Research of soap opera posters

This research was very time consuming because I struggled to find many posters advertising soap operas. However, I managed to find some examples on the internet, but it was hard to establish whether they were genuine or not, because there seemed to be a large amount of fan-made ones. I also looked in different magazines such as t.v listings magazines, gossip magazines and newspapers. Here are some examples that I found for different soaps:

I personally believe that this looks like a film poster because the graveyard photograph seems to be the main focus. However, if you are familiar with Eastenders, you would be able to recognise the characters at the top of the poster, and henceforth you would understand that this is a soap opera poster. This is obviously a poster advertising a specific storyline with the characters at the top of the page.

This poster for 'Hollyoaks' shows the majority of the main characters. I think this would be a successful poster advertising the beginning of a new soap because the presentation of so many characters would allow the audience to familiarise themselves with them before the soap even started. I like the use of colour; how the male characters are blue and the female characters are pink. I like the simplicity of the poster because it just features photographs of the characters and the soap operas name which is enough informtation. However, for my poster I would need to include the name, when it starts, time, date, what channel it airs on, website and any other additional information because it is all knew and the audience would not be familiar with it.

This is another poster for 'Hollyoaks'. This time however, it seems to be for a specific storyline, presumably involving a fire. I like the special effects that are used to make it look as though the characters are on fire. I found that the use of the channel's logo and the start the date would be especially useful in my poster because it would provide information to the audience that they wouldn't know as it is a new soap.

Although this wasn't used as a poster in a magazine or newspaper, I found this on ITV's website. It was used to advertise the blog section, but I think that the image could be made into a good poster. It would work well with Corontation Street's audience, because they would be familiar with the characters and the anticipated storyline.

From looking at the small amount of posters I found, it seems to me that there aren't really any set conventions, other than to include the characters. Because I will be promoting a brand new soap opera, I know that I need to include the title, date and time it starts, the channel it airs on, the website and any other relvant information the audience wouldn't already know. I also think that I should include a variety of characters so that the audience can familiarise themselves with them before the soap starts. I also think that the more simple the poster is the more effective it will be.