Analysis of a Soap Opera trailer- Hollyoaks and Eastenders

To give me a better insight into what my coursework will require I decided to look at two soap opera trailers and analyse them so to help me understand what I need to include in my actual soap opera trailer.
I looked at Hollyoaks 2009 Strictly not for the faint hearted.

I also looked at the Eastenders 2009 Christmas special.

Soap Opera Film

To put all of the research that we have found out together we decided to create a film which highlights all of the key conventions and an over view of everything that we have learnt. Here is our video:

Soap Opera History

As a group we all did some research into the history of soap operas. From there we were able to put together a list of key facts about the history and key conventions of a soap opera.
Here is the list:
Soap Opera History

Soap Opera History

To help me understand more about soap operas and how they work, I looked into the history of the soap opera. I looked at several specific areas such as the soap opera is called a soap opera, what the longest running soap opera and key conventions found in British soap operas. I also looked at the general history of soap operas and how they have developed since they first started out on American radio.
Here is the research that I have found:
The History of Soap Operas Lauraa

Comparison of Soap Opera Episodes

In our group we decided that we should create a table of our own episode analysis and a collection of key conventions that we found when comparing all of the different soap operas that we each analysed. This enabled us to see all of the different conventions that we had found and therefore made it easier for us to see.
Here is my table of findings.
Comparison of Soap Operas

Soap Opera Analysis- Eastenders

So that I could get an even better understanding and knowledge of the key conventions I decided to analyse another soap opera so that I am certain of the key conventions.
Therefore I decided to analyse an episode of Eastenders.
Analysis of Soap Opera Episode Eastenders - Copy

Soap Opera Analysis- HollyOaks

In order to enable me to understand some key conventions of soap operas, I decided to watch an episode of a soap opera in order to understand these conventions. From watching a soap opera I was able to analyse it and find the key conventions and typical parts of a soap opera.
These are the notes I made when analysing and episode of HollyOaks.
Analysis of Soap Opera Episode Handout