George Barnstable is creating an ancillary product for his OCR Media Studies course. He has researched the TV magazine "Inside Soap" to inspire his own soap opera magazine cover. His document includes research on the history, circulation, target audience, design elements like images, language, pricing, headlines, and conventions used by "Inside Soap".

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: George Barnstable
Candidate Number: 3010
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Generation of Ideas for Ancillary Product 1) –
TV Magazine Front Cover

2. Source of Inspiration
History of the Product
First issue published Oct 1992 (monthly publication).
In the mid 1990’s it become a fortnightly publish.
Become weekly in September 2003
Stephen Murphy became editor in 2009
Publisher
Hearst Magazines
Matthew Hayes – director of publishing
Circulation Figures – HOW many people read the magazine?
117,539 (July-Dec 2015)
Socio-Economic Needs
The soap opera genre may appeal to ‘care givers’
because they make people feel more sorrow for the
stars. The denotation of ‘agony’ is suffering, resulting
in people being more pitiful. ‘Inside Soap’ denotes its
ability to fulfill ‘social climbers’ by being a weekly
publication, meaning the audience is satisfied.
URL: http://www.insidesoap.co.uk/get-hands-new-inside-soap-today/

3. Main headline ideas
• Inside Soap – This masthead conveys that these
publication has ‘inside information’ and therefore
exclusive and revealing stories. This promotes
popularity since they offer stories that other magazines
may not yet have. The addition of the word ‘Soap’
denotes its genre and therefore helps its identity be
clear. This gives ‘survivors’ (Maslow) the security of
that the magazine will be consistent with its ‘inside’
information that other magazines may not yet have.
• Soap City – the masthead of ‘Soap City’ denotes the
importance of the community. A city is a large town,
which perfectly works well with the magazines
strapline “The best soaps in town”. This suggests that
readers are part of a village or community where
everyone is important. This gives ‘survivors’ (Maslow)
the feeling of importance and identity to helping the
magazine they follow.

4. Images needed
• The main image featured in most Soap Opera
magazines are mainly medium close-ups of a
particularly controversial and popular
character, displayed against a white, plain
background. The main image is large and
consumes a lot of the page. This image is
further supported by multiple smaller
pictures, which fill the empty space left on the
page. In my magazine I will use 2 of the most
controversial characters for the main image; I
will place them beside each other and at a
similar height and size. They will most likely be
looking away from the camera to denote their
shame, which can suggest a revealing secret. I
will take a medium shot/medium close up
shot of the characters and then extreme close
ups/medium close ups for the other
characters that will fill the empty space.
URL: http://www.insidesoap.co.uk/get-today-latest-issue-inside-soap/

5. Language/puff promotion & price
• The language mainly used in Soap’s is informal and similar to every-
day chat. This is due to these magazines being directed to the
working class people and therefore the stereotype of this is their
informality of language, which makes the magazines appeal to
them as they can relate to the language used. In my magazine I will
be exaggerating language and the punctuation with exclamation
marks as well as question marks to draw the readers attention.
Most magazines also offer prizes or ‘freebies’; this is particularly
important and effective for attracting a working class individual as
they stereotypically are likely to take the opportunity of ‘freebies’
compared to higher classes.
• I think a price of £1.50 is justified for my magazine. This price if
affordable to the working class people, whom I aim to target as well
as being a price that seen as above average and therefore premium.

6. Headlines
• “SARAH’S HELL” - This short and snappy headline denotes a
revealing and vengeful plot. This doesn’t give away too
much but also is revealing and captivating.
• “DOT KILLS NICK” – This straight forward and revealing
main headline reveals the whole story. This technique of
revealing everything is useful because it draws immediate
attention from the reader and wants them want to know
the reason and other information about the death.
• “Happy New Year?” – The addition of the question mark
gives the meaning that the new Year isn't exactly happy and
instead can be filled with negativity and regret.

7. Synergy (social media)
• Despite the majority of working class
individuals being heavily involved with social
media and accessing their accounts
frequently, not many soap magazines utilise
social media synergy on their covers, most
likely due to the traditionalism of soap
magazines.

8. Page positioning
• The masthead “Inside Soap’ is traditionally
placed at the top of the page, with the
strapline being just below.
• As well as this, the main image(s) are always
displayed in the middle of the page and take
up a majority of the page. They usually
contain the writing of the main headline also.
• The very bottom and top of the page also
contain the sub-stories

9. Colours
• ‘Inside Soap’ has 3 staple colours: red, yellow
and orange. The colour red is vibrant and
primarily utilised for the masthead, compared
to yellow which is used simply used for the
sub-stories. The orange is less common and
only used for the main headline.

10. Font / punctuation
• The ‘Inside Soap’ masthead is bold and traditional
in terms of font. The font size is very large for the
masthead as well as the main headline,
compared to the smaller font size used for the
sub-story headlines.
• In terms of punctuation, the magazine uses lots
of exclamation marks to emphasise the severity
of the headline. Moreover, they use question
marks to make the audience think about whether
a headline is true or not

11. Conclusion
• In conclusion, popular magazine ‘Inside Soap’
uses a vast array of traditional magazine
conventions to stay relevant and uphold a
great reputation for producing soap opera
content.