Narrative

We are creating a soap trailer which we have researched and discovered that it is more like a film trailer in that it is enigma driven and does not have to relate to a plot that is going on it could be as simple as someone returning. The trailer needs to link with the theme of the soap which is a dark gritty drama similar to Eastenders.

The plot of our trailer is a love triangle which includes the soaps local gangster his partner and her love interest. The woman has fallen in love the other man but for her to follow her heart could result in her life being in danger due to her gangster boyfriend who feel he posses her and it would destroy his reputation. The start of our trailer is the woman walking towards a door with a shot of her designer shoes to show she is well off she then walks into a room with a poker table and two men sitting round it. The woman touches the gangster on the shoulder and the other man looks with jealousy the cards are dealt by the woman and when they both pick the cards up they both have a smile on their faces so you do not know who has the better hand The two men are holding cards and there is a tense stand off between the two like in a western movie.

The typical narrative structure of our product is one that is very similar to a film trailer in that they are very enigmatic. The trailer brings up a lot of questions and makes us want to find out more and obviously watch the show to see what happens. The trailer goes along with the binary opposites theory in that the trailer is about good versus evil the good guy trying to get the girl with the evil gangster not willing to give her up. A good example of another trailer that represents the binary opposites well is the max payne trailer (below). This is a typical good versus evil trailer with one man standing up for what is right. It is obvious that it is good versus evil because of the use of demons and monsters and the mention of the devil aa well as Max Payne fighting them.

This is a trailer from a similar soap to our own Eastenders which is advertising the debut of two new characters the Mitchell sisters (below). This trailer defiantly does follow the rules of the narrative structure in that it has a lot of enigmas which drive the trailer along. One of the enigmas is the viewer wanting to know why they are coming to the square and at the end when it says the square under new management makes the viewer think that they might be coming in to take over. Another narrative rule this trailer follows is the setting they are in a nightclub which shows they are out to have a good time. The soundtrack to the trailer goes well with the video because it is a dance track and they are dancing but the lyrics go against what the characters are being portrayed as. The lyrics are talking about getting the girls but the men in the trailer are just staring at them they are not getting with them showing that they are strong independent women.

Our media product will follow the typical narrative theory of Propp the story of our media product is a familiar story for mainstream western media a story of good versus evil. The trailer does have some of the main characters that Prop outlines there is a hero, villain and the princess. Our media product follows Propps theory because it is typical of soap storylines to have a hero and villain. It follows the theory by having the three characters round a poker table the woman standing in between the two men who are seated the bad gangster putting a gun into the pot to show he is the villain. The trailer does not follow Todorovs theory of an equilibribium being disrupted and then fixed. The reason it does not follow this theory is because it is a trailer and therefore needs to have enigmas so there cant be a second equilibrium shown because the story would be given away. Our media text does follow the narrative theory of Levi-strauss probably more than any other narrative theory, this is because the storyline is about conflict which is represented through the two main characters sitting at other sides of the table. As well as this our media text follows Barthes narrative theory that texts are built of codes. It follows the enigma code by making the viewer ask questions like what will happen next which makes them want to watch on. It also follows the action code theory becasaue there is not a lot said in the trailer the looks between the characters are important in informing the viewer what is happening.