Recently in one of our classes for Media Studies, we watched a short excerpt from an episode of Eastenders, whilst listing various conventions shown throughout.
During the extract, we viewed many conventions that are typical of soaps, the first of which was domestic issues, where the father and daughter of a family were talking about the relationship between the father and grandmother of the family, this is typical of a soap as it is an excellent source of drama and plot points. In this particular scenario the daughter was under the misconception that the father hated the grandmother of the family, as they had been arguing earlier in the extract. This is also similar to another scene in the extract where a mother and daughter argue because the daughter had been skipping school and is now trying to skip an exam.
This ties in with another convention of soap operas, where the storyline is continuous. This particular plot point was indicated by the fact that the daughter, Bianca, had been skipping school, implying that it had started several episodes before the one we viewed.
Additionally, another important convention showed was the issues facing the youth culture, where Bianca was afraid of going into school who was worried of not fitting in and looking stupid in front of her classmates during the exam. This is an issue that faces many young people going through school, and was utilised by the developers so the younger audience members have something to relate to in the show, which would entice them to keep coming back so they can see how the issue is resolved. Also, similarly, the episode showed a wide range of ages so that they can draw more of an age diverse audience.
The extract also featured technical conventions also, with the majority of shots comprising of mid shots, especially during dialogue. This allows the audience to read the emotions of the characters, especially during important scenes. They also used shot reverse shot very often during the dialogue, so that the viewer can feel like a member of the community, or even a fly on the wall watching the drama unfolding in front of their eyes. This is a common convention in the genre, as each soap has it's own plot points, and also lots of dialogue to shoot, and this allows the dialogue to run more fluently between characters.
The episode also jump cuts often, so that the show gives the audience the impression that all of the drama is unfolding instantaneously.
Finally, all of the audio was diegetic, which adds to the sense of realism that is in itself a convention of soap operas.
Given the knowledge of these soap conventions, I am hoping that the filming and editing of our own advert for a soap will run more efficiently and that the finished product work much more effectively, with the genuine feel of a soap opera.
