Reflection on focus group

What have I found out and how will I use this research to develop our ideas?

My group and I analysed the focus group together:

• They said they associate a psychological horror with something that messes with your mind and a genre which is suspense building with limited violence and gore. This is positive feedback as my group and I's idea matches their expectations, so we will ensure that we keep it this way so it appeals to them and they can recognise the genre.

• They also said they would like to see cut- a -ways from the scene of the villains to keep their identities a secret, for example a hand round the corner of door or showing their face in low key lighting so they are hard to see so this is something my group and I said we will need to consider when filming to appeal to our audience. 

• The focus group said they expect a female to be represented as vulnerable, typically the victim, sexual and screaming, therefore this is how we said we will represent our female protagonist who is also our Final Girl (Maddie) through the use of costume, makeup and the Male Gaze theory, to shock the audience as they would expect the protagonist to be a male if Maddie is being portrayed like that.

• They said they would associate the antagonist with a male so we asked them how they would feel about us challenging conventions of a females representation and having a female antagonist and they said it would be refreshing and more shocking. This is because they haven't seen many modern films with a human female antagonist, as it is usually a paranormal female ghost/spirit etc. Therefore we will stick to having a female antagonist to make the trailer and film narrative unique.

• One member said our location was predictable because every horror has a scary house. However, we have decided to keep this in the narrative as we don't have access to another place that would fit our narrative idea and as well as this, a house is an iconic convention to a psychological horror as it is realistic as we want out trailer to be as realistic as possible.

• The audience said that they may not understand is going on if we include flash forward hallucinations as it will be difficult to clearly show what is going on. Therefore, I suggested to the rest of my group that we could make it a dream instead of flash forward hallucinations as this will be clearer to the audience. If the audience don't understand the trailer, they aren't going to watch the film.

• What makes an engaging horror trailer? Reveal as little as possible, allow the audience to get to know the characters.

• In the focus group we discussed the ending of when Maddie see's her boyfriend about to be killed in her hallucinations. Our audience said they liked the idea of not showing him dead but to see him looking vulnerable with a weapon in the antagonists hand in the shot. This is because they said they would rather have a trailer that doesn't reveal much than too much as it ruins the film for them and they wouldn't want to watch it therefore this is an ending and shot we need to consider.

• One member suggested starting off the trailer to look like it wasn't a horror film to show normal life such as like the film The Purge. This would then cut straight to an action scene such as flashbacks of Maddie's parents death to start the thrill for the audience straight away rather than a gradual build up to the action. My group and I liked this idea so it is something my group and I will use as we want to shock the audience.

• Finally, the name Oppression didn't appeal to our audience as the majority didn't understand the work and some associated it with slavery.However, one member suggested the name Transfixed because this is how Maddie is represented. Everyone in the focus thought this name fitted well so my group and I have decided we want to use this as the film name.