Eastenders: Social Realism codes and conventions

What are the key differences between this and Made in Chelsea?

Note down:

• Themes and story lines
• Performance
• Lighting
• Costume
• Locations
• Dialogue and accent - how does this convey class and status of these characters compared to MiC?

Made In Chelsea Trailer - deconstruct this.

In four groups, watch the trailer and focus on one media language for deconstruction:

• Mise en scene: costume, locations, lighting, props
• Editing: title cards, pace, sound bridging, sound effects, music, quality of sound, is editing smooth or not?
• Sound: diegetic and non- diegetic, key, pace, volume, dialogue quotes
• Camerawork: shot types, angles, movement, handheld or steady camerawork?

Make thorough notes and once each group has fed back, use them to answer the following question:

How do media languages combine to create conflict in this trailer?

500 words, word- processed or hand written.

Soap Sub- Genre Presentations

As each group presents, take notes to gain understanding of each sub- genre.

The aim of this lesson is to explore different approaches to the soap genre and start deciding what kind of soap you might want to make for your final piece.

Note down:

• origins of the genre if explained
• length per episode
• aesthetic conventions - locations, costume, hair, make up. How do these demonstrate the class and status of the characters?
• stereotypical characters and storylines
• main conventions

Sub genres presentation

Soap Opera Pop Quiz

Traditional Soap Opera characteristics:

You have 2 minutes to revise and note down the following conventions:

• Length per episode:
• 3 stereotypical story lines
• 3 character types
• Name five soaps that fit the traditional template.

Soap Magazine Front Cover example

Welcome to A2 Media Studies

   

Soap Opera Conventions: Structure and Format

Structure and Format

The proper name for Soap Operas is ‘continuing dramas’. They are called this because the episodes are not grouped into separate series, but run week-in, week-out, all year round. 

Soap episodes are relatively short (most installments run for just 30 minutes), but three or four episodes may be screened per week, often with an omnibus edition at the weekend. In recent soaps, scenes also tend to be quite short; two minutes or so is considered the maximum viewing time for one scene to avoid the audience becoming bored.

A defining feature of the Soap Opera genre is that plots are open-ended, with several stories running at the same time. Three, four or even five story lines will be in progress during any one episode, with the action alternating between them. As one narrative is resolved, another completely different one with different characters will already be underway. One story line may end, but there is no overall narrative closure because Soaps (unlike other television dramas) are designed to continue indefinitely. Because of this narrative approach, Soap Operas are sometimes described as being ‘open text’.

A Soap episode will usually end with a 'cliff-hanger'; a suspenseful piece of dialogue or action without conclusion, which will tempt viewers back for the next episode. Similarly episodes often begin with a 'hook' in which one or more of the narratives from a previous episode is continued.

Occasionally, Soaps will broadcast special episodes to coincide with real-world festivities or events such as Christmas. Other special episodes might focus on characters that have left the main show, or current characters in a location outside of their usual surroundings. Occasionally a special episode will be given over to an established, well-loved character. These episodes are sometime referred to as 'Soap bubbles' because they are self-contained and have little impact on the storylines of the regular show.

Soap Opera Conventions 1: Narrative Themes

Narrative Themes in British soap opera.

Soaps concentrate on continuous narratives that deal with domestic themes and personal or family relationships. Births, marriages and deaths are frequently used to inject drama into a soap and are useful ways of introducing new characters and story lines  or getting rid of old ones. 

Illness and accidents also frequently appear in story lines, which has the interesting effect of making viewers aware of a variety of medical conditions. Indeed, over the years, Soaps have shown an increasing interest in story lines built around social issues, such as illness, homelessness, crime, unemployment, racism, sexuality, drug abuse, domestic violence, and bullying. These story lines can have a strong impact on viewers, for example, when Britain was

becoming aware of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s, EastEnders featured a story in which one of its central characters, Mark Fowler, contracted AIDS from his wife, helping to dispel social myths that only gay men were vulnerable to the virus.

Particularly controversial story lines are dramatic and entertaining and can also increase ratings, as they attract media interest and public debate, which helps to publicizes the Soap. Of course, it must be remembered that what is considered to be controversial changes over time - what might have shocked viewers in the 1960s (such as unmarried mothers) is now considered too tame to be the focus of a major soap story line, and some of today’s soap concerns (such as homosexuality) would never even have been mentioned thirty years ago.

Socially relevant story lines help soaps to remain realistic and maintain their popularity. Soap operas try to be as relevant as possible to their audience, focusing on story lines and characters that viewers can relate to. However, like any television programme, Soaps have to be entertaining, which is why they tend to focus on the more dramatic aspects of ordinary life; death, birth, marriages, personal crises, and controversial social issues.

Soap Opera Conventions 2: Settings

Settings in British soap opera

British Soaps tend to have a strong regional identity, for example, is set in the East End of London while Manchester is the setting for Coronation Street. This helps to make each programme more realistic by placing it in an identifiable setting.

A Soap’s setting also has an effect on its characters and narratives. For example, early episodes of Emmerdale Farm (Granada, 1972-) centred on the Sugden family’s life living and working on a Yorkshire Dales farm, and so rural themes were central to the programme's storylines. Also, the extensive location filming was a significant factor in the early popularity of the programme, with the production crew making the most of the spectacular scenery.

British Soaps generally place a lot of importance on community (both in their set design and narrative themes) as they are often set around a small residential area, such as Albert Square in Eastenders. They also tend to include a central meeting point where all the characters interact and major story lines develop, for example The Rover's Return

Coronation Street or The Queen Vic in EastEnders. These contained sets have benefits from a production point of view because producers can save money by using the same set for many different character encounters.

Soap Opera Conventions 3: Realism and Ideology

Realism and ideology in British and American soap opera

Soap Operas are generally described as being 'more realistic' than crime and fantasy-based dramas. There is a longstanding tradition towards social realism in British Soap, that is, a 'warts and all' presentation of the world as people experience it, rather than an idealised version of reality. These Social realist Soaps explore lives and social issues that seem broadly 'realistic', even if the idea that all these issues could arise in one small place seems rather unlikely.

This tradition is less apparent in Soaps from other countries. For example, American soaps like Dallas and Dynasty are very glamorous, presenting an idealised view of the world rather than a realistic one.

Characters are immaculately presented, beautiful and successful - here, audiences watch to escape real life, not to see it presented on screen. Light entertainment Soaps, such as Neighbours and Home and Away, seem to adopt the middle ground, being more realistic than many American soaps, but presenting issues in a less confrontational, "gritty" way than British soaps.

Some Soaps use elements of more than one style. Hollyoaks, for example, sometimes appears to be social realist, but also adopts the light entertainment approach of Neighbours, which it's younger audience finds more enjoyable.

Every element of a Soap contributes to its overall realism, including characters, storylines, setting, scripts

and production elements such as music, lighting and camera work.

Soap Opera Conventions 4: Characters

Characters

The link between Soap characters and storylines is pivotal to the success of the genre. Ultimately the characters serve two main purposes; they are a vehicle for the plot, and figures for the audience to relate to.

Characters are often introduced to a Soap with built-in story lines, such as serious illnesses or a secret in their past. This provides interest from the outset, however, writers must be careful not to link a character too closely to one particular narrative, otherwise they will outlive their usefulness once the story line has been resolved and become boring. Also, many Soaps tend to base their characters on basic stereotypes which can support different sorts of story line. For example ‘the loveable rogue’, ‘the tart with a heart’ and ‘the gossip’ can support stories with a comic element, whereas ‘the gangster’ and ‘the bully’ can contribute towards more dramatic story lines.

Most other television genres have central characters that provide the focus of the action, but Soaps have large casts which the action moves between. This helps to keep the storylines interesting over a long period of time and by focusing on just a few characters in each episode, the audience has time to get to know them and to become emotionally involved in their stories.

Soap characters often reflect the concerns of their target audience; for example, when Soaps began on 1930s radio they were aimed at American women who were at home while their husbands were at work.

As a result, most of the drama revolved around female characters, who lead lives that listeners could relate and aspire to. Similarly, Hollyoaks is a modern Soap aimed at a young audience, and so the characters tend to be young and attractive, with concerns reflecting those of its viewers, such as university life, exam pressure, sex, jealousy and drug use.

PLANNING YOUR SOAP TRAILER

Once you have planned the content of your trailer, you need to plan as a team how you are going to execute your ideas. In each group there should be:

A director - this person is responsible for the organisation of actors, materials, camera operators and scripts. 

Actors - each member of the group should be in at least one shot. 

Camera operators - these people are responsible for sound quality, tripods, cameras and lighting/mise en scene.

Runners: These are the team members who are not involved in the shot. Their role is to check continuity, props, scripts, mise en scene and equipment.

It would be best if you all share the roles so you get to experience each part of the production process.

Before you go to shoot your trailer, make sure the following tasks are complete:

• each member of the group has a complete script with dialogue and camerawork (see  example below)
• each member of the group has a copy of the storyboard and knows what part they are playing
• locations for shooting have been chosen (must take place in and around college)
• the order you are shooting your scenes

Made In Chelsea "I'm ready" trailer

TOWIE green screen trailer

Made in Chelsea trailer

Hollyoaks Storyboard

Hollyoaks aug 2012 storyboard from aquinasmedia

Once you have analysed the trailer in class and blogged your deconstruction, you will be using this storyboard and script to replicate the trailer in college. Fun!

Hollyoaks script

Hollyoaks august 2012 trailer script from aquinasmedia

Your first task will be to replicate this trailer, in groups, using the college for your mise en scene.

Once you have shot the trailer you will upload your footage to the Macs, edit and upload your preliminary task

Hollyoaks trailer analysis 2

·         Non- diegetic soundtrack creates “Thought Beats” – music matches edits. Song is contemporary therefore soap is for a teenage audience

·         Multiple storyline “snippets” in quick succession

·         Lots of lights on stars face. Unlike other soaps, light comes from sharp points to create interesting shapes and shadows for the viewer. This has become a convention of the soap, like the “grey” lighting in Eastenders.

·         Murderer is anomaly. He’s older than the rest of cast, and in a different place. Camera is at low angle to make him look threatening.

·         Two sources of light in some scenes to create shadows

·         12 SECONDS: Static camera with character walking into MCU creates movement with a static camera

·         Pan up

·         Zoom

·         Deep focus

·         Asymmetrical framing

·         Faces of main characters are fully lit so audience know to concentrate on their emotions

·         13 SECONDS MCU with pull focus to character in background. Pull focus matches movement of character in foreground, linking main character and background character

·         Short shots- generally 2-3 seconds each

·         Choppy editing to create interest

·         POV reverse shots

·         Shot reverse shot

·         Side on shot

·         “Texas” and “Dodger” (great names!) standing very close together-positioning lets audience know about their relationship

·         Leaning to draw audience in

·         Day, time, brand, twitter on tittle card at end

Realism and escapism: Hollyoaks

This trailer and the spoilers in the link below use conventions of both British and American soaps.

Storylines tend to be realistic, with the odd sensationalist, escapist plotline to keep a young audience with short attention spans hooked. Costumes and "perfect" appearances of the characters also give the soap an escapist feel.


Link to this week's events in Hollyoaks: you can use this to get ideas for your final trailer

http://www.e4.com/blog/hollyoaks/post/pzv7gwibuxzedimapogay/view.e4

Made in Chelsea conventional trailer

Since a merry go round and masquerade costumes are quite hard to come by, here is a trailer for MiC that takes footage from two narratives and knits them together to try and hook the audience.

Dialogue is minimal but every line is a clear pointer to past, present and future events.

Remember with dialogue- every line in your trailer must show that the storyline is continuing from previous episodes but can be caught up with. Your dialogue should act as a taster of things to come...

Soap Opera Origins

Soaps, otherwise called "continuing dramas", began on American radio in the 1930's.
One of the first British radio soaps, The Archers, is still running today on BBC Radio 2.

Soaps moved to TV in the 1950's and in 1960, Coronation Street was first broadcast on Granada. Coronation Street marked a change in programming in the UK: while nearly all programming was made to be educational and reflected the values and lifestyles of those running the stations, Coronation Street was made to reflect the lives of the audience.


The article below contains good information about:
- Stock characters used in soaps
- Using stereotypes to convey information to the audience quickly
- Themes and narratives
- British soaps and how audiences interact with them
http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/~/media/Files/NMeM/PDF/Educators/TVHeavenPlusSoapOpera.ashx

SHEENA'S MEDIATED ID ESSAY INTRO.

A2 REVISION NOTES THURS 29TH MAY

Jen Ainsworth: Soap Opera Stereotypes

Soap Operas usually have approximately 20 main characters, however, they are not all featured in every single episode. New characters generate romance, scandal and arguments within the story lines and introduce new issues. Characters have lives between episodes and the audience often hears about an event rather than sees it.

 

Characters are often stereotyped. For example:

• The delinquent teenager
• The community leader
• The frustrated housewife/husband
• Gangster/criminal
• Nagging parent
• Elderly resident
• Promiscuous female
• Promiscuous male
• Entrepreneur
• The gossip
• The never-do-well
• The prodigal son/daughter
• The spinster
• The cheery shopkeeper/landlord
• The bore
• The lost little girl

Below: Eastenders character stereotypes

Promiscuous female: Stacey Slater seducing her boyfriend's dad, Max Branning	Cheery landlady: Peggy Mitchell behind the bar of the Queen Vic Pub	Never-do-well: Billy Mitchell embracing his baby

There are certain types of characters that can be seen to be common among many soaps:

• The grandparent figure: A wise old person, usually female. This character helps others with their problems with advice and support. He/she has lots of contact with many of the other characters. Sometimes the character will not be related to any others, but will still serve this function. See EastEnders' Pat Wicks/Butcher/Evans, whose many marriages have left her with connections to almost everyone in Albert Square.

• The strong woman: An independent, powerful, aggressive woman. She can usually be found at the centre of conflicts. Often, this hard, aggressive woman will be revealed to have a soft side that she keeps hidden. Usually it will be exposed by a new love interest whose sudden and inevitable departure in the future will only serve to make the woman even tougher than before.

• Jack-the-lad: A male character that manipulates others to his own ends. Often the stock 'baddie'. This character may become softened over time, and this often leads to him becoming the comic relief of the soap. Examples include Jed Stone on Coronation Street and Alfie Moon on EastEnders, both of whom have served time in prison, and both of whom used comic timing to win audiences' hearts.

• Young couple: A couple that bravely face the difficulties of life, through their own, serious relationship problems. Too many to mention - every single British soap has had at least one set on the go at any one time.

• Feisty young female: A strong-willed girl, almost always young, who desires independence. She is usually argumentative and miserable.

• Troublesome oldie: An older, grumpy, meddling, interfering character, always with his/her nose in everyone else's business. For all his/her faults this character is still loved for his/her generally good intentions. The archetype was created by Coronation Street's Violet Carson, whose character Ena Sharples defined the word 'battleaxe'. If characters stay around long enough, they might find themselves shifting from one archetype to another - as EastEnders' Pauline Fowler proves, having once been the feisty mother of a young family and who now finds herself as a grandmother and troublesome oldie in one.

• The boss figure: Usually male, in a position of authority, either as landlord of the local pub or as owner of some other business that has an involvement in the lives of other characters (such as a factory). He continues his natural authority and leadership into his personal life. He has, in the past, been combined with the Jack-the-lad character.

1a research and planning table

Use this to help you plan the essay.

Eastenders trailer

Sarah Baartman: The "Hottentot Venus"

WHO WAS SARAH BAARTMAN?

 

Baartman was born in 1789. She was working as a slave in Cape Town when she was “discovered” by British ship’s doctor William Dunlop, who persuaded her to travel with him to England. We’ll never know what she had in mind when she stepped on board – of her own free will – a ship for London. But it’s clear what Dunlop had in mind – to display her as a “freak”, a “scientific curiosity”, and make money from these shows, some of which he promised to give to her.  

Sarah Baartman, displayed as a freak because of  her unusual physical features, was finally laid to rest 187 years after she left Cape Town for London. Her remains were buried on Women’s Day, 9 August 2002, in the area of her birth, the Gamtoos River Valley in the Eastern Cape.  

Baartman had unusually large buttocks and genitals, and in the early 1800's Europeans were arrogantly obsessed with their own superiority, and with proving that others, particularly blacks, were inferior and oversexed. Baartman’s physical characteristics, not unusual for Khoisan women, although her features were larger than normal, were “evidence” of this prejudice, and she was treated like a freak exhibit in London. The ‘Hottentot Venus’ She was called the “Hottentot Venus”, ‘Hottentot’ being a name given to people with cattle. They had acquired these cattle by migrating northwards to Angola and returned to South Africa with them, about 2 000 years before the first European settlement at the Cape in 1652. Prior to this, they were indistinguishable from the Bushmen or San, the first inhabitants of South Africa, who had been in the region for around 100 000 years as hunter-gatherers. Khoisan is used to denote their relationship to the San people. The label “Hottentot” took on derogatory connotations, and is no longer used.   

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, a cruel reference to Baartman being an object of admiration and adoration instead of the object of leering and abuse that she became. She spent four years in London, then moved to Paris, where she continued her degrading round of shows and exhibitions. In Paris she attracted the attention of French scientists, in particular Georges Cuvier. No one knows if Dunlop was true to his word and paid Baartman for her “services”, but if he did pay her, it wasn't sufficient to buy herself out of the life she was living.   

Once the Parisians got tired of the Baartman show, she was forced to turn to prostitution. She didn't last the ravages of a foreign culture and climate, or the further abuse of her body. She died in 1815, at the age of 25.The cause of death was given as “inflammatory and eruptive sickness”, possibly syphilis. Others suggest she was an alcoholic. Whatever the cause, she lived and died thousands of kilometres from home and family, in a hostile city, with no means of getting herself home again. Cuvier made a plaster cast of her body, then removed her skeleton and, after removing her brain and genitals, pickled them and displayed them in bottles at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris.  

Some 160 years later they were still on display, but were finally removed from public view in 1974. In 1994, then president Nelson Mandela requested that her remains be brought home. Other representations were made, but it took the French government eight years to pass a bill – apparently worded so as to prevent other countries from claiming the return of their stolen treasures – to allow their small piece of “scientific curiosity” to be returned to South Africa.   

In January 2002, Sarah Baartman’s remains were returned and buried on 9 August 2002, on South Africa’s Women’s Day, at Hankey in the Eastern Cape Province.  Her grave has since been declared a national heritage site. Marang Setshwaelo, writing for Africana.com at the time, said Dr Willa Boezak, a Khoisan rights activist, believed that a poem written by Khoisan descendant Diana Ferrus in 1998 played a major role in helping bring Baartman home. Boezak said: “It took the power of a woman, through a simple, loving poem, to move hard politicians into action.” Whatever the reason, Sarah Baartman is home, and has finally had her dignity restored by being buried where she belongs – far away from where her race and gender were so cruelly exploited. 

Black History: Research projects

In pairs or groups of three choose a topic from below and prepare a short powerpoint detailing the following:

- definitions or short synopsis of your area
- dates (if talking about a person, birth date and date of death if deceased)
- 5 facts


The aim is to build a timeline of African American history as a class. Email powerpoints to me and I'll put them on the blog.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SLAVES: (Field and house slaves. Were they treated differently? How were they chosen?)

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, THE CIVIL WAR AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY

SEGREGATION

THE KU KLUX CLAN

LYNCHING, Emmett Till (find his story and see if you can link it to the start of the civil rights movement) and Strange Fruit (poem, sung by Billie Holliday)

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (what were the aims? Find video footage of civil rights marches and anti civil rights marches)

MALCOLM X AND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: differences

BLACK PANTHER MOVEMENT AND THEIR AIMS

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary products?

Excellent example of Q2 from last year

OCR G324: Q1 TIPS

QUESTION ONE: How did you USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE existing codes and conventions?

1. How have you USED, DEVELOPED or CHALLENGED existing codes and conventions?

• Mise en scene
  • Locations, props, costumes, lighting: are they similar to those used in the real product?
• Editing
  • Does pace of editing match the beat of the music?
  • Is there a cutaway shot? Does it effectively illustrate what is being spoken about by another character?
  • Eyelines match? Can the audience tell who is speaking to each other and where they are positioned in the scene?
  • Are edits sharp? Does dialogue flow?
• Sound
  • do the score and lyrics make events in the trailer clearer?
  • Is all dialogue clear?
  • Does non- diegetic sound match or change the tone of the trailer?
• Camerawork
  • Variety of shot distances and heights used?
  • Depth of field used effectively? (items/characters at different distances)
  • BCUs to create tension and show character's emotions
  • Any camera movement? Tracking, panning, zooms.