Soap Opera Whole Episode Analysis

In groups we analysed whole episodes of different soap operas in order to catalogue the conventions that are actually being used in contemporary soap opera episodes such as the types of character and the storylines used to check for a pattern beween the different soap operas exhibited by different television channels such as Channel 5, BBC1, Channel 4 and ITV1, later in groups we will compare each of our findings in order to aid us in our knowledge of contemporary soap operas and their conventions.

I created my research on BBC1's extremely popular soap opera Eastenders and noted down on the table different conventions and relevant information for one half hour episode.

Number of Characters and Types	Settings	Number of Scenes	Storylines Evident within Episode
19 main characters excluding extras without speaking roles Conventional Characters: ·         Married couple ·         Bad father figure w/ wronged daughters. ·         Villain ·         Home wrecker	·         The Square ·         Interiors of 5 different homes were used including kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms ·         The interior of the pub Queen Victoria ·         Café interior ·         Exterior of a children’s park.	In total there were 24 different scenes which portrayed the chosen 19 main characters within this episode.	The different storylines were as follows: ·         A father trying to rebuild a broken relationship between himself and two of his daughters ·         Two storylines revolving around broken families due to cheating husband and mistreatment of a husband. ·         A love triangle was featured ·         An engagement between two younger characters which was unwelcome to the parents. ·         A cancer scare for a character with a lot to lose.

I feel that carrying out this research will aid me and my group when we move to the production section of our product and create our trailer and also our poster and magazine front cover as the conventional storyline will be used as well a the settings for us to create a successful and conventional soap opera.

Initial notes on a soap opera poster

These are my initial notes on existing soap opera posters, these understandings of the conventions of soap opera posters will aid me when creating my own soap opera poster and when researching more into this type of product.

An example of a conventional soap opera poster from
 channel 5's Neighbours 

A poster from Channel 4's Hollyoaks. 

These two posters as well as other posters for soap operas that I have seen contain certain conventions that I will reproduce when creating my own poster with my group, they are very important and are used in almost every poster very successfully, these are conventions contained within both Channel 4 posters and general soap opera posters, the specific conventions contained within these types of media include:

Characters - the characters within soap operas are usually shown with great detail, there are a variety of ways, for example, Channel 5's Neighbours poster above show's each of the frequently screened characters together while Channel 4's Hollyoaks poster only portrays five of the characters, as they certain storyline advertised may focus on those five characters, also how the characters are shown can be very different, such as being shown conventionally, whilst showing some possible characteristics and personality through body language (Neighbours poster shown above) or unconventionally edited to connote very severely a certain storyline or certain characteristics for example, the 'fire' in the Hollyoaks poster could connote a certain dangerous story line, some "fiery" personalities or a dramatic change in the storyline.

Information - Posters give the same short snippets of useful information, such as the time of broadcast as well as the television channel and date/day of the week that the product advertised will be exhibited to the audience, it is extremely important to include snippets of relevant information alongside a snappy tagline in order for the product to be successful, without this information it very possible the audience that are willing to watch it will not be able to as they would not have the neccessary information needed to consume such media, it also adds order to the product and continuity, for example amongst all Channel 4 posters there is a certain order, with the logo on the right hand of the poster to show where the product will be exhibited, and usually there is a great amount of continuity to the layout of the information and tagline, it is similar with the same font used and two contrasting colours used together.




 

Magazine Analysis

I have analysed the conventions of magazine covers in order to aid me when I create draft posters and for Doorstep Productions final product, this knowledge and analysis of  magazines will be used when we create ours so that we can create the optimum magazine.

The Main Cover Line 

The main cover line usually in formed out of blocks of very eye-catching colours, and usually one word is used which in this case is "CHEAT", this is in the hope for people to see it from far away and be drawn to reading more into what this "cheat" is all about, the colours are usually very bright and in this case are Yellow and Pink with a shade of white, used to catch the attention of shoppers walking past. 

Mastline 

The mastline is the name of the magazine and is always the same with it's colours, the mastlines are usually red but are always colours which stand out and are often shadowed, this is to grab attention and for the audience who frequently purchases this magazine to feel a sense of consistency with this product, when creating ours will make it's mast head follow these conventions. 

The Left Third 

The left third is considered heavily when creating soap opera magazines, it often contains part of the main coverline and picture associated with that story as well as part of the masthead and usually some information about the price of the magazine of in this instance that there is "2 weeks revealed" which after looking deeper into this specific magazine Soaplife I noticed is a recurring inclusion into the top of the left third. 

The Main focus

I have noticed after researching a number of soap opera and listings magazines, that the main focus is a picture of one to three character associated with the main cover line, they cover a large surface area of the magazine compared to the other conventional and important features of a magazine front cover of this type, which will help me when creating our own, also the idea of a lack of blank space will be important to make the magazine cover as true to life as possible. 

The Cover lines

The other smaller cover lines run along the borders of the soap opera magazine in order for the reader to get sucked into the stories of multiple different soap operas, it is an excuse to include a small contents section to shown and to draw people into buying the book and read on if they are particularly interested in a soap that is the main coverline. 

 As you can see this magazine is very similar to the other magazine in looks, the soap opera listings magazines are very similar and have very tight conventions which if not kept to can cause the popularity to suffer, these are a lack of blank space, a variety of eye-catching pictures and colours used alongside many other techniques aimed at attracting buyers, interested in watching the soap operas featured.

The Main Cover Line/Focus

The main cover line for this magazine is snappy, with just two words in capital letters "IAN'S HELL!" it is a large Eastenders storyline for that week and has made it's way to being the biggest feature for this particular magazine, it is snappy and characters are intorduced with simply a picture and a first name within the cover line and focus, it is obvouisly for existing fans of the soap opera and not to attract a new audience for Eastenders, much like all the other coverlines located around the outside border of the magazine cover, it would work very well to attract an audience with the extremely detailed photograph of ian after departing for a long time with a scruffy looking beard, this is a rather large storyline and would get a large reaction from audience members.

The Left Third

The left third of this magazine has followed the conventions very well, it has a coverline visible within the left third which in order for people to see this eyecatching coverline and read it, get hooked in and purchase the book or at least pick it up and read the rest of the cover before buying it, we will need to incorporate and good use of the left third when we create our own magazine cover for our soap opera Maple Way.

Plan for Magazine

In our group we decided to individually complete draft Magazine front pages, paying steady attention to the conventions we had researched when analysing existing magazine front covers and also completing other research on existing TV listings magazines, this is one of my draft magazines, I have not rendered it but am aware of the importance of eye-catching colours, i have taken all the conventions on board when creating this draft such as minimal unused space where the background is peeking through, also the left third and all the other key features were taken into account, the taglines were snappy, the pictures were dramatic as were the stories they were revealing, the main focus was originated towards the middle of my magazine featuring a very large story focusing on only two of the many characters within the soap opera, a bar code is also included for continuity and for a more professional look.

Initial notes on a soap opera magazine

As for our project as well as a trailer and a poster for our soap opera we are creating a soap opera listings magazine, my initial thoughts on a soap opera magazines conventions, convantions we will have to follow when creating ours are as follows.

An example of a soap opera magazine

Eye catching - The magazines I have looked at are all very similar aesthetically, they contain very eye catching colours and many different colours for the writing, the background of the writing and the general scheme of the magazine.

Photos - The photos of characters are always very large and facing outwards towards the reader, the main story seems to involve at least two characters and they usually represented with a large photo, as well as the less important stories still have a large photo of the soap opera characters involved relative to the size of the text and the box they are in.

Lack of Blank Space - There is always a lack of blank space, the entire surface area is usually covered be it with photos of characters, the barcode, large block capitalised writing or information about the magazine itself.

These three initial ideas of the certain conventions within a soap opera magazine will aid me and my group once we decide to create our magazine product and when researching further into this type of product as a whole.

Analysis of existing student trailers.

Mise-en-Scene.

The trailer starts off using a lot of the colour green in trees, fence panels and moss within the shot, this can be used as well as the obvious body language and text to connote envy and deceit, the costume used in this scene seems to be primarily black connoting evil, lies and death, and the overall location of an alleyway connotes crime and anti-social behavioral that you would associate with younger adults.

We next move on the a kitchen setting, the woman included within the shot in the stereotypical gender associated with this location, the colours of white and pale green and yellow connote a calm, and peaceful setting as well as the white being used to connote innocence and purity, although the woman's red jumper may connote incoming danger or rage,

the next scene is separated by some very powerful transitions which include key words contrasting with black and white, which may connote that in black and white this is what's happening although the trailer contains scenes which start the explain how it is not simply black and white, the next scene is an argument between two men, one is in a white shirt whilst the other is wearing black once again, this may connote that the man wearing white is good and the man in black is evil, which can be concreted by the conversation taking place. 

the final scene is in a subway, connoting already a dark dirty location and situation also uses blood to connote death before it rounds off into an old fashioned whodunit, with two males in white, smart dress and a woman shooting them, this break in stereotype may have been used to shock the audiences and raises questions that need to be answered.

Sound

Interestingly there is a lack non-diegetic sound within the trailer with is not conventional within soap opera trailers, it is just filled with diegetic background sound such as birds singing and children playing this helps ad the the verisimilitude of this soap, causing the audience to feel similarities to the characters, I believe that due to the overpowering sound and repetition for each character the foley effect is used for the gunshot at the end, which is very powerful to the audience.

Narrative

Narrative is strongly feature within this trailer, there are many different storylines within the trailer about many different subjects, this is conventional to soap operas as drama is shown between relationships with characters, although a voice over is not included at the end of the trailer which breaks stereotype as they usually are included. 

Camera Movements
A wide variety of camera movements and angles are used within this trailer, including:

• Long shot
• Two shot
• Point of View
• Over the shoulder
• Close up
• Mid shot
• Pan
• Tilt
• Zoom

These are all conventional camera movements that are used within soap opera trailers, we will be sure to include a variety of camera movements also when creating our product. 

I will be sure to use the information I have gained here when creating our product, analysing these past student created soap opera trailers will help me to know exactly what to include from these and how to elaborate in order to receive the best marks when creating our soap opera trailer. 

Specific Knowledge of Soap Operas

Detailed Knowledge of Soaps


I have created a mind map with more specific knowledge of soap operas before I research deeply into the production, exhibition advertisements of a soap opera in order to aid my course, when research is composed I will make sure I refer to this specific knowledge of soap operas from before in order to see how much knowledge I had before and how it had improved.