Soap Operas Lesson 3

Lesson Objectives By the end of the lesson you will have: Recapped your understanding of a cliff-hanger Thought about how to build tension in a scene Created a Soap Opera scene which ends with a cliff-hanger Watched and evaluated the group’s work

Soap Opera cliff-hangers Cliff-hangers are used frequently in Soap Operas to encourage viewers to tune in to watch the next episode Take a look at the following clip which celebrates some of Eastenders most famous cliff- hangers and explains how to create your own! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQKqYVUI_Kk

Creating your cliff-hanger The program gave 3 main steps to creating a perfect Soap cliff-hanger – what were they? Build the tension in the scene Deliver the bombshell piece of news The duff-duff reaction face!

How can we build Dramatic tension? Making a scene tense and dramatic requires brilliant NATURALISTIC acting but there are also some techniques that we can use in our scene to help too! Dramatic pauses A change in pace Changes in vocal expression The build up of an argument or fight Changes in facial expressions Sound effects

Your Task In groups of 4-5 your task is to improvise a typical soap opera scene which builds dramatic tension and finishes with one of the following cliff hangers: 'Here's your divorce papers, Merry Christmas!' ‘You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not my mother!’ ‘Yes I am!’ 3. ‘Wait! Don't hurt him! He's your brother!' You have 2 minutes to choose your group, select your line and decide what your scene is going to be about; then you need to get up and rehearsing!

Plenary What is a cliff-hanger and why are they used so frequently in Soaps? What techniques can we use to create Dramatic tension? Which group created the most successful scene and cliff-hanger and why?