1. Soap Operas Lesson 3

2. 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

3. 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!

4. 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!

5. 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

6. 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!

7. 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?