Soap Trailer Analysis

Sound
Non-diegetic music is played throughout the trailer. The music is high pitched and of a slow pace which gives an eerie feel, connoting fear.
Sound effects such as the robot arms are used and a voice over concludes the trailer. The voice over questions the audience and makes them intrigued to watch the soap. The trailer does not only appeal to existing audiences but attracts new audience members to watch the soap.

Mise-en-scene
The trailer is set in a large, black room (interior setting) to give connotations of danger and fear. It could also show to the audience that there may be no escape for Peggy.
Peggy is wearing a white dress denoting a wedding and giving connotations of innocence but also weakness. Archie is seen in dark colours connoting evil and power over Peggy which is also reflected in the camera angles used.
The lighting is artificial, used to highlight the characters amongst the dark set room and to highlight their personalities and character stereotypes.

Narrative
The trailer uses an open narrative. The voice over gives the audience an idea of the storyline but leads them to find out more. Could suggest forking paths. The story could go many different ways. Uses Todorov's two first stages of his narrative theory.

Camera Angles
Long shots are used to introduce the characters and give a sense of how big the room is compared to them.
Close-ups are used to portray Peggys' emotion from the beginning and as she becomes more 'under the control' of Archie.
The trailer uses a high angle shot when focusing on Peggy and a low angle shot looking up at Archie to connote the heirarchy of the two characters and the power Archie has over Peggy.

Titles
The BBC One logo is shown at the beginning of the trailer to introduce the channel and the other informative titles (viewing time and day) are included at the end of the trailer so viewers know when they can watch the episode and so that it is left fresh in their minds.



Sound
High pitched, non-diegetic music opens the trailer and immediately gives a sense of mystery. The sound remains non-diegetic but changed to a western style themed music (in-keeping with the setting) which denotes a cowboy/western trailer.
Some diegetic sound is used throughout the trailer in dialogue of other characters.
The trailer uses the famous conventional Eastenders jingle and a voice over at the end informing the audience about the time and channel of the soap and also creating a mystery with the hint of storyline making viewers want to find out what happens (gaining and holding interest).

Mise-en-scene
Exterior setting is predominantly used and the location (Albert Square) has been given a western theme relating to the sound.
Costumes and props are used effectively and the dark clothing worn by the two main characters connotes death and could be used to create a gloomy atmosphere and suggest something bad is going to happen.
Low key lighting is primarily used to give an eerie and suspicious feel for the viewers.
Naturalistic lighting used for exterior settings.

Narrative
Open narrative that doesnt reveal too much about the upcoming storylines and characters so holds the viewers interest well.

Camera Angles
The majority of shots used in the trailer are close-ups and mid shots. These are used to show and create emotion and to show body language and character personalities.
A low angle shot is used when Alfie (main character - male) is revealed from the shadows. This has immediate connotations of power and authority.
The trailer ends with a birds eye view shot of the two characters facing one another across the square which could denote a western stand-off and thus giving an impression that they will cause trouble.

Titles
Titles are at the end of the trailer showing viewers when they can watch the soap and what channel to find it. The black text juxtaposes the white text and could connote life or death situations to be revealed in the soap regarding the two new characters or a mixture of happy and sad storylines brought with the characters.



Sound
The only sound used in the trailer is the non-diegetic soundtrack 'Heads will roll by the Yeah yeah yeahs' amd a voice over to finalise the media text.
The soundtrack used is fitting with the trailer as the song uses the words 'dance' and 'death' which are both represented in the trailer (setting and storyline).
The voice over 'strictly not for the faint hearted' is cleverly worded using 'strictly' relating to the dancing aspect of the trailer and 'faint hearted' connoting death.

Mise-en-scene
The location used is a dancing ballroom which connoted beauty and elegance juxtaposing the storyline of death.
The lighting is low key, therefore giving a sense of mystery - 'who done it?'
The victim is seen wearing a white shirt which connotes purity and innocence suggesting that the person is a good willed character who in fact does not deserve to be killed. (This is good to attract new viewers).
Other characters, who could be seen as possible killers are wearing colours such as red which denotes blood. Whilst the judges, also other characters in the soap, are wearing all black connoting death. They also reveal the score of the dancing holding scoring posts (props) which total '999' suggesting that the emergency services are needed creating an exciting trailer.
Another prop, the drink is representative of the blood and denotes the victims death.

Narrative
The trailer uses a forking paths narrative and leads the target audience to think about who the killer could be.
Open narrative - story will unravel.

Camera Angles
Close-ups are used to show emotion.
Mid shots are used to show body language between characters and give the audience an idea on character relationships for the storyline.
The shots are fast paced to build tension.
The trailer finishes on a low angle shot of the victim which would generically connote power and authority. However it is used in a opposite way as he is about to die, it could show that he was a very important character in the soap and that it was wrong for him to be killed. It is also used to show fear.
Another way this shot can be viewed is that he is looking down from heaven.

Titles
The only titles used in the trailer is the Hollyoaks title at the end to inform the audience of the soap.
The channel 4 logo is also featured to indicate the channel.