Realism and Drama in Soaps

Many soap operas try to generate a balance between realism and drama to keep the storylines as realistic as possible and therefore relate with the audience. Realism presents the emotional side of characters, showing their feelings and situations. Drama/Naturalism is heightened reality, showing the more physical and exaggerated side of stories. It is vital to maintain this balance so the soap opera is believable, if too much naturalism was used, it would be far too over the top and the audience would not be able to relate with it as well as they could. However with a lack of realism, there would be no real drama, nothing to keep the audience's attention and keep them on the edge of their seats.
For example in Hollyoaks, there was a storyline based on the issue of homosexuality, with John Paul coming out and having a relationship with his best friend Craig. This story was then extended with the arrival of a Catholic Priest, Kieron who ends up having an affair with John Paul and eventually becoming engaged. The issue of homosexuality is an everyday issue in our society, something the audience recognise, however to keep the audiences attention with a shocking storyline, the Catholic Priest is brought in, to overexaggerate and create drama.
Coronation Street on the other hand, aims to attract a more mature audience, with it's realistic setting, use of real time, and sense of close community and family.

Skins Representation

‘Skins’ manages to attract a large teenage audience by showing youth in a stereotypical yet quite realistic way, using a variety of characters that the audience can relate with. Through the micro aspects of mise-en-scene, sound, camera angles and shots, the characters in Skins are shown as typical teenagers, through the ideas of sex, appearance and religion. In the opening sequence, the character ‘Sid’ is shown laying in bed, in a messy room with his phone ringing. This mise en scene shows Sid to be a lazy, untidy person, reinforcing the stereotype of teenage boys. The constant cuts between the different phone calls, the talk of a party and the pace of the footage, of Tony constantly walking demonstrates the hectic social lifestyle, another typical teenage trait. The calls that leader Tony makes

Character Profiles

'The Gay One'







Stereotypes of Homosexuals:

• highlighted hair
• physically fit
• bitchy
• hairdressing
• dancing
• feminine
• concerned with appearance
• gossip
• high pitched voices

The character of Maxxie in the first and second series of Skins conforms to the stereotype of gay people, we are first introduced to him tap dancing in a dance studio. He has quite a high voice and is wearing tap shoes and a patterned beret on his head, this adds to his femininity.
He is presented as very feminine, as a dancer and performer. We also see him high five his 'coach', however it is clear that the coach is also gay, by his posture and outfit as well. The audience assumes something is going on between these two characters. These conventions allow the audience to recognise Maxxie as 'the gay one' in this programme.

Most of the storylines attached to Maxxie's character are about Maxxie having homosexual relationships, falling for his straight friend Tony, arguing with his Dad about leaving college to become a dancer and getting agro from some gay-hating, ASBO boys on his estate. Although some of it may be exaggerated and unrealistic, these storylines are also very typical of a gay persons circumstances, falling for straight people and getting confronted by homophobic people and a traditional society.

'The Geek'








Stereotypes of Geeks

• Clever
• Outcast
• Poor at sports
• Awkward and weird
• Glasses
• Video games and computers
  
• No social life

The character of Sid conforms to some of these stereotypes of geeky/nerdy teenagers, we are introduced to him when he is lying in bed surrounded by an extremely messy room and he is presented more as the typical teenager at first, than the geek, with his Dad shouting at him as well. However when he's on the phone to friend Tony, he puts on his glasses and we hear that Sid is a 17 year old virgin and will even go as far to sleep with his best mate's girlfriend. His glasses and virginity add to the geeky stereotype represented by Sid.

The storylines attached to Sid however, reverse his geeky character label, he is connected with more than one girl and eventually finds himself a girlfriend, who is also very weird. He has many family issues, like divorce and the death of his Grandad and Sid finds himself failing college. As geeks are supposed to be academic geniuses, this goes against the typical geek label, also being associated with girls shows him as much less of a geek although the relationships he has are very awkward and he finds it hard to show his feelings.

Changes to Thriller Plan

Our first shoot was following our original planning of an immigration thriller. By using the issue of immigration, we were making the film relevant to today and drawing in an audience keen on current affairs and news. We were influenced by thrillers such as Dirty Pretty Things. The plot involved two immigrants coming in, being greeted by a gang leader and his two henchmen, and being separated. The male immigrant fought back at being separated from his sister, and ended up being beaten and thrown into the river. It was shot at the docks in Great Yarmouth, using a number of actors. This shoot didn’t go very well as there was no variety in camera angles and shots and the lighting was too dark to see any action. Therefore, in a short space of time a member of the group, Lauren, came up with a new plot and idea. It was a completely different storyline, location and different actors were needed. But we went ahead with it and got it done as soon as we could.