LIIAR- Soap Operas

LIIAR -Soap Operas

In the UK Soap Opera’s began on the radio on the BBC. In 1951 the BBC brought the public the radio soap opera The Archers, which is now the world’s longest running soap opera.

Soap Opera’s on the TV did not begin until 1960, when Coronation Street was first broadcasted. TV Soap Opera’s have now been around for 49 years ranging from teenage soaps to family soaps.

Language

The language of Soap Opera’s consists of the mise-en-scene, cinematography, Editing Sound, and Narrative. The mise-en-scene is the familiar settings such as a street, the homes, the workplace, and social meeting places such as pubs. This creates verisimilitude which is how close to reality it really is. Iconography within the mise-en-scene immediately identifies the sub-genre, for example blue lights, scalpels, plasters identify the sub-genre is medical. Cinematography ensures the continuity. The Camera angles show character interactions and emotions which creates empathy with the audience. The sound is diegetic and non-diegetic. The diegetic sound is dialogue and sounds which are coming from within the scene. The dialogue tells the storyline in the soap opera. The non-diegetic sound is the theme tune of the soap opera. The sound and dialogue creates a balance between the verisimilitude and the drama. The music is used to punctuate the action, create effects and underline the emotions in the scene. The Narrative is visually presented and needs the audience’s understanding of the story/plot. The stories on a soap opera involve, crime, romance, disabilities, teenage issues, contemporary social issues which are in society today.

Ideology

The ideology in a Soap Opera is communicated through the narrative. The Narrative is the storyline which is told through the characters communicating. The storyline usually involves money issue, health issues and love issues which the audience can empathize with. The idea behind a soap opera is to create an understanding to different issues which are around today.

Institution

The institution is the production company which produce the Soap Opera. For examples Granada Television produce Coronation Street. The institution have to do a good job of producing a quality soap opera which audiences can relate to.

Audience

The audience of soap opera’s is the societies which are around today. Everyone of all ages watch soap operas. I looked on the internet at well known soap operas and the amount of people they get viewing the soap opera, I looked at families and teenagers. The Soap Operas I looked at were Coronation Street, and Eastenders for families. I found that in early 2009 on average 9.41 million people tuned in to watch Coronation Street, whilst on average 9.36 million people tuned in to watch Eastenders. In early 2009 on average 1.79 million teenagers tuned in to Hollyoaks. These audience ratings gave me an idea of the popularity of these TV Soap Opera’s and the sort of audiences they attract.

The website where I got the figures from was:

http://www.free-satellite-tv.co.uk/tv-ratings/uk-tv-ratings-260409.htm

Representation

The Soap Operas or Representing the people which are in society today, the characters in soap operas are stereotypical of the people in society.

Soap Opera History

History of Soap Opera

Soap Opera is a phrase which was first developed in the 1930’s in the USA. It was used to describe a radio series that was sponsored by a well known soap powder hence “soap”. The “Opera” part came from the idea that these were problems and other dramatic or melodramatic situations.

By the 1950’s all over the USA these serials had made it to the TV screen. They soon spread to across the world and their popularity grew by the million.

In the UK Soap Opera’s began on the radio on the BBC. In 1951 the BBC brought the public the radio soap opera The Archers, which is now the world’s longest running soap opera. The Archers attract over 25% of radio listeners in the UK.

The longest running TV Soap Opera is Coronation Street which was first aired on TV, December 1960.

After the massive success of American Soap Opera’s like Dallas, soap opera’s suddenly became extremely popular in the 1980’s. One of the biggest soap opera’s Eastenders started 19^th February 1985.

The success of the Australian soaps Home and Away and Neighbours made the British Soap Opera Producers reconsider there target audience and the characters. The Australian Soaps were attracting teenagers, so the British needed to attract teenagers, so Hollyoaks began on 23^rd October 1995, which today is the largest teenage soap opera. Through taking this move soap opera’s are far more popular today.

Brief

Brief

I will be producing an Advanced Portfolio on blogger which will comprise of a main text and two ancillary texts. I have chosen my texts from a Brief sheet.

The main text I will be designing is a website for a new TV Channel. It has to include a minimum of three hyperlinked pages with my own images, audio and video extracts. The two ancillary texts I have chosen is a newspaper advertisement for the new TV Channel and a double page spread for a listings magazine, for the new TV channel.

I will be presenting the research. The research will include analysis of other websites, and audience research, however, I will be doing a lot of research right throughout the production. I will also be presenting the Planning which includes templates, and drafts of designs. The evaluation will include the evaluation of my final products.

My website will include:

· Video

· Audio

· Images

I will be constantly updating my blog with all the pieces of production work I produce.