Hollyoaks – Melodrama

1. Hollyoaks – Melodrama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO3VlauXYLA Hollyoaks is a melodramatic soap which has some areas of realism which are very dramatised

2. Technical codes - Cinematography Hollyoaks uses lots of close up shots. This is to add drama to the show by clearly showing a characters emotions with a close up of their facial expression. They also use long shots. This is to set the scene to the viewer or in this case show them something has happened. For example in this long shot you can clearly see the whole room, and its clear there has been some destruction. This adds to the drama of the show as the viewer can see something bad has gone on. 2 shots and 3 shots are used to establish relationships between characters. For example, in this 3 shot it suggests there is some sort of love triangle going on, subtly representing to the viewer that something dramatic is going on.

3. Technical codes – Framing/lighting/focus The framing in this shot centres Tony in-between the rest of the characters with them all looking at him, this suggests to the viewer who the main character in the next storyline is and makes them wonder what’s going to happen to them. In this shot, 2 of the characters are visible but they are out of focus, making the other character the main focus of the shot, suggesting she is another main character in the storyline. The lighting used in this shot is very dark and dismal, this has connotations that something bad is going to happen and suggesting to the viewer that something will go wrong.

4. Soap conventions Hollyoaks often includes realistic everyday themes such as marriage and relationships which viewers can relate to. As well as this they cover issues such as homosexuality and adultery. Hollyoaks is set in a central location, with all the story lines based around the characters in one community. Hollyoaks also involves a lot of conflict and violence which makes it a very dramatic soap.

5. Audio codes In this particular trailer there are is no diegetic speech. There is non diegetic slow paced, calming music which juxtaposes with what we are seeing on the screen which is lots of destruction and chaos. The lyrics to the music are ‘its the last goodbye’ giving some hints to the audience of what may happen, suggesting that some people may die. There is also non diegetic dialogue at the end of trailer which says ‘broken hearts, shattered lives’ which implies that there is going to be lots of drama. As well as this they have edited in SFX, such as the sound of a crumbling wall in the beginning.

6. visual codes The costumes in this trailer clearly represent that it is a wedding and shows who is who, for example who is the bride is obvious. The red dress has connotations of blood and death, and the way she is falling suggests there might be a gory ending for some of the characters Referential codes are used such as the setting at the end of the trailer is the same room as the start but it is obviously ruined and something has happened to it.

7. Narrative In hollyoaks, the character roles (propp) are always very obvious, this is because it is a melodrama, there is always a very clear villain, hero and damsel in distress. As well as this, there is also always clear indications of equilibrium and this being disrupted (todorov) for example, in this trailer, everything is seemed to be normal at the beginning and we see that normally disrupted. This makes the viewer want to see if equilibrium is restored or not.