Market research: common plot lines and 'stock characters'...

Although our brief does not mention having a plot line in mind for our product, Joe and I felt it would be good to have an awareness of the kind of plot featured in children's programmes, and therefore if there are common plot lines, and if stock characters are present. 


Plot lines
From research, I've found that most plot lines can be split into four categories.
1. Celebration
2. Educational/Learning something
3. Recreational
4. Making choices for a good lifestyle 


For example the episodes of the three programmes I based this part of research on (were 'Peppa Pig', 'Bob the Builder' and 'Postman Pat') were all able to be roughly divided into my proposed categories.


Examples


1. Celebration
- Peppa's Christmas
- Mummy Pig's Birthday
- Bob's Birthday
- Bob's White Christmas
- Postman Pat's Birthday
- Postman Pat's Magic Christmas


2. Educational/Learning something
- Bicycles (Learning to ride them)
- The Playgroup (George's first day)
- Bob's bugle (Bob learns to play a bugle)
- Scoop's stegosaurus (Learns about dinosaur bones)
- Postman Pat and the Tuba (Pat learns to play a tuba)
- Postman Pat and a Job Well Done (Pat talks at career day at the local school)


3. Recreational 

- Tree House (Grandpa Pig makes Peppa and George a tree house)
- Best Friend (Peppa's best friend comes to play)
- Travis and Scoop's Race Day (A race to see who's the fastest)
- Dizzy's Birdwatching (Dizzy watches a birds nest when the eggs hatch)
- Postman Pat Clowns Around (Pat becomes a clown for the day)
- Postman Pat Goes Football Crazy (They play a football match)


4. Making choices for a good lifestyle 
- Daddy Pig Gets Fit (Daddy Pig decides he should get fit)
- Recycling (The family visit a recycling centre)
- Bob's Barn-raising (Bob helps the farmer to raise his barn before a storm hits)
- Tea Set Travis (The gang do lots of recycling)
- Postman Pat and the Stolen Strawberries (Pat helps a friend in need)
- Postman Pat and the Go-Kart Race (Cheating isn't nice)






Stock Characters
Characters in children's programmes tend to have a protagonist around the same age as the intended viewer and the character's family/friends/peers. However, from show to show, do we see any similarities between characters?


(Stock character: a character which is representative of a bigger demographic. For example, in children's television, they may feature an Asian character to show diversity.)


Balamory: 

Josie Jump: race


               Penny Pocket: disability

Archie: wears glasses

Little Bill:

(As the protagonist's family in 'Little Bill' are black, the stock character rolls would appear reversed to 'Balamory'.)

                                                  Andrew: race

Kiku: race             Bobby: wears glasses

Noddy:
(As 'Noddy' is set in 'Toytown', a lot of the characters are toys and therefor it appears to have fewer stock characters than 'Little Bill' or 'Balamory', however there are still a couple of examples.)

Dinah Doll: race






                          Miss Pink Cat: Nationality 
                                               (French)














Joe and I have decided that our programme will feature 1 character (of a similar age to the T.A) and they will have an accomplice (family member/friend) of the opposite gender. (We made this decision because if the character is a similar age to T.A, a stronger bond between character and viewer will form. Also, to try and avoid favouring a gender in our piece, we will have the main character's accomplice as the other gender, to try and appeal to both genders of viewers.)