Famous soap jingles

Every soap opera has an introductory piece of music. Most stick to the same music throughout the soaps life which helps it become recognisable and, too a degree, famous. Some soaps, like Hollyoaks, will change their music to help keep the show ‘fresh’ and to attract new audiences.

More traditional soap music includes Eastenders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street. All shown below.

Each piece of music helps attract its target audience, as does the imagery that goes along side it. Eastender has lots of drums and zooms out, it’s very fast pace and dramatic which is similar to the narrative of the show. Emmerdale is more chilled out but increasingly becomes more dramatic. The shot of the woman’s leg stroking the man’s attracts a younger audience who are more interested with ‘flirty’ storylines. Yet, the music staying more traditional still attracts an older audience. Coronation Street remains very old fashioned and will attract more mature audiences as it has little appeal to younger generations. Its final shot, of the chimneys, looks very British and feels the viewer with pride which keeps them engaged with the stereotypical British show.

Hollyoaks opening has changed over the years. This is because, rather than introducing locations in their opening they introduce characters. So, when characters leave and enter the show the opening changes with the cast. The credits is extremely fast pace and contains many flashing lights and colours, giving it an upbeat, younger feel, which attracts younger audiences to the over exaggerated narratives.

The reason it is important to research jingles is because at least a short section of our soap jingle should be featured within the trailer. This is a convention which can be shown by the Eastenders original trailer below. Our soap is targeting a wide range of audiences of all ages and several classes. The imagery from the trailer attracts a younger audience so our priority for our music should be too attract an older, more mature, audience which would require a more traditional genre of music.