Survey Analysis

Question 1:  Describe music that makes you feel good.

The results for question generally said that the music should be upbeat and light-hearted. This would help to portray the happy mood of the film, this has been seen in the trailers that I analysed. Using a popular, upbeat song would help to build a brand for the films image as they tried to do in Footloose. This means that I would use music that has an upbeat feel; this would mean I was using a feature that occurs in all of the trailers from this genre.

Question 2: What images spring to mind when you hear feel good music? 

A variety of answers were given, however, they generally suggest that it should be something fun and active. They also say that it connotes bright, summery images and scenes within the trailer. This is linked with the other trailers that I analysed as they all show bright happy scenes where the characters are doing things that they love, showing that this is a common feature in the genre to create a successful trailer. From these answers I have decided to show my characters to be doing things they enjoy, eg. dancing.

Question 3: What characters do you expect to see in a feel good drama?

Many of the answer suggest that they want characters that have big and loud personalities; contrasting this, the answers also say that there should be a main protagonist going through a difficult situation. The second conclusion that the survey drew would be more realistic to the feel good drama genre, as this happens in many films. This means that I would ensure that my main characters need to turn around from a tough situation and come out feeling victorious.  

Question 4: How many main characters should be introduced in a feel good drama trailer and why?

This question helped me establish that I need to introduce at least two characters so that the audience gain more of a personal insight into the main protagonist. It was also common that I should introduce 2 or 3 background characters, eg friends, to help establish more of a setting and mood of all the friends. This is done in some of the trailers that I analysed, many of the main characters were revealed, but the antagonist/background characters are introduced slightly. From these answers then I have decided to introduce the main protagonist and a few friends/other characters that would help to develop the story further for the viewer.

Question 5: What dialogue do you expect to hear in a feel good drama trailer?

The answers were suggesting that the dialogue should be happy things from the characters that make the viewer feel good, these could include also the general dialogue. This would help to set the scene of the film but not reveal much of the plot, only the general gist of the film. Many trailers do the same; however, I found that the trailers I analysed in this genre do not include any dialogue from the characters, only voice over and non-diagteic music. I will follow the example of the trailers and use a voice over on my trailer to give the brief storyline to the viewers.

Question 6: What camera shot would reinforce a turning point in the plot of a feel good drama trailer and why?

A close up was the shot that was mentioned mostly in the answers to my survey. This is because it helps to show us the emotion that the character is feeling. Eg say ‘the character was getting better at something it would show his excitement’. This is shown in Flashdance when she starts to get better at dancing and they show a close up of her feeling happy. I would then use more close ups in the trailer as it would show the changing emotions of my characters.

Question 7: Describe the pace of editing that would help communicate the condensed plot of a feel good drama trailer?

The answers to this question were very mixed, however, the one that I think would be most successful in portraying the condensed plot would be to start the editing slow, and gradually build up to a faster pace as the storyline builds. Using this style of editing would help to convey how the mood changes throughout the trailer, faster editing would suggest that something is more tense or dramatic. Where as, slower editing would maybe show something as being very laidback. This survey has helped me to decide that I am going to use a mixed pace of editing to convey the mixed emotions throughout the trailer.

Question 8: What can high key and low key lighting tell you about the plot of a feel good drama?

The low key lighting can tell us that something more serious is happening and we could be coming to a possible turning point in the plot; whereas, high key lighting can help to convey a more happy and upbeat scene. This has been emphasized in the Footloose where many of the scenes have very bright lighting to show the characters happiness, but darker scenes such as the one with the train which shows a darker atmosphere. From this I have chosen that a tense scene, where possibly there is sadness or anger should be filmed in a more low key lighting and the scenes in which the protagonist are happy and excited should be filmed using high key lighting.   

Question 9: Which form of narration do you prefer?

The overall answer to this question was character voice over on top of the trailer, which would help to tell the story to the viewer. This form of narration has also been used in the other trailers that I analysed. For example, in the Footloose trailer there is only one or two lines of dialogue and the rest is in voice over. Using these two forms of research, I have concluded that the voice over is the best way to convey to the viewer the narrative of the story.  

Question 10: How does your choice of narration support what you expect from a feel good trailer?

The main answer that I got from this question was that using voice over from one of the characters helps it to seem more personal and makes us form a stronger bond with the main protagonist. I feel that using the main character as the narrator will give us more of a personal insight into the character and their thoughts, which could potentially draw more attention to the story for the viewer. From these answers it helps to back up my decision of using the voice over in my trailer.