This document analyzes soap opera promotional posters and identifies common elements used to encourage viewership. It discusses the use of taglines to hint at drama and intrigue in upcoming episodes. Images of characters are chosen to make audiences want to know more about unfolding events. Including the air time, channel, and hashtags allows viewers to easily find and discuss the show. Repeating successful design techniques from other soap operas, like dramatic ellipses in taglines, could help promote a new show. The document considers both what elements to replicate and what to avoid, like a tacky poster design, to effectively advertise a soap opera.

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Ancillary Product
Analysis
Name: Zeyan Mirza
Candidate Number: 1178
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Tagline – The tagline ‘Walford Will Change Forever’ ‘signifies’
(De Saussure) that something is going to happen this could be in
accordance to ‘disequilibrium’ (Todorov), who states that all
narratives follow a three part structure, this means the episode
will start with equilibrium, then something happens to Walford
which disrupts the equilibrium, and then eventually equilibrium
is restored. In this nothing will be the same. Again encouraging
the audience to watch the episode. The fact a full stop is after
the ‘Walford will change’. Then a separate sentence is used for
the ‘forever’ meaning that you must tune into the episode to
ensure you are up to date with the life changing effects.
Image – The non-verbal code of the
main image of the female protagonist
looking to her left makes the audience
want to know what she is looking at,
encouraging them to watch the episode
of Eastenders.
Synergy with social media-
The #hashtag Eastenders gives viewers
another platform to talk about the soap
opera on. If it is spoken about on social media
it will gain more popularity.
Institution Ident-
This reminds the potential target audience
what channel the soap opera is going to be
on and where they can find the soap opera
that they enjoy watching.
Brand Identity-
The fact that the channel is
on the poster makes it easier
for viewers to identify the
brand.

3. Institution Ident- This reinforces the brands identity
and reminds the audiences what institution Holly oaks is
in. If someone frequently watches the show they will know
what channel it will be on. .
Image- The non-verbal code of the main
image of the poster is a women on a
wedding day looking depressed. This makes
the viewer want to find out why she is
depressed and what is wrong with her. The
camera angle is one looking down on her
perhaps indicating the way her day is going
to go.
Tagline- The denotation of the verbal code for the promotional
poster’s tagline is ‘speak now or forever hold your peace….’.
This connotes that there may be a problem at the wedding as
this is a significant line where the wedding can be postponed.
By including a very well known line within the wedding service
will help make the audience build a rapport with the character.
Day and Time-
By having the date
and time (Point of
call) on the poster it
‘informs’ (Katz) the
audience of when
the episode is on
and where and
when they can
watch it, this can
then be transferred
through word of
mouth.

4. Image- The non-verbal code of the main image is of
a woman presenting what seems to be a poster
scrabble board. Scrabble is infusing and fun and they
could be trying to reflect this in their soap opera.
Tagline- The verbal code of the tagline
coincides with the main image as both are of a
depressing . The tag line finishes with the verbal
code ‘death’, ‘signifying’ (De Saussure) that the
soap is scary. The strapline also includes the
verbal code ‘game’ which highlights its
background as the text looks like it is presented
on some type of a game board.
Institution Ident - The poster includes the ‘BBC
Three’ ident which is a popular channel that has a
history for showing soaps. By including a well known
intuition such as ‘BBC’ suggests to the audiences that
the program has to be of a high standard.
Synergy with social media- By signifying that the program can be talked about on different
platforms like on social media will help advertise the soap opera and draw in a bigger audience. If
people are talking about the programme on Facebook and twitter, it will mean that the soap operas will
reach more people and potentially have a bigger audience.

5. What I intend to ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale)
in my own Ancillary Product
• I tend to ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980) key information such as the
intuitions ident and when and where the soap will be shot. This is
important because for a new soap the viewers will be unaware of
its viewing time and will need to be informed. When the soap has
very strong brand recognition like EastEnders it will require this
basic information on its posters and not as much information.
• Both professional poster I looked at included ellipses ‘...’ within the
strapline. I will ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980) this idea as it is a
successful way of making the cover line look more dramatic and
emphasises the words inside the ellipses, creating more of a
dramatic effect.
• One thing I would not look to repeat is the tackiness of the poster, I
feel soap operas posters are more classy, and this in comparison to
the Hollyoaks and EastEnders one isn't.