Initial Audience Research

We've decided to take some of these points into account with our soap, as we think they tie in with the conventions we were taught in our media lessons.

Soap Trailer Treatment

Brief overview of total trailer:

Characters walking along a road or a lane or a pathway with a written sign on them –front, back, holding, dragging along…
It would have their name, age, status in the show and a little about them – as well as be decorated in their own style.
After they enter and exit the shot a little flash-forward of some action in the upcoming soap will be revealed and then at the end of the trailer they line up and flip over their signs. On the back is the name of the soap spelled out using all the signs. This is shown through an overhead shot.

Characters included (in order of appearance):

• Gemma Aziz
• Erica West
• Lindsey Carly
• Laura Marshall
• Michael Pilkington
• Vincent Lorenzo
• Nicholas Lorenzo

Soap Treatment

Overall Treatment

Title: Wayward Lane

Log line: Set in and around Enfield following the lives of various people – mainly younger people living in the area and how they deal with everything from day to day problems to major drama and tragic circumstances.

Scheduling: 6:30pm, repeat at 7:30, BBC one and BBC three/HD, three times a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Storyline for first episode/s: Nicholas and Lindsey’s relationship, Vincent’s abuse towards Lindsey, Laura’s feelings for Erica, Gemma being transgender, Luke and Michael working together with dodgy dealings, Michael’s discovery of Lindsey and Nicholas’ relationship and blackmail of Lindsey.

Themes: Domestic abuse, blackmail, homophobia, sexuality, romantic and sexual relationships, friendships, betrayal.

Possible storylines for future episodes: Vincent finds out about Lindsey and Nicholas’ relationship, Lindsey gets mixed up with some pretty nasty people while working for Michael, Luke trying to find his real father, Erica cheats on Luke, Laura contemplates suicide, Gemma begins to steal from his family and friends to pay for his boyish lifestyle and possible surgery, Nicholas and Vincent fight over Lindsey.

Characters:

Erica West: Horrible girl, spoilt, arrogant, homophobic, dating Luke and is best friends with Gemma but doesn’t know that he is transgender; mainly looks out for herself, bullies and puts down Laura.

Luke: Bad boy, rebel, aggressive when threatened but protective of those he cares for, friendly with Nicholas but not best friends with him, dating Erica and is indifferent of Gemma, works for Michael stealing cars and parts for his motor business, mainly looks out for himself but has a mysterious and troubled past.

Gemma Aziz: Transgender boy, binds his breasts to hide them and dresses in a boyish way, best friends with Erica but hides his gender identity from her, is saving for the surgery he wants to truly become a boy, is worried about what people would think of him if he told them, withdraws from Erika after she finds out she’s homophobic.

Laura Marshall: Lesbian, shy, loner, afraid, angry with the world, is bullied by her classmates and is afraid to tell anyone about her lesbianism. Erica is convinced is in love with Luke but after a confrontation between the two it turns out that she’s actually in love with Erica.

Lindsey Carly: Model, known for a prolific and fashionable lifestyle, loud mouth, vibrant, party girl, seems to be in control of her life but in actual fact is suppressed and abused by her fiancée Vincent who rules over her with an iron fist, she is also in a secret relationship with Nicholas.

Vincent Lorenzo: Doctor, seen as quite reserved (compared to Lindsey anyway), quite a private person, is Nicholas’ uncle, a very polite gentleman, an “ideal” man for any woman as perceived by many people, whereas in actual fact he is abusing Lindsey unbeknownst to anyone else.

Nicholas Spencer: Happy go lucky guy, Nandos enthusiast, master of banter and making jokes, best friends with Luke, not bothered about his future, relies heavily on his uncle Vincent for everything and lives with him, knows about Vincent’s mistreatment of Lindsey and hates it, is in love with Lindsey himself and even has a secret relationship with her.

Michael Pilkington: The area’s hard man, dodgy and ruthless man who is always on the look out for a quick buck, runs a garage and car sales business, Luke works for him due to the promise of cash and using his many connections to try and find Luke’s dad, knows about Lindsey and Nicholas’ relationship.

Gemma's treatment (Mine)

Gemma is an assigned female at birth (AFAB) closeted transgender man. He has not came out to anyone about his gender identity, although at first he was planing to tell his best friend Erica. He changes his mind after observing Erica's homophobic attitude towards Laura after finding out she has a crush on her. Gemma does want to express his gender identity though, and begins to gain confidence in doing so by wearing boyish clothes and starting to bind his chest. Future story lines include Gemma stealing from his relatives and friends to purchase menswear, which eventually leads to his coming out.

Note: This is only my treatment, for my part of the storyline. See the other blogs for their respective treatments which contribute the soap.

Gemma's Story: Screenplay

Pitch Table

Hollyoaks trailer analysis

The Trailer

Editing

Fast paced cutting as the trailer progresses represents the eventful soap narratives and their various importance, an example being the split second shot of a woman waving shows less attention compared to the man at the beginning. He was shot numerous times with cutting in between situations at a slower pace, which signifies that his current narrative is more important than that of the woman aforementioned. Also hints at various dynamics of the characters in the soap. Matched cut between the woman and the wallet she is holding signifies an element of importance; a narrative enigma contributing to a fundamental story-line. This is also hinted at with the fact these shots were taken after the title shot, separating this story-line fro the rest, and thus implying that this is one of particular importance. Conclusively, editing within the trailer is an effective promotional tool to summarise a cacophony of events and narratives within the soap series.

Mise-en-scene

Setting is quite mundane and typical of the suburbs, areas such as parks and the pub signify this well. This pushes the element of realism found in many soap operas, connoting a typical living environment in the suburbs of England. Title set over stormy blue background connotes narrative enigmas and exaggerated story-lines, as it significantly contradicts the mundane colours of the setting. This further enhances the dynamics and status some story-lines have over others, as well as the varying character types and stories and how they clash with one another. Costume shares the same conventions of setting with regards to its typicality in England. Overall, mise-en-scene significantly contributes to the trailer being a promotional tool as it signposts upcoming events with glimpses into certain narratives, whilst maintaining character and location familiarity for the audience.

Sound

Use of tense, pacy, non-diegetic music to signify the cascade of events and their severity/importance following the soap narrative. The soundtrack reduces in volume during moments of important dialogue, which helps the audience infer information about upcoming story-lines. An example of this is the phrase "we should tell her the truth about who she is", wherein the the soundtrack is lowered for the viewers' purpose to hear the phrase, generating a narrative enigma behind it. The soundtrack is also matched to shots within the trailer, such as when a young girl is falling backwards down a flight of stairs, the soundtrack lowers in pitch and has a droopy sound to it. In conclusion, sound is an effective component to the trailer as a promotional tool because of its ability to unite footage of story-lines and execute them for the audience to piece together.

Cinematography

There are a multitude of close-ups of faces within the trailer, which notably defy the rule of thirds. These head on shots are used to explicitly inform the audience of characters' emotions, as they would be deemed inappropriate as cinematography to convey natural conversation, which does abide by the rule of thirds. Voyeurism and spying is also implied through the cinematography, with the shot change from a couple kissing, to a close-up of a hidden camera, which then transitions into the couple kissing, this time from a different position than before and with a blue filter, implying that this is footage from the hidden camera. This sense of voyeurism caters for the audience's desire for dramatic irony as to promote the episodes, they are drawn to information that other characters do not know about, thus employing a relationship between the soap and characters.

Hollyoaks Case Study

Detailed analysis of an episode // Hollyoaks.

Target audience // Teenagers and young adults.

Key Characters and their role/archetype/stereotype //

-      Secretive/Problematic Teenager (Finn O’Connor)

-      Oblivious Parent (Diane O’Connor)

-      LGBTQ character/Person of colour (Blessing Chambers)

-      Meddling sibling (Sinead O’Connor)

Setting/location //

-      Hollyoaks, fictional suburb of Chester

Realism/exaggerated storylines //

-      Stigma over Transgenderism is a real issue which Blessing and Dennis face in this episode

-      Dennis’ worry of having cancer is normal

-      Finn being a sadist isn’t common amongst young teenage boys (I hope not)

Themes //

-      Transgenderism // Blessing coming out to Dennis

-      Welfare // Dennis’ worry about cancer

-      Coming of age issues // Sinead’s concern over Finn’s secrecy

Representation (gender; age; social class; ethnicity; sexuality; regional identity; ability/disability) //

-      Predominantly white, straight, ablebodied, cisgendered working class characters… With the exception of Blessing; a black, transgender woman.

-      A mix of teenagers, young adults, and parental characters

-      Everybody shares the same regional identity in Chester (Northern)

Primary target audience //

-      Teenagers and young adults

Scheduling and ratings //

-      6:30 pm Weekdays for 30 mins.

-      5.4/10 on IMDb.

-      Viewing average: 1.5-2 million combined first look (E4) and C4 views

History //

-      Originally devised by Phil Redmond in 1995, who also worked on ‘Brookside’ and helped revive ‘Emmerdale’. Broadcasted once a week until 2011.

-      Since then, there have been numerous changes in producers, with Brian Kirkwood currently.

-      Originally revolved around the lives of 7 characters, now there are around 50 main cast character members.

Elements of a Soap Opera

Narrative

The narrative plays a crucial role both in terms of its structure and content. All soaps are open ended, leading to various storylines spanning over several episodes. The only way a narrative can be surely closed is through the death of a character and even then, there is still a possibility of the deceased character making reappearance. An example of this is found in ‘Eastenders’, wherein Dirty Den returns in 2003 after being presumed dead for 14 years.

The more open-ended form of narrative however, leads to many episodes culminating with a promise of continuation in the episode, or a "cliffhanger".  Suspense is also drawn out between scenes to build tension. Various plots and sub-plots contribute to the make up of the soap opera episode structure, as these narrative threads can also interlink with one another through the mediums of character and setting, as soaps are set in a typically close-knit community.

The value of a storyline being a “main” or a “side” significantly links in with the fluctuation of a storyline in general. This is dependent on the themes and issues raised by certain plot lines, the most important of which are relationships and prejudice. It is through the change of themes that sub-plots can amplify into main plots and vice-versa. This is turn maintains the balance a soap opera "mega narrative" must have: its consistency of a blend of story lines weaving in with one another which vary in significance and run concurrently.

Time 

Soap operas are typically aired from around 6-9 PM, which is the primetime viewing slot as that is when many people return from work and school. Reruns typically occur at 10:00PM, and each episode runs for 30 minutes. This is why they are considered “bankers” by the channels that stream the soaps, as they can rely on the soap to bring in a large audience demographic as well as financially supporting the TV channel. The channel also builds its programme scheduling around the soap, as the views of programmes scheduled before or after the soap can be greatly influenced by some viewers tuning in earlier, as well as viewers who stay on the same channel after the soap has aired.

Realism is also presented through time as it maintains a sense of coexisting between the soap world and the viewers' world. This is conveyed trough the episode structure, which relies on cutting in between scenes to imply a shift in time by minutes, and over the course of 30 minutes, a condensation of the viewers' and characters' weekday. This is further established between episodes, as the start of one episode is not a continuation of the last moment of the one before, like a TV series, but rather a start of the next day to imply a sense of realism among the soap characters and audience

Producers take care constructing appropriate seasons through the set during filming, months in advance before the episode is released in order to further establish a sense of realism. In some cases, breaking news stories, such as Michael Jackson’s death in ‘Eastenders’, the producers organise last minute shootings of gossiping characters discussing the news to represent the soap opera coexisting with real life events.

Realism 

A lot to be said of realism significantly coincides with the aforementioned dynamic of time. In addition to time, the use of stock characters are a good example of how social and cultural indicators are fundamental to the development of the soap opera, as they can greatly influence the audience appeal on the soap. One example of this is found in the downfall of ‘Family Affairs’, which occurred when the villain and pub owner, Pete Callan, was shot dead in September 2005. Now that the equilibrium had been restored, there was no significant suspense to draw from the soap, as its archetypal “bad guy” was no longer there to cause trouble.

The representation of class also coincides with the realistic portrayal of soap operas, as the most commonly represented in British soaps are of a working class. This generates a larger appeal to soap viewing audiences, as a high percentage of the demographic are in this social group. Location shooting is also fundamental to the establishment of realism, as real, familiar settings implies realism. An example of this is found on set of ‘Coronation Street’, where terraced housing clearly indicates a working class environment with working class characters. 'Brookside' have even further progressed with ideals of realism in this sense by buying out an estate to shoot the soap in. 

  

Audiences

Soaps, like many other types of shows, rely highly on audience appeal to survive.

This is why many of them are shown during typical primetime hours, between the times of 7:00 and 8:00 pm. A contributor to gaining audience appeal is found in the tailoring of their content in order to cater for a larger audience demographic. Having characters of different ages, racial backgrounds, and sexual orientations show a diverse community, similar to the audience’s real life.

Real life, relatable issues such as abuse and relationships, combined with the melodramatic content typical of soap operas contribute furthermore to the overall audience appeal. 

The use of signal boosting, particularly in ‘Hollyoaks’ is also fundamental to the soap’s impact on the audience as it shows the importance and realism of the issues presented such as domestic abuse, healthy relationships, and bullying, all of which have websites and phone lines for support. At the end of such episodes dealing with these issues, the credits roll and a list of these websites and help centers are there for members of the audience who are experiencing these issues. ‘Hollyoaks’ also has this on their channel 4 webpage:

Another method of audience appeal is found through synergy. This is found through the commercial tie-ins with charities such as Comic Relief or Children In Need, where special episodes/scenes are recorded and screened during the charities’ annual events. This boosts the soaps’ reputation as well as attracting a higher potential target audience as those who do not watch the soap have to in the case of such events. Christmas episodes also occur; often heavily advertised prior to broadcasting, and with ‘Eastenders’, many families consider it a tradition to sit around and watch their Christmas special.

Repetition

With regards to repetition in a soap opera storylines, it is a key element employed which contributes to the audience’s gratification of the soap. Recurring themes such as death, love, and betrayal, tie in significantly with persistent narratives such as murders, weddings, and divorce.  These continuous streams of recurring storylines are only modified through the use of different characters. For example, in 'Eastenders' house fires have been explored in different time frames with the use of two very different characters, Tamwar Masood and Kat Moon. The personalities of these characters heavily influence their responses when put into similar circumstances, which in turn provides more drama without the writers thinking up new storylines.

There are also similarities with repetition found in different soaps as similar environments and character types clearly leads to similar storylines and themes. Painkiller addiction, for example, has been explored in both 'Emmerdale' and 'Eastenders', both with middle aged housewives, Rhona Goskirk and Sharon Watts. These women often turn to painkillers in times of stress, which makes both situations almost exact.

It could be argued that this is the very ideal which retains soap operas’ older audiences, as the repetition of storylines builds a sense of familiarity between the soap opera and its audience. ‘Eastenders’ for example, are well known for melodramatic character deaths.

Gossip

 

In terms of gossiping between characters, it is seen as a very effective way of introducing characters for a newer audience, as well as encouraging said audience to continue watching. For example, if two busybody characters were to gossip about a troubled Jane in their local pub, followed by a cut to the troubled Jane, the new audience can now identify unknown characters very easily. This in turn develops the narrative of the soap as the secondary characters are bringing attention to an incident or concern. 

Gossip among the general public is also very significant to the soap. Through word of mouth and the increase of social networking, it is essentially a below the line marketing strategy raised by the audience themselves to entice potential viewers.

Promotion through gossip is also heightened with soaps’ symbiosis with TV magazines, as they load their copies with gossip, which proves to be an excellent method of persuading newer audiences to watch the soap. This form of symbiosis is mutually beneficial to the soaps and TV magazines as the soap now has a larger audience demographic, and the TV magazines have attractive content to sell themselves with.

Another form of above the line marketing through synergy is the Christmas/special episode trailers. They are quite ambiguous in content and reveal little to nothing of the episode they are presenting: a great way to entice old and new audiences.