Soap Opera Genre –

Ancillary Product Analysis

Name: Keir SpeirsCandidate Number: 4131Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

OCR Media Studies – A2 Level

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Tagline – This tagline connotes that there has been a massive problem in the soap and it is unlikely to change back to how things used to be. This makes the audience want to know what has happened to this character or what this character has done. The verbal code “change forever” connotes to the audience of a big change but they are left guessing what the change will be.

Image – Here this image has been made to look black and white. This connotes to the reader that something bad has happened as the non-vernal code of the females facial expression makes her look as though she is scared and hiding from someone, which connotes to the viewer again that something bad has happened to this character.

Synergy with social mediaHere this poster has a ‘#’ so the audience can see that they can go on twitter and follow the latest gossip for this soap. This is good for the institution and audience as they can find out about what has happened if they missed the latest episode of the soap. This also helps promote the social media site ‘twitter’.

Institution identThis ‘informs’ (Katz) the audience what channel the soap is broadcasted on. This helps the reader so they don’t have to search for the soap. Also it helps to promote the channel so the reader will go on this channel and watch other programs.

Image – This image has been manipulated to ‘signify’ (De Saussure) danger in these characters. The fire connotes that these characters have done something bad however the audience are left to guess what they are going to do. This makes the audience tune in everyday to find out what each character has done. This is something fans expect so they are left following the story line and wanting to find out more.

Institution Logo – This helps the reader to know what channel this soap is going to be broadcasted on. Also it helps to promote the channel as audiences will go onto the channel to see what else they show.

Tagline – The verbal code of the tagline on this poster establishes to the audience that something bad has happened. This relates to Todorov’s 3 part narrative. This will suggest a ‘disequilibrium’ to the audience leaving them guessing what is going to happen in the upcoming episodes.

Image – The image has strong connotations that suggest a break up between two characters. The knife could be an ‘Enigma’ (Barthes) of what is going to happen. This could suggest a death of a character or a split between two characters.

Tagline – The tagline connotes to the audience of what has happened to a characters but not specifically what one. The verbal code “Betrayed” connotes to the audience that one character has done something bad and another character is going to find out.

Social Media – The social media allows reader to know that they can go online and follow their favourite soap. This allows them to then follow up all the latest gossip and clues about future events.

Brand identity – This allows the reader to be able to see what soap is being advertised. This means advertising both my soap and other existing soaps.

Conclusion • In conclusion I have found that the image can hold strong connotations to

what the narrative is going to be about. This may sometimes leave audiences guessing what is going to happen. I also found that the tagline is good in conveying hints about the narrative that reinforce the image. I also found that social media is included the majority of the time. This allows synergy between the poster and social media. The audience are then able to follow their favourite soap and find out more about the narrative.