What is the balance of realism and drama in particular soaps?

In most soap there is a general 50% balance of realism and drama. Writers will try to make soap as realistic as possible so the audience can engage with the events that are occurring but an element of drama is also included to keep an audience engaged with the events and make the soap more enticing to watch.

Hollyoaks tries to tackle realistic problems that concern young teenagers for example the couple Newt and Lauren. There was a story where they where debating whether or not to have sex and showed Newt trying to make up excuses as he was worried about it but was too scared to tell Lauren this. For their age group of 15-18 year olds this is a common issue, which occurs, and therefore teenagers can relate to Newts character and compare his issues to their own. However a slightly un realistic love story of Hollyoaks is Nancy, Chris and Ravvy. Nancy and Ravvy where originally together but he’s gone behind Nancy’s back and seeing Chris who is Bi-sexual who is also seeing Nancy. They’ve now found out about what is happening and are scheduling when they can see each other. This love triangle is more un-realistic to regular life and shows Hollyoak’s making the story line into a drama. Soaps will often do something like this to regain the interest within the soap and it’s clear that Hollyoaks is losing some their viewers and are trying to spice up their storyline.

Another soap, which mixes realism and drama, is Eastenders. A recent episode showed the Trumans sitting round the table eating pancakes. This episode was aired on Pancake day so it gave the impression that the viewers where watching a live family, as it wasn’t just the Trumans on pancake day it was also showing the mum coming in stressed after work wanting a drink and the daughter trying to cheer everyone up by cooking. This episode also showed the daughter out on a date and pulling techniques, which men try to use on woman. Eastenders will often show these sorts of episodes before or after a dramatic event is about to happen. If they where to show this type of viewing every day then the attention of the audience would be lost as viewers rely on drama to make their lives appear easier to handle than the ones they are watching. Therefore the audience can see an storyline progressing in the character the daughter has gone on a date with as he asks a lot about the background of Patrick an elderly man she lives with. He’s very impersonal about what he asks and is insisting on seeing him. It is clear that a plot twist is about to occur from this. For example in past stories of Kat shouting and Zoe in the street that she was her mother. A dramatic event realised after a long period of storyline.

It is this contrast of realism and drama which makes the events that the audience relate to appear more dramatic than their own and therefore feel that their life is easier to handle and the problems which they are dealing with can now be resolved easily as they are able to gain ideas relate to experiences of characters.

Character Stereotypes

The Dumb Blonde

Pandora from Skins.
Pandora plays the role as friend to Effy the popular girl with attitude, who gets all the guys, drinks and Pandora does whatever she says.

Pandora's the innocent character out of the group in Skins and basically drinks and takes drugs because she knows that's what will make her cool, but not in the peer pressure because she actually thinks it's true.

The series began with her taking Hair and beauty because she's not clever enough to take the other courses at college.

She's stereotypical as she has the similar attributes of dumb blonde as she's so vague and not very clever. She also see's the best in people which is why she looks up to Effy as she can't see that Effy just uses her to make her look good.

However she's not as vein as most dumb blondes are in series such as Blair in the american teen drama clueless who's always shopping and is the poplular girl in her school who everyone wants to be friends with.








Carmel from Hollyoaks
She's considered the dumb blonde of the program due to the fact that she is quite vein about her appearance and doesn't have much ambition other than passing hair and beauty and opening her own beauty salon where she works.She's one of the Mc Queen sisters and is the most innocent out of all of them in her personality. She's married to Calvin who is the local police officer to the village and since marrying him Carmel has changed her amibtion to wanting to do something more challenging and becoming a police officer. None of her family thought she could do it as she's not considered clever.
She adds a humerous quality to Hollyoaks in how she can be quite "dim" and she when it came to her wedding day it was really over the top as she wanted everything romantic and over the top like a celeberity.

Preliminary task

Analysis of Gender and death of Max from Hollyoaks death.

How are Gender and Death presented at the death of Max Cunningham during an episode of Hollyoaks.

There are many techniques used within the scene of Max’s death which present the different aspects of gender and death and how they are viewed. This is down to Micro and Macro analysis and how it is the smaller details which make up the picture as a whole.

Gender representation is shown in the close relationship between Tom, Max and OB. Just before Max is about to die they all gather around his body. Max tells OB he loves him and OB responds to how he shouldn’t be so ‘gay’. This homophobic attitude is down to the fact that these characters are trying to come across as the traditional strong male, through having a tough exterior and hiding their true emotions. However it is their positioning that lets the audience realise their true emotions and close relationship as they are all gathered very close to Max, and even though OB responds in a brave manner trying to appear brave he is actually crying when Max tells him this as the camera transition uses static shot between their two faces which intensifies how fast Max is dying creating a deeper emotion between the two characters as well as the audience.

There is also the scene before Tom is hit by the car and the camera shows a medium close-up of the panic on Max’s face and he runs to save him. This hero quality in Max shows his love towards his brother and allows the scene to be viewed in a different perspective of a tragedy, creating sympathy to those who witnessed the event and the audience watching it.
There are no females at the death of Max until he has actually died. This shows the scene to be very male orientated and manages to create more emotion that way as it is often a female who will cry rather than a male. This different type of cast setting for a scene as emotive as this makes it seem all the more realistic as we witness the loss of a true friend to OB and a brother to Tom as well as see the response of Niall who caused the crash which wouldn’t normally be focused on.

Niall character within this scene shows the dark aspect the situation. Having him dressed in black represents him as a villain and makes his reactions appear false. The mise-en scene of his car being grey and his costume makes him appear negative and evil. He is also shown coughing as he gets out of his car after he has hit Max, then Max also coughs. This can be pursued as Niall inflicting this death upon Max.

When the female finally comes into the scene she is very stereotyped, dressed in a pink over the top dress she makes the event appear a tragic fairytale. This scene is very gender biased towards females and Steph is witnessed as a vulnerable female with a lot of emotion, but all adds to the emotive effect as we see her reaction so intense and dramatic it makes the viewing hard to watch.

Death is presented positively within this scene through use of lighting and sound. Just before Max is about to die the music is very heavy with lots of use of strings to build up the tension. A heartbeat monitor can be heard in the background letting the viewer know that someone’s life is in jeopardy at this moment. This moment is also felt in the car revving at the point before it hits Max emphasising his danger and last moments of life.

Just as Max is hit by the car there’s a close up of the Max Mission toy hitting its head on the curb. This is a representation of Max being hit by the car as there is never an actual shot of this which makes the death seem less gory. When Max is about to die there is use of heavy wounds or him really suffering which makes his death seem more emotional as rather than focusing on the special effects on a massive wound the scene can focus more on the reactions of his friends and family around him. The music throughout this scene is classical which dramatises the events making it appear much more serious. As Steph arrives, the music is much more ambient making Max’s death feel more romanticised due to Stephs costume and the situation of the death occurring on their wedding day. At the last moments the camera pans into the trees above giving the feeling of Max’s spirit going into heaven. This allows a release within the audience as the bright lighting emphasising the green of the trees represents a positive end to Max’s character.

Cinematic Terms

Camera Movements

Steadicam

It was introduced in the late 70's. The camera operator will have a special mechanical harness to help make the shots smooth and steady whilst the camera is still handheld to let the camera operator move along with the action.

Dolly

A moving shot in which the perspective of the subject and background is changed. The camera is mounted on a hydraulically powered wheeled platform. It can be pushed noiselessly around whilst the camera is running during filming. Dolly out, the camera moving back to reveal acharacter or object that was out of frame. Dolly in, the camera moves closer. Dollying along with, the camera moves beside with the subject also known as the tracking shot.

Camera Composition

Depth of field

The depth of composition of a shot. The elements captured in the shot appear in sharp focus.

Objects or characters close in the frame's foreground appear massive, while other objects appear smaller in the background.

Focus Pulls

Useful for directing viewers attention. e.g if their are two people in the shot and one of them is in

focus that person is the subject for attention. This is often used in drama dialogues where the focus moves back and forth bewteen characters.

Framing

The way in which the image is framed to compose the character in the shot when they are surrounded by boundaries such as a doorway or arch.

Editing

Jump Cut

An abrupt, disorienting transitional device in the middle of a continuous shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar scenes. This is either done through bad editing or to create discontinuoity within a shot.

Superimposition

Where an image will be layered over another image. e.g film titles at the beginning of films composed as a double exposure.

Ellipsis and expansion of time

A break between the plot and a sub-plot ususally marked with a fade or a jump cut.

Transition of image and sound

One of several ways of moving from one shot or scene to the next, including such transitional effects or shots as a cut, fade, dissolve, and wipe; a transition focus between two scenes means the current scene goes out of focus and the next scene comes into focus.