This document contains planning and research notes for a media production project on the genre of soap operas, specifically the long-running British soap opera EastEnders. It identifies several key codes and conventions of the soap opera genre, including strong female characters, cliffhangers, identifying titles/logos, a female target audience, and multi-stranded narrative storylines. The document also provides background information on EastEnders' viewership numbers and purpose, defines what a multi-stranded narrative entails, and discusses the purpose of trailers and benefits of multi-platform promotion.

1. Forrest Smyth
Unit G334: Advanced Portfolio in Media
Production Log
Evidence of Planning and Research
What are some of the codes and conventions of this genre? (Eastenders
1985 – Present)
Codes and conventions for soap opera’s
- Strong Female Characters (Rebecca Feasey)
- Cliff-hangers
- Point of Call (this links towards the end of the trailer it shows the ident
“BBC Eastenders)
- Ident (This is continuity and consistency, this is a type of branding)
- Female target audience (Middle age – Older women)
- Binary Opposites (Leri Stouss)
- Theme tune (Opening soundtrack)
- Multi-stranded Narrative
- Different themes throughout the Soap Opera (Love, Hate, Secrets, Conflict
etc.)
- Different storylines
The soap opera genre can be categorized by the ‘Repeated’ (Steve Neale)
elements of:
- Theme tune
- Point of call
- Ident
- Multi-stranded Narrative
- Cliff-hangers
Key information regarding this text:
‘The core values where set by the Royal charter and agreement’ – John Reith
- Viewership: 5 million (5.1 – 5.7)
- To address issues and entertainment
- TV, Phones, Tablets, Computers, DVD, VOD
Multi-stranded narrative is:
Multiple story arcs that involve multiple characters, by the end of the series it all
comes to a conclusion with the characters coming together.
According to Rebecca Feasey in ‘Masculinity and Popular television’ (2007), the
Soap Opera genre tends to focus on:
‘The home, the family, domestic tribulations and the strong woman and as such it
has long been said to appeal to the female viewer’.
What is the purpose of a trailer?
The purpose of a trailer is to promote the product as well as informing the
audience of the product.

2. Forrest Smyth
What are the benefits of Multi-Platform promotion of a media text?
- Branding opportunities
- Increases product visibility
- Ultimately, some form of convergence is important when promoting a text
to the target audience