Analysis on eastenders

1. EASTENDERS

2. Eastenders
 The show Eastenders is aired on BBC One at 7:30pm on a Monday, Tuesday and
Thursday and at a later time of 8pm on a Friday.
 The main target audience for Eastenders is from the age of 13-60. The show has a
very wide target audience and aims to appeal to a mass audience where as
compared to Hollyoaks they target a more niche audience. Eastenders has a mass
target audience because they aim to have at least one character at every different
age range. For example they have teenagers in the likes of Cindy and Liam, the
show has children such as Tiffany, the show has older people for example Dot. The
show also features some less privileged characters who would be from the lower
socio-economic groupings such as the unemployed (E) and people from the D group.
As well as this the show features some characters such as Ian Beale and mick Carter
who own their own businesses and so the show may also appeal to the C1 and C2
groupings. Most of Eastenders audiences are older people who enjoy watching a
soap opera to relax and use it as an escape.

3.  In this trailer it is a promotional trailer for the end of a major plot in Eastenders History. The character's that
are seen in the trailer are all the suspected killers of Lucy Beale.
 The trailer focuses on one narrative and doesn’t use multi-strand narratives. However in this trailers case I feel
that this works because it allows the audience to focus on one story/plot and that plot exclusively. In order to
build anticipation and make their audience want to watch that episode in particular the trailer needed to
highlight that plot and not try to over shadow that plot.
 One interesting thing with the trailer is that the editing isn't fast paced the editing is slow which adds emphasis
on the who done it. Each character has their own scene in the trailer in which they are seen going about their
everyday life when something ‘spooky’ happens to them. This ‘spook’ is supposed to be Lucy Beale haunting
the characters. One example is when we see Abi in the shop looking at the bottles when one of the bottle lids
fly's off. The fact that Abi has a scene to herself and the Beale’s share a scene is a coincidence. I feel that the
trailer wanted to point the audience into the wrong direction and make them unaware and jot able to work out
who the killer actually is.
 The trailer doesn't start with the Eastenders title/logo which I was quite intrigued to see as for some audience
members who don’t watch the show religiously they are going to be unaware of what is going on and what
show this is. However an element that I liked and thought was very well crafted into the trailer was the
hashtag and date of the revelation of the killer. These wore both typed into the scene and one was in the left
hand bottom corner and the other in the right. This also helps the show be able to engage with their audience
as their audience members may take to the likes of Twitter and tweet with that hashtag, this then allows the
show to see what their audience are thinking of the storyline.
 The trailer doesn’t have any dialogue throughout the trailer. The only dialogue that is used is a voice over
which is played right at the last scene when all of the members of the street come out and we see a Birdseye
view of the street. The voiceover says “There’s nowhere to hide, Eastenders a Killer exposed coming soon on
BBC One.” These of this voiceover adds anticipation because the audience finally know that they are going to
get closure over what actually happened.

4. Editing
 The trailer uses many technical aspects including:
 Editing:
 One thing that I did notice when I watched the trailer
was that the trailer has a lot more longer shots/takes
which slows down the pace of the trailer. However as
Eastenders want to add emphasis and make the
audience question who killed Lucy this has been used
to effect. The trailer uses very low key lighting to add
emphasis on the darkness associate with murder,
There are a few focuses on certain lamps and lights
that would be on when it is night. As well as this an
obvious thing is that the trailer is shot at night I know
this because it is very dark and I can see the street
lights on.

5. Sound
 Sound:
 The trailer uses background music which is diagetic as an
overlay throughout the trailer. This is too add a sense of
mystery, the fact that we cant hear any of the characters talk
adds tension in the build up to who did kill Lucy. I liked the
way that none of the characters had any dialogue because it
added emphasis onto the characters facial expressions and
how they reacted to when they were being haunted.
 The trailer uses The trailer also uses a voiceover at the end
of the trailer to state when the episode will be aired and what
the main idea or concept of the video is going to be.
 The trailer uses very small amounts of diegetic sounds. One
example of diegetic sound is when we can hear the bottle lids
come off of the bottle. This creates verisimilitude to the
audience as they expect to hear the sound that matches the
visual that they are seeing. This is conventional of a soap
opera as we expect to hear audio that matches what is going
on in the soap.

6. Camerawork
 Camerawork:
 The camerawork throughout the trailer is very steady with most of
the shots almost being like photos being taken. For the first two
characters we see they both have a close up of their face but either
of them are talking both of them are looking at whatever had just
happened to them In this case the still image shots worked because
it was almost like being questioned by the Police when they take
your picture. I felt this helped to implement the fact that one of these
people is a criminal.
 At the beginning of the trailer we see an establishing shot of the
street which makes the audience aware that this trailer is for
Eastenders the use of the Birdseye shot adds familiarity to the
scene.
 The trailer also features a lot of reaction shots which are used to
show the characters reaction to the haunting that is happening to
them. This helps to implement the idea of being haunted as it shows
that the characters are unaware as to what is happening to them.

7. Mise-en-scene
 The trailer uses similar locations which the audience would be
familiar with. These locations include a park, pub and a corner shop.
This helps to create verisimilitude as the audience are aware of the
locations and can relate them to everyday life in which they would
have visited such places.
 The characters wear similar clothing to that of their socio-economic
grouping. For example characters such as Charlie and Max are seen
wearing suits, this is due to the fact that they are in the group C1 and
own their own business. However characters such as Nancy who are
lower class and would be C2 and would be seen wearing more
casual clothing.
 In the trailer we see props such as everyday household items which
include a glass and chair.
 The characters all wear coats when they come outside this is realistic
as this episode was aired in February which we know is a cold month
which helped to create verisimilitude between the soap world and the
real world.

8. Conclusion
 The way that the trailer entices the audience is through the main plot
of who killed Lucy Beale. This is the focal point of the trailer and we
would expect for this to be the main point of interest in the trailer. The
trailer uses unconvential means such as not having any of the
characters speak to add emphasis on their facial expressions in order
to heighten the suspense on who is the killer. The trailer uses well
known characters and characters that the audience will know and
love as a way to connect with the audience and make them want to
come back and see what happens to their favorite character.
 In conclusion I feel that this trailer contradicts some of the
conventions that I have seen in previous trailers as it chooses not to
give an insight into many narratives that will be appearing and
focuses on the one main plot. This is unconventional of a soap opera
trailer however it manages to keep the audience engaged by using
well know characters in the trailer and adding emphasis onto the fact
that a viewers favorite character may be a murder.