Conclusion of Survey Results

After reading through each individual response to my survey, the answers provided allowed me to have a deeper understanding of what the audience would typically want to see from a psychological thriller trailer.
For example,

• I have gained knowledge as to what type of locations I should incorporate into my trailer such as enclosed environments to show the protagonists confinement, abandoned buildings to create a sense of loneliness for the main character, places that are significant to the protagonists personal life and dark settings such as being outside at night. These dark settings which would follow the forms and conventions of a psychological thriller trailer would create a mysterious, more intense atmosphere for the audience.

 

• In regards to what style of music I should include into my trailer, most people have responded in saying that they would expect to see deep orchestral music that doesn't include vocals. By not including music with vocals, it allows the dialogue and voice over narration to be heard and understood by the audience more clearly whilst also making the trailer overall seem more dramatic and intense. The audience also responded in saying that they would want to hear loud, dramatic music that starts slow and then picks up the pace towards the end of the trailer to increase tension which would be representative to the tone of the scene.

• When asked how the use of voice over narration would help convey the storyline, the audience expressed that it would help to tell the storyline at a faster pace therefore allowing the audience to gain an understanding of the trailer and an insight into the main concept of the film. Further responses informed me that it would help to show the characters feelings and the state of mind they are in, which is particularly helpful for my genre as a psychological thriller trailer , it would also help consolidate the storyline when clips of the protagonist are in different locations.

• My audience informed me of how and why jump cuts and straight cuts would be more effective than using dissolves and fade in/outs, some answers stating that they would be more effective as they are more jarring and makes the audience feel more uncomfortable, they would also be effective because they would speed up things during the film and therefore make the trailer more intense and make it more relatable to the psychological side to the trailer. However, some responses informed me that although jump cuts and straight cuts will be effective, dissolves and fade in/outs will be too. For example, one member of the audience told me that both are effective as fading into black would build up tension and jump cuts would show the fast, scary parts of the film, therefore I have decided on using a mixture of both types of cuts throughout various stages in the trailer.

• In terms of which types of camera shots I should include into my trailer, the audience expressed that a wide variety of shot types should be used throughout. Extreme close ups got the highest number of votes, followed by close ups, high angle shots and low angle shots all gaining the same amount of votes. The audience also expressed that over the shoulder shots and master shots should be incorporated into the trailer, therefore I will use various different camera shots throughout my psychological thriller trailer to convey the main storyline to the audience.

• When asked whether high key lighting, low key lighting or a mixture of both should be used, most of the audience responded in saying that the would expect to see mostly a mixture of the two but that low key lighting on its own would also be effective for the genre I have chosen.

• I have also gained an insight into how the audience would expect tension to be built up, most responses stated that they would expect the tension the build up slowly over a length of time but have different levels of tension throughout the trailer to throw the audience and make it more uneasy and uncomfortable to watch. Other responses informed me that combining music with various shots will increase the tension whilst also adding in more close ups and extreme close up shots towards the end of the trailer will help me achieve this. Furthermore, cuts should become quicker and characters voices should become louder and more distressed to build a climax.

• In regards to how much dialogue should be used in my trailer, most of my audience would want enough dialogue to give an insight into what the film is about and because their voice tells the story of their distress and their emotions that need to be conveyed. However, some of my audience expect to see little dialogue so that the psychological effects that the protagonist is experiencing are portrayed through mise-en-scene and the various camera shots used.

• When asked what clothing the audience would expect to see in a psychological thriller, most responses revealed that they would expect a mixture of normal, everyday clothes and different coloured clothing to symbolise the characters personalities, also dark clothing that could possibly be torn or dirty to show their psychological state was suggested.

Overall, from analysing my survey results I have gained a wider insight into exactly what the audience are expecting to see from my psychological thriller trailer therefore I will use this information to help me in my planning for the rest of this project.