Initial notes on a soap opera poster

These are my initial notes on existing soap opera posters, these understandings of the conventions of soap opera posters will aid me when creating my own soap opera poster and when researching more into this type of product.

An example of a conventional soap opera poster from
 channel 5's Neighbours 

A poster from Channel 4's Hollyoaks. 

These two posters as well as other posters for soap operas that I have seen contain certain conventions that I will reproduce when creating my own poster with my group, they are very important and are used in almost every poster very successfully, these are conventions contained within both Channel 4 posters and general soap opera posters, the specific conventions contained within these types of media include:

Characters - the characters within soap operas are usually shown with great detail, there are a variety of ways, for example, Channel 5's Neighbours poster above show's each of the frequently screened characters together while Channel 4's Hollyoaks poster only portrays five of the characters, as they certain storyline advertised may focus on those five characters, also how the characters are shown can be very different, such as being shown conventionally, whilst showing some possible characteristics and personality through body language (Neighbours poster shown above) or unconventionally edited to connote very severely a certain storyline or certain characteristics for example, the 'fire' in the Hollyoaks poster could connote a certain dangerous story line, some "fiery" personalities or a dramatic change in the storyline.

Information - Posters give the same short snippets of useful information, such as the time of broadcast as well as the television channel and date/day of the week that the product advertised will be exhibited to the audience, it is extremely important to include snippets of relevant information alongside a snappy tagline in order for the product to be successful, without this information it very possible the audience that are willing to watch it will not be able to as they would not have the neccessary information needed to consume such media, it also adds order to the product and continuity, for example amongst all Channel 4 posters there is a certain order, with the logo on the right hand of the poster to show where the product will be exhibited, and usually there is a great amount of continuity to the layout of the information and tagline, it is similar with the same font used and two contrasting colours used together.




 

Magazine Analysis

I have analysed the conventions of magazine covers in order to aid me when I create draft posters and for Doorstep Productions final product, this knowledge and analysis of  magazines will be used when we create ours so that we can create the optimum magazine.

The Main Cover Line 

The main cover line usually in formed out of blocks of very eye-catching colours, and usually one word is used which in this case is "CHEAT", this is in the hope for people to see it from far away and be drawn to reading more into what this "cheat" is all about, the colours are usually very bright and in this case are Yellow and Pink with a shade of white, used to catch the attention of shoppers walking past. 

Mastline 

The mastline is the name of the magazine and is always the same with it's colours, the mastlines are usually red but are always colours which stand out and are often shadowed, this is to grab attention and for the audience who frequently purchases this magazine to feel a sense of consistency with this product, when creating ours will make it's mast head follow these conventions. 

The Left Third 

The left third is considered heavily when creating soap opera magazines, it often contains part of the main coverline and picture associated with that story as well as part of the masthead and usually some information about the price of the magazine of in this instance that there is "2 weeks revealed" which after looking deeper into this specific magazine Soaplife I noticed is a recurring inclusion into the top of the left third. 

The Main focus

I have noticed after researching a number of soap opera and listings magazines, that the main focus is a picture of one to three character associated with the main cover line, they cover a large surface area of the magazine compared to the other conventional and important features of a magazine front cover of this type, which will help me when creating our own, also the idea of a lack of blank space will be important to make the magazine cover as true to life as possible. 

The Cover lines

The other smaller cover lines run along the borders of the soap opera magazine in order for the reader to get sucked into the stories of multiple different soap operas, it is an excuse to include a small contents section to shown and to draw people into buying the book and read on if they are particularly interested in a soap that is the main coverline. 

 As you can see this magazine is very similar to the other magazine in looks, the soap opera listings magazines are very similar and have very tight conventions which if not kept to can cause the popularity to suffer, these are a lack of blank space, a variety of eye-catching pictures and colours used alongside many other techniques aimed at attracting buyers, interested in watching the soap operas featured.

The Main Cover Line/Focus

The main cover line for this magazine is snappy, with just two words in capital letters "IAN'S HELL!" it is a large Eastenders storyline for that week and has made it's way to being the biggest feature for this particular magazine, it is snappy and characters are intorduced with simply a picture and a first name within the cover line and focus, it is obvouisly for existing fans of the soap opera and not to attract a new audience for Eastenders, much like all the other coverlines located around the outside border of the magazine cover, it would work very well to attract an audience with the extremely detailed photograph of ian after departing for a long time with a scruffy looking beard, this is a rather large storyline and would get a large reaction from audience members.

The Left Third

The left third of this magazine has followed the conventions very well, it has a coverline visible within the left third which in order for people to see this eyecatching coverline and read it, get hooked in and purchase the book or at least pick it up and read the rest of the cover before buying it, we will need to incorporate and good use of the left third when we create our own magazine cover for our soap opera Maple Way.