How does an extract from Eastenders demonstrate soap conventions?

In the extract we watched, Eastenders displayed several different soap conventions. One example is family breakups. Two of the characters were planning to kill Dot behind everybody's back. Bianca and Whitney also have a fight during the episode about Whitney purposely missing a maths exam. She says there isn't any point in her going because "everyone else will be working and I will just be sat there". Bianca also hints that she has missed school before which means that this narrative has been continued through some previous episodes. There is naturalistic lighting and diagetic sound through the episode to create realism. Keeping in the background noises creates a better scene for the audience and makes them feel like one of the characters or as if it is happening in real life.


In terms of characters there are a wide range of ages starting from about 10-11 and reaching Dot's age. As well as mixed ages there are also mixed genders. Mixing the age and gender mean that there can be a wide range of storylines to shock the audience and make them want to watch more. If there was only one gender and one age then the audience would become bored and it may also cause an uproar of discrimination. In this particular extract there was only one 'coloured' male which could suggest something about discrimination from past episodes. We see two characters walking through the square which fits the convention of setting as it is set mainly around the square. Another example is Coronation Street which has Manchester as its main setting.