazed hippy living with Kurtz's tribe and is the star of the show, for the forty or so minutes he actually appears. And Martin Sheen, who plays the protagonist Captain Willard, captures the spirit of the soldiers that came home to find America changed forever, perfectly- from his deranged dance in a Saigon hotel at the beginning of the movie to an insane creature-like assassin by the film's end.

The script also flows effortlessly, providing Hollywood with an endless list of, now famous, quotes. The two most famous being:

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning- smells like...victory."

"Charlie don't surf!"

And that brings us neatly onto the Robert Duvall's character, Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore. Kilgore is one of the least intense characters in the movie, in that he is strangely immune to the war and the effects it has on other soliders. As Willard comments 'He was one of those guys that seemed to have a strange light around them. You knew he wouldn't get a scratch in this place.'

Soon after Willard and the men on the boat(Lance, Chef, Mr. Clean and Chief) meet up with Kilgore, the Colonel launches an attack on a beach; this scene is probably up there with the most famous in modern cinema history for it's use of Richard Wagner's "Rise of the Valkyries". The scene is shot wonderfully, as the helicopters bear down imposingly on the beach, guns firing madly in all directions. A napalm strike brings the conflict to it's climax, and the soldiers begin to surf on the waves just as the battle is ending- not ended.

The film also presents us with the concept of possession; how it is valued over almost everything in a war situation. Mr. Clean has his radio, and is buried with it. He clings to it throughout the film and dosen't want to be parted with it. Kilgore has his surfboard, his most treasured posession- and when Willard and Lance steal it, he even sends a helicopter with a recorded message up and down the river(and it's quite a gigantic river, too). Chef has his posters of the Playboy bunnys- who also appear in a scene which degenerates into chaos when some of the soldiers go wild and lash out at them. The key thing about the bunnies, which links in to the other possessions, is that they are not seen by the soldiers as human beings- not in a particularly bad way i.e "I have many Jewish friends" but in that they are over-fetishised sex symbols. The bunnies link into Lance's possession in that they are alive, but they are objects. A puppy golden retriever born in the bloodshed of Willard and Mr. Clean's massacre on the boat- the puppy represents something that is entirely missing in Vietnam: Innocence.

Actually, the film's plot is very simple; a veteran soldier travels up- river to kill a crazed Colonel.(Partly based on Joseph Conrad's 1902 novel, Heart of Darkness). But "Apocalypse Now" is so very different to other films that fit into the same genre. The plot isn't what's important, even the deaths of Chef, the Chief and Mr. Clean are irrelevant, ultimately. This isn't a film that requires a big battle at the end where the heroes die heroically or even "win". Because the plot only serves as a metaphor; the journey up-river symbolises the personal journeys of the characters; how each of them goes slowly insane. And Dennis Hopper's crazed, hippy photo-journalist alongside Kurtz- who has escaped the army to become king of his own little world- is the summation of the madness that the film portrays all the way through, inherent in every character Willard encounters, it stirs underneath everything menancingly until the last ten minutes when it finally breaks through and we are witness to a frenzy of vivid images and music, as Willard finally cracks and goes mad himself- not that he wasn't insane from the beginning, though. "Apocalypse Now" is a stunning piece of modern cinema.

Blade Runner: "Tears in Rain"

Computer Games Assignment 1: The History and importance of Games

Computer Games Assignment 1:

The History and Importance of Games

By Jaimie Denholm

Video games have now been around in one form or another for nearly fifty years, and the development of games, along with computers in general, has been one of the quickest and most important technological achievements of the late twentieth century. A video game is a piece of digital software that "involves interaction with a user interface to to generate visual feedback from a video device."(Quote from Wikipedia)

There are a massive variety of game genres, and all these are played on different 'platforms'. For example, A PC game is one which is played on a computer, usually using a monitor for a video device. Computer games differ from video games in that they need to be installed- seeing as for the computer they are simply another piece of software, as the computer is not a specialised device. This is unlike consoles, which are electronic devices that are mainly used for playing games. Nowadays with seventh generation gaming, consoles like the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 also play DVDs, Music and are equipped with HD graphics. This is the difference between a 'system game' and a 'console game'- or even a 'PC game' and the more general 'video game. Console games are usually played via a TV set. There are also handheld consoles such as the Gameboy Advance SP, Playstation Portable(PSP) and the Nintendo DS.

Personally I own a Playstation 1, 2, an XBOX and an XBOX 360(which is broken) and I also play PC games. I own quite alot of games that I don't really play but I'd say my three favourite ever games are: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a free-roaming fantasy RPG, the Championship Manager/Football Manager series, and the video game of the film Blade Runner. All of these I own on PC.

The first video gaming technology was introduced with the Cathode Ray Tube, which "is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun (a source of electrons) and a fluorescent screen, with internal or external means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam, used to form images in the form of light emitted from the fluorescent screen. The image may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictures (television, computer monitor), radar targets and others."(REF: Wikipedia) Since there was no way to draw computer graphics electronically at the time, they used simple overlays to place objects on the screen. In 1958, Wiliam Higinbotham, a phycisist who is now widely recognised as the creator of one of the first computer games- created Tennis for Two, a game played on an oscilloscope.

Tennis for Two

The majority of early computer games started on university computers run by individuals as a geeky hobby. The limited computer hardware of the age meant that the vast majority of these games are lost to time. However, the entire, multi-billion dollar gaming industry has these university programmers to thank for their work- their development of early computer programs may have saved the entire development from being binned in its first steps. In 1961, "Spacewar!", credited as being the first widely available and influential computer game, was programmed and created by a group of students including at MIT- The Massachussets Insitute of Techonology. The game allowed two players to play against each other, controlling a spaceship capable of firing missiles, while a black hole in the centre of the screen created an obstacle for the players to avoid. This simple formula is still used in many games today, just exaggerated and used thousands of times to make up one game.

Spacewar!(1961)

Gaming development really started to take off in the 1970s, with the release of the first commercially available computer game- Computer Space, which was followed quickly in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console, created by Ralph Bauer. Arcade Gaming quickly became a phenomenem and entered it's golden age with games such as Space Invaders(Released in 1978), Asteroids which followed a year later, and then colour gaming with Pacman.

There are seven "Generations" or eras of video gaming. These are:

First Generation (1972-1977)- The era of the Magnavox and the first commercially available games.

Second Generation (1976-1984)-The second generation gave the Atari 2600 the chance to shine, as well as seeing over the creation of games such as Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Pacman and Space Invaders. This was a golden age for arcade gaming. Third Generation (1983-1992)- The creation of the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES ushered in more money to the gaming industry than ever before; in many countries this third generation was the first in which game consoles were sold in high volumes.
Fourth Generation (1987-1996)- By the time the fourth generation came around, Ninetendo was definately on top of the buisness, but quickly a new, powerful competitor came into play- the Sega Mega Drive was released and quickly blew people away with it's futuristic graphics, and in particular, it's experimentation in creating a new franchise that was to make a huge mark on gaming; Sonic the Hedgehog.

Fifth Generation (1993-2002)- The age of the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo 64 brought a whole new generation to games with milestone titles like Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda, Resident Evil, and Metal Gear Solid. This era is noted most for the rise of fully fledged 3D gaming, as 32 bit and 64-bit pixels were ushered onto consoles and TV screens.

Sixth Generation (1998-2006)- The Sixth Generation is most commonly thought of as the biggest and best age of gaming, as the 21st Century began- and with it big buisness. Sony released their Playstation 2, one of the most popular game consoles of all time, and Bill Gates entered the industry proper as Microsoft released the Xbox. Important games during this era included Grand Theft Auto III, Resident Evil 4, Halo and Kingdom Hearts, Disney's most adventurous and most successful foray into games.

Seventh Generation (2004-)- And now to the present. Seventh Generation gaming is the era of stunning realism and graphical accuracy. It began in November 2005 as Microsoft won the race in producing the very first seventh generation console- the XBOX 360. One year on, Sony released the Playstation 3 and Nintendo changed the face of gaming once more with their Wii System- a console which focused on movement sensors which allows the player to gain some, very limited sense of excercise while playing games. The Wii was meant to be a console for 'all the family' whereas the XBOX 360 and PS3 simply did what Sony and Microsoft do best; they offered stunning 3d Graphics, streamlined play and advanced gameplay. Recent titles that have defined this era are; Bioshock, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Gears of War, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy and most of all, Grand Theft Auto IV. Hand-held consoles have also burst back onto the scene with the Gameboy Advance, Playstation Portable(PSP) and Nintendo DS.

Game Genres

1- Football Games

Football Gaming has developed massively over the last few years. Starting out with simple games such as 'Sensible Soccer'.

As these two clips(of the most popular football games at present, 'Fifa 08' and 'Pro Evolution Soccer 8') demonstrate, there are certain conventions that all football games follow. Now, for this game genre it is obviously easier, as the games have to go by real life rules...for example one convention of a football game is that all football simulations have a pitch. Simple, perhaps, but true. Another is commentary- usually by real-life commentators who lend their famous voices to the game, an example is arguably the most famous football commentator of all time, John Motson, who provided the commentary on the Fifa Football brand from it's early beginnings in the mid 1990s, till 2006, when he and Ally McCoist were replaced by Clive Tyldsley and Andy Gray. The commentary in football games has vastly improved since early commentary was introduced, for example now the commentators do add their own opinions in-game, their own knowledge of football and crucially, they say the players names.

Another convention of football games is the layout. Often they will let you choose from a selection of cameras, however the on-screen display is always the same- a score, with either shortened team names or flags- or both. An on screen radar is also a fixture, although personally I have never looked at it. (And i play on world class level!!!) Since Fifa 2000, there has also been a little bar at the bottom of the screen to show which play is in control of the ball. This has been a fixture in the Pro Evolution series since it began.

Other conventions of football games include:

• Realistic Player Likenesses and Club Kits
• Assitant Referees, dugouts, crowds, corner flags
• Different Weather Conditions
• A selection of difficulty levels
• A selection of stadiums from around the world
• Different player accessories; boots, sweatbands etc.
  
• Different match balls
• Music- either real or electronically made specifically for the game, before and in between matches
• Crowd noise/club songs

The target audience of Sport games, and in particular football games is young men, ranging from about 5-25. As football has a universal appeal, this age range is uncommon in other game genres. The game's music soundtrack is modern and aimed at people interested in rock and emo music, with a little emphasis on hip-hop. The music is very rarely by big-names, but will all fit into the style that the game is presenting to the audience.

Game Genres 2- RPG(Role-Playing Game)

"An electronic role-playing game is a broad genre of video games. These games are originally derived from traditional role-playing games, especially Dungeons & Dragons, and use both the settings and game mechanics found in such games."
From Wikipedia



Surely this is one of the greatest opening to a game ever- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, with the voice acting talents of Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean...a fantastic example of a typical role-playing game.

In an RPG game, the player will always have certain 'statistics', which he or she can upgrade when they 'level up'. These often relate to their specific 'job'- another convention common in RPG's, which I will talk about more later. Statistics often include magic range, dexterity, strength, some kind of resistance to poisons etc.- especially found in Fantasy RPG's such as oblivion, and luck. Jobs are something that the player will be able to become- wizard, warrior, knight, theif...even murderer. Another convention associated with RPG's is the free-roaming aspect. The concept that the player can go anywhere in the created world, doing whatever he/she chooses to do. There are no specific objectives, although there will probably be a 'main quest' which is the main storyline of the game. However, this can be completed at the players will and in their own in-game time. For example, it is not a level format, in that completing one stage directly leads onto another which you must complete(Add infinitum). Other conventions include:

• Trading Markets
  
• Player inventories and, in the case of Online RPG's, chat functions. These player inventories can be used to store weapons, quest items, 'potions' or health packs and clothing.
• The ability to choose what your character looks like, what it's name is, and to create a unique personality including such aspects as star signs, making them more likely to become warriors as it adds to their luck and strength attributes etc.
  
• Companions or Characters that help you and aid you throughout the game, and some that are of no use at all but still follow you around.
  

RPG's are more likeley to appeal to a select audience: usually teenagers, with a more hardcore stance on gaming, focused around communities who play with freinds and swap items etc. RPG's are quite complicated for the average gamer and will usually take around 4-5 months to get normal gamer's heads around them, let alone finish the game. They are usually far more long-term so obviously appeal to people who use consoles/Pc's alot.

Game Genres 3- Arcade Games



Arcade games are perhaps the purest of all game forms. The earliest to come about, they are less prevalent today, having been taken over by more complex action games. These started on early Sega machines, as you see above they were often made by Capcom. Arcade game conventions include:

• A straight-forward, linear approach to gaming- the levels structure. Once you complete a level, you move onto the next one.
• Generic 'baddies' that can kill you by simply bumping into you. These baddies often reoccur in sequels to the game and become synonymous with particular games- e.g the mushroom monsters in the Mario brand of games.
  
• the Points system- where the player gets points for killing enemies, and once these points reach 100 or 1000 the player is granted another life or access to a secret level.
• Lives- often you are given 3 or 5 lives at the start of arcade games, which allows you to have another chance. This is basically an early alternative to saving your game on your hard drive, which arcade games rarely used.
• Checkpoints- points in certain levels, usually around the middle/towards the end, where you can checkpoint, so if you die you go back to that particular spot and don't have to start from the beginning.
• Jumping challenges- often you will have to take part in jump quests where you will have to try and jump over gaps in the scenery or over enemies.
• Often in 2D, side-scrolling format- the original Donkey Kong and Mario Games were like this, you move along the map as it side-scrolls along, in 2d, battling enemies.

Arcade games original target audience was young children of the '70s and '80s, played on early game consoles these games were very popular and in some cases became national institutions- Mario etc. Nowadays they are a dying breed and rely on people's nostalgia for them to keep them going. However, some MMORPGS- massively multiplayer online role playing games, use the same 2d, side-scrolling format, in new and revolutionary ways which are transforming this little pocket of gaming history. One such example is Maplestory:

Where is the Gaming industry going in the future?


I believe that within the next thirty or so years, games will continue to develop at the amazing rate that they have done for the last three decades, and transform into games which we can play at will, possibly from our own brains, wherever we are in the world. The rise of the internet will cause non-online games to become less and less common, as everything is slowly coming together in the world to form a 'mainstream data bank' of the human race- the internet. These may sound like Science-Fiction ideas but it is perfectly possible. More short-term, graphics will become almost identical with TV shows, with the player even being able to be semi-director in games...and even writer, with RPG characters being made, personalised, used as symbols for the real people behind them(q.v Second Life) and maybe even sold off. Gaming will explode with new consoles leading the way into a cyber age of technology where the player can insert themselves into a game and take part interactively. Gone will be the days of sitting down with two controllers and playing on your TV screen.

Media Soap Proposal- Eastenders Part 3.1

Jaimie Denholm 10v Media Coursework

Jaimie Denholm

22 Gotham House

Brick Lane

Dear BBC,

I am writing to you to propose a new Soap Opera for a primetime slot on Thursday and Saturday nights. I believe this is a slot that could be filled well by a new soap considering the lack of interesting/stimulating/big-rating generating programmes at this time. On Thursdays it would go out just before The Graham Norton Show and on Saturdays it would air in the slot after Doctor Who.

Soap Title, Outline, and brief description

The Soap Opera will be called ‘Jubilee Avenue’ and will be set in a remote North-East suburb close to Newcastle. Its aim will be to represent a variety of real people without having to attach labels to the characters and for those particular characters to be singled as the odd one out- unlike Coronation Street or Eastenders in which the majority of characters are from working class, white, straight backgrounds. It will have an emphasis on commuters and how the two different environments that the commuters are in can change how they behave- conventionally the soap will very rarely venture outside of the main set, which will be the Jubilee Avenue, however we will see this change in the characters through their behaviour and interactions with neighbours, visitors etc.

Scheduling Information

The soap will go out twice a week- this is to maximise the viewing audience on the particular nights in question and not just overall throughout the week and on online ratings- it is a (welcome) return to viewing where the audience watches as a community of television viewers- it is part of the soap’s appeal to a modern audience to be something different- not so homely as Coronation Street but neither totally urban and modern like Eastenders. It will go out on Thursdays at 8:30-9:00pm and will always be half an hour long. This prime-time slot can be used much more effectively by the BBC than it does currently. On Saturdays it will air from 7:45-8:15, and will aim to capture the family audience straight after Doctor Who. This is an important move because it means that the soap can appeal to people of all ages, tackling issues over a wider range, including Divorce, Counselling, Illness, Relationships and School-life.

Setting

The soap will be filmed on location in a radius of about 2-3 miles, giving it a sense of scope that other soaps on TV do not attend to. The main setting will be Jubilee Avenue, which will be a kind of small village- although not pastoral and English like the kind that is usually associated with the word ‘village’. This is a dangerous, edgy suburban setting, full of dangerous youths and people peeking out their net curtains. However, there is also a big sense of community in the programme- as there is in any well made Soap Opera. There will also be a rural area behind the avenue, which will basically be a big hill, where many characters go to reflect on their situations. It will be based in the North-East of England.

Typical Storylines and Characters

The main object of the soap will be to provide the audience with emotionally-rich characters that are not stereotypes, and some that actively act against stereotypes. For example, while the soap will not simply drop ethnic minority characters into it for the sake of it, it will also not contain ethnic minority characters just to add a story about arranged marriages or to play on other stereotypes. There will be several staple soap stereotypes, such as two young tarty characters(Tracy & Melinda) and a rough rouge type character in the mould of Phil Mitchell in Eastenders. This character will cause a furore on a number of occasions and is constantly in and out of jail. He is then killed off dramatically further into the series. The first major series event will be a love triangle between a young Asian youth who has recently moved to the Avenue and one of the slag-like characters who is also already involved with another man- the rogue character. This can, clearly, only end in disaster. The audience is always kept guessing as to who Tracy actually wants to be in a relationship with- she doesn’t particularly know herself. Other typical storylines will involve Divorces and special attention will be paid here not to the parents but to the children of the couple getting divorced and how it affects them. Rather than bit-characters in Eastenders, Jubilee Avenue will feature quite a few children and teenagers, all of whom have big roles in the series. Storylines will be, mainly, typical of conventional soaps- Illness, Relationships with an emphasis on family. The running theme and ideology of the series will be the idea of Family, differing from other soaps which often portray already-broken families.

Target Audience

The target audience for the soap will be families, and in particular groups of less represented parties on television- for example Jubille Avenue will feature a thriving (but small) gay community within the town. Obviously in the show there is controversy over this, but sexuality and race issues will certainly not be shied away from. There will evidently be some controversy around a family-orientated programme that features people of differing sexualities, but this is an example of how the show can promote different aspects of life and break the barriers between people in real life by introducing and making them familiar with the lives of people they don’t get a chance to meet or are ignorant about. As stated earlier, the aim of the show is to revert to a more conventional style of viewing television. The timeslots echo this, and this is why Jubilee Avenue will get viewers.

How does this idea differ from existing programmes and ideas?

Jubilee Avenue differs greatly from all soaps airing in the UK at the moment. For one it has a good range of characters - there are no groups that are over or under-represented, and all the characters fit into the show in terms of their own situations rather than just to balance the numbers up. It’s blend of both rural and urban locations will appeal to differing perspectives and neither is over-stated, it is simply there as a very appropriate backdrop for the characters to live in. The soap will also have running themes which may come in as story arcs leading up to a big climactic event in the series or simply a theme which the stories are built upon- such as the first, which will be the idea of family.

Influences and Inspiration

Jubilee Avenue draws from its soap counterpart on the BBC- Eastenders, because the show will be fast-paced, full of energy and it will never dwell on storylines so that they get drawn out and boring, unless it is one that is vitally important to a current theme running through it. It also draws from Eastenders in terms of characters, with the conventional soap types appearing, but with a little more dramatic meat to them. It’s setting is a mix of the suburban/working class estate settings of the sitcoms My Family and The Royale Family as well as the hip urban style of Eastenders, and mixed in with just a dash of the country life presented in Heartbeat and The Archers. This is an original blend that will certainly garner ratings, as it appeals to different sections of the population. I want to make this soap for a few reasons. One, I want to represent different sections of the community which do not always get the voice they want on TV, to make people more tolerant and understanding of the how integration works. This is a key element of Jubilee Avenue- It dosen’t work for some characters but eventually people do oversee their differences. However it is not an advert for Multi-Culturalism as this is a possible turn-off for viewers who believe that it is a Politically Correct term that does not reflect how society really is. It is about people mixing together and ultimately adding their backgrounds into one, unique culture which the avenue is based upon. I also want to make this programme because I believe that while they do bring in big ratings, soaps on television are not all that good- mostly because they are too afraid to try something different other than their own, tired formula. Jubilee Avenue will have no one overriding tone or style of direction and production, more it will be a family-orientated programme that can challenge viewers perception every week in different ways.

Yours sincerely,

Jaimie Denholm