We asked four people of different age groups and genders the five following questions:
- What is your favourite genre?
- What are the typical conventions of a romantic/ drama film?
- What are the typical settings of a romantic/ drama film?
- Why do you think most romantic films involve straight couples?
- Would you watch a film that didn't involve a straight couple?
Although everyone had different favourite genres that weren't the same as the genres we are focusing on, all of the others answers people gave were fairly similar.
We concluded that for the question of what are the typical conventions of our genre, people expected to see a couple in love, obstacles occurring that stop them from being together, a fight occurring between them, etc. These are all things that we have taken into account and will be including in our film story line. Additionally, people expected to see a romantic/ drama film set in big urban cities (such as New York) as well as home and work place settings. When we come to filming, we have decided to film some of our scenes in Oxford to give the feel of an urban city setting as well as filming at scenes in a home setting to make the film feel relatable to our viewers. Also, most people believed that straight couples are stereotypically involved in romantic/ drama films as it causes less controversy and people may feel more comfortable when watching it. However, everyone said that they would watch a film involving a gay or lesbian couple. This is good for us to know as it shows that our film is appealing to people of different genders and ages.
