Understanding soaps: a student and teacher's guide to learning about television

This teachers information kit contains two video tapes and a thorough information exercise book. Its purpose is to enable students to gain some skills in media analysis. In this co-production between Channel 7 and renowned media teachers Barrie McMahon and Robyn Quin, soaps- specifically ‘Home and Away’, become the primary subject of study. Tape one covers basic production elements, characters, audiences and values. Tape two contains excerpts from ‘Home and Away’ for class discussion and analysis. The book contains foundation and advanced materials that can be used in a primary or secondary setting. The video’s are a good starting point for media education within a classroom setting.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

Duration

01:40:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1993

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

309383

Language

English

Audience classification

G

Subject categories

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Mass media

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Mass media - Australia

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Mass media - Study and teaching

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Soap operas

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television - Lighting

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television - Production and direction

Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Television in education

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Drama

Drama → Soap operas

Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Mass media - Study and teaching

Television

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS, Text; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/87443--understanding-soaps-a-student-and-teachers-guide-to-learning-about-television/ |title=Understanding soaps: a student and teacher's guide to learning about television |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=23 March 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1993

Please note