Research of soap opera characters, storylines and audiences

Now that I have a general idea of what I want to incorporate in my soap opera trailer, I have decided to do some research on soap opera characters, storylines and audiences so that I have a clearer view of soap opera conventions. This is what I found out:

• The characters are all realistic and 'normal', meaning that there is a variety of characters and they are easy for the audience to relate to - this is reflected mainly in their appearance, for example in Emmerdale, there are a range of character ages, from children to elderly people, in Hollyoaks there is a range of ethnicities amongst the characters and in Eastenders the characters all have varied social backgrounds

• They tend to have set roles within a certain storyline, however their roles can change when another storyline develops. For example, in one storyline, Eastenders' Phil Mitchell could play the 'villain' character, but in the next storyline he could play the 'hero' role

• The characters are all involved in storylines that deal with social issues. This could be anything from drugs, death, divorce, crime or murder. This is because soap operas deal with issues that may relate to the audience without being offensive. This also relates to the 'voyeurism' theory that audiences like to look and observe other people's lives, and soap operas allow them to do this

• Soap operas are often seen as a 'female genre', due to the large female audience that tend to watch soap operas. However, viewing figures show that male audiences are equally likely to watch and enjoy soap operas. To me, this information seems to suggest that soap operas appeal to a mass audience. Taylor (2000) suggested that, according to his psychology theory, women use gossip to relive stress. Women relieve stress by actively seeking social support from others. This could relate to watching soaps, as females watch the character's lives and all the drama associated and therefore could gossip about the characters.
• Soap operas have an open narrative, which has a casual reading without the sense of an ending. Soap operas proceed as though they could go on forever.
• Time in soap operas typically correspond to real world time. For example, there are often Christmas episodes of Eastenders on Christmas day, even though they would have been filmed weeks previously. Soap operas also often make reference to real life events, which contribute to the realism.
• Each episode tries to address both experienced and new viewers. This is because soap operas tend to end on a cliff hanger, and the multi-stranded storylines often run over several episodes.
• Apart from Hollyoaks, soap operas tend not to use non-diegetic sound. This again contributes to the realism of the soap opera. Hollyoaks often uses non-diegetic music, but this could be because it is relatively new and aimed at a younger audience who may enjoy the music more.