Changes in Style - Audio-Visual

About Coronation Street

Coronation Street is a British soap opera which is set in the fictional town of Wheatherfield which is located in Manchester. It is based in Salford which is located in the North-West of England. Coronation Street was created by Tony Warren and the first episode was aired on December 9th 1960. It is produced in Granada Studios which is located in Manchester.

In September 2010 Coronation Street became the longest soap which is currently in production. In three different decades it has changed dramatically, since using different camera shots, better quality and better editing systems. The three years which I will be analysing are 1961, 1979 and 2010.

1961

When it's started the opening credits are dark, gloomy and miserable. This shows that the soap isn't going to have any glamour because of where it is set. When filming it has bumps on the tracks which means that the shots aren't smooth. It also has long takes which means that they haven't got the technology to keep cutting. There are also a lot of medium shots. This means that they haven't perfected a lot of different shots. There are long angle shots because they haven't got a polecam which means that they can't film from a high angle. There is also a lot of screen time to the main characters. The characters talk fast and you can't understand them properly. The accent that they use also show that they are from the north of England. It is also the same accent that they use today.

1979

In 1979 the opening credits were in colour but the scenery still looked miserable. There are a lot of different camera angles and shots which means that they have gotten the equipment to film it. Also there is use of mise-en-scene because the middle-aged man is dressed in a leather jacket and jeans which shows that they are making the actors differentiate from the others. The character is smoking which could mean that he is a villain or rebellious. The old man is in pajamas which means that he heard the noise that the other man made and woke up. The opening of this episode is kind of like a film which add a sense of realism. The house seems homey which means that the old man could have been living in that house for a long time.

2010

The opening credits for 2010 and the opening credits for 1960 are completely the opposite. The reason for this is because the 2010 version looks more homely and also because it looks completely different. There is also CGI (the pigeons) which has been put in so it looks as if it was there before. There are also crane shots in the beginning of titles which costs a lot of money to use. Colour correction is used in post production in very hight end edit suites which add money to the budget. It is normally used in photography, television, cinematography and also other disciplines. If colour correction is not used the scene might have a mix of colours. By applying gels in front of the different light sources can alter the various colours to match. The gels can also be used so that they can make it appear more natural. The shots at the beginning the busy exterior sets and the spacious interior sets.