In our focus group we had four girls and two boys aged between 16 and 17 years old (age range is within our target audience). We explained our idea for the opening of a suspenseful thriller film and asked them questions which we could use to improve our idea. The topics discussed includes; sound effects/music, settings, characters, storyline, films that we can take inspiration from, how we can make it appeal to our target audience and the camera/editing techniques for our thriller film.
This has informed us on our audiences opinions and thoughts on thriller films . In the focus group the participants have spoken about what they would like to be included in the thriller opening. Therefore, we have been able to take this feedback on board and adjust our idea.
1. What do you think about our idea and how can we improve it?
The focus group said they liked our idea for our thriller opening. They asked questions about the narrative and characters. Mya believed that it appealed to people of our age as we are interested in thrillers and horrors more than other genres such as Fantasy and science-fiction. This then led them to ask the age of the main character. When we stated that the protagonist would be 16 years old they agreed that it would appeal to them.
2. What do like about in thriller films in general?
Zaina and Roshni said that they enjoyed thriller films as they include thriller conventions such as suspense and mystery which makes them more engaged because of the unknown. Mya added that she enjoyed the jump scares and fast paced movements in a thriller as it makes it more thrilling and tense. Therefore we will include the elements of fast paced actions when the protagonist is escaping and create suspense of who the antagonist may be as they remain unidentified.
3. What type of music would you prefer in our thriller opening sequence?
Some of them said that they would like tense music whilst others said they prefer silence. The group also said that they would like more sound effects such as heavy breathing and crunching leaves. Mya suggested that the protagonist could be saying her thoughts as she is running through the forest. From this feedback, we will include sound effects, a voiceover and some tense music.
4. What do you think the protagonist should look like?
They responded saying that the protagonist should have long hair as it makes the main character seem like they’ve been captured for a long period of time and Saif added that the protagonist should have bruises and cuts to show that they have been abused. The group said if we wanted to make our character non stereotypical then the protagonist should be asian as it makes it more realistic because there are numerous real life cases about young white girls being kidnapped however it will be different if the protagonist was Asian.
For the gender of the protagonist, we got mixed opinions, as Roshni said “to prevent it from being less generic, the protagonist should be a boy” as most cases are of girls being kidnapped. Whereas Mya thinks that the protagonist should be a young girl as it will make it more realistic. They also agreed that the protagonist should be young as the audience will feel more sympathy for young children. This will help us when creating an image of the protagonist in our opening sequence.
5. How can we make our thriller opening sequence appeal to a young audience?
The group said that we could include social media as people in our target audience would relate to it more due to majority of teenagers being on social media. Roshni also added that the protagonist should be in torn up school uniform or wear clothes from a certain period of time as it shows the audience that they’ve been kept in the cellar for a long time. This led to the group having an idea - the protagonist could make a tally on the wall to show how long she's been kept in the cellar for. This will help us make our thriller opening relatable to our target audience.
6. Should we get any inspiration from any other Thriller movies or shows?
The focus group said that we can get inspiration from the Netflix show, 'Pretty little liars' as it involves kidnapping and has mystery characters which will be useful in our thriller opening sequence as the antagonist will remain a mystery and the protagonist will be kidnapped. Sarib said that we could also get inspiration from the film Taken as it consists of generic conventions of a crime thriller such as kidnapping and fast pace actions which we can use in our thriller opening sequence when the protagonist is escaping.
7. What should the antagonist look like?
Mya said the antagonist should remain a mystery because then it will be more interesting and suspenseful, as the audience will want to see the antagonist after the opening sequence.
8. What do you think about the settings we have chosen?
They suggested that we should begin the opening sequence in the cellar to show where they’ve been kept and for how long. They then said after the cellar has been show, there could be shots of the protagonist running in the forest. Mya responded by asking “how the protagonist is going to escape” and Simran and I said that they will escape through a secret door that they’ve just found however Roshni disagrees with our idea as it can make it seem unrealistic as they cannot just find a random door after a long time. Therefore we need to make the amount of time they’ve been kidnapped shorter. They also said that they liked the fact it is set in the forest and suggested the sequence of events for the thriller opening.
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