Soap Opera- Eastenders

To introduce every Episode of Eastenders there is the same mundane theme tune. It begins with the sound of drums and this signals to housewifes and regular viewers that Eastenders is about to begin as the sound is so well known on television. The tune has a depressing piano playing and some strings in a minor key this reveals to the viewers before they have even begun to watch that the programme isn’t going to be full of happy stories and bright colours. In the birds eye view that is played in the introduction we are shown a view of the millennium dome and this tells us that the soap we are about to watch is set in London.

This birds eye view pans out and we are shown that it is of the river Thames which also tells us that Eastenders is filmed in London. The name of the soap also gives us a big piece of information about the soap as it is called Eastenders which tells us that it is filmed in the East of London

This screenshot tells us alot about the opening scene as this is the first shot we are given. This is a man walking down the stairs in his socks. The shot shows a dull green carpet, school bags and a football; this suggests to us that this is a household this man doesn’t belong in as his shoes don’t fit in with their surroundings.

As the camera pans up we are given views on the banister where coats have been hung up because on the left we can see that the coat rack is full, this highlights to us that there are quite a few people living in this household.

As the camera pans up the stairs even more we see that on the stairs there are children's toys left strewn around, including a toy car, a teddy bear and something pink which confirms that there are definitely children living in the house of different genders.

We also see on the banister that there is a jumper that looks like it could have been left there by a teenage boy which suggests that there’s a wide age range of children in the house.

As we are shown the women who is between the ages of 40 and 50 walking down the stairs we see she is doing up her dressing gown, this tells us that before this shot that she probably wasn’t dressed before this shot. It reveals to us that this situation is a one night stand. The light upstairs is off which tells us that it is the morning. The border on the wall is straight from the 80’s and the dark stained wooden picture frames tell us that this house hasn’t been redecorated in a while as it is looking dated and worn.Both the women’s attire and house suggest to us that she is of a working class and she has many people to look after in the household

This shot shows us a view of her hall way which confirms to us that this house hasn’t been decorated in a long time. We can see an extremely dated picture behind the man and also the wall paper which has the texture of snakeskin matches the pattern in the glass of the door.The worried and guilty look on the mans face in the medium close up as he is about to leave the house when she says “a goodbye would have been nice” tells us that this scene is in fact showing us the morning after a one night stand.

The next shot is a medium long shot of a glamorous looking women in a greasy spoon. She doesn’t look like she belongs as in the background on the other table we see two builders in their uniforms. We know they’re builders as in the background there is also a hard hat.

The women’s phone begins to ring and the shot changes to a over the shoulder medium close up which gives us a feel of being in the room. The look she has on her face when she sees who's ringing her reveals to us that the person on the other end of the phone is not her favourite.Her jewellery and the way her hair and make up is done suggests that this women is quite wealthy but her location makes us re think this and that maybe her identity is all for show

Still in the over the shoulder medium close up we see her answer her expensive looking phone which also gives us a glance of more of her expensive jewellery.

The camera then takes us to the person on the other end of the phone, a business man in a long shot. We can see he is a business man because of his office, the fact he is wearing a suit and leather chair he is sat on although he is obviously not a very good one as his office looks like a bomb has hit it. The lighting that is coming from the lamp on his desk and possibly a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling casts shadows across his face and in soaps this means that this character has a dark side.

The conversation we hear between the two people isn’t a very pleasant one and it tells us that this man enjoys winding up the woman and he’s not a very nice person. He says “how’s my favourite prostitute?” and she replies with “how’s my least favourite person” which tells us that she doesn’t like him and doesn’t really want to be talking to him. This screenshot shows us a medium close up as if we the audience are looking through the bookcase and it gives the audience the feel as if they are actually in the room with the character.

In this screenshot the way these builders are looking at the women in a medium long shot again confirms that she is in fact a prostitute. These men in her town don’t appear to have any respect for her at all