Soap Opera Genre –

Ancillary Product Analysis

Name: Imani Ayimba-GoldingCandidate Number: 1012Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

OCR Media Studies – A2 Level

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Masthead- Tells you what's going to be on TV. This is informative for a reader. Bright attractive colours makes it more intriguing.

Main Headline- BOLD, Pink outline draws attention.Verbal codes such as “stolen” “Kills” and “dies” are used to attract the audience of the magazine. The words connote drama and give an insight onto what the magazine entails.

The Main image of ‘Tina’ from Coronation Street helps grab the targets audiences attention.

The use of a puff promotion makes the audience aware of what its trying to promote. “THE FINAL” Stands out due to the puff promotion.

A group of illustrated lures such as ‘Corrie’ and ‘EastEnders’ denote identification and that fans will be able to recognise their program by looking at these illustrated lures accompanied by the pictures.

The use of punctuation makes the text seem more important. The question marks makes the audience question what's going and therefore are more likely to read it.

The puff used for this promotion appears impactful and therefore catches an audiences eye.

The repetition of the verbal code “EVERY” highlights that the magazine contains lots of valuable information for soap watchers . It also shows how regular the magazine will be released “EVERY WEEK”.

The red house colour attracts the audience at first glance. Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. This is key for a soap opera as they are very emotionally intense.

The masthead suggests that this particular magazine gives readers an insight deeper into the soap world.

The use of the banner across the top of the magazine allows more stories to be reveled. The use of bright colours will draw the attention of the reader.

The verbal code “KILLER” in the main headline is highlighted using a red box with a white font. This makes the story stand out. The verbal code of killer also suggests danger and drama.

The main image consists of images of 3 characters from EastEnders. I would describe their facial expression as dark. A dark look or remark is angry and threatening.

The fairly low price make the magazine suitable for its stereotypically low income audience.

Evaluation • What’s on TV: The elements that I would ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale-1980) from this magazine

would be the prominent image positioning as it attracts the reader and stands out on the page. What’s on TV has a very simplistic layout and does look fairly plain. However there is a good use of fonts for the masthead as well as the usage of various different images for the cover stories. I would also repeat the effective positioning of the main headlines again I felt that it stood out on the page and was eye-catching for the reader.

• Inside Soap: There are different aspects of the this cover that I would like to repeat for my own magazine. The first of these conventions is the masthead. I like the way in which it is positioned at the top of the page. It gives it importance and significance on the page which is appealing to the reader as the image stands out to them. I also would like to repeat the way in which the strap line is bold on the page. This presentation appeared successful to me and was a good way to brand the magazine to the audience. I would also ‘repeat’ (Steve Neale – 1980) the use of bright colors and a bold background color. I would also repeat the use of exclamation marks and language to sensationalize the story. Another thing I would repeat the use of puff promotions and secondary images and headlines as they are eye catching and attractive.