Comparing the titles of Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.

The two opening title sequences of Coronation Street and Hollyoaks are vastly different in style, with both promoting the audience they aim to attract and the pace of life within the soap through Mise-en scene, music, camera techniques and editing techniques. These help the audience to place the soap within reality.

Coronation street uses slow swing-esque music that is reminiscent of Northern band music, which compliments the slow pace of the title sequence and soap, as well as highlighting the maturity of its characters. This style of music was founded where Coronation Street is based, and has been part of the kitchen sink drama since its first airing in 1960. This gives it a sense of continuity and reassures loyal viewers that although characters may have changed during the 49 years, it still holds the same values. This theme music contrasts to Hollyoaks which uses modern, guitar based music to reflect the fast pace of life and the youthfulness of the characters. The song was written by Steve Wright (who coincidentally also composed the music for Brookside and Grange Hill) and replaced the decade old theme tune that connoted drama instead of the sexual and youthful nature the soap now possesses.

The Mise-en Scene of Coronation Street displays a natural Northern mining town setting. It’s red brick terrace houses, iron bridges and dated pubs and shops give the it the appearance of an everyday town that has not conformed to modernity helping the audience to understand the social realism of the characters involved. This sequence was introduced in 2002 and features high angle shots of the settings and streets involved, as well as zooming out slowly on certain features. This displays the set, and creates a sense of realism for the audience, who know that it is filmed in a real place, rather than being filmed in three walled sets in a studio. The Mise-en Scene of Coronation Street however is the antithesis of Hollyoaks, which presents the youthful characters of the soap instead of the setting. The sequence begins with an eye opening, beckoning the the audience to look at events through a youthful view point: Hollyoaks. All characters are shown within the thirty second opening sequence, parading each personality for the audience to see straight away. The character’s actions seem to depend on their gender. The males that are shown are either straight faced, smiling or taking part in some activity of sorts, for example boxing with the camera or playing air guitar. The girls included in the sequence are predominantly scandalously clothed and often pouting. The harsh reality of the implications this brings is the passive sexual use of females within the soap and that their role is solely to attract the male audience. The camera movements are fast and include zooming in and out of characters as well as panning and tracking them. This adds speed to the sequence and again reflects the fast pace of life within the soap. This introduction has been adapted to characters over the last four years (since being introduced) and has been altered regularly to accommodate new characters and discard others.

The editing techniques of each introduction reflect the lifestyles of their respective soap. Coronation Street uses slow paced, cross-fading transitions between shots, which implies a lazy and slow lifestyle. Hollyoaks on the contrary, uses experimental and fast transitions that highlight the youthfulness of the cast. These transitions go through objects and even body parts as they zoom in and out of each character to the next. This allows a flowing and fast introduction to the soap.
The credits and the title is different in each soap, again underlining the dissimilarities between each. Coronation street straight away gives its title on one of the surfaces, using its archaic street sign font that has been present through the years. It continues to credit those involved in writing, producing and directing it in the same font. Hollyoaks is more experimental; first showing it’s name in the eye of one of the characters and again at the end of the introduction, however this time in blue and pink with masculine and feminine symbols that connote the sexuality of the soap. The sequence lacks the credits of those who make it, and instead presents them when the action begins.