This is an analysis of a Front cover soap opera magazine and a Soap Opera Poster.

1. St. PaulsCatholic College
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio in Media
Soap Opera Magazine Analysis
Molly O’Donovan

2. Cover Story: The image of Robert
in a hospital bed triggers worry
and fear for readers as they will
want to know if he will survive.
This therefore links to Maslow’s
“Survivors” as audiences will
want him to survive so they can
find out the truth about who
shot him. The connotations of
the red t-shirt indicates death or
anger as he resents his brother.
Masthead: The acronym of ‘TV’ is in
a bigger font size that ‘What’s on’ as
it is the focus of the magazine. As a
result attracting audiences and
readers as they will clearly be able
to identify with the magazine. Also,
making it easier for readers to spot
the magazine on a shelf as the
background is red; making the
white writing more visible in shops.
Main Image: The connotations of
the smart attire signifies (De
Saussare) that there is a formal
situation which will take place
during the episode in Eastenders
that week.
Main headline: ‘Guilty’ connotes
that the character on the front of
the page where the stamp like
feature is across him, as if in
prison holding the number to
identify him. Resulting in
audiences automatically
assuming that Max Branning
killed Lucy Beale…
Price: The price is quite cheap for
a magazine, therefore connoting
who the target audience is. Some
people may assume that this
magazine is for a lower class
audience which cannot afford
the more expensive TV
magazines such as ‘TV Times’.
Date: The date of the magazine is
important as it indicates to readers
which week of soap opera drama’s
they will be getting sneak preview’s
or which week they want to find out
what progamme is on and when.
Logo: The logo of Corrie connotes to
audiences that may not watch the
soap’s, who the characters are. This
will intrigue them to find out more
and therefore eventually watch the
show.
Barcode: This is convention
feature which is used in all
magazines, not just TV
magazines. This is because of
how they are sold and each
barcode having a specific
number.
Promotion/Puff: This promotion
of ‘FREE’ films attracts audiences
as everything nowadays has to
be paid for, for the free things
are like an advantage for
audiences.

3. Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio in Media
Soap Opera Poster Analysis
Molly O’Donovan

4. Programme name: The name of the
programme is important as it portrays to
audiences which programme they are being
targeted for. Therefore, is audiences are
attracted by the poster, they will choose to
watch the programme.
Channel: The image of the
logo of the airing channel
connotes to audiences where
to watch the programme if
they’re interested. As a
result, audiences are getting
knowledge from the poster
to improve the advertising of
the show.
Strapline: This strapline links directly to the
image because a character is ‘down’, therefore
“It’s going down” portrays and indicates
mystery. This is due to the fact that no
audiences are going to understand what has
happened or what is going to happen as the
poster connotes the image to help attract the
audiences.
Time: This is extremely important for audiences
because they will need to have the knowledge of
when the programme is airing. The information
about where and when is key so that viewing
figures are impacted positively through the
advertising be a key factor in increasing the figures.
Main Image: The connotations of this main
image represents a ‘disequilibrium’ (Todorov)
which is going to or has taken place in
Eastenders. Therefore audiences may be able to
identify the character as Phil Mitchell or
another character, but they will have to watch
the show to fully identify the body.