• Every scene in a soap starts with an Establishing shot, pan and MLS- this is done to establish the location, time of day and position of characters in relation to each other. Eye line match and audience understand who is exchanging dialogue.
• Followed by a series of MS, MCU, BCU, Slow Zoom- done to establish the emotions and to make the audience feel involved. (Soap is an emotional genre). It is also done to create the pressure effect and becomes more intense as the conflict builds.
• At the end of the scene, we will have one line of dialogue and a reaction shot (MCU, BCU) Generally up to 3 seconds long. This shot lingers on the actors face so that the audience can catch the characters emotion. (To gauge reaction). This also gives the audience time to consume and digest what has just happened before next conflict.