TV Listings Magazine Cover Analysis

Prior to creating or planning our product, I have analysed front covers of existing TV listings magazines to obtain a better understanding of what generic conventions should be used on our front cover.

Soap Opera Trailers Analysis

To understand the narrative theories and generic conventions used in soap opera trailers, I have analysed 3 soap trailers in detail using media terminology.

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Hollyoaks Fire

The trailer begins with a mid-shot of a young, blonde female wearing a white formal dress, which holds connotations of innocence. A slow paced, non-diegetic music piece begins to play. The pace and tempo of the music goes hand-in-hand with the pace of the editing and slow motion effects. The style of editing is used to juxtapose with the chaos and panic associated with fire.

The camera changes to a close up of her hands dragging along a white wall with her nails painted red, thus connoting violence. Her nail colour reflects the connotations of disaster and destruction associated with the trail of fire her fingertips leave behind her. We hear a non-diegetic, eerie whispering sound when the fire begins to spread. This informs the audience that something evil is about to happen.

The shot type changes to a close up of a flower pot catching alight. The flower represents innocence and beauty, and the fact that it is burning in the fire sends the message to the audience that innocent people will die in the event of a fire. We then see an over-shoulder shot of a male arguing with the female opposite him. He is dressed in a black suit, which holds connotations of death. The fact that fire is spewing out of his mouth suggests that the cause of the fire is linked to violence and arguments between characters.

The camera changes to another over-shoulder shot, this time with a blonde female in the centre of the frame. The blonde hair connotes innocence, whilst her red dress connotes violence and destruction. She aggressively flings her glass against the wall beside her, which sources another fire. This reinforces the idea that the cause of the fire is related to arguments between characters and acts of violence.

The final shot of the trailer is a long shot of various characters in a restaurant. Each character is dressed in black, red or white formal wear. These colours hold strong connotations of death, violence and innocence respectively. This goes accordingly with the disastrous setting around the characters and the events associated with a fire. The lighting is low key, creating a dark and villainous atmosphere.

The trailer uses Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium unconventionally. The first stage of equilibrium is missed out, and the trailer dives straight into the second stage, where the equilibrium is disturbed. Because the characters are so apparently oblivious to the burning building around them, there is no recognition of the disturbance and the trailer ends in the second narrative stage.

The camera angles are ones commonly used in soap opera episodes. Mainly close-ups, mid shots and over-shoulder shots were used as they keep the audience focused on the upper half of the character so they can monitor facial expressions, and receive certain messages from them.

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Hollyoaks Wedding

The trailer begins with a two-shot of the flower girls slowly walking down the aisle. This immediately tells the audience that the trailer is promoting a wedding. The females are wearing black formal wear and holding a bowl of black rose petals. These colours hold connotations of death, and are more likely to be associated with funerals. By using black as the main colour of a wedding, this trailer is using the theory of binary opposition to convey negative messages about the couple getting married.

There is non-diegetic music playing in the background throughout the trailer. The music is upbeat and   lively, which juxtaposes with the dark and ominous atmosphere of the trailer. 

We then see another two-shot of the best man placing a black rose on the groom's suit, which reinforces the idea that the wedding holds negative connotations. The shot changes to another two-shot of the bride descending down the aisle alongside a female protagonist, wearing a black wedding dress and a black veil. Their facial expressions are very sombre, which reflects the black setting around them.

The colour of the bride's dress also demonstrates how the trailer has used binary opposition to challenge the conventions used in a wedding by replacing a white wedding dress with a black wedding dress. Whereas a traditional wedding would hold connotations of happiness and purity, the wedding promoted in the trailer connotes sorrow and destruction.

The shot changes to a tracking shot of the bride's torso. This shot is important as it highlights the bride's pregnant state, and can alter the audience's interpretation of the wedding from being an act of love, to a safety net for the woman and her unborn child. This interpretation goes hand-in-hand with the atmosphere of the trailer, and could be referred to as the dominant reading in relation to the reception theory.

Later in the trailer, we see a shot of the sunlight creeping into the church through bars on the wall. The idea that the sunlight is being kept out of the church tells the audience that the dark atmosphere of the wedding is intentional, which juxtaposes with the traditional bright wedding. The bars hold connotations of imprisonment and restraint, which could be applied to the emotions of the bride and groom.

The camera changes to a close-up of the bride as she looks to her left, which leads into a point-of-view shot of a group of guests. Their facial expressions are a mixture of concern and false happiness, which reminds the audience that the wedding is portrayed in a negative light. As one of the female guests drops a porcelain doll, the shot changes to a close-up of the porcelain smashing on the floor. The foley effect is used to emphasise the sound of the smashing over the non-diegetic music. The smashing of the doll connotes the disaster that is associated with the wedding, and could be interpreted that there is a relation between the toy doll and the baby.

A couple of shots later, a birds-eye-view is used to show the black trail of the wedding dress as the bride walks down the aisle. We see lit candles in black wire frames at the sides of the altar, which contribute towards the gothic mood of the wedding.

The camera then changes to another close-up of the bride's face as she looks to her right, which leads into another point-of-view shot of a different group of guests. The facial expressions are very similar to those of the other guests, which is a mixture of solemnity and false happiness.

The shot changes to a close-up of a male figure as he waves at the bride with a facial expression of genuine joy. As the bride continues down the aisle, his face slowly drops back into a grave expression. At this point, the music playing in the background of the trailer fades out to match the dissolving of happiness.

As the trailer continues, we see a close-up of a black wedding cake decorated with barbed wire. Like the bars on the wall of the church, the barbed wire holds connotations of imprisonment and restraint. 

The last shot of the trailer is a close-up of the bride as she lifts the wedding veil away from her face. She is wearing dark eye make-up and dark jewellery, which connotes death and destruction. The colour of her lipstick is red, which could also be interpreted as holding connotations of danger and violence. The bride cries a black tear as she approaches the altar, which conveys her true emotions of unhappiness and sorrow. It is clear that the bride is central to the wedding, and her exposed feelings are conclusive of the atmosphere around her.

The music playing in the background ends on the words 'nice day for a white wedding', which again demonstrates the use of juxtaposition in the trailer. The shot then transitions into the final frame of the trailer, which provides information about the episode. The non-diegetic voice-over is whispered, which goes hand-in-hand with the ominous mood of the trailer. There are non-diegetic church bells faintly ringing in the background, which are iconically associated with the event of the wedding.

The editing pace of the trailer is slow as the duration of the shots are dragged out and the contents of the trailer are lethargic.

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Eastenders - Kat & Alfie

The trailer uses a series of paradigms to represent the spaghetti western sub-genre. These paradigms include the use of costume, music, props, setting, editing and camera angles throughout the text.

The trailer begins with an establishing shot of the Queen Victoria pub, which is the iconic central location of Eastenders. The non-diegetic music that begins to play has a very high pitch, while playing at a very slow pace. This creates an eerie and tense atmosphere. A newspaper rolls past the pub in resemblance to a tumble-weed, which is conventionally associated with the spaghetti western theme.

We see a red, triangular sign swinging upside-down on its final hinge. The diegetic sound produced is squeaky and rustic, which goes hand-in-hand with the state of the sign. The red colour of the sign and the pub hold connotations of danger. The combination of the music, the sign and the rolling newspaper creates a feeling of desertion and desolation. This atmosphere is reflective of one that would be used in a spaghetti western.

The shot changes to a tracking shot of a character walking in black boots. The heels on the boots suggest that the character is a female, and the cowboy style of the boots are reflective of the trailer's theme. The nature of the camera angle gives the female protagonist a sense of dominance, as the audience may feel intimidated by the concealment of the character's identity. This demonstrates how the trailer uses a degree of Marxism to position the audience below the character in the trailer by making the viewer feel intimated and inferior to the female character. The black colour of her boots hold connotations of death and destruction, which reinforces the idea that the antagonist is the dominant figure.

The camera changes to an over shoulder shot of a blonde female character looking through her window shutters at the antagonist. The female takes a sharp breath and quickly shuts her blinds. The female's reaction to the antagonist tells the audience that she is intimidated by her presence, and maybe even fearful of her. The shutting of the blinds show that the blonde female is in a domestic location, which shows the trailer's use of soap opera conventions.

The shot switches to a close-up of the female antagonist's boots as she comes to a stop. The lighting in the trailer used is natural, which combined with domestic setting creates a sense of verisimilitude. The colouration of the trailer is faded with the possibility of a sepia filter being applied during the editing stage of the clip. This has been done to reflect the colouring of an old, western film, and gives the trailer an aged effect.

The female antagonist drops her bag onto the ground, which is also heard diegetically. The pattern on her bag is leopard print, which juxtaposes with the atmosphere of the trailer by adding a modern twist to the western setting. The close-up of the boots then advances into a tilt from the ground up to the female antagonist's face. As the camera ascends up the character's body, the music playing in the background adopts a quicker pace, a louder volume and a lower pitch. The slow pace of the camera movement and the change in music adds tension to the reveal of the character.

At the end of the tilt, the female character is revealed. The darkness of her make-up and the black colour of her costume holds connotations of destruction and death, while the red colour of her lipstick connotes violence and danger. The poncho style of her outfit demonstrates the use of paradigms within the trailer that are used to convey the spaghetti western theme.

Kat's face carries a smug smile as she looks at her surroundings, which reinforces the idea that she is the dominant character of the trailer. The camera changes to a close-up of a male character placing down his drink, and then to an over-shoulder shot of a coloured male character looking in Kat's direction. The manor in which the characters stare in her direction suggests that she is seen as an outsider, and that her presence is unwelcome.

The camera cuts back to a close-up of the antagonist. We hear the non-diegetic sound of a female character laughing, and the antagonist looks to her left to follow the source of the sound. Her facial expression denotes annoyance, which may lead to the interpretation that the antagonist is a miserable or angry person. The shot changes to an over-shoulder shot of two female characters in conversation with each other. As the laughing female looks towards the antagonist, her smile drops and her facial expression turns into one of contempt.

At this point, the second female turns around to see what the source of the disturbance is with an expression of shock. The fact that their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the female antagonist suggests that she has disrupted the peace and happiness of the town. The camera the reverts back to the antagonist as she continues to stare in the direction of the 2 female characters.

We then see Kat remove her poncho wrap to expose a revealing black and red vest. In this case, the red colour of her top holds connotations of romance and passion as it reflects the exposure of the female's cleavage. The shot then changes to a close-up of a wide-eyed male peaking through a set of shutters at the female character. He mutters the words "flipping heck", which indicates that he has sexual feelings for the female antagonist. The combination of the woman's exposed cleavage and the man looking at the female through closed blinds demonstrates the application of Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze Theory', which links into how gender has been represented in this trailer.

The camera reverts back to a close-up Kat Slater as she whips out a compact mirror. The Foley effect has been applied to emphasise the sound of the opening mirror, and to create a resemblance to the drawing of a gun, which then relates to the conventions used in a western film. The colour of the compact is gold, which symbolises confidence and social significance. Gold is also the colour of the character's bracelets and hoop earrings.

Later in the trailer, we hear the non-diegetic dialogue of a male protagonist. As the female antagonist hears his voice, she turns around to look in his direction. The camera changes to an over-shoulder shot of a male silhouette figure wearing a hat and long coat. His costume resembles that of which you may see in a western film, and again demonstrates how the trailer has used paradigms to follow the set of expectations associated with the spaghetti western genre.

The camera changes to a close-up of the character as he steps into the light. The tension of the reveal is matched by the increasing volume and pace of the non-diegetic music playing in the background, which then stops when the protagonist's face is exposed. We see him chewing on a toothpick out of the corner of his mouth, which suggests he has a very nonchalant persona.

The trailer begins to conclude with a voice-over, which is then followed by a series of shot-reverse-shots gradually tending towards extreme close-ups, and match the speed of the Eastenders soap opera jingle playing simultaneously. The editing pace throughout the trailer is generally slow, which is determined by the length of the shots and the events happening in the clip. However, as the trailer draws to an end, the editing pace increases to create a tense final scene.