by Alex Pitsillos

Created on: December 04, 2008

The Aim And Effect Of Emmerdale's Former Title Sequence.

The term soap opera first came about in the 1930s and was applied to radio dramas. They were called soaps' because they were ongoing dramas used to advertise soaps and washing powders. They were aimed at housewives who would tune in to find out about what happened to the characters. The narratives in soaps are described as multi-strand and open-ended, this is because there are many different story lines going on at any one time and they generally carry on through several episodes.

The reason soaps are so popular is because soaps allow the audience to judge the characters where in real life they cannot, soaps also allow the audience to relate to the characters so they provide an escape from everyday life.

One of the earliest televised British soaps was Coronation Street, first shown in 1960. This was however outrun by radio soap The Archers' which has been running since 1951 and is still running today. In the 1980s, soaps became popular and Coronation Street found competition in the new soap Eastenders. Australian soaps like Home and Away influenced British soaps in such away that they introduced a range of new characters to accommodate many more viewers. At the moment, the most popular British soaps are Coronation Street and Eastenders, which regularly attract high viewing figures.

A title sequence is used to portray the genre and the main themes of a programme or film. Title sequences in soaps aim to attract the audience by displaying a working class environment to interest the working class people who make up the main part of their target audience. This essay aims to expose Emmerdale's title sequence, discussing the message it gives its audience about the content of the show.

Emmerdale began in 1972 and has now been running for nearly 34 years. When Emmerdale was first introduced it was called Emmerdale farm' and was centred around life on a farm. In1989 the focus of the soap was changed from farm life to life in the village in general, and with this came the name Emmerdale'. It is set in a rural village in west Yorkshire and is the third highest rating soap on British television. Because of the range of characters from young to old in Emmerdale, it attracts audiences of all ages.

The title sequence for Emmerdale both defies and conforms to convention of both a soap opera and a soap opera title sequence. The establishing shot of Emmerdale's title sequence is a long, high angled, birds eye view shot

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