By looking at other Soap Opera trailers and analysing them, I thought it would enable me to know the codes and conventions and would help me when it came to me

producing my own trailer for my Soap. I discovered that trailers are very fast paced as the aim is to fit in as much information as possible in order to get viewers interested and persuade them to watch the episodes as the spoilers shown in the trailer will be

spread out over several episodes. This means the better the trailer and the more storylines it shows, the more people that are going to be committed to watching the

programme.

BBC 1, Eastenders, Christmas trailer 2012 –

Below is my analysis of an Eastenders Christmas special trailer. Television around Christmas is very centred on Soaps and the storylines that they show over the festive season. Therefore this trailer was bound to have a big impact on viewers, as this was going to sway people to either watching the episodes over Christmas or to not bother and avoid them. It was important for BBC 1 to effectively show what was going to

kick off in Eastenders over Christmas. The trailer certainly showcases a lot for the 31 seconds it is on for.

0.1 - ‘secrets’ in the Eastenders logo font to represent the soap. yellow/ orange coloured writing on a black back ground, represents fire and danger as black

stands for a dark side, which suggests something bad is going to happen. The BBC 1 logo is also placed at the bottom so that the audience is aware of the channel as Eastenders is majorly associated with BBC 1. The word ‘secrets’ suggests that a

lot is going to come out and be found out over Christmas.

0.2 – A silver car is seen speeding up the road, the camera is still but moves as the car drives past. It suggests that the car is chasing an individual or group of people.

This therefore results in the thought that they are in danger.

0.3 – The next shot shows Derek Branning, a character known for being a ‘bad boy’ being chased down an alley way by a man. This straight away shows the audience that he is in some sort of trouble, which is very prone to his character, therefore no

surprise to viewers who regularly watch the soap.

0.4 – Another shot of writing, this time is says ‘aren’t’. This suggest that there will be a sequence of words throughout the trailer that will then spell something out, this

will get viewers to pay close attention so that they are able to see what will be spelt out. Paying close attention to the shots with words, you will be able to see that there are flashes in an orange colour of East London, a similar image to the

starting sequence of the soap.

0.5 – A shot of Kat Moon looking straight ahead of her with a straight, slightly worried facial expression it represents that she is looking directly at something or someone. Within the same second another shot is shown of Alfie Moon, his facial

expression is intense and serious, which suggest that he may be looking at Kat without her knowing as the contrast of the light on his face and the dark in the

background and shadow on his face suggest that he is doing this on the sly and represents that he may even be following her as he seems to be hiding in the dark.

0.6 – A shot showing the words ‘safe’, this is a carry on to the current words that have been spelt out in previous shots. So far the trailer has shown ‘secrets aren’t safe’ which gives away that things that have been hidden for a while and been built up

are now finally going to be revealed.

0.7 – Different shots of characters that quickly flash up are shown at a very fast pace,keeping the viewers interested as they try and keep up with what is happening

0.9 – This shot sees a well known character, 'Kat Slater' shout in a distressed tone'don't give up on me' viewers who regularly watch the soap may be able to

associate what she is saying with a current storyline that is taking place. Now thatviewers can hear speaking rather than just music this may attract there attention

more if they were not paying much notice to the trailer before hand.

0.12 - More words are displayed for viewers to get a snippet of, they spell out 'timeis'. This does not make sense therefore it catches viewers attention to play aclose eye on the words that will be revealed later on, because the trailer is so

fast pace it means they must concentrate carefully otherwise they ma miss vitalinformation which will be shown. After this shots of characters looking worried

and nervous are shown which would suggest that something is to occur between them, which will not end well. A shot of a figure bride and groom is seen being put on the side, which suggests its being placed there as it is not needed, resulting it viewers to believe a storyline will unfold related to the wedding of Tanya and Max, as there is

shots of them shown.

0.15 - Another word is revealed which continues to unfold the full sentence, this word is 'running' which gives viewers the impression time is running, letting them use their

imagination as to what could finish the statement off.

0.16 - A close up of two characters looking upset, the gesture of the male towards the female is affectionate, as he uses his hand to gentle tuck her hair behind her ear. This

gets the audience questioning why he is doing this and once again to use their imagination as to what could happen therefore encourage them to watch the following

episodes where the story will unfold.

0.18 - A shot of the word 'out' which completes the statement, 'time is running out' this give the impression of lots of action to come up as many things will be revealed

causing a lot of issues and conflict between characters.

0.22 - A character is seen kicking a door down in anger, another character is then seen looking in their direction through the use of the camera, this means viewers will

assume the story will involve conflict between them two, although this could be the producers wanting people to think that and it may not be true as it is in an attempt to

influence viewers to watch the program.

0.24 - The character who kicked down the door is seen looking directly at something which could be a person or object, this results in them dropping a letter which is on

fire. The burning paper connotes danger and the threat to viewers that some one will get hurt, as fire always suggests something will blow up or some one will die in the

burning flames.

The analysis briefly gives an overview of the trailer, as there is so much that happens its hard to keep up with all the action, which therefore would result in viewers

wanting to re-watch the trailer many times so that they can watch shots that they may be missed or went to too fast for them.