In order to create a set of successful media products, the main product and ancillary texts must link. There are many ways you can link an ancillary text to the main product. For example, products can be connected through brands, logos, colour schemes, the institution, stars, narratives and representations to name a few. To show how an existing product has done this, I have found and researched a Hollyoaks trailer, website and posters. I have then clearly displayed how these products have been branded to make strong links between them. Here are the products I chose to research:

Having discoevered what links are essential within media products and their ancillaries, I have found various links between my own products. These links suggest successful media synergies between the pieces of media. Here are the links between my media products:

Both my website and trailer have a clear brand identity through the use of my 'Teenage Dreams' title banner. I have added this to both my website and trailer in order to create a brand for each product, as well as linking them together as one product. As the banner has the title of the soap on, it clearly displays what each product is representing.

I have added the logo of the channel my soap is aired on on both my website and my trailer. This not only creates a strong link between the two products, but it also creates a clear institution.

I have also used the use of stars to create more links between my website and trailer. Placing images of the same stars from my trailer, onto my website, shows that the two products are for the same soap.

Here I have placed the days and time my trailer will appear on telly on both  my trailer and website. I have used the same layout in order for the link between the two products to be effective.

To make strong links between my soap magazine cover and my trailer, I have created a star identity by using the same star characters on both pieces of media. Both the characters Cheska, and Annaliese appear several times within the trailer making  them appear as the main characters. As they were strong main characters, I chose to put them onto my magazine cover to make a good link.

It is common that soap magazines are not part of the same institution as particular soaps. They are made up of many different soaps put into one magazine. As this is the case, both my magazine cover and my trailer have the same title for the soap 'Teenage Dreams' written on them, but they are not in the same fonts as they belong to separate institutions with separate brands.

To make strong links between my soap magazine and website, I have created a star identity by using the same star characters on both pieces of media. As Cheska has appeared as a 'main character' throughout my trailer, I have chosen to put picture on both my website and magazine cover. This not only creates a strong star identity, but also creates a strong link between my media ancillaries.

It is common that soap magazines are not part of the same institution as particular soaps. They are made up of many different soaps put into one magazine. As this is the case, both my magazine cover and my website have the same title for the soap 'Teenage Dreams' written on them, but they are not in the same fonts as they belong to separate institutions with separate brands.

In order to chose a demographic I decided to research into what age and what gender are most likely to be tuning into soaps in the evenings. To find this out I simply asked a large spread of different genders and age ranges if they watched any soaps.

From this research it was evident that soap opears are most popular with the demographic of females. It was also made apparent that the most likely age group to be watching soaps are teenagers. As the collective group of teenage girls are the most likely to tune into soaps, I chose to use this as my target audience.

In order to create a soap suitable for my chosen demographic, teenage girls, I did some planning to discover what would interest my audience. In order to discover what TV genres currently interest girls of this age, I conveyed a survey to find out. Here are some questions that I asked: 

From this question, it is obvious that my chosen demographic, prefer to watch the TV between the hours of 10-11pm.  Programmes that tend to be on at this time are those such as Skins and Made In Chelsea. I took this into account when I was chosing my soap genre.

This question has shown me that most teenage girls prefer to watch shows on either channel 4, or E4. The most popular teenage programmes on this channel are ones such as Hollyoaks, Made In Chelsea, and Skins. Therefore, these are the programmes I will consider when chosing my soap genre.

From this answer, it is obvious that my target demographic enjoy watching Hollyoaks, and Made In Chealsea the most. These are two soaps that fit in to all of the majorities well.

From carrying out this research, I discovered what type of soaps the teenage girl demmographic enjoy the most. This was key in order to create a media product that will be popular with my chosen audience. From the answers it seemed that teenage girls prefer to watch the TV at a later time in the evening. This is around the time that programmes such as Made In Chelsea are on at, which was a top answer in which was your preferred soap. Also the channels which are most popular with this demographic were channel 4 and E4. The soaps that are aired on these channels are again, Made In Chelsea and Hollyoaks. Therefore, these two soaps were the ones I believed to hold the same demographic that I wanted to aim my trailer at. As I had asked my audience directly, I saw this to be valid information. Therefore, I would base my trailer on these such soaps.

I have created a mood board to represent my ideal soap reader. As my soap is essentially aimed at teenage girls, most of the images portray this demographic. However, there is opportunity for my soap to attract teenage boys, therefore I have included some images that represent this audience type.

In order to create the best possible magazine cover I could, I gathered some audience feedback to find out what could be improved. Below is a selection of the questions I asked with the comments next to them.

This feedback was very important, as i learnt what the people who would be buying my product, want to see. Therefore, from the comments I recieved I acted upon some points that needed to be changed in order to fully please my target demographic. For example, having recieved the comment 'it's not clear if it is a poster or magazine cover', I played around with the composition and design of my cover to make sure that it became a lot clearer what the product was. I also recieved the comment that the target audience wasn't clear enough. Taking this into account, I made sure that all of the pictures were strongly portraying a teenage demographic. One way i did this was by making sure I had plenty of images of teenagers, including pictures of parties that would appeal to a young audience. I also made sure the colour scheme I had chosen reflected a young demographic.

After recieveing feedback on my first draft of my magazine cover, I made certain changes to my cover. Now I had completed  my second draft, I gathered some more audience feedback in order to carry on improving my ancillary product. Here are the comments I recieved on points I could improve:

1. Make the main heading 'She's Back' canted for more effect, and add an exclamation mark.
2. Make the background a sky blue, and make the boxes bright yellows and reds.
3. Add another button with a competition on it and make them brighter.
4. Fill the space.

In order to please my audience as much as I could, I made these changes to my cover due to the above feedback:

1. I added an exclamation mark to the heading 'She's Back!' and I made it canted in order to make it more asthetically pleasing.
2.I made the background of my magazine a bright blue and made the caption boxes a lot brighter so they stood out more.
3.I changed the style of the button and added another on to create compeition.
4.I filled the space with the subheading from the 'She's Back!' heading.

From this feedback, I made improvements to my website, that my target audience thought were appropriate. As it had been suggested that I should 'speed up the images on the behind the scenes page', this is exactly what I did. Having previously had the times on 5 seconds per photo, I changed it to 3 seconds per photo. I also recieved the comment that the characters page wasn't clear enough that it was a page about the characters. Therefore, I changed the title of the page from 'Meet the Dreamers...' to 'Meet the Dreaming Characters...'. I also changed the composition of the images and paragraphs on the hyperlink.

Having made a first draft of my trailer, in order to gain some audience feedback,  I created a set of questions to ask my peers. Below are the comments I recieved:

1. Does it have the conventions of a trailer?
Yes, there are clear title cards explaining different emotions the programme entails and clear brand drama/relationships.
Yes, there are many conventions such as star introductions, title cards, brand identity, storyline teasers, motage edits.
The trailer has a great song choice and good title cards and montages.

2.Does it have a clear BRAND identity?
Yes through the use of 'Teenage Dreams' and connotations of young aspirations.
A clear brand at the start of the trailer, but perhaps needs more at the end of it.

3.Who do you think it is for? Male- female- age- culture
I get the feeling the soap is aimed at males and females ages 15-25. Clear british culture.
I think it is aimed at teenagers of both genders. ( Maybe slightly more girls)
I believe it is aimed at female teenagers due to the feminime title cards.

4.Would it make you want to see the soap?
Yes - it leaves you guessing/quesitoning.
Yes - but maybe use a little less of the 'old sepia' effect as it makes me feel a bit sad.
Yes, definitely.

5.Are there star attractions?
Yes - Elliot. I want to learn more about the characters.
Yes there is a good use of star attractions by using close ups on the main characters faces and also using name cards at the end.
The star attractions have been portrayed very well with the shot types.

6.Do the stories/narratives interest you? Does it make sense?
Yes, real life situations like gossip and love.
Yes, the contrast of the 'friendship' and 'deceit' binary titles really appeal to me.
There are no obvious storylines.

7.Does it remind you of other similar products? Which product?
It reminds me of dramatic programmes such as Hollyoaks and The Only Way is Essex.
It is a bit similar to Waterloo Road with elements from other soaps such as Hollyoaks and Skins.
The programme appears quite dramatic like The Only Way is Essex and Hollyoaks, it also has elements of Waterloo Road.

8.Has it got a day? Time? Channel? Date of broadcast?
A date and time still needs to be added.
No not yet, it needs a date and time to finish it off.
No, but it needs doing!

As it is especially important that the audience enjoys the trailer, from the feedback I gained,I made appropriate changes to my trailer. From this feedback I learnt that I needed to make sure I added a time, date and channel that my soap is on. Therefore, I added a clip at the end of my trailer with the brand banner from my website, with text saying when the show is on, and the channel logos that the soap will appear on. I also needed to make sure I had a clear brand through the use of the title of the soap, 'Teenage Dreams'. I fullfilled this by adding the soap brand to end of the video.

Having completed my trailer I posted it onto my facebook in order to gain a response. Having done so I recieved some comments which I shall place below:

      'A very good trailer which easily has the audience engaged'
                        'I love the music you have chosen'
   'I enjoyed the trailer but it could be aimed at boys as well as girls'
                                    'I want to watch more'
                          'The storylines are too girl orientated'

I was pleased with the response I gained from posting my trailer on facebook. Most of the comments I recieved wer're postivie about my soap. However, some of the comments from boys suggested that it was too girl orientated. Therefore, if i were to make a trailer again, I may add some more interst for boys.