Soap Opera Target Audience Questionnaire And Results

Soap Opera Questionnaire

I have created a questionnaire to look into the target audience of soap operas and how i can create my soap opera trailer to suit the preferences of my target audience.

After reading each question, please circle the answer that most applies to you.

1: What is your gender?

A: Male

B: Female

2: How old are you?

A: Under 18

B: 18-25

C: 25-50

D: 50+

3: What region are you from?

A: South East and London

B: South and South West

C: North and Scotland

4: What is your favourite soap opera?

A: Eastenders

B: Corronation Street

C: Emmerdale

D: Hollyoaks

E: Neighbours

5: Would a soap opera trailer influence you into watching a soap opera?

A: Yes

B: No

6: Do you prefer simple narratives or complex narratives?

A: Simple narratives

B: Complex narratives

7: Do you prefer soaps to be in real time or soaps with lots of flash backs and fractured narratives?

A: Real Time

B: Fractured Narratives

8: What time do you watch soap operas?

A:12pm to 4pm

B:6pm to 7pm

C:7pm to 9pm

9: Do you like to watch storylines of a serious nature that involve real life serious issues that are not often brought to the public eye?

A: Yes

B: No

10: How often would you like your favourite soap opera to be broadcasted?

A: Daily

B: 2-3 times a week

C: Weekly

D: Fortnightly

Thank you for taking your time to complete this questionnaire :)

Results Summary:

I found that more females watch soap operas than men particuarly during the day time where many stay at home mums from the Category E audience are at home to watch the soaps. I also found that more male viewers watch soaps in the evening during primetime and this is most likely when people get home and settle down to watch their favourite TV programs, i found that an equal amount of males and females watch soaps during 7pm-9pm and this is most likely when couples watch TV together.

I also found that more males like to watch complex and fractured narratives as it keeps them

more interested in the soap, whereas women were found to prefer simple narratives that deal with everyday issues. This has support from the Hyperdermic Needle Theory and to attract more viewers to our soap opera we would like to use flashbacks and a complex narrative to attract more viewers and keep them interested.

I also found that Eastenders was the most popular soap and that many people in the under 18 and 18-25 age groups stated that Hollyoaks was their favourite soap and shows that the show is attracting its target audience that are mainly Catergory D and E students and young people. As this is my target audience i have focussed specifically on how Hollyoaks and Eastenders present their soap opera trailers as we want to structure our trailer to suit our audiences needs and expectations of our trailer. This is making use of Dennis McQuails Uses and Gratifications theory (1987) as our target audience will be actively seeking to watch our trailer if we cater it to suit their needs.

I also found it interesting that many people stated their favourite soap was a soap set in their region, which has helped me to set our soap opera in a region where all of our viewers will mainly be from as the viewers will be able to relate to the characters and their environment.

Conventions Of A Soap Opera Trailer

Soap operas use trailers for a number of reasons: it could be to advertise new characters coming into the show, the death of a character or a new storyline with a whodunnit theme. The trailer itself will provide the audience with a basic insight into the events happening in the soap but will leave out vital information which the viewer will want to find out and in order to find out they will want to watch the show. Trailers will also concentrate only on one event whereas the actual episode will be focusing on other storylines involved with other characters and progress in real time following plots and sub-plots. Trailers advertise the event without revealing the twists and excitement that an episode will have, the trailer will give you and insight into what will be happening and what time and what channel to watch it on. This is usually in the form of the channels ident being used at the end of the trailer.











A soap opera trailer will typically start by introducing characters from the soap, and will then progress onto introducing a new plot.
It will then begin to reveal storylines and before the end, will have a tagline. For example: In the Mitchell Sister's trailer, the tagline is: The Square, Under New Management.
Also: The strictly not for the faint hearted trailer has a narrator at the end saying "strictly not for the fainthearted" and this is playing on Calvin's actor's appearence in the BBC1 show as well as how the fainthearted should be aware of his death.

Analysis Of Soap Opera Trailers

I have analysed 3 soap opera trailers and also a trailer that was made by last year's Year 13s. I have looked at and analysed these soaps to help me understand how my trailer should be and how the conventions should be used throughout my trailer, looking at these trailers has helped me understand how my trailer doesn't specifically have to be like a film trailer but instead it can have a quirky and individual style to introduce my soap opera, its characters and the story lines.

A particular convention i would like to use is by making use of the Male Gaze Theory to sexualize the female characters in my trailer in order to attract male audience members from Caetegory C1, C2, D and E. I would also like to include stereotypical characters such as: feisty female, jack the lad and power couple. This is so audience members in Category D and E can emphasize with the characters and by using verisimilitude i am enabling my Category D and E audience members.

Left: Mercedes McQueen, Hollyoaks

Centre: Sean Slater, Eastenders

Right: Charlene and Scott Robinson, Neighbours.

Analysis Of Court Road - Last Year's Year 13 Trailer

The trailer starts with a black screen and a non diegetic heart beat sound. It then switches to a wide shot of a man and woman in a front room lit by two lamps and the daylight streaming through the patio windows. The man is dressed in black and this has connotations that he is the antagonist. He is begging the female, Lucy, who is dressed casually to break off her wedding because he is in love with her. The use of Lucy being casually dressed is to relate to the audience because soap operas opt for a sense of realism to attract their audiences. There is then an over the shoulder shot from the male, Graham, looking at Lucy as she says “he loves me more than you” the over the shoulder shot is used to show the audience the impact of those words. The use of Graham saying the words “don’t make me do something ill regret” add a tense feeling for the audience and the suspense begins to build as the camera tracks Lucy as she walks out the door and a black screen appears saying “Two Choices”. The words “Two Choices” on the black screen are accompanied with another heartbeat and this is done to build the suspense within the audience.

There is then an establishing shot of a church and an amplified extra diegetic church bell sound can be heard, this is to establish to the audience that the wedding is about to take place. There is then a high shot of the church and we can see Lucy and her husband to be at the altar with friends and family in the pews. The camera then closes in onto a two shot of the couple and the vicar as the ceremony begins. As the vicar says each characters name, Lucy Anderson and Warren Coyle, the camera does a close up of each of them from the others point of view. These camera angles are used to highlight to the audience how special they day is for each character. After the close up of Warren Coyle, the camera transitions to a pair of bleeding fists scrunching into balls on the lap of Graham and the another heartbeat sound can be heard. The camera is in a point of view shot from Graham and the use of the heartbeat and his angry movement add to the suspense built in the audience.

Another black screen follows accompanied with a heartbeat and the words “One Outcome” is used, this again creates fear in the audience. Another point of view shot from Graham’s point of view is used to reveal him winding up a wire. Another heartbeat sound can be heard as the camera transitions from the wire in Graham’s hand to a close up of the wire bounding a pair of hands behind a persons back. This is followed by another heartbeat and a transition to a mid wide shot to reveal Lucy curled in a ball with her hands tied behind her back in a dark and dingy garage. The heart beat sound continues at the same pace as the camera transitions to an establishing shot of the front room to reveal Warren running through the door and the room as he calls for Lucy. The camera then switches to his point of view and the heart beat speeds up as Warren runs up the stairs and checks the house for Lucy frantically. The camera then closes in on Lucy who is crying as she is tied up and then the screen goes back and a loud scream can be heard. A final heartbeat is heard and the words “Will he find her?” appear on the black screen and then the title Court Road as a female whisper says the title, then the Channel 7 logo and the whisper accompanies this and finally the words Don’t Miss Out. The use of the whisper is eerie and adds to the terror and suspense that has been built up in the audience.

Overall, the trailer has worked well. The editing has been smooth and the use of the heartbeat and black screens has built up suspense and terror in the audience which will attract them into wanting to know what has happened to Lucy and made them intrigued to watch the soap opera. The settings and characters are believable and similar to that of real life and the storyline is exciting and tense which will attract audiences of all ages easily. Although the camera is shaky in some shots, its is used as a compliment when Warren is running around the house trying to find Lucy as it portrays his fear as he is trying to find her.

Soap Opera Viewing Figures

I have researched into the viewing figures of soap opera's for this week (6th September to 12th September) and i have got my information from http://www.barb.co.uk/. I have mainly looked at BBC1, ITV and Channel 4 because the mainstream soap operas in the UK are mainly broadcast on these channels.

I found the top viewed program of the week was X Factor on ITV which had 11,776,000 viewers in total. In second place was Eastenders on BBC1 with 10,087,000 viewers, this shows that Eastenders attracts more of the population and even had more viewers than the last ever Big Brother Final, in fact it had doubled the Channel 4's 4,082,000 viewers. Which shows that soap operas are not being taken over by reality tv.

Analysis Of Mitchell Sisters Trailer - Eastenders

The camera pans to a midshot of an older character, Mo, sitting in the pub about to take a sip of her wine but she lowers her glass slowly in shock, the camera then closes in on another older character, Shirley who was looking down and then her eyes move up slowly and suspiciously to the object of attention. The shock and suspicion on the characters' faces denotes that the object of attention is foreign and suspicious to them. The camera then closes in on a couple, Billy and Honey who are standing and Honey looks at Billy who shrugs his shoulders. The camera then closes in onto Minty and Gary, two men holding pints of beer in the middle of a crowd looking up intrigued to this new and foreign object that is confusing the locals. There is a dance song playing and the camera then closes in on two girls dancing and laughing in the crowd. Each character has been dressed up in party wear and there is a dance track playing loudly which implies that the trailer is aimed at a younger Category E audience.. The camera then closes back in on Billy and Honey who look confused and are still looking towards the new sight. Then back to Shirley who is looking suspicious, a red disco light spotlights Shirley’s face and this denotes that there is a party in the Queen Vic. The camera pans back to Mo who still looks confused and back to Gary and Minty who are smiling and then to the two dancing girls who are still laughing. The audience can now see a crowd around the centre of attention and the smiling and laughing characters seem to be part of the party and are enjoying themselves as opposed to the older confused characters which further attracts the younger Category E audience members.

The camera then pans to the bar which is lit with white ropes lights to a blonde woman in a red top with red lipstick. The red denotes sexiness and is used to attract male audience members from Category C1, C2, D and E. The song "the girls" by Calvin Harris starts and this suggests that the trailer is aimed at men as well as younger audience memebers because the song is about how Calvin Harris gets all the girls and likes all types of girls, this song accompanied with the seductive red top on the attractive blonde female which stands out with the dark bar and dance floor would be appealing to a male audience. The blonde female is dancing with a bottle in her hand and the audience can assume she is a new character and the trailer is advertising this. The camera then goes to a low angle of the blonde women, the low angle could be a key angle used in the male gaze theory where women are sexualised to appeal to a male audience. The blonde lady then reaches for a note in a customers hand and a Vegas style cha-ching non diegetic sound can be heard. There is a freezeframe as she grabs the money and the lighting on this freeze-frame is a neon blue shade which could connote how the character is new and cool and attracts to a new younger audience. The words "Ronnie Mitchell" are next to her on the screen which denotes her name to the audience and how she is part of the Mitchell family who own the pub. The title of the trailer is also called Mitchell Sisters, which the audience is now aware that Ronnie Mitchell is one of the Mitchell sisters. The use of the cha-ching is a positive sound which could not only be a cha-ching of the money she is now holding and making for the pub but also a cha-ching for the young audience and male audience who will be watching the show.

The next camera shot is of Ronnie under a spotlight dancing and having fun, which is used to reveal how fun the show will now be with her in, she is also pointing towards something which the camera now tracks as another blonde lady in a white cowgirl hat jumps up, as she jumps the camera then freezes and the words Roxy Mitchell appear. This denotes that she’s also part of the Mitchell family, the use of the white hat connotes her innocent but the cowgirl hat teamed with the neon orange vest top connotes a fun party girl image which attracts to a young audience. The dot on the "I" of Mitchell sparkles and a sparkle non diegetic sound is heard, the use of the sparkle and sound suggests she is new and also a dazzling object of desire for the audience. The two girls join the centre of the crowd and dance in the middle under the spotlight, the men are smiling and a point of view shot from the men reveals Roxy smiling at them. The characters in the crowd are all dancing and enjoying the party whereas the older characters on the outside are covering there eyes in shame. This suggests that the trailer is being specifically aimed at younger audiences. The trailer ends as the girls spray a fire extinguisher on the men who laugh and jeer and then are dancing together in the middle when the words "the square under new management" this highlights that the girls are new characters and connotes that they will cause controversy in the square. The Eastenders logo and BBC ident then appears on a black screen and the iconic duff duffs can be heard. The trailer is advertising how the two Mitchell sisters are now joining the show and the use of the party attracts a younger audience into watching the show. The trailer makes use of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory and the camera angles are shot as if from a male's perspective to sexualise the women.

Analysis Of Kris/Ravvi/Nancy Love Triangle Trailer - Hollyoaks

There is a slow zoom into a magazine cover which has the blue and pink Hollyoaks logo at the top, 3 pictures - 1 of Nancy, 1 of Kris and 1 of Ravvi under the logo and the words "love triangle" in bold underneath, the title is also called Love Triangle and the audience are now aware that the 3 characters are involved in a love triangle. There is also a blue circle underneath which you can partially see which says "exclusive." In the background of the magazine behind the title and images is a picture of Nancy and Kris and the audience can assume there is another underneath of Ravvi, this reminds the audience of the characters involved. The images on the magazine cover are laid out like a comic strip and the first image is of Kris which is placed on the right hand side of the cover, the image is a video of Kris saying "I want us to be together" it then pauses and Ravvi's image which is in the middle then plays and Ravvi says "everyone keeps things to themselves sometimes" connoting that he has a secret, then Nancy’s video plays after Ravvi had finished and says "argh this is such a big mess" all characters are in the same room which is apparent to the audience as the walls are green in each picture/video. The use of the videos starting from right to left as opposed to left to right could be to connote how the situation is backwards and ‘messed up. After Nancy says the line "argh this is such a big mess" the page spirals and the song chorus "girls and boys" by blur begins loudly.

The audience then sees a close up of a new page in the magazine which reads like a comic book strip, the first box in the strip is a box of Ravvi kissing Nancy on the head, both are wearing their dressing gowns in the room with the green walls which the audience can assume is either Nancy’s or Ravvi’s house. The use of them in dressing gowns establishes their relationship. The camera then darts to the next box is Ravvi hugging Nancy and there is a close up of his face and a comic book speech bubble from him saying "I cant stop thinking about Kris" the camera then darts to the next window which shows the hug from Nancy’s side and a close up of Nancy’s face wear comic book thought bubbles join Ravvi’s. This establishes to the audience that Ravvi and Nancy both like Kris. The camera then darts to a box which has been broken into 4 and the use of the broken boxes reveals the broken relationship. The four boxes show: Ravvi with his hands on Kris’s shoulder, a close up of Kris crying, Nancy angry and Kris grabbing Ravvi's face and kissing him. After each video ends the next plays quickly. The camera then darts to the next boxes where there is and over the shoulder shot of Nancy opening a door to reveal Ravvi and Kris kissing, it then darts down the page to another box which reveals a camera pan around where Kris, Nancy and Ravvi are sitting, in the bottom left corner of the box is a white caption box which says "share the love" this denotes in the literal sense that all 3 are sharing each other, the next box is of Nancy looking at Kris and again there is caption box which says "feel the pain" which implies that all the characters feel pain not only in the fact that they are being cheated on and are themselves cheating, but also the confusing and stressful situation they are in is causing them pain.the final box is of an over the shoulder shot of Nancy looking at Kris and the channel 4 ident then appears. The editing in this trailer has been continuous and the camera has darted to each box in time with the music which has the lyrics:

Girls who are boys,
Who like boys to be girls,
Who do boys like they’re girls,
Who do girls like they’re boys, always should be someone you really love.

The use of this song and these lyrics is to make a joke of how Nancy’s boyfriend is cheating on her with a man and the man who he is cheating with is also cheating on Ravvi with Nancy. The use of the magazine cover and the comic book layout is to appeal to the shows target audience who are young adults. The scandalous gossip on the front cover is similar to that of popular gossip magazines for young adults and therefore the gimmick is used to attract audience members. The storyline is made obvious and the audience will then be intrigued to watch the show to see how the love triangle is resolved.