Soap Trailer Comparisons

Due to the nature of our coursework, a large amount of the year has been spent planning a Soap trailer for a "new soap" we as students were creating. Most of the research to this point has been on general conventions of soaps, including characters, settings and themes (see previous posts)
The next part of the research was observing trailers for the two shows in our case study; Hollyoaks and EastEnders, both of which focus on different age demographics and as of such, reflect this in their trailers.
Firstly we have EastEnders' trailer which shows a street in London, a narrator states in a non-diegetic voice over "the EastEnders are coming to BBC one", the theme is then whistled over the end of the trailer as an outline of the River Thames (shown in the intro and now synonymous with the show) is shown on the side of a van.

The soap is targeting a non specifc demographic in the trailer and so the content is simple. It depicts a casual day in London, with an iconic red double decker bus. This represents the show's content as it takes place in an everyday suburb of London, following the lives of it's residents. Additionally, this would also be one of the first times the famous drum beats were shown to the general public, setting up the interpellation between this show and the theme.

The advert in itself is quite minimalistic, showing that the soap may not necessarily need to make reference to contemporary issues at the time or win the audience with flashy gimmicks, and simply instead draws the audience in by stating "The EastEnders are coming to BBC one".

This trailer is deliberately simple and non-detailed to establish the settings and plot of the show, and draw the audience in by playing to their interests and piquing their curiosity over the show itself.

The Hollyoaks trailer, however, plays to a much younger audience, and it shows in the presentation of the trailer itself.

The trailer begins with the characters in the soap introducing themselves in low, suggestive voices, it is accompanied with soft key beat. This establishes the nature of the show, as it is marketing to a teen-young adult demographic, and therefore can get away with being more more risque than the EastEnders trailer.

The trailer then displays a post-modernist twist when one of the characters messes up a line, thus breaking the verisimilitude of the show as the characters are aware they're actors in a show. The actor then argues about the role that she plays, allowing the group to engage in banter "it's only a small role" "so I've heard".
This establishes a youth audience also as it is shown more tongue in cheek, thus allowing the audience to relate to the characters more as they display a more youthful nature than established soap characters possibly will.