This document analyzes posters for the soap operas EastEnders and Hollyoaks. It discusses the taglines, main images, and use of social media on the posters. For the EastEnders poster, the tagline fades from white to gray and uses impactful one-word sentences. The main image shows a frightened female character in darkness. For Hollyoaks, the tagline and main image convey intensity through vocabulary and photo manipulation of characters on fire. Both posters effectively use hashtags to engage audiences on social media.

1. Soap Opera Genre –
Ancillary Product
Analysis
Name: TJ Salango
Candidate Number: 1220
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

2. Tagline: The tagline states ‘Walford will change. Forever.’. It
is typed in all capital letters and uses a font color that fades
from white to grey from left to right, giving it the effect that
it appears to be fading into the darkness. The use of a one
word sentence, ‘Forever.’ creates a sense of extreme
suspense and intensity as it exaggerates how the future of
the series will change because of this particular episode.
The font style is cleverly chosen, a thick blocked font is used
to support the statement as it is firm and bold.
Main Image: The main image on this poster features a girl who is
presumably the main character of EastEnders. The shot type is a
medium close-up of her face and shoulders, and her body position is
twisted, as if she’s looking backwards. The facial expression presented
connotes fear and shock, which is anchored by the consuming
darkness that takes up the majority of the poster and surrounds her. A
faint red overlay filter has been applied over her to establish a sense
of horror and alarm, which she is unfortunately anticipating.
Synergy with social media: The #hashtag’s purpose is to make it easier for people to
stay updated with EastEnders news and events. This allows for easier searching on
social media such as Instagram and Facebook. The #hashtag also allows people to give
their own opinions or post their own thoughts on social media to share with other
viewers.
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Brand Identity

3. Main Image: The main image in this poster is a long shot
of who are presumably the main protagonists of the
program. There is a lot of photo manipulation that has
been done to the image as the characters appear to be on
fire; this connotes the intensity of the series and the
foreboding danger. Their facial expressions appear to be
concerned, fearful, tense and confronting. The characters
are surrounded with a black border, giving the illusion
that they are emerging from the darkness, which may be
foreshadowing events in the series. Institution Logo
Tagline: Like the previous poster, the tagline on
this Hollyoaks poster is very intense and dramatic
because of the vocabulary used. The adverb,
‘forever’ signifies the importance of this series.
Unlike the EastEnders poster, the font is typed in a
simple black font, in normal case letters. A white
border surrounds the lettering to contrast it
against the background. The verb ‘change’ implies
that nothing will ever be the same again for the
characters, dramatizing the program.
Brand Identity

4. Student Exemplar Work – Textual Analysis
Main Image: The non-verbal code of the main image consists of 3 characters who have all been
photographed at a medium distance shot. They are surrounded with a black background which
takes up the majority of the poster, which connotes mystery and dark or depressing themes; this is
anchored by the blank and sorrowful facial expressions shown on the character’s faces. The man in
the back is particularly important as his dark clothing and enlarged size may be foreshadowing his
actions in the series, perhaps he’s the antagonist.
Tagline: The verbal code of the tagline of
this poster features a white font with a
slight shadow effect, and is presented in
all upper caps letters. The tagline is clever
in the way that the noun ‘Sunshine’ has a
glow effect applied to it, not only does
this signify the verbal code, but it adds
more impact. It stands out from the dark
background, which connotes the
depressing nature of the series.
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Synergy with social media: the use of
popular social media networking sites,
Facebook and Twitter, are good ways to
advertise a brand new soap opera as
there are millions of different people to
advertise to. By creating official Facebook
and Twitter pages, audiences and
interested viewers can visit the pages to
keep up with the soap opera updates..

5. ‘Repeat’ (Steve Neale - 1980)
In order to create a successful poster for my own soap opera, it
must look clean and professional, I felt that the exemplar work
could’ve been improved. I preferred the EastEnders poster over
the Hollyoaks poster mainly because of the minimal use of CGI. I
feel that as a student I would not be able to repeat the same
photo manipulative effects shown on the Hollyoaks poster. The
main image on both the posters are conventions I could repeat in
terms of shot types as they are very simple and up front. I also
feel that the tagline on the EastEnders poster is far more
effective than the Hollyoaks tagline as it is bolder, clearer and
creates more of an impact considering how many words, or lack
thereof, have been used.