The document summarizes the results of a focus group for a filmmaker testing audience reception of their trailer. It provides details of the focus group demographics and their responses to survey questions about elements of the trailer including audio, visuals, identification of characters and locations, and genres associated with the film. The filmmaker analyzes the responses and identifies areas like voiceover audio quality and character identification that may need further refinement.
2. FOCUS GROUP | #1
I gathered my first focus group together. They were comprised of Teenagers aged between 16 and 17. This is a key
market of my film, due to their universal interest in films of the Thriller genre, character representation (many of my
characters are teenagers) and their critical age group (under 18, above 15). This awkward age sits between two age
ratings issued by the BBFC and will allow me to identify where my film lies based on its content.
The focus group were shown my trailer twice, before being given time to complete a survey. They were then invited
to verbally discuss any changes, thoughts and ideas with me.
3. QUESTION 1 & 2
38.5% of the focus group were Male and 64.5% were
Female. Unfortunately the opportunity to organise this
focus group meant that I was unable to have an equal
number of both genders. However gender doesn’t
necessarily mean anything in relation to opinion on
film.
33.33% of the answers given were Action, followed by
Thriller with 30.70% and Sci-Fi with 23.07%. The rest of
the answers given were either Adventure, Mystery,
Drama or Crime. I am thrilled that the audience were
able to identify with my target genre. Whilst the crime
score is slightly lower than I expected, I’m not surprised
it isn’t high, as I didn’t include as many crime elements
as previously planned. I was quite confused with
Adventure being identified, as there are no signifiers of
the genre within my trailer.
What is your gender? Which three genres do
you associate ‘Wired’
with after watching
the trailer?
4. QUESTION 3 & 4
10 people commented that the voiceover is too quiet.
This majority opinion is one I cannot ignore, and in
retrospect the audio could use some further editing to
improve quality. 2 people commented that they think
adding effects to the voiceover would make it more
effective to the audience, which I think is a good idea.
2 people commented that the shot in which Red says
“we share the same battle”, could use some brightening
to make it clearer. In verbal research one girl suggested
that draining colour would add to the representation of
her character better. 1 person said that they found the
writing hard to read, however due to the lack of any
writing and the volume of the complaint, I don’t think
there is anything that needs to be changed. The rest of
the survey sheets left this question free indicating there
was nothing wrong with the Visuals.
Please identify any
problems you have
with the Visuals of the
trailer.
Please identify any
problems you have
with the Audio of the
trailer.
5. QUESTION 5 & 6
8 people were able to indentify the social media links in
the trailer (hashtags). 1 person commented that they
were clear, whilst 1 person claimed they didn’t see any.
The rest of the focus group left this question blank,
probably due to the confusing nature of the question.
10 people correctly indentified The Puppeteers from
the trailer. Meanwhile the rest of the focus group could
not. The portion who couldn’t identify were less that a
quarter, which I think is an acceptable amount. Because
of this I will investigate the issue no further.
Did you see any social
media links. If so were
they effective?
What was the name of
the secret organisation
mentioned in the
trailer?
6. QUESTION 7 & 8
People responded well to the tunnels locations,
meaning that my scrupulous search for the right setting
has been successful.
The results of my survey are very high again, I will seek
no further action on this matter.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
7 8 9 10
How effective was the Black Room location?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1 2 3 4 5
How effective was the Tunnels location
7. QUESTION 9 & 10
Only one person surveyed was unable to identify
Marius from the trailer, therefore I am not worried
about the clarity of my trailer.
5 people of the surveyed audience were unable to
identify Dana from the trailer, therefore I will investigate
this further by surveying another group and comparing
results.
Identification of Marius
Yes No
Identification of Dana
Yes No
