04. Research - Focus Group

We set up our focus by using Facebook and we made it a private group. We invited roughly 40 friends and family from a vareity of ages ranging from 15 to 30. Once in the group the participants were asked to answer a questionnaire we had come up with.
In the questionnnaire we covered the main points in a typical questionnaire as well as points wich covered the idea of what people want to see in horrors and why they enjoy the horror movie genre (if they like horrors that is).

 

This is the questionnaire we designed:
 

 

 

Out of the 40 participants we got 19 replies. These are some of them:

 

 

 

 

 

Focus group response to our first draft

 

 

 

 

We posted our first attempt onto our Facebook page with the caption ''please watch our video and give both negative and positive feedback '' in order to see the strengths and weaknesses of our video in terms of conforming to our target audience. Using this information, my group and I made some projected changes that we will make in order for our final piece to be the best it can be.

There were a few main improvements that a number of people from our focus group mentioned.

1. Sound. Several comments were made on the music we used for this piece.

These are a few of the positive responses:

• ''The ending is good because the music builds up towards the end so is more powerful when the main bit happens''
• ''I like the choice of music because it goes with the religious theme of the whole piece.''

 

These are a few of the negative responses:

• ''I like the music but I think it would be better if there was more to it because at the moment its quite simple and flat.''
• ''I think you should make the shots more in time with the music so that it all fits together.''
• ''I don't like the noise every time the shot crackles.''

PROJECTED CHANGES FOR SOUND:

- We will add whispers ontop of the music in order to give it more depth and excitement.

- We will edit on the beat in order to make the editing and music work together.

- We will remove the sound that occurs with the effects.

2. Shots and Editing. Several comments were made on the choice and order of the shots we used.

These are a few of the positive responses:

• ''I really like the beginning because the random shots of the crucifix and the barbie doll etc build up tension and, in a way, confuse the audience because we don't know what the things are or why they're there.''
• ''The last minute of it is really good because all the shots flow together properly so we see the whole journey of what is happening.''

These are a few of the negative responses:

• ''I think it would be a lot better if the shots come and go quicker because its a bit boring like this.''
• ''I really dont like the two shots that zoom into the tarrot cards because it looks too neat and does not go with the rest of the video.''
• ''In order to look like a proper film it needs credits.''#

PROJECTED CHANGES FOR SHOTS AND EDITING:

- We will put more jump cuts into our video in order to create shorter and quicker shots.

- We will remove the two still shots of the tarrot cards and replace them with video shots.

- We will include the editing technique ''match on action'' in order to make it more dynamic.

- We will add relevant credits.