Soap Opera Poster

This soap opera poster was found on one of the billboards at an underground train station.

• The fire effects highlight a specific storyline (a fire break out) and can give connotations of death.
• The picture also gives an idea to the audience of who is involved in the fire and would question them on who will take injury and possibly die. This makes people want to watch the soap and find out.
• The poster uses a tagline 'A week that will change Hollyoaks forever'. This immediately grabs the attention of the public and makes you want to find out how.
• The tagline and viewing time is also on a white banner which connotes innocence and purity juxtapostioning the flames of the fire and standing out so it is clear for people to see.
• The font is simple and easy to read.
• Use of the channel 4 logo to easily identify the channel of the soap for any interest taken to the poster.
• The main focus of the poster is the fiery characters which automatically draws attention to the poster and the colours are bright to stand out on the black background.

This poster was found in a magazine showing the 25th anniversary of Eastenders. It is primarily aimed at the audience of the magazine.

• The poster is set in the Queen Vic which is the prime location of Eastenders.
• All the characters are featured in the poster and all appear to be smiling and happy with the exception of a few which would mean that anyone that saw the poster would want to find out about the characters storylines.
• The colours are bright to attract the attention of people reading the magazine. 
• The River Thames which is shown in the introductory music/theme tune of the soap is portrayed through the use of ribbon on the poster which connotes a special event in Eastenders (25th anniversary) attracting audiences to watch the special upcoming episodes.
• The characters highlight individual storylines and this makes people want to watch the soap to find out what happens.  

From carrying out research into existing soap opera posters, I have gained an insight into what they include and how they attract their target audience and I will be able to apply this knowledge when I come to making my own soap opera poster.
I have found that posters generally focus on one storyline that takes a big impact on the soap opera which makes the audience want to find out what happens (increasing viewing figures) so I will make my poster in a similar, effective way to introduce a new soap and attract the target audience.
I found that posters are fairly simplistic including a main image, tagline and viewing information (channel and time of soap). This is useful information for the audience which I will need to include in my poster.
We expect to include a picture of the main characters with a catchy tagline and a simplistic design which mirrors those of existing posters.