OCR Media Studies – A2 Level

Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio

Mind Map and Research

Name: Claire OlneyCandidate Number: 1186Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

Generation of Ideas for Ancillary Product 2) –

Poster

Themes• Stalking – This theme is a prominent theme within our soap opera trailer. I

feel that it links well to a thriller kind of genre, and connotes a sense of uneasiness and edginess for the audience to watch, which will be engaging to them and keep them on the edge of their seats.

• Violence/Action – This theme would attract a stereotypical male audience in particular, as they tend to enjoy watching action-packed programs. Also, it would be intense, which would entice people to want to watch the program if it involves a lot of action.

• Romance – I think this could be a potential theme for my poster because it does feature as a smaller part of the trailer in terms of a teacher-student relationship. This idea could also be brought between the stalker and stalkee, the domestic couple and even the pregnant teen, as it could reminisce back to better times of romance.

Tagline

The tagline will be positioned in the center of the page in order to attract the audience’s attention, and to demonstrate its significance on the page.

• “Somebody is always watching.” – This tagline is quite eerie and would leave the audience on edge. The fact that someone is ‘always watching’ connotes that it is quite a psychologically disturbing tagline, which could also make the audience members feel uncomfortable themselves. This also links into the theme of stalking, which is the main theme of my soap opera trailer.

• “Piece by piece…people will break you.” – This doesn’t give too much away in terms of what is going to happen in the soap opera, but it is quite mysterious, which could in turn entice the audience to watch the program. The fact that it is ‘piece by piece’ holds connotations of it being on-going, which implies that the feeling of uneasiness will be present for the audience throughout the entirety of the soap. Also, it could be said that by addressing the audience directly as ‘you’ suggests that the program will be relatable, and could psychologically impact the viewers.

• “Don’t fall through the cracks…” – This tagline is quite vague in terms of what could be happening in the soap opera, but it almost gives off the impression that it is a warning to not only the characters, but to the audience too, which could make them feel involved, and therefore intrigued to watch the soap. There are connotations within the use of ‘fall’ and ‘cracks’, as it suggests that the downfalls of characters are hidden, and it implies that the soap opera contains surprises as we as mystery.

Images• Girl being stalked in the woods – This image idea fits in with the stalking theme,

and being a prominent theme in the soap, it will therefore allow the audience members to understand the main storyline before watching it. Also, it will be quite an eerie photograph, which could make the audience members feel on edge, but at the same time it would entice them to want to watch the soap. The image will be taken as a long shot in order to get both characters as well as the background in focus, but the boy stalking will be in more of a close up shot, as he will be behind the girl. In terms of manipulation I will make the background black and white, and keep the characters in colour in order to add more emphasis on their importance in the soap.

• All characters looking at the camera – This idea for an image is more personal towards the audience, and it allows people to be made aware of what characters will feature within the soap. The eye contact between the characters and the camera could make it seem quite threatening, which links to the idea of stalking as well as violence/action, which will attract audience members to watch the soap.

Software

• Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5 – This is the software I will be using in order to produce my poster. It will allow me to embed my images that I need, as well as enabling me to manipulate them how I want to, so it looks professional. It also provides me with the tools I need to create a poster that will be relevant to my trailer. As the main theme is stalking, it is quite a dark subject so I will be able to darken my images and perhaps add a black and white filter to my images using the filter tool, and I can keep the colours consistent using the eye-dropper tool.

Other• Synergy with social media – This not only promotes the soap and

advertises it, but it also allows the audience members to follow up on the soap opera away from the program itself. It will also create a ‘buzz’ if people talk about it over the Internet through the use of a hash tag, and through mentioning the soap opera’s account.

• Synergy with the magazine – This will assist the audience and ‘inform’ (Katz) them where to find extra information and content on the soap opera, which will be written in more detail within the magazine, and it will involve a breakdown of the storylines involved.

• Point of call information – This feature is crucial in letting the audience know what channel the soap opera can be found, as well as what days and times to watch it, which therefore gives them the information they need in order to watch it, otherwise without this, then the audience would not know where to find the program to watch it, or when it would be on.

Conclusion

• 1. What I need to do: I now need to make sure I capture my desired photos for my poster, so I can then create it how I intend to.

• 2. What I need to organise and arrange: I need to make sure that the images I take are all relevant to the soap opera, and that my font style fits in to the theme of my soap. I also need to make sure the tagline appropriately represents the soap opera, and that the image is manipulated correctly and professionally.

• 3. I will use: I will be using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5 to create my poster, which has the tools available to me to manipulate my images and produce a professional-looking poster to appeal to my audience.