The soaps genre is called soaps as it is seen to be clean.
Here is an example of a conversation in Eastenders where close up shots are used to create realism.
In this conversation there is mostly medium close ups of Phil and Mel to show his and her emotions to the audience. In this clip there are a couple of wide shots, wide shots are used to establish where the character is for example their home or outside.
Here is another example of a conversation in Coronation Street:
This conversation shows the emotions of the characters in a situation what the audience can relate to. Within all soaps they have some kind of situation or a character who causes the situation. Which instantly reminds them of someone they know or something that has happened.
Producers also use characters to create the effect of realism, so for example Phil Mitchell in Eastenders he is known for his stereotypical masculinity, his thuggish behavior and language. As an audience you automatically dislike the character Phil, others may disagree but I feel when I watch it, I instantly dislike him.
When soaps are filmed they are consistent so this means that producers follow a time scheme, as the story line in soaps is linear continuity is important during the filming stage.Within editing continuity is used to make a soap such as Eastenders seem more realistic as a whole not much needs to be done within the editing stage. A soap such as Hollyoaks however has flashbacks to show past events.
All sounds within soaps are diegetic e.g speaking or back ground noise as such. Although the background sounds will be quiet compared to the speaking so this then allows the audience to hear the character speaking.
The lighting within soaps is natural as it enforces realism.
Although the soap Hollyoaks is considered a serial it bends the rules slightly as it follows the non-linear structure. Within Hollyoaks there are flashbacks, which soaps such as Eastenders doesn't have. Hollyoaks also has non-digetic sound(music) in some shots.
Non-Realism
Within Non-Realism films such as Avatar which comes under the genre of Sci-fi. Also genres such as fantasy and action follow the rules of Non-realism. Normally within the context of non-realism anything can go this includes:
- Has a non-linear structure
- Contains a variety of camera shots
- Have no limits on editing- anything goes
- Has low key lighting and saturated lighting
- Contains non-digetic sound
Below are examples of non-realism films and TV series:
Avatar is an example of a Sci-fi which fits under non-realism. Non realism TV shows and films have a wide range of shots these could be P.O.V shots, close up shots, medium shots, panning shots etc. In terms of editing anything goes so for example adding things such as flashbacks, speeding up time or going back in time,jump cuts as well as black and white would apply to the 'anything goes' rule.
The color blue represents a peaceful mood and appears when the main characters goes into the fantasy world. The colors are darker when Jake Sully returns back to his base camp. The mood reflects on the lighting used as an audience we recognize when Jake Sully is an Avatar in the fantasy world he is a good person but when he returns to the base camp he is recognized by us as an audience as a bad character because he is amongst other evil people. Within Avatar and other films under non-realism, non-digetic sound is used. For example when Jake Sully and Neytuy are together soft relaxing music this tell us as an audience the relationship between these two characters. Within non-realism the structure is non-linear this means the narrative doesn't run in a straight line. So it could run in the order of B-C-A.
