Soap Opera Genre –

Independent Textual Analysis

Name: Lydia RamaCandidate Number: 5978Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic CollegeCenter Number: 64770

OCR Media Studies – A2 Level

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Trailer 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68GWmOETotQ Eastenders trailer BBC Christmas 2009

Verbal Codes –

The dialogue of the characters connote that something bad is going to happen on Christmas day, a time of year where scandal is rife in the genre. A non-diegetic voiceover is presented at the the end of the trailer to connote how something bad may happen to the character Archie on Christmas day. The verbal code ‘has Archie deceived his last’ connotes that Archie is not a well liked character as he has betrayed and purposely hurt the other characters in Eastenders. The voiceover also Connotes that Archie is not well liked by the other characters shown in the trailer as the connotations behind the word ‘deceived’ implies that Archie has done horrible, hurtful things towards the other characters shown in the clip. ‘His last’ connotes that this could be his last night or that it could be the last time he hurts someone, with the USP of the trailer being the enigma clues (Roland Barthes) surrounding who is going to try and stop him from deceiving anymore people. The diegetic dialogue of the characters denotes that they have feelings of anger. The character Phil says ‘I'm gonna kill him’ . The Connotation behind the dialogue of the character Phil, a notorious ‘villain’ (Propp) suggests that he is angry at Archie and that Archie may have done something bad to him or someone close to provoke his anger. The denotation behind this is that Phil wants to kill Archie for deceiving him. Sound effects such as the Non-diegetic soundtrack is ironic because the soundtrack is from the song ‘we wish you a merry Christmas’ and the song is known for being happy as it represents Christmas as a positive season that should be enjoyed by everyone. However the sound effects to this song are very slow which implies that this Christmas is not going to be they typical happy Christmas that people usually have. The diegetic dialogue of the character Peggy “I’ll take care of everything” conforms to the strong female (Rebecca Feasey-2007) as it does not not conform to the stereotype of the genre as this type of dialogue is expected from male characters as they are seen as the strong dominant characters in soap operas.

Non-Verbal Codes –

The trailer is set in the street of Walford during the night so therefore dark low key lighting is used in the trailer. The dark lighting is used to add a more dramatic effect to the trailer to connote that something dark, evil or mysterious is going to happen this Christmas, much to ‘survivors’ (Maslow) relief as they expect something more sinister to consume. The connotations behind this suggest that this Christmas is going to be dark and gloomy instead of being bright and happy like Christmas should be. Shadow effects are used on the characters such as Peggy to Connote that she may have another side to her personality a darker sinister side that may come out this Christmas. This is ironic because Peggy is wearing white clothing and the connotations of white are purity and innocent however she may not be these things as the shadow effect behind her could suggest that she is the opposite to this. The characters shown in the trailers all have similar facial expressions. The characters facial expressions denote that they are angry and are looking for revenge, which in the process creates intrigue for the audience as they are unsure as to why this level of emotion amongst so many characters exists. This will then persuade the audience to watch the Eastenders Christmas special as they will be interested in why the characters are feeling this way. The connotations behind the characters facial expressions show that each of the characters have been deceived by Archie and want to get revenge on him for the horrible things he has done to them. For example Phil's facial expression shows that he is angry as his face is red and his eyes look like he is full of anger. He also looks drunk as his eyes are red and watery which connotes that he is not in the right frame of mind and not thinking straight so therefore he might do something bad to Archie as he is drunk. Phil notorious ‘villain’ (Propp) is also carrying a hammer which suggest he is going to do something villainous with it. It could be a sign that he is going to attack Archie with the hammer on Christmas day to stop him from deceiving any more people.

Trailer 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68GWmOETotQ Eastenders trailer BBC Christmas 2009

Technical Codes –

There is a close up of the character Phil to show that he is drunk and angry looking. The close up shot has been used to show the audience that Phil is drunk and not thinking straight when he says he wants to “kill” Archie. It shows Phil looking angry with a red face and red watery eyes and connotes how strongly he wants to kill Archie as it shows that his anger is aimed towards him. There are also lots of establishing shots of the Queen Vic pub, a setting that is the focal point of the working class community of Albert Square and Walford. This connotes that something bad or explosive may happen at the Vic on Christmas day, as all the characters shown in the trailer are also looking towards the pub which shows that their anger and revenge is towards the Queen Vic where Archie lives. This connotes that one of the characters is going to go A over the shoulder shot is used at the beginning between Bradley and Stacey as Bradley is trying to find out who attacked Stacey as he says “who did this to you”. This is used to connote that Bradley cares about Stacey and wants to find out who hurt her. The over the Shoulder Shot denotes that Stacey is petrified to say who has attacked her which suggests that someone has hurt her in a bad way. It implies that Bradley wants to find out who hurt her so that he can confront the person who did this to Stacey. The fade to black editing technique is used to close one shot of a character to open a new shot of another character. This is used to show that each of the characters have a different reason for hating Archie and the black connotes that they have negative feelings towards him and suggests that one of them is planning to get revenge on him which will make the audience want to watch Eastenders they will want to see what is going to happen to Archie and who will do it.

Trailer 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu2sW-r9Vb4

Verbal Codes –

A non-diegetic soundtrack is used throughout the Hollyoaks wedding trailer. The lyrics ‘it’s a nice day for a white wedding’ is ironic because all of the characters are dressed in black. The Connotations behind this imply that this wedding is going to turn out bad and be a horrible day because none of the characters are in white or look happy. The color black is usually worn at funerals so therefore it connotes that death and potentially despair could happen at this wedding. The color black connotes that it is going to be a dark wedding which is ironic to the song lyrics ‘it’s a nice day for a white wedding’ so therefore the color black could imply that this wedding is not going to turn out to be a nice day. diegetic Sound effects are added to the song so that certain lyrics can be applied to certain parts of the trailer. For example ‘hey little sister what have you done’ when Mercedes (the bride)is looking at Mitzee as she is walking down the isle and Mitzees drops a doll. The lyrics connote that the bride has done something wrong. A dramatic diegetic sound effect is added when the doll smashes to pieces on to the floor which suggests that the brides wedding is going to be a disaster or a secret is going to be revealed which could cause the wedding to fall to pieces. The tone of the non-diegetic voiceover at the end ‘to love honor and betray’ is a dark gothic tone of a women's voice which suggests the bride who's female has betrayed or lied to her husband to be or is going to betray him in the future.

Non-Verbal Codes –

All of the characters including the bride and groom are wearing black. This connotes that the upcoming wedding is going to be dark and is not going to end up being a happy day for everyone at the wedding especially the bride and groom. The bride is also wearing very dark make-up which connotes that she is a wicked, dark character and may not be a very nice person. This is commonplace in the soap genre and the presence of a femme-fatale style character is what the audience would come to expect, however it could it be argued she seems more like a victim though and that she is emotionally unstable as suggested by the non-verbal code of the black tear at the end as it suggests that she is not emotionally ready to marry someone. The darks make up also connotes that she could be keeping a secret or that she has done something bad which could ruin her wedding day. The setting of the trailer is in a church. This connotes that a wedding is going to happen, however the lighting is very dark low key inside the church instead of being bright like the inside of churches usually are on such utopian occasions. This connotes that it is going to be a terrible, dark wedding and not happy and cheerful like weddings should be. Churches are also where funerals are held so the dark lighting inside the church could connote that death may happen during the wedding. The meanings behind the black tear at the end imply that the bride could be a victim or is not emotionally stable to marry. The tear could suggests that the wedding will not go to plan once they get to the alter. It could also suggest that she is hiding a dark secret from he future husband or he is hiding a secret from her which will be revealed on their wedding day. Props such as the black rose petals being thrown on to the floor by the flower girls connote that the bride could be walking towards a disaster. The doll that is smashed on to the floor connotes that the wedding is going to fall to pieces and not go the way that everyone expects a wedding to be which is happy and cheerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu2sW-r9Vb4

Technical Codes –

A close up camera shot is used to denote the brides facial expressions. The bride has a blank facial expression and is not smiling as she is walking down the aisle and most brides would be smiling. This connotes that she may not be looking forward to the wedding and that she may not want to marry the groom so therefore this wedding could turn out badly. There is also mid shots of all of the guests at the wedding. The shots show all of the characters wearing black and dark make-up which is similar to what the bride is dressed like. This connotes that the guests could no about a dark secret that either the groom or bride is wearing or that the guests no that something bad is going to happen at the wedding. A high angle shot of the bride and her mother walking down the isle with black rose falling down on to them. The connotations behind this camera angle suggest that the focus is all on the bride as the lighting is also lighter lighting compared to the lighting shown on the guests which is very dark almost black low-key lighting. The camera angle also makes the bride look smaller which suggest that something bad might happen to her during the wedding. The camera movements are slow as the camera focuses on certain scenes. For example to camera moves slowly as it moves towards the bride walking down the isle. This suggests that the bride does not want to walk down the isle and does not want to go through with the wedding. Editing cuts are used to cut from character to character as the bride walks down the isle to show what is going on inside the church. The cuts also cut to each character to show what they are doing and what they are wearing.

Evaluation of Textual Analysis – Compare and Contrast

Trailer 1) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) and ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie – 1995)

The areas of strength within the Eastenders trailer are the use of close camera shots that show the characters sinister facial expressions. I think this is an area of strength because you get to see how each of the different characters feel about Archie and see how angry they are towards him which shows that one of them is going to get revenge on him: the audience as a result are intrigued and fascinated by who is the culprit behind Archie’s eventual demise or even death. I would ‘repeat’ this because it shows the audience how the characters feel and their attitude towards other characters. For the Eastenders trailer I would add more of a drop shadow to some of the other characters to add more of a guessing game as not all of the characters have a drop shadow behind them so the audience might not see them as villainous characters. However the drop shadows used on the characters such as Peggy are an area of strength for Eastenders as it implies that Peggy is not as innocent as her appearance makes her seem and that she could reveal a darker side to her personality this Christmas. I would also add a drop shadow around the character Archie and dress him in darker clothing so that he comes across to the audience as a dark villainess character to the audience.

Trailer 2) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) and ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie – 1995)

An area of strength in the Hollyoaks is the color theme of black which is used throughout the trailer and the make-up and costumes. I think the black theme is a strength because it is the opposite of what people would expect to see at a wedding which would make the audience wonder what is going to happen and wonder if it is going to end up being a nice happy day like weddings should be or end up turning into a disaster. The make –up is and costumes are also dark and gothic looking. All of the characters are wearing black which is what people wear to a funeral. I think this is a strength as it shows that death could happen or a dark secret could be revealed during the wedding. I would not make the trailer so dark and add high key lightings to some part of the trailer as it is very hard to figure out whop is a villain and who is a victim in the trailer as all of the characters are dresses in black. I would add more black low key lighting around the main villain in the trailer to show the audience who the main antagonist is and who the episode will be based on.

Evaluation of Textual Analysis – Compare and Contrast