Audience Research Focus Group

Focus Group Write-up

Introduction of what the focus group involved:

The focus group involved me and my group discussing our ideas for the short 3 minute film that we want to make for the Arthouse brief. Not only that, but we discussed major points and segments that all add up to make the film. These include:

• Title and tag line of the film
• Topic chosen from the brief
• Genre that the film fits best in to
• Sentence that sums up the film
• The narrative structure for the full 30 minutes of the film (what's going to happen in the 30 minutes)
• Main  protagonist/character
• Target audience that best suits the film
• What is the 3 minute extract going to include (what is the audience going to see) and where is this scene going to be taken place. 

When me and my group have gone through these points, we will allow the group that we are projecting our ideas to, to give us feedback about their thoughts on our ideas. We also used a sound recorder to record the feedback that was given to us based on our focus group presentation.

Key quotes from the focus group recording:

• "That was really, really comprehensive and really good ideas"
• "I think the story line is really strong, there's a lot going on, but I think maybe I wouldn't compress all these things happening into three minutes"
• "The ideas are very strong and the narrative is very strong...they can still get the initial idea across to the audience"
• "I like the film. I think the narrative is very strong they planned it really well, they know exactly what they want to do"
• "That confidence really came across"
• "They need to be organised in the way they are going to shoot"
• "...i wonder how they are going to film the gun scene"
• "Its increasingly become a problem with any media productions that involve weapons. So, you need to make sure that, that entire sequence is filmed in one of your houses.. so anything involving crime or weapons, you have to be incredibly careful where you film it, or a member of the public will call the police.."
• "The three minute clip seems a bit too action packed, like lots of things are happening at the same time"
• "I like the narrative but I was wondering where are you going to get the costumes?"
• " Normally in a Mafia movie the characters are often older"
• "highlighted the massive bit of feedback that I was going to give which is that..I just worry whether it is possible to film that without much older actors and therefore, whether you need to change that storyline a little bit to reflect the kind of actors you have available..."
• "you need to build into the idea that this is a young gang, and therefore the police need a young police officer to infiltrate the gang who area similar age to the gangster"
• "If you watch the TV show called the 'wire', the gangsters are all sort of late teens/early twenties... so in a modern noire it could work..."
• "...if you got people who look sixteen or seventeen who are trying to play senior police officers, you run the risk of creating something that's accidentally funny which is just going to kill your noire feel"
• " I just think you need to work on the ages and the actors to make sure that it fits and feels right and feels convincing..tagline needs a little work" 
• "Simplify the storyline a little bit, so that it is easier to tell..." 

What have you learned from the focus group presentation:

I have learned many things during the discussion part of the focus group, both positive comments and improvement comments have been of great value to me and my team. One of the major feedback that was received was the use of young actors playing an adult role. I will take this feedback on board as a main concern that the group has with the film. This feedback of having young actors will be improved by making changes to the storyline. I will make the use of having young actors by implementing this age group within the storyline, so that the actors and character ages make sense within the storyline. Another thing that In  have learned from the focus group discussion was that the three minute extract seemed to have a lot going on and that this would put off the audience. This will be taken into consideration when filming and doing the shot list. I think that the scene of Tony's wife being killed should be scraped from the final cut of the film as this scene is too much as can disconnect the audiences connection with the film. Finally, I have received a lot of the same comment stating that the film has a very strong narrative. One way this will affect the final product is by allowing me and my team to identify what the audience enjoys and loves abut the story and what they do not. This form of feedback can be used to a large extent as we get a better indication of what type of feel and style that the audience like to see in a noire style film. 

New improvement added to the narrative: Bantino Luceros has been killed by the police 5 years ago. He owned a powerful and deadly Mafia gang that has ruled the streets of London for many years, but has been secretly doing their crimes without the notice of police or even societies awareness. They traffic alcohol and drugs into the streets of London and this business allows the Mafia group to gain extreme amounts of money and power. After the passing of Bantino, his son- Benny has taken the mantle of his fathers role within the Mafia family. Benny is in his late teens and early twenties. He will try his best to make is mobster population grow as widely as possible in honour of his fathers work.

Breakdown of target audience: 

Due to the violence and references to drugs and graphic nature of the film, this film is still targeted for a 15+ age demographic.

Gender: 75% Male and 25% Female

Mafia style films are targeted mostly towards a male genre due to the sheer violence and the use of majority of the characters being male. However, me and my team have come up with a way to attract a wider audience instead of just males only. We believe that the narrative contains specific segments that can introduce a female audience to watch the film. The film is about how a young man has lost his dad due to a gang. This type of story can really attract a lot of female audiences due to the emotional connection it can deliver which female audiences really get attracted to. Furthermore, the majority of the audience will be targeted towards a male audience due to the genre of the film and the main protagonists being male.

Age: 15-50 (years)

I think that the ages stated above is a clear representation of what demographic we believe the film will attract. The brief clearly states that the film 'has' to be appropriate for a 15 age certificate and we have built our storyline and narrative based on the certificate provided. Not only this, but we also believe that we can attract many teenagers to watch this Arthouse film as many of the characters are based around the same age. Moreover, due to the violent nature and references to drugs etc. it is clear that this film can attract an older age group as well as they can relate and understand the things that are going on in the film. Finally, ages from 40-50 are targeted to watch the film as a Mafia/Noire film has been seen as a classic genre and style of film which an older demographic would feel comfortable to watch.

Education/Employment:

Due to the film having a 15 certificate it is evident that most of the audience would be in education as teenagers now days tend to view more action and violent films. Furthermore, the older age groups would more likely be middle class and upper class. This is because the style of the film is based on current society and the secrets it holds which can attract a middle class citizen. Moreover, Mafia films are traditionally related more towards money and men dressed in suits. This type of appeal can really attract an upper class audience due to similar connections between the characters in the world of the film and of the people watching them.