Eastenders Trailer – 2009
‘Archie’s Murder’
When big storylines are coming up Soap Operas often use trailers that are broadcast with ‘film-like’ qualities to attract a larger audience. Christmas 2009 saw Archie Mitchell the squares recent villain killed off – prior to his death a trailer was created to attract audiences for his death. This trailer not only introduces the idea of Archie’s death but starts the audience guessing on the killer in an attempt to keep a loyal audience until they reveal the murderer, meaning a rise if their viewing figures.
The soundtrack to the trailer starts immediately; it is the famous Christmas carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. The soundtrack starts of contrapuntal as the cheery tune does not match the dark storyline the action on screen is referring too. However, the tune changes to a parallel soundtrack when it begins to slow down creating a menacing eerie atmosphere, matching the dialogue and action. The soundtrack is ironic as Christmas is supposed to be a happy time, where families get on and show how much they appreciate each other – yet the trailer is about a murder where most of the suspects are family members. By using this soundtrack the ominous atmosphere is hyperbolic as the Christmas mis-en-scene and sinful storyline contrast and in the end product emphasise each other.
The opening shot is a wide shot of the Queen Vic, the local pub. This immediately draws the attention to the already established audiences as they realise the family involved and the seriousness of the situation if the main forum is involved. In the foreground of the shot is the garden in the square, visible is a tree without leaves, this immediately gives connotations of death and being exposed. The background is simply the Queen Vic and the lighting on the building appears to have been treated, making it brighter. The main colour within this shot is the red paintwork of the Queen Vic, this would normally represent the love and strong community portrayed on Eastenders yet the connotations of the colour change due to the trailer. Firstly it connotes to people that its Christmas as red is a colour commonly associated with Christmas time however, red also carries darker connotations such as blood and danger. The red paintwork alongside the treated lighting could be parallel to murder and the ‘light’ people often refer to when someone dies.
The trailer then goes on to features individual shot and sequences featuring on the suspects for the murder. The first one is of two characters had recently featured a separate big storyline Stacey Slater and Bradley Branning. The whole trailer is shot at night allowing the use of pathetic fallacy which immediately sets the scene to be ominous and has indexical references to crime. The lighting within the shots are used from the street lights, the lighting is cleverly placed on the characters to look like a spotlight, representing them as the suspects. The close-up over the shoulder shot of Stacey and Bradley features a common British trait of Christmas, a Christmas jumper. The matches Bradleys feeble character, allows the audience the knowledge its Christmas Day and also allows them to relate to the character slightly via the ‘Ugly Christmas Jumper’ situation commonly associated with a British Christmas, this is important as Soap Operas are an important part of British Culture.
The dialogue is both diagetic and non-diagetic; this draws the audience in as they hear line from previous episodes or episodes yet to come, creating suspense. The sound sounds as if it has been some what distorted as it echo’s slightly, this creates the impression that it is the characters conscience speaking, it also has direct connotations to the supernatural; being a ghost – which can be linked with the murder.
The trailer is strongly edited, something not stereotypically associated with Soap Operas due to them being as realistic as possible. The trailer is introduced via a fade in from black, by using the fade to blacks and fades from black the mysterious atmosphere is happened as the audience is ‘cut off from the action’. Out of focus is also used a lot within the trailer however, this can often be found in Soap Operas, it is used in the trailer to isolate the characters from the background making the characters the focus. It also highlights the time of day and the treated lights exaggerating the eerie, foreboding atmosphere.
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