Soap Opera Genre –

Independent Textual Analysis

Name: Esme QuantrillCandidate Number: 6094Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

OCR Media Studies – A2 Level

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Trailer 1 – Coronation street – tram crash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcVoNEhhICU

Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Dialogue, Voiceover, Sound Effects or SoundtrackThe non diegetic sound track is up beat music with lyrics such as ‘on the street that you live’, which connotes how the audience are familiar with the characters and are a part of the street as well. This jazz style music seems Happy/Utopian and connotes a sense of community. The sound track is contrapuntal as it does not reflect what you are seeing as the juxtaposition of the emergency services being shown do not give a sense of being happy but rather distress and therefore the happy music does not reflect this upcoming ‘disequilibrium’ (Todorov).The sharp diegetic sound effects of the sirens and emergency services frantically answering an emergency call connotes that something bad is about to happen, which could also be shown through the anchoring non-verbal code of costume as the women are all wearing red coats of have red bags and the symbolic colour code could represent danger but also passion as it is the women in red they could be showing love interest. There is no voice over only a point of call at the end which could represent that Coronation Street is well known and therefore they don’t need a voice over to promote it. The point of call has verbal written code of ‘four funerals and a wedding’ which ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) the extent of the disaster that is about to happen despite the hint of a happy occasion which will make people want to watch it and not miss it.

Non-Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Setting, Lighting, Costumes, Facial Expressions and CharactersThe non-verbal code of high key lighting and a soft focus camera create the idea of a lighter, happier time almost like a memory and seems like a utopian community where everyone gets on. This is also anchored through a close up and mid/long shots displaying people with happy facial expressions that are grouped together creating the idea of community and family this is the binary opposite of the low key lighting when the viewer see’s the emergency services creating a sense of danger and something bad has happened. The use of costume is also an important ‘signifier’ (De Saussure) towards the danger the characters will encounter, for example the colour red connotes the danger about to happen but also the red hand bag in the mid shot of the character Leanne smiling at the character Nick also gives connotations of passion and that something is going to happen between those characters.

Technical Codes – Comment on the use of Camera Angles, Shot Types and Camera MovementThe movement of the camera is slow and the editing of the whole Trailer of which is in the town is in slow motion. This adds to the utopian feeling that they are trying to create this is visible through the close ups of the characters faces smiling and being happy. The binary opposition (Levi Strauss) between the town and the fire station, the editing is at a fast pace the cuts are quick adding to the rush and the busy feeling to the scene, gives connotations that the utopian feel to the community is going to change quickly.

Trailer 2 – Kat and Alfie trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p4xlLezos0

Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Dialogue, Voiceover, Sound Effects or SoundtrackThe trailer starts with soundtrack that sounds like a child's music box giving the beginning of the clip a creepy feel giving connotations that something bad is going to happen. The western soundtrack that follows gives a ‘show down’ feel to the trailer. The diegetic dialogue of Ian saying ‘blooming hell’ gives connotation that a lot is going on . Also with the western style of music it gives the audience the feeling that there is going to be conflict with some characters relating with Todorovs theory of there being a ‘disequilibrium’. at the end of the trailer there is the use of non diegetic voice over saying “its all kicking off in the square” giving the representation to the audience not to miss it and how conflict is going to arise from the return of these appealing and confrontational characters.

Non-Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Setting, Lighting, Costumes, Facial Expressions and Characters

The costumes of the characters also represent the western show down theme creating a tension between characters which draws the audience in. The facial expressions of the other characters when seeing Kat shows that they are shocked to see her giving connotations that something occurred between them in the past also the streets are deserted this gives connotations that people want to stay away from the returning characters. The high key lighting with a dark filter over the top adds to the western style. This connotes that there is going to be trouble as westerns are associated with fights and stand offs . The non-verbal code of the facial expression of the characters connote that they are all scared of this returning main character and that they are shocked to see her, which could ‘signify’ (De Saussure) how she conforms to generic theme of a ‘strong, dominant female’ (Feasey – 2007) being present in the narrative. With the costume the two main characters are made to look menacing and dangerous. This is reinforced by the dark clothing worn by both Kat and Alfie.

Technical Codes – Comment on the use of Camera Angles, Shot Types and Camera Movement

The beginning of the trailer the audience see a close-up shot of the characters feet and the camera slowly tilt upwards to denote the whole of her body and face. The worms eye view at the beginning gives connotations that the character is well known to the soap and has a dominant role. There is an eye line match between Kat and Alfie with a shot reverse shot extreme close up only showing their eyes giving connotations that something is going to ‘Kick off’ between them as the non-diegetic voice over at the end of the clip also reinforces this by saying “its all kicking off in the square.” Also the mid shots of the other characters looking shocked to see them gives the same representation in that something is going to happen between them, most likely some form of exciting conflict.

Evaluation of Textual Analysis –Compare and Contrast

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

I think the use of a soundtrack that was contrapuntal worked well and would be something that I would consider using the fast pased cuts and low key lighting work well in creating a felling of danger that contrasts with the utopian feel to the rest of the street. A strength that I would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980) would be the quick shots throughout the trailer as this gives a feeling of a frantic multi-stranded narrative that will create an exciting series of episodes for the audience to consume and as such creates a tension that the audience feel. I would ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie - 1995) the fact that there is no voice over at the end of the advert as I think the voice over makes it more dramatic and makes people want to watch it more. Another convention or feature that I would ‘exploit’ would be sole use of music and no diegetic dialogue as I think that short snippets of dialogue in other soap opera trailers are an effective way of drawing an audience in as they have a small idea of what is going on and want to know more.

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

The technical code of the shot-reverse-shot to create a western show down worked well in creating tension between the characters, whereby a similar face-off would work well in our soap opera trailer. Also the colours that they use to demonstrate whether a character is good or bad is something I would look to try and ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980) in our trailer for example Kat and Alfie are in dark clothing giving connotations that they are bad or have done something bad in the past or maybe just that the other characters feel intimidated by them. I would try to exploit the key focus on just those two characters as there are conventionally more that one storyline running at the same time.