2. Which soap is this? As we are brought up through our childhood, we learn things without knowing it; it is part of our norm. The opening credits and theme tune are easily recognisable and part of our everyday life. This soap is âEastEndersâ; it is set in East London in the made up town of Walford. From this image, the viewer can see that the soap is set in the present modern day London due to the O2 Arena and the curve of the River Thames. The audience know that it is set in a city because of the grey filtering on the mise-en-scene. Where and when is it set?
3. Which institution broadcasts it? BBC stands for the British Broadcasting Company and is one of the biggest broadcasting institutions in Britain. It is the only one that is funded by the TV License. BBC broadcasts this soap three times a week after âtea timeâ when the family are âcooling downâ before going to bed. The outlook of the city, which coincides with the title, makes the audience assume that the characters are not up-market or upper class, they are working class and this allows the audience to relate to them. The opening credits start with a bass drum beat that makes us assume that life for the characters are a bit drab. The drum beat is followed by a slow, minor, piano tune that emphasises the dullness and sadness of the characters. From the music, what do we assume about the lifestyles of the characters?
4. Storyboard. Straight away the audience is thrown into a house of one of the characters. The mise-en-scene is filled with a mess of blue props and a football which indicate that a young boy lives in the house. However the shoes/boots belong to someone older. As the camera pans up the stairs we see more childrenâs toys, but in this time pink. The audience now knows that a young girl and a teenage boy live in the house.
5. We then see a woman start to descend the stairs, wrapping a nightgown around her. The audience now notice the tacky pictures and wallpaper and realise that the house has not been decorated in a while. We can tell the family that live there are working class but they are trying to make up for it by putting âclassyâ things around the house. The woman descending the stairs is not a young mother so we assume that she is the childrenâs grandmother. She says, âA goodbye wouldâve been nice,â to the man which gives the audience the impression that the man and her have just spent the night together and he is sneaking out. Cont. We now see the man that put the boots on in full. We know that he is sneaking out after a one night stand which is not something people of his age really do. The audience assume that the children are not in the house at that moment because ethey wouldâve most probably noticed the man leaving.
8. Cont. The scene cuts back to the man in the office,, but this time the camera is looking at him through the office furniture which makes the audience feel as though they are spying on the action taking place. He then says, âYou and Eddy, yeah? Or Jodie gets the message for real.â The audience now knows that âMichaelâ is blackmailing the woman into prostitution to keep a secret, secret. They both then hang up their phones and we see the woman speechless. Will she or wonât she? The audience then see the two builders turn round, smiling, and look at her as though they had heard the whole conversation. She turns away from them embarrassed.