This document analyzes several soap opera posters and identifies conventions used in their design. It notes that the EastEnders poster uses a single main image to avoid looking congested. The Hollyoaks poster effectively uses abstract image manipulation to convey contrasting emotions. Compacting important information like the show name and air time with the tagline allows viewers to easily find key details. Advertising social media accounts on the poster helps promote the show online in addition to drawing attention with the physical poster. Repeating successful conventions from the examples could help create an effective new soap opera poster.

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Ancillary Product
Analysis
Name: Jude Munday
Candidate Number: 3092
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Tagline: This tagline specifically generates suspension in suggesting that
there will be a “change”. Ultimately a change connotes that there will be
an upcoming event or something that has been slowly occurring which
will result the show contrasting the way it used to be. This is important as
change then suggests an offering of completely new and exciting content,
which fulfills the purpose of a tagline, to engage and inform the reader.
Image – The main image within this poster allows the reader to
deduce emotions from the character. These emotions may be the
likes of fear, conspiring, anticipation and more, however the
emotion is up to the reader to interpret. The most important
aspect of this image is that it channels the readers attention to
focus on the Tagline, the tagline is perplexing so that in this case it
is very effective for the image to do so.
Institution Logo – This is the
logo of the institution which
has most involvement with the
show, in terms of
development, marketing and
release. It is important to
include this because people
feel comfortable when they
see something is involved with
as in this case a
company/institution but in
other cases can be a person,
band, ect, that they are
familiar with. In other terms it
appeals to the audience (like
star appeal).
Brand Identity – when
singled out from the
brand identity and
institution logo the
poster itself may be
hard to grasp and
understand what it is
relevant to. Therefore
brand identity is
essential so that this
marketing strategies is
optimized in generating
hype for the show. It is
most likely the reader
wont be a die hard East
Enders fan and
therefore will need
something to identify
that this poster relates
to East Enders and not
something else. And so
brand identity ensures
that the poster makes
sense and actually
works to generate
attraction to the TV
show.
Social Media – Unfortunately this poster lacks in social media
links and connections which would help the marketing of the
show on those platforms. However the brand identity is
established as a hash tag which directly links to the use of the
social media platform twitter. It ultimately emplaces the
thought in people to go to the platform and tweet about it
using the hash tag even though they aren't directly asked to do
so.

3. Image – This image is important as it highlights how the use of abstract image
manipulation is effective in engaging an audience. When I mention image
manipulation, it is clear that this image has been changed to have fiery effect.
This theme has connotations of hell, which denotes drama as with hell brings
evil and suffering which is ultimately what people look for within a soap, as
drama is the portrayal of emotion, which is stimulating to the individual
watching. In conclusion, the image engages audience members due to its
abstractness and also conveys five characters in a fairly elegant manner as
connoted by their body language for example holding themselves or holding
their heads high and off center. This elegance contrasts with the image
manipulation previously mentioned, which again connotes a contrast in the
drama which is successful as it address's a contrasting field of emotions.
Perfect for a drama seeker.
Institution Logo – This is effectively placed to stand
out from the page, using a pure and clear colour
(white) which stands out from the dark colours such
as black and red which holds connotations of hell
(being fire) and maliciousness. The white connotes
purity due to the objects and situations it is
expressed in such as at wedding or in times of love,
bliss and peacefulness. This therefore gives the
institution the same connotations making it attractive
for the audience.
Tagline – This tagline is similar to the previous one in that it emphasizes the importance of the coming episode in the grand scheme of the show,
connoting that they are episodes not to be missed, essentially generating hype for the episode. Again we can look into the connotations of the
word “change”, such as offering something different, which if they liked the show before the reader can be excited in the hopes that it will
become better and so more exciting. Furthermore, the use of ”forever” implies that the show will never be the same again, and like the word
“change”, makes the reader imagine that it is an un-missable episode. The use of a white background makes the black text stand out, so that it is
highlighted to the readers attention, and so enhances the opinion that the tag line is the most important aspect of the poster. Finally the tagline
in this case also consists of a date and the brand identity. This is done to inform the reader when they can view the show, and the creators
wouldn't’t want people to miss it, so they’ve placed the date with the tagline, emphasizing its equal importance as well as the importance of the
brand identity, so people know exactly what it is the poster is emphasizing they need to be watching.

4. Student Exemplar Work – Textual Analysis
Images – The main image for this poster is the background image which contrasts the
images in the fore ground. This is because the main image is a church, a place which
has connotations of peace and love, however in the foreground is an image of a rather
sinister knife. Such a knife connotes violence, horror and fear, completely contrasting
the image in the background. This contrasts represents the contrasts within the drama
in the show, which is attractive for soap opera fans, which directly addresses the
target audience.
Tag line – The tagline here is a
play on words, as the well
known fraze used at weddings “I
now pronounce you man and
wife” has been flipped on its
head. The connotations of this
original fraze is that of love and
passion however the new and
flipped tag line “I now
pronounce you betrayed for life”
also flips the connotations so
that they are now negative
rather than positive. This whit is
attractive to readers, and is
incredibly effective as a tagline.
Finally by slanting the word
“betrayed” highlights it as the
most important word within the
tag line. This is because it is the
most powerful word in terms of
connotations, as it relates to
acts of evil, hatred and
villainous. This is clearly what
the creators of the posters want
the audience to feel, as the
audience seek this feeling, in
being emotion seekers.
Social Media – This poster
effectively advertises two forms of
social media, a Facebook page and
also a twitter hash tag. This is
important as the other two posters
previously looked at lack this
aspect of really tying to generate
hype online on social media
platforms, which is crucial to
modern marketing especially as
the target audience are young
people who typically are all over
such media platforms.

5. Steve Neale “repeat”.
For my product (poster) I will repeat a number of the conventions that appear within the
posters analyzed. First of all, the East Enders image on the poster has inspired me to use one
main image of one or two people, as less is often more. I have come to this conclusion after
seeing the poster on the previous slide, which ultimately looks to congested, and an overload
on images, which can loose the intention of the poster as each image holds its on
denotations. Secondly, the next convention I would like to repeat would be the effectiveness
of the image manipulation on the Hollyoaks poster. This is because the manipulation has
allowed the creators to tailor the connotations of the image to give off a specific contrasting
message. More so, The image is quite attractive due to it being abstract, and so will attract the
gaze of the public, which is the ultimate purpose of a poster. Another convention I want to
repeat is compacting the name of the show and the time it airs in with the tag line, but doing
so that it wont look congested or detract from the intent of the tag line itself. We see the
opposite of this being done in the students work on the previous slide, which makes the
reader have to look across the poster trying to find the information they want, also meaning
that this information which is crucial is easily miss able and wont be seen by most people who
only glance at a poster as they walk by. Finally from the students poster, I would like to
reproduce the level of advertisement for the social media accounts connected with the soap
opera, so that the poster markets far beyond its limit as a poster, but also onto social media.