Corination Street era's.

The typical conventions of soap consist of:

• bar fights
• cliff hangers
• dilemmas
• gossip
• affairs
• pubs
• hierarchy

I looked at three different episodes of coronation street from different years, the differences between the three are clear as shown through the codes and conventions shown.

1995

In this scene the camera movement is very limited and there isn't much variation of shots. The scene started in at the start of a convocation and failed to include an establishing shot to show where the scene is based. camera shots consist of either medium or ensemble shots and very rarely use close ups. The hierarchy is not clearly shown through the use of camera so we don't know the most important characters until you look at what character is gaining the most screen time. The camera is very static and bad quality it remains in one place for entire scenes at some points which makes the show very slow paced and boring, each character talks at a similar pace and is not standing out in the first moments of the show so it doesn't grab the attention of the audience.

2001

In this episode the quality of picture and sound has improved slightly but they're is still big editing mistakes as there isn't a establishing shot nor is there any indication what is happening as it starts with a pan and then a zoom which doesn't fit in the characters body properly so it tracks back, the shot size pace is very slow and doesn't have a thick texture. This particular scene keeps to pans and medium shots and cannot show any importance in characters or any fast pace, this doesn't show us who is dominant in the scene and therefore are just watching convocations rather than feeling for a character or being or disliking any character. The sound quality is very fuzzy and unless trying to listen properly, you cannot understand what is being said by just relaxing and listening.

2011

In this episode you can clearly see a high improvement in film and sound quality as well as there being a very high range of shots and camera movements, this creates a slow paced scene to appear interesting and for every word to seem important as there are a lot of close ups and the 180 degree angle in the cross cutting has been used well to show that the man and woman are conversing in convocation and the close ups of the upset look on the characters faces emphasises the emotion and importance of the characters. the camera movement in this scene is far more complex then the previous two. The use of silence in the modern episode isn't boring , it is being used on purpose to create drama and suspense, this keeps the audience hooked and on the edge of they're seat.