Coronation Street

The TV drama I am going to talk is about is Coronation Street, which is screened on ITV Monday to Friday.
Coronation Street is a English TV drama that reflects everyday situations such as love, conflicts, revenge and anything you may go through your life. Coronation Street belongs to soap opera sub-genre.
Multiple characters and narratives usually limited by specific geographical location. Lack complete narrative closure:
In this section I’m going to talk about one the typical characteristics to a soap opera. Soap operas tend to have multiple/recognizable characters. Doing that creators of Coronation Street give a felling of familiarity, and also this doesn’t make the drama too complicated. Soap operas are usually shot in the same locations e.g. pubs, hospitals and familiar estates. Again this doesn’t make the drama too complicated and the viewer is familiar with the settings.
Probably the most typical characteristic to a soap like this is lack of complete narrative closure. This means that the story or a certain situation won’t be resolved in a one particular episode. Directors use this technique very widely to keep the viewers on their toes. By doing this the creator creates a certain degree of anticipation, and if the effect is created properly the directors are almost guaranteed that people will return to this particular show.
Setting:
As I mentioned before the setting are the same on every episode. Sometimes for many years. It is good that it is kept the same so that the viewer does not get confused and its familiar with the set.
Corrie itself has few key locations such as the pub or the district itself. In the opening sequence you can see the whole “square”, this is a key location. Thanks to this shot viewers know straight away what they’re watching.
Iconography:
In TV soaps such as Coronation Street, everyday objects are used as props. This is showing us that this TV drama reflects everyday life. Again by doing this the director gives the viewer a normal tv drama, viewers do not feel like they watching something strange. Viewers see objects that they can find in their homes on daily bases. Even small things, such as half drunk bottle of orange juice. Everything makes a soap like this easier to watch. Using everyday household objects people have the feeling of normality.





Themes:
In soap operas themes vary between episodes. You will never see the same theme over and over again. For instance not every episode of the soap opera will be based on a hate theme. In each episode you will see something new. In some (or maybe most) the producer will place multiple themes in one episode so that the soap will be more interesting, because if the director will stick to one theme he/she would lose the audience as the drama would become boring and predictable.
Character Types:
In some cases there are multiple recognizable characters. In Coronation Street’s case it’s the same. The reason you will see multiple characters in a soap like that is the feeling of familiarity with the show, you can watch the show without being confused who’s who and where did they came from. I personally think that again this reflecting real life, the reason I think that is because in real life you will meet and ‘know’ loads of people. So if you see familiar faces on the show you will feel comfortable watching that show.
Sounds:
The first sound you will hear watching a soap opera such as Coronation Street will the theme tune. This is very important pieces of music when it comes to a soap opera because it distinguishes itself from other soaps.
There are also some ambient sounds, this sounds you will hear in everyday life e.g. a train, plane, cars driving by and many more familiar sounds. These kinds of sound give the soap opera a feeling of normality and normal life. People will be more likely to watch this kind of a show than a show where there too much unnecessary music.
In a soap opera you will also be able to hear some music coming from the background to underline certain moments. For instance if someone’s fighting, you won’t hear YMCA coming from the background. But something more dramatic, the reason that music is coming from the background and it’s not edited in the actual episode because you get the feeling of normality, and also it is kind of a key element to the soap opera that the music remains ambient and not edited into the scene.
Conclusion:
As you can see all of these elements are crucial to make a good quality soap opera. In order to achieve a perfect result all of these points have to be applied fully so that a bigger audience will be eager to watch the soap opera. Every single point is very important in making any show because if you miss out one thing the drama won’t be the same.
That’s why I think Coronation Street is perfect example of its sub-genre because it fulfills all the key elements that have to present in making a soap opera. Coronation Street has been on the air for many years now so I think that they are doing a pretty good job of keeping their audience, because some people have been watching Corrie for as long as they remember. And why they are still watching it? Because all the key points have been fulfilled.
So from everything I wrote above I can confidently say that Coronation Street is the example of a soap opera sub-genre.