Soap operas rely on large casts, large enough to sustain several interlinked storylines at a time but small enough to allow the audience to keep track. As a result soap operas usually centre around a small communities for example Eldorado set in a middle sized Spanish coastal town, a mixture of the old town and its Roman Catholic church and the new with a modern holiday apartments and marina. Most soap operas today are centred around small communities. Eastenders is cleverly set in a suburb of London and the main public place is the Queen Victoria, or Queen Vic. Many soap operas have on predominant public location in Emmerdale; the Wolpack, Coronation Street; The Rovers Return and Neighbours; The Coffee Shop.
Soap operas depend on the audience to be able to easily relate to the characters. Within these settings there are a variety of locations where people meet, these places have to include public and private settings. Peoples home usually provide great insight to there private lives and show the many different sides to characters. In Eldorado we see Trish as a very happy, confident and outgoing person, this persona she has adapted outside of her home, in Public we see her like this but when the camera peers into her house we are presented with a Trish in an insecure state, broken down and crying
Adam Tkacz
10 JSB GSCE Coursework – Media Essay
10 A1A Soap Operas
Pg 3
after arguing with her toy-boy Dieter. As well as these private locations there has to be public locations otherwise the audience would soon get bored with the soap opera. Within Eldorado the public places are locations such as Joy’s Bar and the market place,
these are incorporated to ensure storylines can develop into larger events and also were soap opera gossip can spread around the community.
Other places in soap operas such as Emmerdale we see public places like the Local Shop owned by village gossip and matriarch, Viv, as well as the local public house The Wolpack. But with soap operas need a clear balance of the two in Emmerdale we see the home of rich business man Chris Tate who, in public, comes across as cold hearted and ruthless but recently we’ve seen him in his private mansion literally begging his sister not to have an abortion.
Eldorado’s unique location offers escapism to the warmth and holiday feeling of Spain. Due to it being set in Spain it is a soap with an easy way to vary locations. All factors contribute to the calmness and exotic impression if the soap opera but especially the locations. To compare, Eastenders is set in grey England, there is hardly any sun and lots of rain and so the feeling is less relaxing or calm.
Unlike a series of programmes that show the same group of characters, like Inspector Morse, but have completely different stories a soap opera has set story lines that carry over and go into the next episode. More than one story line is included to in each one and many encompass other storylines into one. Story lines in soaps have are on going and this may make the viewer bored so many stories are included to keep the programme fresh and not tedious.
Another way to keep storylines interesting the writers create suspense, pace, crises and variations in mood. One of these suspense builders is a cliffhanger. Cliffhangers are when someone says something of importance, for example “I’m Pregnant”, and the person he/she told expression of whatever emotion is left on screen. The significance of Cliffhangers is important they are designed to keep the viewer guessing what is to come in the next programme. The cliffhanger in Eldorado was when Bunny comes back with his new wife, and all the last shot was of all the men’s mouth wide open staring.
This particular episode of Eldorado was the first one and the foremost matter was a need for variety of characters and story lines in order to introduce them. As many characters were packed in to
Adam Tkacz
10 JSB GSCE Coursework – Media Essay
10 A1A Soap Operas
Pg 4
this episode and introduced, many may not be in any other episode
but the writers obviously needed many so they could have lots of storylines. The welcome party for Bunny and the leak in Joy’s Bar were both deliberately wrote in because a lot of people could be shown together in one place at a time.
Usually there are five major storylines that all interweave in any programme. In Eldorado these where Trish and her toy boy Dieter,
Dieter who steals money from Trish, Gwen and Drew’s marriage breaking down, Bunny getting married and Marcus Tandy who’s soon to be extradited. Each episode most certainly always has a topical issue, these are raised to make people aware of problems also they make people watch as they add realism to the soap opera.
Some people may also be able to relate to the issues raised after watching how people on the soap coped with the problem. Generally after a major issue was raised the producers of the programme will put some help-line numbers so people know where to go.
The topical issue in Eldorado was Marcus Tandy being extradited for embezzling people in Britain. Extradition is when an accused person must be handed over back to the country were they committed the crime. In other soap operas topical issues have been much more serious, things such as drug addictions, gambling addiction and many involve rape. In Coronation Street, Toyah Battersby was raped and Sarah Lou who met someone on an Internet chat line and he was a paedophile. Eastenders featured a massive storyline when a member of the cast was shot, Phil Mitchell, and it nearly turned into a whodunit. Topical issues offer compelling viewing which are nitty-gritty but always follow the law and are morally right.
Much of the interest in any soap opera rests on the characters and what is happening to them. A regular character may only be on screen for a few minutes therefore they need to be easily recognisable. Having certain types of character helps this; they are stereotypical of people in real life society. Often the chosen character is exaggerated but in most soaps we find a playboy, rich businessman, tart/flirt, moaner, gossips, hard guy, do gooders, young fool and this is exemplified in the first episode of Eldorado. We see a wide-range of characters, Marcus Tandy the playboy, businessman, and hard guy. Blair the young fool taking money from Marcus Tandy. We have Trish the tart/flirt with her young toy boy Dieter who is just as much a tart and a flirt.
Adam Tkacz
10 JSB GSCE Coursework – Media Essay
10 A1A Soap Operas
Pg 5
Stereotypes are evident in all other soaps too, Pauline Fowler is a huge gossip, Little Mo is a do gooder, never doing anything wrong or to hurt anyone and there is the just nice people like Harold Bishop from Neighbours.
Soap operas need a vast cast to maintain storylines many characters will be immensely exaggerated but this is so people can relate easier and they are usually based on normal people however there are some unusual people in soap operas, for instance Sarah Lou, from Coronation Street, she is a young girl of 16/17. She has no problems physically or mentally but in her time at this soap opera she has had at least 3 major problems in her life. Her first dilemma was she met a paedophile on the Internet who attempted to abuse her, and then she got pregnant at 15 and didn’t tell her mother for a long time, she did have the baby in the end and lastly she was recently in a coma after being in a serious car accident.
With any soap opera or programme dramatic techniques are used to retain interest of the audience. If the pace was all the same interest would quickly wane therefore we expect a variety of scenes, pace, action, characters and in particular climaxes suspense, conflict and crisis and as a contrast love and harmony. There are many examples of all of this in Eldorado, for example we initially see the busy market place then Gwen and Drew’s peaceful home, this is a contrast of mood and pace. Joy’s bar when the new tourists are happy to be in Spain and then like a flash there was a leak in the roof and this is the Point of Crisis, also behind the water we see Tracy who is miserable after being rejected and also pregnant. There is a big contrast in pace when Joy is trying in vain to find Snowy, he is playing a slow game of Backgammon and she’s rushing around trying to prevent the leak. The first major Point of Crisis in this episode was when Marcus Tandy is shown throwing Tracy’s clothes out of the window into the busy street, this shows dramatic variation because the next scene was in the flat. A good example of suspense is when news gets around that fat, middle-aged Bunny has got married when his sister just died and he’d been to the funeral, everyone wants to know who would marry him and what she looks like. This episode of Eldorado is a prime example for all of these dramatic techniques they and were used well throughout. The pace did slow down in the middle part of the episode but picked back up when everyone was rushing around to organise Bunny’s Welcome Home Party.
Adam Tkacz
10 JSB GSCE Coursework – Media Essay
10 A1A Soap Operas
Pg 6
Camera shots are essential to soap operas they create moods, feelings and emotions in Eldorado its clear to me that the producers were thinking Actions Speak Louder than Words because many styles and effects were used to a great extent. From begging to end we are inundated with different many characters thoughts and feelings and many camera shots show different sides to people. One of the first clever camera shots is when the camera pans up to show Marcus Tandy throwing Tracy’s clothing out of the window. It panned down to the market, showing peoples reactions then up from balcony to balcony to balcony. After showing the people’s reactions it zoomed in on Tracy’s knickers, telling us that she probably sleeps around. In a soap opera every camera shot is important even the camera shot of the donkey walking in the market reminds us that Eldorado is set in sunny Spain. Cameras are also better at showing emotions than words, for the most part of the episode we see Trish in her full makeup and glitz but the camera peers into her home and the real Trish is crying, and the camera subtly shows a single mascara stained tear rolling off her cheek.
At many times the camera can confirm what characters are thinking, When Marcus Tandy first sees Pilar the camera rolls up and down her body and then back down to her backside. This camera shot shows what Marcus Tandy is thinking and after it he takes of his glasses and the camera is left on his facial expression, pwhoar. I think Eldorado’s speciality in this first episode was camera shots there were many subtle images just to make your brain think things. Camera shots like the uncooked chicken and Gwen’s face when realising that her husband Drew had forgotten something else. For nearly all for this episode we didn’t see Bunny, he knew he was coming home a married man but there was a intelligent camera shot of him jumping in the pool earlier in the year, this camera shot give us an idea about his appearance. Right up until the end most of the camera shots were astute the one of the very last camera shots I think was the cleverest, while at Bunny’s welcome home party Trish was talking to a group of people but the camera needed to go to the men having a bet on the appearance of Fizz, Bunny’s wife, instead of panning straight across the camera focused on a young girl in a wheelchair, it followed her through one room and then up to the men. The cliffhanger camera shot was of all the men’s mouth open and then a close up on Fizz, who evidently was attractive. The camera work may be simpler compared with films
Adam Tkacz
10 JSB GSCE Coursework – Media Essay
10 A1A Soap Operas
Pg 7
and movies but to the comparison is unfeasible because each needs to portray different angles with the camera
Another essential features in soap operas is sound and music, the beginning sounds were dominated by the church bells ringing, this reminded us that Eldorado is set in Spain, a Roman Catholic country and that most of its population attend church every Sunday. The church bells also set the time of day and what day it is. The sound of children enjoying themselves at the beach again reminds us that to the children maybe moving to Spain is just like a long holiday. The music that accompanied the kids having fun called “The Best Days of My Life” and this proves the children think that living in Spain is great. When Joy’s husband is ringing from the airport we hear the planes landing and taking off, in this episode were frequently reminded subtly and not that Eldorado is set in Spain.
A clever sound effect was the sound of the radio telling the weather in England, reminding us that they are ex-pats living in Spain.
The theme tune evokes a Spanish feel and an acoustic guitar is used to give it that flavour. It’s very mellow with a slow tempo and relaxes you and transports the viewer to Spain. Music in the soap opera was cleverly chosen, A British Marching tune was played early on as well as English pop music, these were chosen to jog your memory that these people still remember the English culture, especially the children who catch up with the Popular Culture in both countries. There was some Traditional Spanish Latin music playing in Joy’s Bar, played , again, to remind us that whether or not these people are ex-pats they live in Spain now.
To be completely honest my opinion of both soap operas and Eldorado has changed through a full turn. When we were given this coursework I wasn’t looking forward to it, I had never really enjoyed soap operas and to write and essay about one that was a complete failure, I knew it would be a challenge. When we watched the first episode of Eldorado I was appalled myself, I thought the acting was very wooden and some of the storylines were completely ridiculous, for example Gwen, Drew and the uncooked chicken and they needed to be a bit more “gritty”. Since the hardest hitting storyline was Marcus Tandy being extradited, although the need for these hard hitting storylines may have been due to the target audience and air time. For the first episode of it did a good job of introducing the characters but a few more Spanish characters would have improved it a little bit.
Adam Tkacz
10 JSB GSCE Coursework – Media Essay
10 A1A Soap Operas
Pg 8
The camerawork in it was excellent and after watching Eldorado and writing this essay it showed me how subtle camera shots are but can influence a person’s opinion on allsorts. The acting and writing seemed a bit amateur but it was a whole new soap opera so maybe they have an excuse. As I said earlier this Coursework has drastically effected my opinion of soap operas in general, there must be a lot of hard work put into to create a soap opera and make sure that all the storylines link. My main dispute with all soap operas is the accuracy of the things that happen to the characters, I think in Emmerdale alone there have been over 5 murders/deaths and 20 plus fires in one small country village. Now I understand more about soap operas I enjoy them more on the television, looking out for links in the camera work and telling my family what’s what and so my opinion of soap operas is one of high admiration and I believe they are realistic programmes on the everyday life.
