1) The document discusses ideas for creating a poster to advertise a new soap opera called "Walton Hill". It considers poster formats and elements used in shows like "Narcos", "EastEnders", and "Hollyoaks" as inspiration. 2) Key elements that could be used in the poster are discussed, such as image manipulation techniques, positioning of images and text, backgrounds, and inclusion of details like broadcast time/channel. 3) The summary will select elements like multiple character images, image adjustments, a hashtag or social media icons, and broadcast details to create an engaging poster advertising the new soap opera.

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: Dan Sgarbini
Candidate Number: 2005
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Generation of Ideas for Ancillary Product 2) –
Poster

2. Theme/Ideas
Narcos: A key idea of mine is to follow the poster format that TV drama
series ‘Narcos’ portrays. This poster consists of a dark background
setting with a high definition/quality image using various editing
techniques. The information such as time and sponsorships are
presented in a bright and bold format using colours such as red and
white against a black background. This poster is presented in a portrait
format. However, in order to adapt this idea I could implement a
gradient background with the ‘Walton Hill’ scenery.
EastEnders: Another format that has
caught my inspiration is the Lucy Beale
murder mystery poster. This is presented
in a landscape orientation, a colourless
mise en scene and a background of
setting. This poster clearly portrays the
themes of mystery and death through its
dull approach which I may implement
within my soap opera stories of disaster.
I will therefore maximize the theme of
death when using this format as I will use
image adjustments, saturation and
various other edits in order to alter the
consistency of my poster. Within this
poster all text are aligned evenly and are
presented in contrasting colours to the
background e.g. grey and white.
Hollyoaks: This poster is presented in a
landscape format in order to maximize the
number of aligned images in a horizontal
format. This power has used a flame brush
tool via download in order to create a fire
effect over each character. This
demonstrates a high level use of image
adjustments. Furthermore, as previously
mentioned five main images has been
taken in order to display more depth to
the plot which is exactly what my poster
needs being a brand new soap opera,
each character also represents alternating
themes allowing them to ‘inform and
educate’ my audience (Katz).

3. Tagline
Positioning
Language
Alliteration: A common language device that is
used within multiple posters and magazine
headline’s is the use of alliteration. This
technique consist of the repetition of a plosive,
letter or sound within consecutive terms. A
phrase that I will consider placing within my
poste is ‘Lucas or Lizzie!’ as these two
characters within my soap opera trailer a
prominent in the Walton Hill Storyline.
Rhetorical Question: ‘Who will survive’ is looked upon as a common however highly
effective tagline, the use of a rhetorical question allows the audience to ‘immerse’
themselves into the text (Maslow). This will allow me to follow the theme of death and
mystery which is the most popular sub genre within my survey results with over 20% of
participants answering in favor of the theme.
Phrase: In multiple cases a basic phrase
with a direct link to the narrative proves to
be the most effective when creating a
poster tagline. I have therefore put the
phrase ‘A Recipe for Disaster’ in parallel
with my trailer idea as it is based around a
kitchen setting. ‘Hollyoaks’ used a basic
phrase within their latest poster which
stated “A week that will change Hollyoaks
forever”. Although presented directly this
phrase creates suspense, anticipation and
a clear message to the readers which my
poster is obliged to produce. This will also
be useful for my poster as I will be
advertising a brand new sop opera and will
therefore need to implement a direct and
general tagline.
Central (Lower): A lower centralized
tagline is highly common amongst
posters as ‘Hollyoaks’ clearly
demonstrate within their week of
change poster. This is due to the fact
that it denotes a high importance of the
tagline however still creates a greater
significance for the main images as by
being lower it will not overlap any key
content.
Right (lower): Another common
presentation of text is within the
bottom right of the template. This
creates space for the images to
dominate the poster and is used within
the ’EastEnders’ Week of Revelations
campaign. However in order to achieve
higher marks using this format my
images must be taken professionally
using high quality equipment.
Upper: An alternative method of presenting the tagline is in a
title format in which the text is placed on the upper section of
the poster. This is common amongst portrait posters and TV
drama ‘Narcos’ demonstrate this alternative method at a high
standard. However, Narco’s have produced an image to a high
quality as with the tagline placed above draws all of the
attention to the main image.

4. Image(s) Setting
Manipulation
Characters
Saturation: A key aspect that I aim to use when editing my main image, background and various other images is the saturation tool.
This allows the user to adjust the colour, vibrancy and visibility of an individual image. Within my poster I plan to adjustthe saturation
of each image through image adjustments in order to add intensity, professionalism and to relate to my chosen theme.
Patch Tool: The patch tool will primarily be used for the images of characters within my poster, this removes an individual of spots,
marks and cuts building a consistency in appearance. This is used by all major editing companies and will be carried out on Adobe
Photoshop where my poster will be crafted.
Brushes: There are also multiple brushes within Photoshop such as the fire brush, faded brush and a regular brush, all of these can be
adjusted based on their shape, density and size. This will allow me to refine the edges of an image and will allow it to blend into the
background of my poster.
Cover Star: The traditional mise en scene within a poster in the
implementation of one cover star as they star within the main storyline. A key
example of this is the ‘EastEnders’ ‘Week of Revelation’ poster as well as the
‘Narcos’ poster. An advantage of this format is that it creates a clear
message/story however a disadvantage is that the posters with one character
generally lack detail due to the size of the main image.
Cast: However a more modern approach is the implementation of over one
character within the poster. This technique creates a third dimension to the
plot as suspects can be portrayed within murder stories and introduction
posters such as my A2 ancillary product also portray many characters in order
to introduce the soap opera to its unknown audience.
Walton Common: By using a background of my soap opera
scenery it will allow my target audience to familiarise
themselves with the narrative and plot of ‘Walton Hill’. If
this technique was to be used I would adjust the
hue/saturation as well as any further image adjustments to
create a sense of mystery and darkness within the trailer.
Black Background: An ordinary black background would
create a sense of darkness and futility and has created a
similar effect within the ‘Narcos’ poster which follows this
basic format.

5. Synergy
Social Media
Within my soap opera poster I will include the synergy of social media through
the portrayal of a ‘Walton Hill’ Facebook/twitter page. This is used amongst all
forms of modern day posters as it creates a sense of professionalism and
proceeds an interactive house style. I will implement these features in a colour
scheme of black and white as the strong colours of blue that these sites possess
would clash with my basic and intense colour scheme.
Hashtag
Although similar to the implementation of social media icons, by
using a hashtag I will be building the brand identity of my soap
through the addition of WaltonHill. This is also a common device
amongst many posters as ‘EastEnders’ promoted their soap via social
media in order to grant their audience with updates and countdowns
into the storyline/plot.
Reviews
Similarly to traditional film posters I will use magazine appraisal in
order to promote the viewership of my soap opera. Fort example:
‘Whats on TV’ (5 stars) which creates approval from a reliable
source. This creates a widened view of the TV series and alters the
reputation of the plot itself. I will present this in a contrasting
colour scheme to my background in order for the positive reviews
to stand out immediately drawing in all viewers.

6. Information
Soap Channel/Time: Within my poster I will include the 8:30pm time scale that my soap will be broadcasted on the channel BBC 2. I will therefore
implement the BBC 2 logo within my poster in order to inform and educate (Katz) my target audience allowing them to be located to the TV
drama. Therefore these details will allow my audience to navigate to the soap opera as my statistics remain consistent from my trailer to the
poster. I will also include the fact that my soap opera is ‘brand new’ in order to create a generic narrative within the poster. This will immediately
create a hype for the product and will draw a new, untouched audience who will relocate to ‘Walton Hill’. All soap opera posters include the
channel in order to promote its area of broadcasting and as my soap opera is brand new the time is more than appropriately portrayed to my
target audience.

7. Conclusion
• Overall, I will plan to take all of the appropriate images for my second ancillary product by
Monday 9th November 2015. I aim to make a decision of these images in the near future and
am leaning towards the idea of multiple main images in order to introduce the cast to my
audience. I will primarily use the font style of corbel (dafont)as it remains within a
professional format and remains the current font choice for my soap opera Walton Hill. I will
create my poster on Adobe Photoshop as this was the preferred software when creating my
magazine front cover, this software also possesses a superior format for editing images which
is the key aspect within my poster. I will therefore follow the basis of this document in which
I have shortlisted the potential actions to follow when creating my poster, each aspect will be
further shortlisted in which I will implement all of the sub categories in order to create a high
quality soap opera poster.