1. *
By Jordan, Alex, Morgan and Mollie

2. *
* We are going to be discussing all the features
that make a soap
* Then tell you about our own soap „Folks‟.

3. It is important that everything in the media industry has
a genre, because if it didn‟t it would not have a target
audience and then it wouldn‟t sell. This is no exception
to Soap Operas for example Hollyoaks is for a younger
audience because the characters in it are younger and it
is on earlier in the day compared to most Soaps.
However, soaps like Doctors are on earlier in the day and
therefore are aimed at older people because young
adults and people are at school.
There are three different types of genre for Soap Operas
they are:
Glamorous- everything in the soap is more expensive.
The people are upper class.
Light Entertainment- a soap you can laugh at and relate
too.
Social Realist- realistic and more sensibly than light
entertainment soaps.

4. Eastenders is a light
entertainment soap opera,
with storylines that can be
challenging but occasionally
funny.
Dallas is much more glamorous
because it is in America, with
sports cars and designer
clothing.
Doctors is more of a social
realist, it isn‟t as dramatic as
some of the other well known
soaps.

5. Within Soap Operas it is important to have stereotypical characters. They are used to help
the audience identify characters and lets them get a better understanding of the storyline.
Some stereotypical characters appear in most Soap Operas, a few examples of these are:
* Thug – A violent person. Gangster like character. (Phil Mitchell)
* Nosy neighbour – Likes to know everyone else‟s business. (Blanche Hunt)
* Womaniser – Seduces women. Has short meaningless relationships with them. (Carl King)
* Jack the lad – Someone who feeds on attention. Acts like a big man. (Max Branning)
* Young Ruffian – Causes trouble. Bully. Craves attention. (Ben Mitchell)
These stereotypes commonly apply to characters such as, Phil Mitchell, Blanche Hunt, Carl
King, Max Branning and Ben Mitchell.

6. Narrative
Soap Operas contain different storylines. For example
Emmerdale had a plane crash that viewers complained about
because it was broadcast close to the fifth anniversary of the
Lockerbie Disaster.
Dallas had a on-going storyline, “Who shot J.R.?” It was
eventually resolved months later to have been Kristen
Shepard, Sue Ellen's scheming sister.
Emmerdale Plane crash
Narratives are an important part of Soap operas as they are
what causes the audience to continue watching the program.
Usually at the end of each episode there is a mini-cliffhanger
that makes the audience watch the next episode to see it
resolved or view the rest of the series to see the event
resolved.
Most storylines that are used for soaps are things that you
would find in real life. For example they include murders,
adultery and people with drinking problems.
Who shot J.R.?

7. Coronation Street had a storyline that went
on for a week that featured a tram crash. It
effected the characters because they still
mention it in discussions today. It effected
Audiences of soaps like
the die-hard fans of Corrie because they
Eastenders sometimes come
believed it really happened.
from deprived areas and like
to get involved in the
storylines. The new series of Dallas has numerous
storylines. The selling of South fork ranch,
and Bobby‟s battle with cancer. The
audience can instantly connect with the
characters because of the storylines and how
they are portrayed. An example of a
storyline is the battle between the brothers
John Ross Ewing and Christopher Ewing. This
storyline brings lots of tension and the
audience can relate to it because they might
have a bad relationship with their family.

8. *
* Mise-en-Scene is a French term used to describe the design aspects
of a theatre or film production.
* Mise-en-Scene is split into 5 features which are devised to send
signals to the audience about how we are supposed to feel about a
certain point.
* These features are:
* Settings and Location
* Facial Expression and Body Language
* Position of Characters and Objects in a Frame
* Lighting and Colour
* Props and Costumes and Hair and Make-Up

9. *
* An important part in film making either built from scratch or one that
already exists can manipulate an audience builds expectations then takes a
different turn. Some examples are:
* Coronation Street = Manchester, cobbled street, Rovers Pub
* Eastenders = London, Queen Vic, Street Market
* Emmerdale = Countryside, farms, The Woolpack Pub
* Typical soap opera settings = pubs, car garages, homes, corner shops

10. *
* Clear indication of feelings smiling/happy (may be different in scary
movies). How a character feels towards another character/body
language. States, reflects relationship.
You can clearly see how these characters are
feeling in these scenes due to their facial
expressions.

11. *
* Low Shot = A way of making the
subject appear more powerful.
* High Shot = A way of making the subject appear more vulnerable.
* Close Up = A way of capturing emotion
or establishing connection.

12. *
* To highlight
characters/objects/mysterious/dark/disturbed/shading/confused/co
lour- Red=passionate/fiery – Green=calm. Hidden Emotions
* Low Key Lighting – backlights light and dark areas – used a lot horror
films – isolations – dark lonely places,
* High Key Lighting – Happy, Sunny – Rom Coms

13. *
* The costume, hair and make up play a huge part in showing off a
character in any soap. If they are wearing a suit then you instantly
think that this person is sophisticated and have a good job, whereas
if they were wearing a hoodie, track suit and trainers, you instantly
know that this person is a typical chav.
* You can easily see what time period any soap is in depending on what
they are wearing. If it was Downton Abbey then they would all be
wearing older period costumes whereas if they were in Eastenders
then they would be wearing the chav clothes described above.

14. For a Soap opera to be popular it needs an
audience and because many main stream
soaps have been running for so long they
have not only a huge audience but fans as
well.
Some people get so involved in the storylines
they write hate mail to the actors or
actresses playing the character.
For example in Eastenders there was an
abusive husband. He would walk along the
street and get dirty looks as well as hate
mail.
In Coronation Street when Deidre was in
prison there was a campaign from fans to get
her out.

15. Audience
Emmerdale had 9.2 million viewers on it‟s 40th anniversary live episode.
Eastenders had 16.2 million viewers on it‟s 25th anniversary live episode.
Coronation Street had 14.9 million viewers on it‟s 50th anniversary live episode.

16. Our Soap

17. *
* We decided our soap opera should be
glamorous. Like the new Dallas it will have big
houses, nice cars and pretty people.

18. Main Characters.
Mum – Allison Smith – Karen Gillan
Husband – Seth Smith Jensen Ackles
Little Girl – Hope Smith Maggie Elizabeth
Jones
Boyfriend – Nathan Green - Bradley James
Additional Characters:
Farmer Joe – Peter Davison
Ann (Farmer Wife) – Janet Fielding
Mary (Daughter) – Sarah Sutton

19. *
* Mum Alison and a five year old daughter Hope
escape after abuse from husband Seth. Alison
and Hope move to a new street away from
Seth.
* They start a new family and after a few months
Seth finds them. At this point Alison has a new
boyfriend called Nathan who is very protective.
* Seth kidnaps them. Eventually they are found
and Seth is locked up.

20. *
* Farmer Joe has a skeleton in his closet. It turns out he murdered
an intruder on his farm and buried him. The Intruder turns out to
be Seth‟s granddad.
* Seth‟s parents have a lot of money and manage to get him out of
prison after he had kidnapped his family. He hires a hit man to
kill farmer Joe and his family.
* Nathan finds something incriminating on Seth and it is big
enough to put him away for a long time. Everyone from the show
turns up at court and gives evidence to put Seth away. He is
given life imprisonment however by this point the damage has
been done.
* Farmer Joe and his family get put into protective custody and
taken to a safe house. The hitman has rigged an explosion to
occur when they shut the door. The house blows
up killing the family.

21. Location
We decided to set our soap opera in Folkestone
Kent. We decided to set it here because it is very
pretty and it kind of is the place you would go to
get away and start a new life.
As you can see from the pictures it is a seaside
town and boats are always there. It would be busy
so it would not be hard to blend in.