Media Audience Products- Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks (TV Series)

I have chosen the TV show Hollyoaks to research and analyze. Hollyoaks is a British television soap opera that is broadcasted on channel 4. The first broadcast of this show was the 23^rd October 1995.It was originally created by Phil Redmond though it has have many previous producers during its time on channel 4. The main transmission of the show currently broadcasts at 18:30 each weekday on channel 4, with the launch of channel 4 +1 in 2007 allowing viewers to see the main broadcast replayed at 19:30. Since the channel’s launch in 2001, the channel 4’s digital fellow station E4 airs a daily ‘First Look’ episode at 19:00 each weekday, in which viewers are able to watch the episode that is shown on channel 4 the following day. The ‘First Look’ episode is replayed on E4 +1 at 20:00. Each episode that is shown on channel 4 throughout the week is brought together in an omnibus episode that airs on Sunday mornings. Following T4s move to E4 the omnibus is now aired on E4 instead of channel 4 on Sunday mornings, there is also a repeat of the omnibus shown on channel 4 in the early hours of Monday morning. This programme is set in a fictional suburb of Chester called ‘Hollyoaks’ and features a large cast of characters mainly ages between the ages of 16-35. Beginning with a cast of just seven main characters in 1995, the show now had approximately 50 main cast members. Hollyoaks has a high cast income in comparison with other British soaps. Hollyoaks originally aired weekly in 1995. In July 1996, Mersey TV chose to recommission the show and increase its production to twice a week. A third episode was introduced in September 2001 and a fourth also in 2001. In November 2003 the show increased its productivity with a fifth episode, which has remained to this date.

The target audience for Hollyoaks is for teenagers/ young adults male and female from the age of 16-24, who are students of college or university, there are many different reasons with one being the age and appearance of the characters in the programme. There are many different characters who are young and attractive people, this will appeal to the target audience as many are of the same age this means that they can relate to the characters on a more intimate level. With having attractive characters this may keep the target audience engaged in the program as they are attracted to certain characters. Mild sexual and violent scenes are shown in the programme to engage the audiences attention as it excites and entertains them, mainly the younger viewers.

The langauge that is used in Hollyoaks is very informal this is so that it can reflect to everyday normal life, this is so that the audience can relate to the real life events that they feature. The show is filmed in Chester, the characters accents are based around there to make it feel more like real life, you get the occasional new character thats not based from around there. The Narrative structure is open, the storyline continures beyond the end of an episode for them to do this they leave the episode at a cliff hanger to make you want to watch more. Its also multi-strand, the narrative focuses upon a group of central characters. Its also linear, the narrative unfolds in a chronological order throughout the episode. The way the characters are seen and how they dress are relatable, the audience can relate to them and the issues that they face in day to day life the characters become like a role model to the audience. The camera work that is used whilst filming the show is very naturalistic and smooth, the producers film with real lighting sources and they avoid the use of special effects throughout the episode. The soundtrack that is used throughout is general natural sounds, noice that you would hear when your walking down your own street, this is to make it feel real for the watchers. They use music tracks at the beginning and end of the episodes, they use a backing track that is played over the montage showingthe cast at the beginning and again at the end when the credits start rolling. Also, at the beginning of each episode after the montage theres normally a song track that is either a charted track or from unsigned bands and this introduces the episode for the first scene.