ANCILLARY TASK, POSTER ANALYSIS 2;

MAIN IMAGE; Bright and striking image immediately catches the target audience’s attention. The fact that the image is very heavily over edited is important because it highlights the breaking of traditional soap conventions. Unlike the poster taken from Coronation street that I have also analysed, this image is very dramatic and gives away much of the storyline. It clearly shows that there some sort of fire and highlights which characters are involved. The image is also very unfeminine. This is important because unlike most soap’s, Hollyoaks does not target a mostly female audience, but also targets males too. The dark colours in the image connote death, despair and evil-indicating something terrible is going to happen. This colour also emphasizes the orange fire which connotes danger, also giving away more of the storyline. The fact that the producers have used five very different characters is important because it leaves the audience guessing, they may have an idea about the storyline but they are left wondering which character’s will suffer most, creating a major cliff-hanger and leaving them wanting to tune in to find out what happens.

Logo; this is important because it tells the target audience which channel they will need to tune into in order to watch the programme being advertised. It is also an easily identifiable logo that soap fans would instantly associate with Hollyoaks, further advertising the soap and also advertising the other programmes that regular channel 4 viewers would associate with this logo. The use of the colour white is particularly effective because it stands out dramatically against the dark colours within the image, highlighting the importance of advertising the logo.

The phrase is important because it was also used in the trailer to promote the same storyline. This is extremely effective because it constantly reminds the target audience about the up and coming storyline, making them more inclined to tune in. The black, bold font and the white backing stand out against the dark background, instantly catching the target audience’s attention. The colour white also has connotations of innocence and purity which is important with regard to the storyline because it could mean that it is an innocent character that suffers within this dramatic storyline.