This document contains the results of primary research conducted by Jude Munday for a school project on creating a soap opera trailer. The research found that storylines focusing on drug use and anxiety/depression would appeal to audiences. Creating tension and addressing social issues in trailers was found to pique viewer interest. Respondents felt a clear villain character and plot twists would make the soap opera engaging. The research gathered input from a diverse age range, including those inside and outside the target 16-29 demographic.

1. Primary Research Results
Name: Jude Munday
Candidate Number: 3092
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135

2. What are the most common storylines used?
This piece of collected data is incredibly useful as it backs up my own opinion, that “Chalk
lane” is the most suitable name. Chalk Lane is also an actual place, not far from my location
of education, and so will be easy to film there, and also means we can include shots that
connect the title with the content, such as an opening shot of the road sign.

3. Because of this question, it has come to my attention that current soap operas are not wholly
enlightening on the social issues they address. Therefore, I would like to make our soap opera
more educational for viewers, broadening their awareness and understanding. It is important
that this is done so that we don’t portray any negative light on the issues or miss represent
them, which would have the reverse effect of enlightening people, and perhaps be damaging.

4. Although I asked people to specify which soap opera in the other box, the range of results
was wider than expected. Therefore coronation street (according to this survey) is the most
recognised soap opera when thinking of trailers, which is useful, so that I can now go and
watch the coronation street trailers, to try and see what it is they do that makes them
remember able. Also I can then implement the strategies identified within my own trailer, in
hopes that people will remember Chalk Lane.

5. A villain is always a good character to implement within any story line, as they contrast the
normal everyday life which would otherwise be quite boring for viewers to watch. Because of
this I will make sure that there is one character which stands out as the ultimate villain within
the show, so that there is a clear definition of good and evil within the soap opera, and
therefore viewers can keep expecting a shift in the balance of scenes with good etheric
moments and scenes of evil and anguish. Furthermore, a falser villain has also clearly been
voted as an important character to include, and therefore I will try and think of ways that a
plot twist could be integrated in the story line, revealing a character who was perceived as a
hero, to later be portrayed as something of the opposite.

6. This question provides crucial data to help decide the plot lines and issues that should be
addressed within my own trailer. From this we can see that the two issues that stand out
from the others are drug use and anxiety and depression. We have in fact chosen this as two
areas of focus within the trailer, and so supports us in the work we want to produce.

7. We can deduce from this that there is an almost perfect divide in opinion, between
people feeling enlightened by soap opera trailers and those who don't. Therefore we will
aim to create a trailer that actually entices audiences who perhaps don’t usually watch
soap operas to try ours out. More people do feel interested in soap operas by the trailers
than those who don’t which shows that the trailers that have been created are successful
to some extent, so we can rely on them for inspiration.

8. This question is interesting as it shows us that only 3 people from the 19 who gave responses
watch soap operas more than 3 times a day. This is important as it gives the weight to the
data collected, as we can see just over 50% of people who I have collected data from don’t
even watch soap operas, and so this must be taken into account when considering the
reliability of all the awnswers.

9. I am able to identify what soap opera trailers are successful in doing to entice the audience
and create interest. It is clear that tension is of great effect, but also the is of addressing
important social issues, which has been discussed before as creating a platform for more
drama but also so that it is relevant to the viewer. A variety of characters is also important
so that the show is diverse and interesting, however too many characters may be
confusing and make it hard for the audience to be passionately immersed with each
individual character and their story.

10. This question allows me to understand what kind of atmosphere is suitable for soap opera
trailers. There is a wide range of results as shown, but the most voted for is the building of
tension. This is important because tension helps to really engage an audience in with the
story, and is especially useful in trailers as it will make people want the climax to be
revealed, and when it perhaps isn’t revealed in the trailer, there focus switches to just
wanted to watch the show. Furthermore I think a chaotic and confusing atmosphere is
important (as voted for as Dystopian) to create interest into the story.

11. This question essentially like few others, helps me to get an idea of the relevance of my data
collected. Without these questions I may not manage to get a diverse array of people from all
ages, interests and opinions, which would decrease the importance of the overall data
collected. It is ideal to get the opinions of people who watch soap operas and also those
who don’t, as it is important not only just to appeal to your target audience, but also try and
increase your audience. I can see that this has been accomplished as the stereotypical age
range for my target audience is 16-29, which we have a large range of results from, but also
opinions from people outside this bracket.