- The document provides research and ideas for creating the front cover of a TV soap opera magazine called "Soap Goss". - Key elements that will be included on the cover are headline ideas like "Showdown" or "Revenge" to tease drama, images of conflicting characters, and social media links. - The magazine will be priced at £1 to be affordable and competitive with similar magazines like InsideSoap.

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: Giacomo Pisa
Candidate Number: 311
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
InsideSoap was first published in Octpber 1992 and is a weekly
running magazine releasing every Tuesday. When the magazine
firstly released it was a monthly publication before being fortnightly
in the mid 1990’s before moving to a weekly publication in 2003.
Since 2009 the editor of InsideSoap has been Stephen Murphy.
The magazine is published by Hearst Magazines with the publishing
director being Matthew Hayes.
The only circulation figures possible on the internet are up to 2015
with the figures between July and December that year being
117,359.
Inside Soap would most likely attract audiences from the D and E
categories of the Socio-Economic Needs ladder. This is because
soaps mostly attract pensioners, the unemployed and unskilled
workers. This is because these are people who have time to watch
soaps on a daily basis and are stereotypically seen as programmes
watched by pensioners with the magazines also being read by the
same people as they have time to keep up to date with all the
soaps.http://www.insidesoap.co.uk

3. Masthead Ideas
My primary idea for my masthead is ‘Soap Goss’. Other ideas include:
• Soap Life
• Soap TV
• Soap News
• What Soap?
The best masthead idea is ‘Soap Goss’ and is therefore the one that I will use for my
magazine mind map. This is because the word “Goss” short for ‘Gossip’ is a typical
characteristic of soap operas. Protagonists frequently gossip with each other to spread
drama which creates more drama and suspense. As a result the magazine will spread
drama and therefore people will be more likely to read it.
The next best idea is ‘Soap News’ as similar to goss ‘news’ has good connotations. The
word ‘news’ comes from the word ‘new’ which therefore means that my magazine
contains all the latest content from the soap world.

4. Main headline Ideas
The main headline from this edition of InsideSoap is a one word catchy headline
“Showdown”. The word connotes that there is copious amounts of drama to
unfold, with drama being the main attraction of Soap Operas. As a result I intend
to keep my main headline short, sharp and to the point that also offers imminent
drama. The noun “showdown” also connotes a form of confrontation which is
very common in soap operas.
“Revenge” is another short noun that can be used in the same way and again
gives similar connotations. It infers that there has been drama such as a killing or
violence that another protagonist wants to ‘get back’ at them for doing so. As a
result there is another imminent confrontation between two protagonists which
ultimately causes more drama and entices people to find out what has
happened.
Thirdly “Bombshell” is another possible headline for my magazine front cover. It
suggests of a devastating and surprising revelation which will shock the
reader/audience and they will want to find out what it is.

5. Images needed
The typical main image for a soap opera magazine is two
conflicting protagonists looking straight into the camera as
in a medium close-up shot. The main image conventionally
takes up the majority of the page and will include the most
well known protagonists, for example Max Branning and
Lacey Turner who are instantly recognisable to soap opera
audiences. I will replicate the two main protagonists for my
soap opera magazine as well as numerous other smaller
images surrounding the main image. The impact of having
so many images on the page means that the page looks
clustered and complicated when in actual fact it is simply a
series of images and matching captions/sub stories. For
these sub stories I will use a variety if images that I have
taken in different backgrounds and portray different stories
with also different camera angles. Additionally the use of
various images implies how the magazine has copious
amounts of content and therefore people will be likely to
read the magazine.

6. Language/price
The price of the magazine will be cheaper £1.45 as this is
the price of InsideSoap magazine which is my magazine of
inspiration. By making it slightly cheaper than my magazine
of inspiration, audiences will be more obliged to buy the
cheaper edition to save money but still read similar
content of similar quality. Therefore I will make the price of
the magazine £1 as this is significantly cheaper than
InsideSoap and in addition to this £1 is a memorable price
and is easy to remember, not to mention being affordable
for the working class, who take up the majority of soap
opera audiences.
The language incorporated in the magazine will be emotive
to provoke a reaction from the reader. For example, I will
use language such as “shock” , “steal” and “revenge”.
These words connote drama and confrontation

7. Puff promotion + Strapline
A puff promotion is a common feature of the majority of magazines offering a desirable prize from a
competition to encourage people to buy the magazine. For my soap opera magazine, the puff
promotion will be something that attracts people who watch soap operas and read the magazine.
Ideas for the puff promotion include:
• Free 6 month subscription to the magazine
• Free iPad
• Behind the scenes access to the next series of Sycamore Rise + Meet and greet with the stars.
Strapline
The strapline is a key convention of all magazine front covers and will therefore need to
create a good one to attract the audience. Suggestions for my starpline include:
• Every scene, every event, every week
• Top story, top revelations, today
The language from the strapline such as “every” proves to the reader that the magazine
includes every content possible meaning that the reader does not have to go anywhere
else for news on soap operas.

8. Social Media
On my magazine front cover in the bar code area I will insert a link to all of
these social media sites. The bar code area is the best place for the social
media links to go because it makes the magazine seem more professional
instead of having random social media links dotted around the page. By
placing social media links on the page it is an example of synergy and will
promote the trailer across multiple platforms. Furthermore with the current
web 2.0 generation and ‘digital natives’ the soap opera will advertise to
younger people who are constantly online, as well as the older traditional
soap watchers who read magazines. It is also essential that I add synergy with
social media because soap opera magazines such as ‘InsideSoap’ and ‘What’s
On TV’ do not include social media links and therefore by including social
media links on my magazine front cover I am displaying a different element to
other soap magazines and as a result more people will be likely to read my
magazine.

9. Conclusion
• To conclude, in the near future I will purchase a copy of InsideSoap to get
a first person view of what it looks like to include as many conventions as
possible for my own magazine. To create the product I will be using Adobe
Photoshop CC 2015.5 as I am familiar with the software having used it for
my coursework last year and it also a professional looking software that
creates a good final product. There are useful tools such as the quick
selection tool which allows crisp images to be created after using the
refine edge tool and ‘black reveals white conceals’. The stills for the
magazine will be taken in different locations over the two days of filming
as the protagonists are all in their costumes so it is the easiest time to take
the stills.