Media Unit G324

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Ancillary Product
Analysis
Name: Imani Ayimba-Golding
Candidate Number: 1012
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Tagline The verbal code of the tagline draws in the
attention of the reader. This is because the words
‘Walford will be changed. Forever’ suggest that
something that has never happened on ‘EastEnders’
before will happen. This makes people want to watch
the show, so that they can find out what will happen.
Image – The non-verbal code of the image is of ‘Lucy’ looking
to the right with a suspicious looking facial expression. This
connotes that something bad if either going to happen to her
or she is going to do something bad. This draws in the
attention of the reader in and makes them want to watch
‘EastEnders’ so they can find out why she looks suspicious.
Colour has been used to demonstrate violence, the colour red
indicates that there will be some blood shed or that we
should be warned of the danger.
Synergy with social media The use of a ‘#hashtag’ gives the audience
another platform to follow the latest gossip for this soap. This
especially attractive to the younger generation who are constantly
using social media. This is good for the institution and audience as
they can find out about what has happened if they missed the latest
episode of the soap. This also helps promote the social media site
‘twitter’.
Institution Logo This is for brand
identity. It allows the audience to
know what channel this show is going
to be on. It is also displayed in very
small font. This could connote that
the institute is very well known and
don’t need to exaggerate its
presence.

3. Image
The people present are all seen to
be in flames. This could illustrate to
the audience that there may be a
fiery argument between certain
characters or take the manipulation
of this image literally and say that
there could actually be a fire. The
connotations of fire is usually bad,
could possibly involve death.
Institution Logo
This is for brand identity. It
allows the audience to know
what channel this show is
going to be on. It is also
displayed in a very big font.
This could connote that the
institute is very well known
and the show want to show
off that they are on that
instituted channel.
Tagline
The tagline for this poster
illustrates that something will
happen in the episode. The
word ‘change’ suggests that
everything changes in
Hollyoaks. The verbal code
‘forever’ also suggests that
these changes are permanent
and cannot be reversed. This
also supports the connotations
of the fire.

4. Student Exemplar Work – Textual Analysis
Synergy with social
media: Synergy with
social media in this
poster is associated to
‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’.
It is key to have social
media synergy in the
poster as it creates
another point of entry
and allows the audience
to interact with the show
using the twitter ‘#’. By
using a popular media
convention such as the
hashtag, it helps spread
the brand identity of the
soap across the web as it
make sit available for
anybody with Twitter to
access the #hashtag and
be made aware of the
soap.
The dates are clearly displayed on this poster. By doing this it makes it clear to the audience when the episode
is due to be aired so they will not miss it. The connotations of the verbal code ‘starts’ illustrates that it is the
beginning of a big change that will not go back to how it was previously.
Image Manipulation
The black and white
effect could be trying
to portray the past or
a time in life of which
is indescribable.
Facials expressions
give away a lot about
a character, however
in this poster the
students have
decided to hide the
characters identity.
This creates a sense
of mystery and makes
it more intriguing.

5. Evaluation
• I would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale – 1980) the manipulation of the main image because
it will draw in the attention of the viewer because of the unusual effect it has. I
also like the idea of the use of the big brand logo because it will give the channel
good brand recognition. This is because they will know what channel the show will
be on and market the channel as well. The use of the date can be a key convention
because it will be able to say when my new soap actually starts, so it is a good bit
of marketing and may attract a wider audience.