Focus group responses

 In our group we had to pitch out ideas to a group of people that didn't know much about out opening sequence, so we told them about out overall plot and gave them an idea of what type of idea we had to see if they fit in with out film genre. We used the responses to evaluate and look back on our ideas just so that we could ensure that we wasn't going to include things that dint really conform to the expectations of our film genre.

In our group we decided to make our presentation interactive so that the focus group stay interested. We wanted to make our presentation interactive and make sure by including pictures and asking what type of character they would most like/expect to see in a thriller film. Our first question included pictures of different stereotypes and we said ' our main character is a female this subverts to the typical stereotype, how would you dress the main character and included pictures of different well know people/characters to see what they thought.
They replied saying that they think that the main character should have strong representation, submissive and should be dressed in a lab coat with perfect hair and makeup connoting that she is a strong character.

They also said how they would want to see the cracks and the sark side in the character so they aren't left wondering if she really does have a troubled side to her. This would subvert to the typical stereotype for a women as everyone expects them to care about their makeup all the time and expect them to look perfect with precise makeup with their hair all done nicely. The idea of making the main characters cracks coming to surface will go against what people expect.




We then asked them what they would expect in the opening of a Thriller film. They suggested things like non diegetic sound throughout to create suspense as thriller films should keep the viewers gripped. They also suggested that my group make sure that the viewers can hear the tap in the first scene so that they viewers are left wondering whats going on until they finish watching the film. They also suggested that we make sure that we keep our filming location the same throughout the whole opening sequence.



However they also expressed that current filming location may be too modern and that we should consider filming in one of the food and catering classrooms but only filming the metal tables. Our group feel that the science classroom will be fine so will keep the location we have planned and chosen as we feel that it will be fine and would still look how we want and plan for it to.

For the props they suggested that we should have something in the opening broken or shattered as it will reflect the doctors broken mentality which will juxtapose the scenes at the start of our opening denoting the doctor with perfect makeup. They also suggested that our group film a test tube smashing and the echo sound it will make as this will create suspense and we could also make this in slow motion to create more tension when it falls.
Throughout this opening we discussed what theories that will fit and apply to our opening. The theories brought up were the enigma code by Roland Barthes. This theory believes that the narrative isn't only constructed by the author but also by the person who reads or watches it as there is unanswered questions that they will answer themselves as their mind will put the pieces together like a puzzle. This applies to our opening sequence as at the end of our opening we plan to have the main characters first main appearance where she looks the opposite to how she looks in the little clips throughout the opening to leave the audience wondering why she looks like that and what has happened to her. This leaves the viewers either making their own ideas up on what happened or watching the rest to see what has happened.
Another theory brought up was the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey. This theory believes that certain characters are made up for certain reasons so if there is a blonde women with blue eyes this will attract the males attention as they are attracted to this type of character. This applies to our opening as the character we have is wearing very precise makeup and almost looks perfect and this will attract attention as men like a women in makeup and all done up.
The group also suggested that we include an old telephone in one of the clips to show what time period our film opening is set in as we don't want our viewers getting confused on what is happening and why. This would work as it would help certain people that are viewers relate or get involved in our opening as they might be interested by things like that or some might have had a telephone like that before.