How did you attract/address your audience?Part two- Focus groups

-Rebecca Williams

“Working Title”Throughout our project we had many stages which needed a third party input. Once we had decided on our abduction idea and created necessary storyboards we then filmed our raw footage. During the editing process before my group and I decided a name for our title sequence we used “Working Title”. It allowed us to continue editing and placement of the credits during editing without immediately taking time to conclude a name decision.

Once most of our editing had been completed we brainstormed ideas and filtered them down to our favourite five.

Focus group use Part One:Definition: “A group of people assembled to participate in a discussion about a product before it is launched, or to provide feedback.”

During editing it was apparent that the title is highly important to our project. The title is the focus of a title sequence in any film and is also used to indicate the theme of the genre of the film. It is also one of the initial things the audience sees, just after the ‘above the title’ actors.

Once my group and I made a shortlist of titles we felt were suiting to our title sequence we formed a focus group of our peers, a mixture of those on the media course and those who aren’t.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JSkoN10wjU

The Shortlist and Reasons– Hide and seek

Originally we favoured this idea because it would highlight the vulnerability of the young girl. It would also place emphasis on the character as the victim, this would have been suiting as she is one of two that is shown in our title sequence.

– The Pursuant

The word ‘pursuant’ is a synonym for following or stalking. We felt this was our preferred title for our sequence because it also means ‘in pursuit’. This can have two meanings. The obvious being the antagonist on pursuit for the young victim and the hidden meaning of the search and story of finding the missing victim.

– The Bottom of the Garden

The bottom of the garden takes influence from the thriller ‘The House at the End of the Street’. It states an important location in the film and creates a dark atmosphere around the area. It also gives the audience knowledge the character’s don’t. The shed which opens the title sequence is a place of importance in our project and the searchers and missing reports don’t know.

Shortlist and Reasons continued..– My Dolly

My group and I felt these last two options were our least favourite. We felt ‘My Dolly’ would need more childish imagery included in the title sequence. Although a doll does feature there wasn’t enough emphasis on it to link to this title.

– Abduction

Our final idea was ‘Abduction’. Originally we felt is was appropriate as it was clear cut and simple. My group and I had reservations about this name as it may be overly simple. The focus groups did show interest in this name however preferred ‘The Pursuant’ better.

Focus Group use Part two:– Once we had finished editing we gathered peers who were completing

the same project.

We decided people who knew the ins and outs of the task would have a more perceptive ideas when giving feedback.

The outcome of this focus group was to include voice overs. This was important to discover as it became a main feature in our title sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l6t93VjMxw