This document contains an analysis of two soap opera trailers: Coronation Street and Hollyoaks. For the Coronation Street trailer, the analysis notes the use of dialogue to establish tension and convey emotions. Technical elements like medium close-ups are used to show facial expressions setting the scene. A rising electronic soundtrack builds tension. The Hollyoaks trailer analysis discusses dialogue around hardships and relationship difficulties. Shifting between high-key and low-key lighting conveys different themes. Camera movement and angles add mystery. Costumes depict everyday people. The evaluation says the Coronation Street opening and rising soundtrack build tension well. For Hollyoaks, varying camera angles and shots provide visual appeal, and lighting

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Independent Textual
Analysis
Name: Shaune Hazlehurst
Candidate Number:3065
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Trailer 1 – Coronation Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?=w51KhdDSeto
Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Dialogue, Voiceover, Sound Effects or Soundtrack
Diegetic: The verbal code of “All you have to do is act like nothing happened” in the
establishing scene of the trailer establishes the initial tension which will be reproduced
throughout he trailer.
Diegetic: The verbal code of “I lost my man”- this dialogue along with the croakey voice
delivery connotes to sadness being expressed and conveys how there is a lot of trials and
tribulations within the upcoming episodes which helps sell the text to the audience.
Diegetic: The verbal code of “ Hang on a minute, you did a deal with me with his money,”
agrees with the ‘Masculinity and Popular television’ – Rebecca Feasy (2007) theory as a
‘strong woman’ is denoted through taking charge of a situation. This appeals to the female
viewer as a strong female character is established.
Non-diegetic: The verbal code of soundtrack in the establishing scene denotes to a tense
electronic soundtrack rising in pitch and tempo. This conveys to the audience how themes
of action and tension will be connoted throughout the trailer, this attracts the audience to
take interest in the soap and therefore watch the soap’s episodes when they are released.
Non-diegetic: The verbal code of sound-bridge reproduces the rising tempo of the
electronic soundtrack throughout the first few scenes of the trailer conveys to the
audience how the new episodes will all have elements of conflict within them.

3. Technical Codes – Comment on the use of Camera Angles, Shot Types and Camera
Movement
Shot Types: In the establishing shot, the technical code of medium close up reveals how
one of the character’s, David, has an angry facial expression. The use of the medium close
up conveys to the audience how he is feeling and sets the scene for the rest of the trailer.
Camera Movement: The technical code of camera movement denotes how there is little
camera movement in each snapshot of the scenes. This is used to tease the audience with
little parts of each scene so that they will want to watch the rest of the scenes when the
episodes are released.
Non-Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Setting, Lighting, Costumes, Facial
Expressions and Characters
Lighting: Throughout the trailer high key lighting is used to show how active the characters
and the scenes will be. Furthermore it connotes how lighter themes will be denoted
throughout the new episodes as well as the darker ones.
Costumes: The non-verbal code of costumes denote to the characters all wearing casual
everyday clothing. This connotes to how the characters are all normal people and attracts
the audience towards the soap as to find out what situations come across the path of
average people.
Facial Expressions: Throughout the trailer the non-verbal code of facial expressions seem
to differ. There are expressions such as; sad, happy, angry and fearful. The different facial
expressions denote how there is not one main theme which is presented and conveyed,
but rather many different themes. This attracts the audience to watch the new episodes as
there is a element of mystery surrounding the upcoming episodes.

4. Trailer 2 – Hollyoaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC2DSqZZqzk
Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Dialogue, Voiceover, Sound Effects or Soundtrack
Diegetic: The verbal code of dialogue denotes a character saying “I can’t have his death
hanging over me” conveys to the audience the hardships some characters will go through
throughout the upcoming episodes.
Diegetic: The verbal code of dialogue denotes one of the female character’s proclaiming
“There’s nothing you’ll do that’ll make me want you back” This conveys to the audience
the difficulties in the relationships between character’s which adds to the appeal of the
new episodes.
Non-Diegetic: The verbal code of soundtrack denotes the rising pitch of the dance
soundtrack stopping as soon as one of the character’s says “You have no Idea what I am
capable of” which builds tension and promotes fear to the other character and the
audience.
Non-Verbal Codes – Comment on the use of Setting, Lighting, Costumes, Facial
Expressions and Characters
Setting: Throughout the trailer the non diegetic code of high key lighting shifts to low key
lighting from scene to scene. This conveys to the audience how throughout the new
episodes there will be darker themes such as violence and betrayal and also lighter
themes such as friendship and love.

5. Technical Codes – Comment on the use of Camera Angles, Shot Types and Camera
Movement
Camera movement: The technical code of tracking shot is used in the establishing
sequence. The camera reverses away from an accident which conveys mystery to the
audience as you cannot see what has actually happened and also you are physically being
retracted from the accident.
Camera Angles: The technical code of low angle shot denotes a bike and it’s rider driving
down a road. The use of the low angle shot shields the bikers head so you do not know
who it is. This further adds to the theme of mystery in the trailer.
Shot Types: Throughout the trailers a small variety of shots are used. The technical code of
extreme close-up is used most often as this reveals the facial expression of each characters
in each situation, which can pre-emptively tell the audience about how tense each scene
is without the context of the scene being revealed. Furthermore this links to the Katz’s
Uses and Gratifications theory which allows the audience to ‘personally identify’ with the
characters.
Costumes: Costumes, as a form of Mise-en-scene denote the characters wearing everyday
casual clothing this is done to conveys to the audience how soap’s contain normal people
who live the average life of working and middle class citizen’s . This appeals to the
audience as a large proportion of the audience are of the working class and middle class.
Setting: The non-verbal code of setting denotes the switch in settings from open fields to
court’s of law. This change in setting reveals the variety in scene settings and the overall
atmosphere and themes in each scene.

6. Evaluation of Textual Analysis –
Compare and Contrast
Trailer 1) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) or “exploit”
(Abercrombie – 1995)
From the first trailer I have analysed, Eastenders, I will aim to ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) the
strong opening in the establishing shot which will provide an overall theme for the rest of
the trailer. Furthermore I will “exploit” (Abercrombie - 1995) the use of an electronic
soundtrack which rises in tempo throughout the trailer. I will do this so that an essence of
tension rising Is established so that the audience will want to keep on watching the trailer
due to the backhanded rise in tension.
Trailer 2) – Areas of Strength and what you would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) or “exploit”
(Abercrombie – 1995)
From the second trailer I will aim to ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale) the use of a variety of camera
angles and shot types, such as low angle shot and over the shoulder shot. This will allow a
more visually pleasing trailer attracting the audience to watch the new episodes when they
are released.
I will aim to “exploit”(Abercrombie – 1995) the variety in high-key and low-key lighting to
show the variety