Soap Opera Genre – Independent Textual Analysis

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio Soap Opera Genre – Independent Textual Analysis Name: Eulalia Cardoso Candidate Number: 6094 Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College Center Number: 64770

2. Trailer 1 – Emmerdale- Judgement day trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGXX2ubwoIU Verbal Codes – The soundtrack ‘Wicked Game’ by Jordan winter connotes to the audience that something is not quite right in the town of Emmerdale. The non diegetic music is low in tone so the audience can assume that there is tension between one or more of the characters. The outcome of using this particular soundtrack ‘informs’ (Katz) the audience to expect some kind of ‘disequilibrium’ (Todorov) between the characters that might erupt or might still be brooding under the surface. Another non-diegetic verbal code the trailer uses, is the voice over that tells us when to watch this particular soap opera. This is known as a point of call. The tone of the male voice over is low to bring in the whole clip. The way the speaker announces “Emmerdale” connotes to the audience that the atmosphere is not a happy, utopian one. The tone used is in conjunction with the visuals of the clip, not to contrast but to exaggerate emotions of each character. This only tells the audience without needing any visual aid that something is not quite right within the streets of Emmerdale. A very important sound effect (non diegetic) is used in the clip to portray the tension that looms within Emmerdale. When the ‘villain’ (Propp) faces a group of characters, he is separated with them by streets. Hestands on one side of the street while his opponents stand on the other side. It is then that a background diegetic sound is heard of a thunderstorm. This portrays the force of the single man and it is traditionally known to use pathetic fallacy to exaggerate the emotions that go with a text. To the audience this connotes how the whole of the community is going to experience problems soon or are currently doing so.

3. Non-Verbal Codes – The whole ‘Judgement Day’ trailer is set in the streets of Emmerdale at night time, therefore the lighting is dark and predominantly low key; only significant details are highlighted. The main connotation of darkness, as opposed to daylight, is grief or secrecy. Within this clip, street lights and car lights are the only thing that light up each character. The reason this is presented is so that the audience can only see what the producer wants them to. For example when the antagonist is walking down the streets, he is dressed in a black coat, looking around at each character while being hidden in half darkness. The looks he received back are only one of hatred and disgust. An audience can assume that this ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) a dark side to the character that might not be a good one. The reaction of each other character interacting with the antagonist is not a pleasant one. This is vital as the producer does this to portray the working class community as one with lots of secrets. The secrets are essential within a soap opera as that’s what feuds a multi-stranded narrative and, according to Katz, the audience can watch this soap opera to use it as a form of‘diversion’ to get away from reality to see how each character solves their ongoing problems.

4. Technical Codes – The first shot seen in the clip is an overhead pan with the antagonist starting to head towards the streets of Emmerdale. The reason this is used is so that it establishes the setting for the audience, whether or not you-as an audience- have seen Emmerdale before. A critical eye could say that this connotes the long dark road that lays ahead of the sole character. The technical code of the high angle shot has been used to connote how lonely the character is, isolating himself from the rest of the town. By watching the rest of the clip the audience can see that there is a definite conflict as each character distances themselves away from the lead as if the character is a deadly disease. The producer successful creates enigmas for the audience so that they can get ‘hooked’ (Wyatt – 1994) and watch the soap to understand why the characters are so cold to the main character. A cut shot moves into a long shot of village in the distance with the ‘villain’ (Propp) walking toward it in the middle of the screen. The reason he is in the middle of the shot is to symbolise how he is the character the rest of the narrative revolve around. Like before, an onlooker could use this shot to link the character to disaster as he could be the trouble that turns the community life around. Emotion between all of the characters are conveyed through close ups of head shots. They are very important in the trailer as it connotes how each charter looks venomously at the villain while he crosses the street. A pan is used here to present to the audience the extreme emotions that each character may try to hide but does that unsuccessfully. To understand why, we must watch the rest of the soap. This on its own serves the purpose that Maslow put forward when stating an audience who he would define as watching soap operas as ‘survivors’ – a demographic who can be denoted as people who need to know that a situation of disequilibrium will be resolved.

5. Trailer 2- Coronation Street- who killed Frank? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTMuF5A-W0c Verbal Codes – The non-diegetic soundtrack ‘American Beauty’ by Thomas Newman in this trailer is used to create tension alongside the dialogue of each of the cut shots. Tension builds up through the slow tempo of the music while each of the dialogue is acted out with ascending drama. The initial dialogue sets the scene by a character repeating the phrase “find them”. This not only instigates the audience to ‘personally identify’ (Katz) with one or more of the characters for loss of a loved one, but it also sets the scene for the trailer as the audience can now understand the reason for the dispute currently going on - finding the killer of the character Frank. The tension only builds up as many characters are seen to dislike Frank. Diegetic dialogue such as “Frank was gonna’ get what was coming to him.” and “HE WAS EVIL!!” connote Frank may not have been the best person to all of the characters, however the audience will notice even more tension between the characters as they try to unveil the murder. The connotations of ‘murder’ are negative so in effect the trailer plays along the negative connotations and produces anxiety so that it entices an audience to watch the rest of the soap to see the outcomes of the struggles. The concluding non-diegetic voice over speaks directly to the audience when saying “the killer will be unmasked.” This involves the audience so the audience can use the ‘diversion’ that Katz suggests so involve themselves in the text. The final sound effect used is a single note that could be compared to a knife being dragged across a surface. While this ties in beautifully with the diegetic dialogueof ‘Killer’, it concludes the whole of the trailer as the audience can understand that a murder has been committed; and the intrigued audience will watch the soap opera series.

6. Non-Verbal Codes – In each of the short clips, the trailer has been shot to concentrate on each of the facial expressions of each character. Every character that goes by, looks more guilty than the last one. This is purposely done to keep the audience guessing of who the real killer of Frank is. A shot of what is assumed to be the killers feet is shot, to the right of the frame. The reason for this is because depth of field is being used to show a pair of doors in the background. While the feet are in darkness (symbolizing danger or evil) the doors are illuminated in lights with high key lighting. The doors are shut so this leaves it to the audience’s imagination of what is going on behind the closed doors, however this is a key element of the trailer as this will most probably be important later on in the soap. Hot stares are used to show the expression of the characters and the emotions they feel over their friend’s death. A woman is even seen screaming while a door is shutting in her face. Another man is seen in a doorway setting away into the darkness. All of this is carefully constructed to portray the illusion of guilt and secrecy. If an audience has already attached themselves to a character, they have formed a personal relationship (Katz) with a character or a small group. For this reason they will continue watching the soap opera, however the trailer may entice a larger audience to witness the murder story unfold. People may do this as a form of entertainment or again, as a form of indulgence according to Katz. In the last shot, a man dressed in black is seen walking down a road. He is lit up artificially by street lights so the dark orange contrasts well with his black clothes; thus further adding to the effect of deceit and distrust.

7. Technical Codes – Fast cut shots are used to allow the audience to assume that each story is interlinked with one another as the codes and conventions of a soap opera must mean there are multi-stranded narratives. In the clip, a low angle close up of a character claiming he never killed anyone represents one strand of the narrative. The tiny snippets of action show a small part of what happens in the soap opera. A man used in the background connotes more power as he is looking down at the other character, dressed in a suit. In accordance to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, ‘social climbers’ may be attracted to this as the audience can associate themselves as wanting the same or similar kind of power. The whole of the trailer consists of close up shots of each character, even when there are a few over-the-shoulder shots, the camera always concentrates on just the faces of the characters. The reason for that being it is easier for the audience to gage the emotions of the characters. The impact on the audience therefore means that they will either relate to the character through ‘personal identification’ (Katz) or disagree with the characters emotions, yet still engaging in the media which is ultimately the aim of the trailers. Transactions that are used are always fade to black before going to the next shot. This is purposely done to add to the theme of death, since death is related to black. It would be inappropriate to fade to white as this would be binary opposites (Levi Strauss) within the media text.

8. Evaluation of Textual Analysis – Compare and Contrast • Trailer 1) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) • I thought the characters, all somewhat cowering in darkness, was very effective to create enigmas (Roland Barthes) and suspense. • To keep the whole trailer in one colour was also effective as you can clearly see the ‘villain’ (Propp) of the clip, but the theme of betrayal shines right through by everyone being dressed in casual black clothing. • I will have to add in sponsor names and the title of the show to make it look professional, as well as the ident of the institution for the brief (BBC 3). This is crucial to edit in at the end so that the final product look to the best standard. • Trailer 2) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) • In this trailer I liked the fade to black transition that was used between each shot as it ties in the whole of the clip with a strong bond. • The depth of field was one of the key images in this clip so similarly I would like to highlight a key item of significance within my trailer to make the viewers want to wonder why that item is so important. • The repeated use of dialogue in some scenes that links to the theme of the clip was carefully chosen. For each repeated word, there were many connotations, for this reason if I imitate it in my clip, I’ll have to carefully consider the uses of dialogue to make it most effective.