Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

1. How effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary texts?

2. Intro
My Soap Opera trailer and my Ancillary products which I have constructed, which
market the release of ‘Sycamore Rise’, are affective because they all ‘signify’(De
Saussure) a variety of different themes. This includes themes such as crime and drug
use, which are popular stereotypical themes which are usually expected to be in Soap
Operas.

3. Cross media convergence
One effective combination of my main task and my ancillary tasks which I have used, is
the use of cross media convergence. For example, in my Soap Opera magazine cover, I
have included the Facebook logo, Twitter logo, and the Instagram logo, as well as the
official website link and the YouTube logo. Furthermore, in my poster, I have included
the use of the facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat logos. One issue is that
Social media logos are not typically placed onto the front of Soap opera trailers,
however I believed that the use of a wide variety of social media logos on my poster
and magazine front cover, will help to advertise my Soap Opera on a wide variety of a
wide variety of media platforms. I believe that this will be needed upon the release of
my Soap Opera, for it to have a chance at competing with other Soap Operas such as
‘East Enders’ and ‘Hollyoaks’.

4. Point of Call
Another vital piece of evidence which I have repeated throughout my magazine, is the
use of point of call information, which is needed in order to inform any possible
consumers, the time that the Soap opera will be shown and what channel it will be
shown on. For instance, in my Front cover, I included the use of the BBC 2 logo, to
inform consumers that this is the channel that our Soap will be aired on. I also
included the use of a small heading above the masthead reading ‘Every Thursday and
Saturday of the week’, to inform the audience of what days it is going to be shown.
Furthermore, on my Poster, I created a large subheading, reading ‘Coming November
2017’, in order to inform consumers of when the Soap Opera is going to be shown for
the first time. Lastly, in our trailer, we used a point of call for the last few seconds of
our trailer. We used a dark background with a white BBC logo stating that our soap
would be shown on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a feature which we have
‘repeated’(Steve Neale-1980) from other Soap Opera trailers. However, upon
researching existing popular Soap operas such as ‘East Enders’, it became clear that a
point of call is not featured in their trailers, due to their already existing fan base.
Therefore, this is a clear ‘difference’(Steve Neale-1980) between our trailer and those
of already popular Soap Opera trailers.

5. Characters
As well as this, one essential features which I used throughout my ancillary products,
was the use of the same characters for the main images. For instance, John, who is
conveyed as the ‘hero’(Props Character Roles) who suffers in silence during our trailer,
is featured as one of the two main images on my Poster, with Archie (the False Hero-
Props Character Roles), also being featured on this. I also used John for the main
image on my magazine front cover, with an image of Archie at the bottom of the cover.
John is conveyed as the hero throughout our trailer, through the use of a white hoodie
as a prop, which may be interpreted to depict his purity and positive character.
However, in contrast to this, Archie wears a dark black coat with a black hoodie
underneath this. He also wears black jeans and shoes throughout the trailer. This
consistent color of black creates a clear contrast between him and John. This therefore
clearly enforced his character as the ‘False Hero’. We have used these characters, as it
‘repeats’(Steve Neale-1980), the sorts of characters which are typically featured in
soap operas.

6. Typically in regular Soap Operas such as ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘East Enders’, the
female characters may be argued to be dominated and sometimes overlooked due to
the male characters. This is something which has been ‘repeated’(Steve Neale-1980),
through my ancillary products. For instance, in my Poster, the only two images which
are featured are both big main images and both of these images are of the male
protagonists, Archie and John. Furthermore, this is something , which has also been
reflected through my Soap Opera magazine front cover. This is because the main
image of my magazine front cover was also a large image of John and all of my other
smaller images are of male characters, apart from a smaller image at the bottom of
the front cover, featuring Archie and two female protagonists. However through our
trailer, there is an equal split of male and female characters.

7. Critical Appraise
Critical Appraise has been used throughout my main task and my ancillary products
too. For instance throughout our trailer there is use of quotes such as ‘fantastic’ from
successful broadsheet newspapers like ‘the Times’ and ‘The Daily Express’.
Furthermore, I used the same idea while constructing my poster. I included quotes
from ‘The Sun’, ‘The Daily Mirror’ and ‘The daily Express’. By including critical appraise
in my tasks, it increases the hype which is created behind the soap, as people are
informed of the high ratings from hard critics, who have reviewed it. The quotes such
as ‘Fantastic’ etc, it entices my target audience, as they are keen to feel the same
excitement which was experienced by those from the various magazines, which rated
the Soap. This also helps to build a positive reputation behind ‘Sycamore Rise’ and
consequently helps to give us a wider audience as a result.

8. Taglines
Furthermore, throughout my main task and ancillary tasks, I have carried the
same tagline, in order to promote my Soap Opera as a brand and to also build
brand identity. This is so that people will associate the phrase ‘You can run,
but you cant hide’, with our Soap Opera. I have used this same phrase in my
Poster, on my Soap Opera magazine front cover and we have also featured it
during our trailer. This phrase is important as it ‘Signifies’(De Saussure) the
main theme of our Soap Opera, which is crime. Therefore, this tagline links all
of my tasks together, as well as linking to the themes which our Soap opera
was built upon.

9. Setting
Furthermore, another convention which I have carried out throughout my
main task and ancillary tasks, is the setting of our Soap Opera. For instance,
throughout our trailer, we used a wide variety of establishing shots which
were taken in rural areas of Surrey. This is important as it reflects the area
which the Soap opera is going to take place in. Furthermore, I conveyed this
in my poster through the use of a rural picture, with lowered opacity, as well
as the ‘Villain’(Props Character Roles), also with lowered opacity. This meant
that my poster was darkly themed as I intended, but also conveyed the
setting of my Soap Opera as our trailer did, which was what I intended.
However, I did not ‘repeat’(Steve Neale-1980) in my magazine cover, as this is
not a typical convention for Soap Opera magazines and I wanted to keep my
magazine front cover as close to typical conventions as possible.

10. BBC Logo
Lastly, I have achieved consistency throughout my main task and my ancillary
tasks, through the use of the BBC logo. In our trailer we featured the BBC 2
logo at the end of our trailer, in order to inform consumers of what channel
our Soap opera will be showed on. Furthermore, I included this logo in my
magazine front cover and also in my Soap Opera poster. On my magazine
cover, I used a black logo against a white background, in order to make it
stand out more. However in my poster, I made the logo white against a black
background to also make it stand out. The main purpose of the BBC 2 logo is
to ‘inform’(Katz) the audience of what channel our Soap Opera ‘Sycamore
Rise’ will be found on.

11. conclusion
In conclusion, all of my three products which I have constructed, such as my
main task (our trailer) and my ancillary tasks (my Poster and Magazine cover),
are consistent with each other when it comes to marketing our Soap opera
and connoting the themes included in our Soap opera ‘Sycamore Rise’