Soap clips

Coronation Street



This is a clip from Coronation Street. From watching this, I can see that soaps have many scenes in pubs, family homes and other settings relevant to the storyline, in the case of this clip from Corrie, a court. Similarly, the clip from Eastenders below also shows the pub, 'The Queen Vic', a place where many characters visit on a regular basis, making it one of the main settings and a name associated with the soap. There are many camera shots used in this clip from Corrie, to make the scenes more dramatic and to create atmosphere. For example, when tension is being created many close up shots are used to show facial expressions and emotions. As well as close ups mid and long shots are used to express body language and stance which make the scene more dramatic and tense. The scenes are filled with more emotion and the way in which the characters are presented make the audience either like them or not, and when something happens with the characters, e.g. a fight or someone gets hurt, the audience feel more emotionally involved with the characters if they like the character, thus creating a bigger overall effect on the audience.


Eastenders



This link is for the Eastenders Christmas special trailer. It doesn't advertise the soap as a new programme, but it advertises a storyline and the fact that it is a Christmas Special. I thought that it was a good clip for me to look at because it would give me ideas of what to put into my soap trailer and any things that I should look at differently on my storyboard. For example, there are a range of camera shots in this particular clip, such as close ups which show the characters emotions; as well as over the shoulder shots which allows the audience to see a close up of one characters face and also let the audience get a feel for the other characters body language and emotion without seeing their face. For example in this clip the male character is concerned and the female is very upset which is shown by the camera shots. The way his head and shoulder shakes slightly alongside his dialogue - "Who did this to you?".
Each edit, of fade to black, puts a sense of closure on each individual clip, suggesting that each character has something that they are going to do. The characters is each clip are doing something different and mysterious, for example, Peggy emerges out from behind a dark bush, and the blonde haired female turns her head quickly looking around her, implying she is scared as a male can be seen approaching her from the street behind. The lighting in some of the clips, for example the clip of Peggy, also creates an uneasy and eerie atmosphere. This is because only parts or half of the characters face are in the light, for example the eyes, and a lot can be seen from looking at someones eyes because they show plenty of feeling, i.e. anger or hurt. By only showing part of the characters face, different facial expressions can be interpreted in various ways by the audience which leaves the trailer open ended and on a cliffhanger to draw the audience in to watch it to find out what happens.