Focus Group Questions and Stimulus

With a group of 16-18 years olds, we had discussed the genre Thriller and what they liked about the genre. Me and Gurjit had then shown them the opening sequence for Se7en where we had seen their reactions and heard their hilarious commentary.

What do you think about this trailer? (Taken)

I had asked this question to my first focus group to get more opinions and thoughts about professionally made thriller films that have already been made and that they could get an idea of thriller movies and what conventions are seen in them.
I had gotten the group of 5 to watch the trailer of Taken and express what they had thought about it. I had asked them how the trailer made them feel. My first response was Jasmeet who had replied 'Scared', however, Simeran had then disagreed and said 'I don't think that it was more scary, I think that it was more jumpy because you don't really know what to expect'. To get more answers out of the, i had also asked them 'Why did it make you want to watch it?' and had gotten multiple responses back such as 'intriguing', 'exciting', 'suspenseful' and 'ambiguous'. Simeran also said 'You don't actually know what's going to happen and doesn't give too much away'. Kishen had given a similar response that the trailer 'It was appeasing you, but it wasn't giving too much away that you wouldn't want to go and see the movie'.
These brilliant responses have helped me and given the group ideas to; what to include into our initial opening sequence idea such as flashing images, and that we should prevent giving too much of the storyline away. The audience liked in Taken, the idea of not giving away too much information in the trailer and would want to go and see the movie via the suspense created. 'Will he ever get his daughter back?'

How does this opening sequence make you feel? (Se7en)

The group had shared their opinion about what they thought of the opening sequence for Seven and Darren thought that the movie was not a thriller and therefore we clarified that the film was psychological thriller. He also made the conclusion that the film was creepier and less scary.
Michael had thought that the opening sequence was interesting and Amina said that the film scared her and she wasn't want to watch the movie'. Amina is the type of person who does not prefer psychological thrillers if they were gruesome, yet still watches them. she prefers films such as The Girl On The Train. She also said that the slow edits "puts you in the zone". I asked the question "Did you like the sound effects?", Amina then responded with "it's quite sinister" and Michael commented on where the music fits,"The music is really good, maybe for an intro, not an actual film"
Michael liked the music choice which was good for the introduction of 'Seven' and had gotten the audience engaged into the film instantly, and so when creating our own opening sequence, we will most definitely consider the music choice in the background to start of the movie.

What are your favourite thrillers?

The groups favourite thriller movies are:
Darren-Taken
Michael - Inception
Amina - Girl On The Train
Milan - Orphan
For Darren and Michael, from their thriller movie that they have both chosen, it shows that the sub-genre they mostly prefer are action thrillers. This is helpful and tells us that they prefer the elements of action in the movie such as car chases, fighting and a lot scenes that are shown quite fast pace which my group can use in our opening sequence as it appeals to the specific audience.
Furthermore, both Amina and Milan had mostly liked Psychological thrillers which uses the conventions of plot twists to tension and suspense and also keeps them out of their seats, not knowing what to expect next. My group can use plot twists when we use a blackout scene with background sound effects of explosions to create suspense and eagerness to see what is happening that they can only hear and would be unexpected.

Why do you like them? What aspects do you like about the movie that gets you excited or tense?
Michael had said that Inception "the cinematography is amazing and the soundtrack is amazing, the characters are really good, the script is really good, I just liked the film in general and have seen it quite a lot of times", I had then asked him "what aspects of the movie got him tense and excited?". About Orphan, Milan and Amina had said "Psychologically it messes with your mind as well as the person in the movie'. Amina is referring that the emotions that the characters are feeling in the movie Orphan, is how the audience will also feel, and they have built a connection with the character throughout the film.
 This is very effective and we also want our audience to feel what the characters in our opening sequence are feeling, what they are experiencing to be put in their situation. The effectiveness of stimulation puts the audience in the shoes of the actors and my group what this effect to happen to our audience by the use of graphics and background music to portray what emotion we what the audience to be feeling with the type of sub-genre theme.

What ideas do you have for a thriller that I can use to improve my initial idea?

We had them moved on from the other professionally made films to discuss our initial idea to the group, which we wanted to receive feedback from,so that we can improve our idea. After we had discussed the idea, Michael had said that with the bomb idea "the ticking noise can be incorporated into the soundtrack, so in the beat you can have a ticking kind of sound" which is a sound effect that can make the audience aware that a bomb is being shown behind the black background and give them clues. Michael had also given an example of what his idea was related to from a professionally made thriller film that was "Interstella, the docking music" that they had used. We will definitely consider using Michael's idea when making our initial opening sequence.

Who do you think would suit the roles really well to play the characters in my opening sequence?

Amina had brought up that the characters need to be someone that does not look young such as under 25 years old for example, as it would not look suitable to use a young boy or teenager to play the character of pretending to have a 4 years old daughter...it would not be appropriate. Our group have a good understanding and knowledge about the type of characters we want to use and they have narrowed down the antagonist choice for us which will make it easier for us to find the relevant cast to play the role. Amina answers were very wise and aware of our initial opening sequence idea, this portrays that she understands the elements and conventions of  the thriller genre.
Our idea will utilize the uses of an older male for our antagonist, in comparison the film will have a similar family structure of the main protagonist in inception. Our antagonist will be a similar age to Leonardo Dicaprio in the film. this will make the family dynamic between our antagonist and his daughter, a lot more realistic.

Is there anything that you do not like about my idea that would not appeal to you? And if so why?

I had asked the group who had any uncertainties or anything they disliked about the initial idea. Michael had commented that "bombing up 4 year olds is controversial and would have to be high rating if put in cinemas" due to the BBFC where they have different age rating for the type of content being shown in the film. He had thought that we were going to show a young girl being bombed in our opening sequence showing violence and gruesome images, however that was not the case as we are not showing 18 rating content that would be quite offensive towards the audience.
Our group will not be using vivid images in our opening sequence as it may be quite sensitive and therefore will not be showing the vivid footage, but will hear the sound effects of the screams and explosions with the ticking noises.  

What kind of music would suit the scenario?

When asking the focus group what type of music they would prefer to hear in our opening sequence, Michael had responded "quite tense music, and slow with the ticking noises and orchestral elements or electronic elements over the top". Michael is the type of audience who appreciates the aspects of music and how the sound is used to create a sense of emotion that affects the audience, such as when he said 'tense music', this impacts the audience by creating the mood worry and concern. The mood and emotion of the audience is very important and the idea of 'tense music' allows the escalation of tension until it reaches a satisfying climax.
The music is significant as it illustrates the characteristics of the antagonist and also how the protagonist is feeling, and it draws the audiences emotions to react to the film and this is what me and my group want our audience to experience when watching our opening sequence. We want our music to unravel the audiences emotions to feel fear, surprise and anticipation. We can use tense music when illustrating the follow up to the climax of explosions, to build the suspense, built their emotions and create anticipation.