Questionnaire

Common Character Types

There are specific types of characters that are commonly used within the majority soaps:

The grandparent figure:

Usually female, this wise, old character aids others through their problems despite any difficulty of their own life. They commonly have a functioning relationship with most characters, yet do not necessarily have any relations.

i.e. Eastenders’ Dot Branning

The strong woman:

The strong woman conveys independence, power and sometimes even aggression. She is often the first to jump into conflicts, always believing she is right. However, the audience will usually witness a downfall – at the hands of the reappearance of her past, or a man – before restoring to her well-guarded, ‘strong’ self.

i.e. Eastenders’ Kat Moon

Jack-the-lad:

The male character that breaks hearts and manipulates others for his own benefit. Seen as selfish and insensitive, the Jack-the-lad character may be softened over-time to reveal a more sensitive side. This, along with comical characteristics, wins the audience’s hearts.

i.e. Hollyoaks’ Dodger Savage

Young couple:

A couple that pulls through against turmoil both together and in their separate personal lives. Storylines trying to fail their relationship are endless but they usually find a way to go against the odds and stay together.

i.e. Eastenders’ Whitney Dean & Tyler Moon

Feisty young female:

Often argumentative and miserable, the feisty young female isn’t afraid of a disagreement as she longs for independence, usually from her parents.

i.e. Eastenders’ Lauren Branning

Troublesome oldie:

The older character who interferes and meddles whether she is needed or not. Makes it his/her business to know everyone else’s business and is often known as a ‘battle-axe’.

i.e. Coronation Street’s Deidre Barlow

The boss figure:

The boss figure is usually male, who reigns in a position of authority both in business and in other characters’ personal lives.

i.e. Hollyoaks’ Brendan Brady

Vladimir Propp’s theory:

 Propp proposed a theory on the narrative of fairy tales that consisted of stock characters that continuously appear within them. These characters can also be seen in many other genres of film and television, including Soap Operas.

·         The villain — struggles against the hero.

·         The dispatcher —character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

·         The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.

·         The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.

·         Her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero and marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father cannot be clearly distinguished.

·         The donor —prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

·         The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

·         False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Update: 20/09/12

·         The villain — is ofen a boss figure due to their lust for power. i.e. Hollyoaks' Brendan Brady and Eastenders' Phil Mitchell.

·         The (magical) helper — often a helper because of family ties. i.e. Eastenders' Branning Brothers always stick together.
·         The princess or prize — usually a fiesty female because it is such a challenge to win them. i.e.Eastenders' Lucy Beale or Emmerdale's Chastity Dingle.
·         Her father — can be either a troublesome oldie or overprotective, in some cases due to their tough upbringing there is more than one father figure. i.e. Emmerdale's Shadrach Dingle was Chastity's biological father who played a troublesome oldie, however Zack Dingle has taken the role of her father.
·         The donor — often a strong woman that feels the need to help others. i.e. Hollyoaks' Nancy's mission to help Mitzee be proved innocent and Mercedes be found guilty.
·         The hero or victim/seeker hero — often known as someone who can be relied on to help anyone. Marries the girl and lives happily. i.e. Eastenders' Alfie

·         False hero — often a villain-type character too, but hides it well. Usually male - i.e. Eastenders' Yusef Khan. but can be a female (who is usually hated by other females because of her lack of morals) - i.e. Hollyoaks' Mercedes Fisher.

Conventions of a Soap Opera

A British soap opera almost always features the following conventions:

·         A Soap is a drama that usually air around 4 times a week, all year round.

·         Many of the storylines that are continuous involve the themes of domesticity and relationships.

·         Soap opera theme tunes tend to be recognisable even though they have changed slightly over the years.

·         In any one scene the number of character present is kept to a minimal to focus on a certain plot and avoid confusion with audience members.

·         Many storylines are carried on throughout several episodes, consequently leaving episodes on cliff hangers which are often tense and suspenseful.

·         They are often set around a small community e.g. the square (Eastenders). Many characters are linked to each other either by family of friends.

·         Soaps always have specials at Christmas and possibly at Easter these episode focus on the climax of a storyline and often have a depressing ending.

·         Many characters are classed as common, ordinary and working class.

·         British soaps are supposed to be realistic.

·         Three to four story lines often run parallel together, with the soap alternating between them. Once one storyline is solved another may be underway of getting solved or solved in conjunction with another storyline.

·         Recently soaps include songs in the background (Eastenders) or over score (Hollyoaks) to coincide with the situation within the scene.

Update: 21/09/12
In order to produce a successful soap opera, we plan to utilise many of these conventions in our own production. Our ideas of using domesticity and relationships as a main focus of our soap trailer adheres to the conventional themes of the genre. Furthemore, to give a sense of community, part of the soap set will be a pub which is the heart of the most successful British soaps (Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders). While in the process of gaining our first audience, although part of the setting will be the pub which is a very social place, we will not overwhelm them with too many important characters. Therefore, we will use extras in the scene to give it a realistic feel but will keep the ultimate focus on a small amount of crucial characters so that the audience can familiarize themselves and become engaged.
Finally, We want the audience to be able to relate to or feel a relationship towards characters and so to attract a mass audience we believe ordinary/working class/middle class characters would be the right choice. Upper class and hugely financially superior characters would distance the audience too much and the main aim of a soap opera is to entertain and make the audience feel comfortable.

History of Soap Operas

Soap operas originated from the UK, the first soap opera ‘The Archers’ was first broadcast on 29^th may 1950 on the BBC radio. Consequently it is the longest running soap opera that is broadcast on the radio and still airs today.

Soap operas are called so because the original dramas that used to be broadcast on radio had soap manufacturers as sponsors, the term ‘opera’ was added because these dramas focus on dramatic situations and dilemmas.

According to critic Albert Moran the convention that makes a soap opera is: "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode".

Many soaps have passed for example Brookside and crossroads. However through high viewer ratings the popularity of mainstream soaps has increased the four biggest competitors that are still running today.

Coronation Street was first broadcast on the 9^th of December in 1960 therefore being the longest running soap. The soap has had great success for ITV

Eastenders was first broadcast on the 19^th of February 1985 on BBC.

Hollyoaks was first broadcast on 23 October 1995 on Channel 4

Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972 Emmerdale was known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989.

Quote and information from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera