Research of soap opera settings, lighting and mise-en-scene conventions

Although I am only creating a short trailer for my soap opera, I feel that it is important to look at conventional settings, lighting and mise-en-scene of other popular soaps.  I looked at Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks because I believe that these are by far the most popular soap operas in Britain. I watched two episodes of each soap opera, and took notes accordingly. I then looked for any similarities or differences that were relevant.

• The lighting is usually naturalistic, which emphasises the realism of soap operas. Out of all the episodes that I looked at, there were no usages of special effects according to the lighting. If it is day time, the lighting is bright and clear and even when it is night-time, the lighting may be darker but it is still easy to see the settings and characters.
• The settings consisted of realistic places that would appeal to the target audience. For example, the family home was a main setting in all of the soaps that I watched, particularly focusing on the more social rooms of the home such as the kitchen, dining room table or living room. This is so that the characters can socialise and therefore drive the plots forward by interacting.

Other popular settings throughout the soap operas that I watched included pubs, clubs and cafes. Again, these are all places that the audience would be familiar with, and are realistic settings. They also give the characters opportunitys to meet one another, therefore creating endless possibilities for storylines.

• I noticed that the soap operas all paid a lot of attention to the mise-en-scene. Every decision about costume, interior and exterior design, props and the layout of the shots had a purpose or meaning and even sometimes represented a particular character. For example, in the cafe in Emmerdale, there was a chalk board with the prices written on, real food and drinks and a cash register. In the pub in Hollyoaks there was fridges with drinks in, promotional posters and beer taps. In the Slaters' home in Eastenders there was a washing machine, bowls and cutlery, washing up liquid and a dish cloth. All of this attention to detail emphasises the realism of the settings, to make the soap operas more realistic and thus enjoyable for the audience. All of the pubs and cafes, corner shops or laundrettes in the soap operas had signs to show what they were, open/close signs andd things such as advertisements in the window. Again, this contributes to the realism of the entire soap opera, as they imitate real life settings. the characters all wore simple clothing that often represented their characters. For example, Kat Slater is a character from Eastenders who is promiscuous and often causing trouble. Therefore she was dressed in black leather high heels and a leopard print coat, with red lipstick, which all connote sexuality and promiscuity.

From looking at all of these conventions, I will try to imitate some of the ideas in my own soap opera trailer.