Focus Group and Analysis

For our focus group, we asked four questions on the movie trailer, a magazine front cover and a movie poster. This was to determine what our audience will like to see, what can be improved and how we can put our feedback into our promotional package. We asked two girls and two boys to be in our focus group from the age 17+ since they are our target audience. We were lucky to have some students sitting in the back of the class which allowed us to see their reaction at each point of their trailer and how they reacted to a certain scary part.

Trailer

We showed the “The Devil Inside” trailer to our focus group because it is from the same sub-genre as what we are aiming to create our products within and so it will give us a more precise idea of what our target audience will want to see in our trailer. Regarding this point, “The Devil Inside” has the same typical supernatural narrative which we would like to create and so this makes it easier for us to see the faults and improve them to create a better trailer. “The Devil Inside” movie made a box office of $101,386,096 which shows clearly that the movie was highly successful through its utilisation of codes and conventions and methods of appealing to the target audience. Through the research we have conducted and the responses we have received, it was easy to conclude that the promotional trailer is the most important aspect of the promotional package as it resonates with the audience and forms their decision of whether the film is worth watching.

Question 1: What did you like about the trailer?
 "Nothing, it was too demonic."
 "It was realistic which is a good way of drawing us in."

Question 2: If you could change something about the trailer, what would you change?
 "Don't show too much of the movie."
 "Not much, it is a really good storyline."

Question 3: Does it make you want to watch the movie?
 "No."
 "Yes, it's really graphical which people who enjoy those types of movies will want to watch."
 "I do like the sub-genre, so I would go and watch it."

Question 4: What was the most effective element of the trailer?
 "The graphics used."
 "The based on a true story feature."


Magazine Front Cover

For our focus group we used the Total Film front cover featuring Leonardo DiCaprio from Shutter Island because it has an almost horror-like haunting effect.. The reason for this is because Total Film magazine is one of the most purchased magazines and has a readership of 471,000 people. In regards to magazines, the front cover is the most essential element as attracts the eye of the target demographic. As Total Film has a readership of 471,000, it easy to deduce that the layout they have used for their front cover is successful. We aim to take the colour scheme, fonts and the effects used as inspiration for our own product. However, before we do this, we wanted to gain a enhanced idea of what it is that attracts the audience to this magazine and what we could do to enhance it on our own product.

Question 1: Does the main image appeal to you?
 "Yes, it's really mysterious."
 "Since the image is a well known actor it is more appealing."

Question 2: Do you expect to see more sell lines on it?
 "I like it how it is."
 "No, because you can see more of the picture which is more eye catching."
 "No, it doesn't give away too much."

Question 3: Do you want to read it?
 "Yes."
 "Too much writing will put me off, so I, like, would want to read it."

Question 4: What is the most eye catching thing about it?
 "Where it says Shutter Island because it stands out."

 Question 5: If you could change something about it, what would you change?
 "Add something in the bottom corner; it's a bit empty.

Movie Poster

We decide to use the film poster from the “Possession” to receive feedback on as we perceive it as one of the most successful horror posters created this year. As one of the latest supernatural horror films that has been such a success at the box office, the poster has been placed over websites, billboards and in shopping centres where people will see it daily meaning that it has to be really eye-catching to attract an audience which the creators of Possession have done in an effective but simple way. The main image of this poster influenced us to use it for inspiration as we intend to use horrific imagery on our poster to attract our audience and by using this feedback, we can determine what it is that has made this poster so successful and what faults there are, if any, so that we can learn from this product and take inspiration for our own work. 

Question 1: What is the most effective element on this poster?
 "The main image; it's just so unusual."
 "The main image. It makes you wonder what you will actually do if it happened to you."

 Question 2: Is there a link between the main image and the elements on this poster?
 "Obviously the girl is possessed by something which link with the name."

 Question 3: Do you find the "Based on a real story" an effective element?
 "It is more chilling."
 "It is more scary."
 "Even though it looks unrealistic, it makes you think "Oh, it could actually be true"."

 Question 4: Do you like the font used?

 "Yes, the whole scratched out look adds a link to the name and shows us there is a distruption."


Question 5: If you could change something, what would you change?
 "Not much to change, it's a really good poster."
 "Make the slogan stand out more."

Question 6: Does it make you want to watch the movie?
 "Yes, if you are into them types of movies it will be really appealing."


Overall, our feedback has shown us that from existing movie trailers, we should not show too much of the movie footage because this will give away too much of the plot. The fact that the trailer said it was based on a true story allowed the movie to seem more realistic, which is something that we are considering adding into out trailer for effectiveness. From the magazine front cover feedback, we are most likely going to make our front cover image heavy, because the less text was more appealing to our male participants, which shows men respond better to visuals.We have come to the realisation that the majority of magazine front covers use the same main image as that which is featured on the poster. We will use this technique to create a symbiotic link between the products and follow the codes and conventions of a promotional package. Bold colours will also be used on our front cover because they seem to catch the most attention when it comes to buying the magazine. The film poster feedback was the most helpful because the audience feels that a graphic and unusual image is very eye catching, which is something we plan to do for out poster; something very grotesque. The font on the poster is very appealing, which is something that we are going to take into consideration when choosing our font for our poster and, once again, based on a true story will most likely be included on our poster.