poster textual analysis

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Ancillary Product
Analysis
Name: Keir Speirs
Candidate Number: 4131
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Tagline – This tagline connotes that there has been a massive problem in the soap and it is unlikely to
change back to how things used to be. This makes the audience want to know what has happened to
this character or what this character has done. The verbal code “change forever” connotes to the
audience of a big change but they are left guessing what the change will be.
Image – Here this image has been made to look black and white. This connotes to the reader that
something bad has happened as the non-vernal code of the females facial expression makes her
look as though she is scared and hiding from someone, which connotes to the viewer again that
something bad has happened to this character.
Synergy with social media
Here this poster has a ‘#’ so the audience can see that
they can go on twitter and follow the latest gossip for
this soap. 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 ident
This ‘informs’ (Katz) the audience what channel the
soap is broadcasted on. This helps the reader so they
don’t have to search for the soap. Also it helps to
promote the channel so the reader will go on this
channel and watch other programs.

3. Image – This image has been manipulated to ‘signify’ (De Saussure) danger in these characters. The fire
connotes that these characters have done something bad however the audience are left to guess what
they are going to do. This makes the audience tune in everyday to find out what each character has done.
This is something fans expect so they are left following the story line and wanting to find out more.
Institution Logo – This helps the reader to know what channel this soap is
going to be broadcasted on. Also it helps to promote the channel as audiences will
go onto the channel to see what else they show.
Tagline – The verbal code of the tagline on this poster establishes to the audience that something
bad has happened. This relates to Todorov’s 3 part narrative. This will suggest a ‘disequilibrium’ to
the audience leaving them guessing what is going to happen in the upcoming episodes.

4. Image – The image
has strong
connotations that
suggest a break up
between two
characters. The
knife could be an
‘Enigma’ (Barthes)
of what is going to
happen. This could
suggest a death of
a character or a
split between two
characters.
Tagline – The tagline connotes to the audience of what has happened to a characters but not
specifically what one. The verbal code “Betrayed” connotes to the audience that one character has
done something bad and another character is going to find out.
Social Media – The social media allows reader to know that they can go online
and follow their favourite soap. This allows them to then follow up all the latest
gossip and clues about future events.
Brand identity –
This allows the
reader to be able
to see what soap is
being advertised.
This means
advertising both
my soap and other
existing soaps.

5. Conclusion
• In conclusion I have found that the image can hold strong connotations to
what the narrative is going to be about. This may sometimes leave
audiences guessing what is going to happen. I also found that the tagline is
good in conveying hints about the narrative that reinforce the image. I also
found that social media is included the majority of the time. This allows
synergy between the poster and social media. The audience are then able
to follow their favourite soap and find out more about the narrative.