1. Soap Opera Genre –
Independent Textual
Analysis
Name: Eleanor Watson
Candidate Number: 6278
Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College
Center Number: 64770
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced
Portfolio
2. Trailer 1 – Coronation street -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8utOBfHCGo
Verbal Codes – There is quite a lot of diegetic dialogue in this trailer compared to other soap operas trailers, however it is not
long conversations they are just very short and to the point and mainly used to create a very dramatic effect and allow the
audience to get an idea about who might have killed Tina by showing off each suspects motive.
For example the female protagonist who shouts “TINA, GET DOWN HERE NOW!” portraits the idea of a strong, dominant
female (Feasey – 2007) and is also out of shot, which is an example of sound bridging, when the audience hears her shouting
“Tina” which builds the suspension about who might be shouting it but then it cuts to her face looking up giving the impression
that she is shouting at a window which is then followed by the line “get down here now!” which supports the idea of her
looking up at the window. The non-diegetic Voiceover at the end of the trailer is spoken in a very monotone voice, this
connotes that the voice is foreshadowing what happens in the episode as being very dramatic. There are not many sound
effects in this trailer, the only one used is footsteps for each of the different characters at the start of the trailer walking
towards the camera. This has been used to create a tense atmosphere and represent the characters as the protagonists by
focusing on each persons footsteps and differentiating each person which portraits them as being the main protagonists in this
episode. The soundtrack within this trailer has a very dramatic theme since the music is very deep and slow but it builds up
faster as the trailer continues which adds to the tension in the trailer. There are not any lyrics for this soundtrack since there
is a lot of dialogue and the music is very threatening and creates a very tense atmosphere to the trailer, also the soundtrack
would not want to cover the dialogue within the trailer.
Non-Verbal Codes – The setting used within the trailer is all very dark and mostly seen in a dark street. This is very relevant to
the theme since it is focusing on a murder which would not happening in a very upbeat and bright place, the building around
the area are quite scruffy which add to the areas reputation and connote that something like a murder would not be a strange
thing to occur in this area. The lighting in this trailer is very dark with Low key and the area is not very well lit. There is also
police lights of the blue flashing colours which represents the area as a very troublesome place which encourages the viewers
to suspect the characters surrounded by the police lights since they would have been in trouble already, making it less of a
‘taboo’ subject. The clothing that all the characters are wearing is very dark which connotes them all as being the ‘villain’
(Propp) within the trailers but also foreshadows one of those characters as being the ‘bad person’ ho has killed Tina. However
one of the suspected people is wearing a bright red top which would ‘signify’ (De Saussure) that she has very strong anger and
is very passionate which could lead the audience to believe that she is the one who killed Tina. The facial expressions of all
the different characters are all very straight faced and emotionless which symbolizes the overall theme of the trailer as being
very serious and traumatic which is backed up by the idea of there being a murder within this episode. Also the lady crying in
the trailer also connotes that she has a very strong motive to kill Tina as her emotions have overflowed and left her crying
about something that is unknown to the viewer.
3. Technical Codes – The establishing shot in this trailer is of Tina opening her eyes and looking into the
camera, which gives the audience an insight into the trailer but could also ‘signify’ that something bad is
about to happen as if it is her last look of the everything before she is murdered.
The majority of the shots were taken at eye level since it ‘signifies’ that all of the characters are on the
same level and each have enough reason to kill Tina, which is quite often ‘repeated’ (Steve Neale –
1980) in this genre. There are only two main shot types within this trailer: a close up and a medium
close up. This has been used to denote the emotions in each characters face but also to denote their
clothing to relate them to their own emotions, for example a red top which symbolizes the anger of the
female antagonist towards Tina which could foreshadow that she might be responsible for the murder of
Tina. There is not much camera movement in this trailer, however there are a lot of fast pace cuts from
shot-to-shot. This has been done to try and increase the drama within the trailer and make it look very
dramatic so that the viewers would want to find out more on who killed Tina. The fast paced cuts also
represent the anger behind each character but also the life of Tina flashing before her eyes just before
she is killed.
4. Trailer 2 – Hollyoaks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtYrea6Xt1M
Verbal Codes – There is not any diegetic dialogue in this trailer since it is very powerful without but it is also trying to create more
mystery behind the trailer and narrative. The Non-diegetic voiceover at the end of the trailer denotes “a week that will change Hollyoaks
forever, starts November the 5th”. This verbal code foreshadows a major plot twist and provides the audience with an enigma clue (Roland
Barthes) for the episode and reveals that something big and exclusive is going to happen since it “will change Hollyoaks forever”.
Also it’s being aired on November 5th, which is bonfire night, could give the audience an idea about the narrative for example everything
could go up in flames and the characters are in the entre of the fire. The explosion and fire could be a metaphor for an explosive
showdown between the protagonists in the text.
The tone of voice in the Non-diegetic voiceover is very upbeat and surprised which could connote that the episode has a surprising ending
that would not be expected. There are quite a few sound effects in this trailer mainly for the fire which represents the fire as more
venomous and terrifying which makes it seem a lot more dangerous than just the image. Another effective sound effect would be the glass
being thrown across the room, which has been slowed down to make a much more dramatic sound and prolong the throw which makes it
seem like there was a lot more anger behind it and relates to a very serious feeling of anger and foreshadows the tension between these
two characters. The soundtrack for this trailer is a small section of the song red right hand by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. The verbal
code of the lyric “A tall handsome man, In a dusty black coat with” creates the image of one man creating a lot of trouble, however this
man is very mysterious since he is tall and handsome which is a typical stereotype for mysterious male protagonists in the genre.
Non-Verbal Codes – The setting of this trailer is very modern and sophisticated which establishes the idea of wealth within the community
which could be representing the stereotypes of the wealthy having a lot of secrets and hate toward each other or it could be the binary
opposite (Levi Strauss) to the stereotype that they all get along and drink wine together. Also the white colours within the restaurant
symbolizes purity which creates a dramatic irony since it is in contrast to the flames that are covering the room destroying the purity. In
the opening shot of the trailer the lady is walking from the lighter side of the room into the shadows while creating the flames on the wall
which act as another source of light, making the room brighter. The lighting in the whole trailer is very Low key due to the amount of fire
in the trailer however there are a lot of shadows covering the room which represents the hidden darkness and secrets within the room.
The clothing worn by all the characters are very expensive looking clothes which would show off their wealth to the viewers but there are
three main colours throughout the trailer; white, red and black. The white would symbolize purity but this is contrasted by the fire she is
creating with her ands which could represent the lady being very innocent and misleading on the outside whereas she is very dangerous
and fiery on the inside. The red colour would symbolize the anger which is also supported by the throwing off the glass but this colour also
matches the fire in the room meaning that she could play a large art in the chaos. The lady and the start has a very calm facial expression
like she is not fazed by all the fire and chaos around her, the two characters which are arguing look very angry which makes the fire
coming out of the mans mouth symbolize his words as painful and filled with rage that are intended to hurt the women.
5. Technical Codes –The producers of the text have used an over the shoulder shot when establishing the
two people who are having an argument. They have done this so that the viewer is looking at each
character from the other ones point of view and so that each one would look less powerful than the
other since it is a battle for power in an argument. Also there is a low camera angle looking at the
waiter who is lifting open his tray. This is an anti-stereotype since it is portraying the waiter to be much
more dominant and powerful than the lady who is sitting at the table being served, which could also
connote the idea that the people who are sitting at the table are all victims to what is going to happen
with all the fire in the room. The technical code of the close-up of the girls hand dragging along the wall
is used to draw attention to the fire that is being created by the girls hands since it could represent her
personality of being evil and very fiery. Also the last shot type is a wide shot looking at everyone in the
room surrounded by fire. They have used this shot type since it gives an overview to the room and also
denotes all the different characters interlinked with each other which would make the audience wonder
how they are all related and what they have all done that would cause them all to be surrounded by fire.
The main camera movement would be the zoom in on the different objects that turn into fire. There is a
slow zoom in on all of them to draw in the audiences attention and make it clear that it is a very
important part of the trailer since all the characters are relevant with the fire.
6. Evaluation of Textual Analysis –
Compare and Contrast
Trailer 1) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980) and/or ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie – 1995)
The areas of the trailer that I would ‘repeat’ and ‘exploit’ are the fast paced cuts between each shot since it allows much
more content it be packed into one trailer and also makes the plot hidden but also intriguing since it would show very short
snippets of the episode. I would also ‘exploit’ the use of low key lighting for some parts of my own trailer since it creates a
very mysterious feel and would allow the viewer to create a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz) with the characters if they have
also gone through a very dark part of their life. I would also like to ‘exploit’ the use of the soundtrack and sound effects in
this trailer so I could make my trailer much more dramatic and effective without using any dialogue, I would use music that
has a very strong instrumental and powerful lyrics that can be slowed downed to make much more dramatic.
Trailer 2) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980) and/or ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie – 1995)
The areas that I would ‘repeat’ and exploit’ is the lack of dialogue in this trailer since I believe it creates a more interesting
and mysterious trailer that can be left open to interpretation and presents the audience with a strong set of polysemic
meanings to debate over which would draw in the audience to watch the episode since they would be able to find out
whether they were right about the plot of the trailer. I would also like to repeat the use very few colours and stick to a very
basic colour scheme with each colour representing a different emotion or symbolizing something about each character.
