awnsers of focus group

These are the questions that we asked our focus group.

1. What genre would you place my movie in and why?
2. Give a brief explanation of your interpretation of the narrative.
3. What did you like and dislike?
4. What would you change?
5. Who do you think the target audience would be?


1. The majority of my focus group (ages ranged from 14-18) felt the first 2 minutes of my thriller, felt that it applied to the conventions of the thriller/horror/mystery genre.  As the colours are desaturated, lighting is low key and the setting is mundane creating a sinister environment. Most of them agreed that they liked the ambiguity of the figure at the window, as it not only makes the audience feel involved by the dramatic irony used in the audience seeing the figure and jemma's character not seeing it. Not only is it haunting but it also makes you want to find out who the figure is. Which is a key part of Thriller genre.


2. The group explained that they thought the narrative was about two girls moving into a new house and then one of them sees a strange stalker outside the window. While this is effectively the plot, underneath it is a subplot of the protagonist Megan suffering from a mental illness which makes her believe she is being stalked. We tried to make this subtly noticeable in the opening by distorting Megan point of view shots. Some of the focus group didn't understand why we had used these shots as the reason for them wont develop till towards the end of the film.


3. Everyone liked the slow moving pace of the introduction, they didn't feel as if they were being rushed into any of the action. They said that the beginning of the film set up the narrative of for the rest of the film with lucidity. However they thought that perhaps there could have been more dialogue to set up characters and character relationships.


4.  The general response to our opening was positive, the focus group suggested it might have been interesting if we explored the stalkers point of view, perhaps film it from his perspective spying on the girls. As this would create even more suspense and tension as to his identity, which is critical to any thriller film.


5. Our target audience for this film is boys and girls ages 15-24. Who are one of the largest consumer groups of films. The film has a wide appeal with its young cast, exciting storyline and relatable locations to people in the UK. As an independent film filmed locally, it is likely to have a better response from a British audience but with the right marketing, distributor and buzz it could transcend to America and other countries.