Soap Opera Coursework Guidance

You should make sure that you become familiar with at least one soap opera so you can refer with greater confidence to the conventions of the genre. As with other coursework tasks, this one requires you to complete a number of items.

  1. Write about the conventions of soap opera, using examples for each convention.
  2. Explain public service broadcasting and outline how you see soap opera conforming to the ideals of information, education and entertainment. Perhaps you should consider whether they all about entertainment, or do they offer something more?
  3. Write an analysis of a scene from a soap opera you have studied. You should refer to:
    • Camera shot, movement, position;
    • Sound
    • Mise-en-Scene
    • How the scene demonstrates the conventions of soap opera.
    • Here’s the Coronation Street extract if you’ve been told to use it.
  4. In a group work on a draw a draft version of a storyboard for a key scene from a new soap opera you have created. Remember follow the rules:
    • You need an establishing shot of the location;
    • Use mid shots of people speaking. The shots may get closer for dramatic moments, possibly to a close up;
    • Soap operas make extensive use of the shot / reverse-shot technique of presenting conversations. Linked to this is the 180° rule.
  5. Take the pictures for you storyboard. Remember to consider the framing of your shots carefully. You can take slightly different shots if individual members of the group wish to vary their storyboards.
  6. Put your storyboard together using the Scribus storyboard template on this site. Remember that you need as much detail as possible in your writing about each shot. For example: What type of shot is it? Does the camera move during the shot? What diegetic sounds can be heard? What non-diegetic sounds can be heard? Use EXT to indicate outside INT to indicate inside locations.