Focus Group

For my focus group, I asked three people (Archie, Daisy and Bernette) the following discussion points and questions:

What do you think of my horror poster mock-ups? How could they be improved?

Me: This is my first mock-up 'The Unexpected'.
Daisy: I like the mood and the atmospheric lighting, and the symmetry in the image. Also the way that the face is covered... enough that it leaves mystery
Archie: I think that the girl could be younger...
Daisy: I don't think she should. I think it's the socks! The socks makes the girl look more like she's just sitting on the bed [too relaxed]. If she was barefoot it might be more scarier.
Archie: Yeah, barefoot with dirty feet.
Bernette: She looks like she's reminiscing over childhood things or something by holding the teddy.
Me: How could I improve it?
Bernette: Are those drawings on the wall?
Me: No they're cracks that I put in when editing.
Bernette: Oh they're really good. Well, you need the names of the actors at the top of the poster.
Archie: I think you should include the antagonist in the poster, maybe.
Bernette: Maybe her clothes need to be more tatty! She looks too tatty...
Archie: Because at the moment I don't know who the bad person is, like is she the bad person?
Daisy: Well that's part of the mystery.
Archie: Yeah but I think you need to include something for the audience, something...
Daisy: Like a hook!
Archie: Yeah there needs to be more of a hook.
Daisy: Yeah like if she was holding a knife or something, it could be more mysterious.
Bernette: Yeah maybe you could cut of the Teddy's ear something!
Daisy: If there was like dead bodies around the bed or something, you could pick more up from the poster...
Archie: Or if you could see like a shadow in the background.
Daisy: Yeah! If you could see a shadow, you should have been more creative with the shadowing... Like if there was a full light on her or from above, and there was a shadow behind her. Oh maybe there could be a shadow of someone like walking in that you could see behind her. I guess you could always Photoshop it in.
Me: Okay, this is the second poster 'The Massacre'.
Archie: It looks like the blood is splattered onto the poster, rather than in the poster if that makes sense.
Daisy: The blood is very orange.
Bernette: Yeah, that doesn't look very good...
Daisy: It doesn't look very realistic...
Archie: You could improve it by having more realistic blood.
Bernette: Maybe don't use such a shiny knife, and maybe an older knife.
Archie: The title 'The Massacre' doesn't look very prominent I don't think... It's not hard to see, but...
Daisy: If there was less colour in it because it looks kind of tame having a sort orangey worktop.
Archie: Yeah I think you need to dull down the colour a bit. And also I think you should put the title nearer the bottom corner of the image in a black colour.

What horror sub-genre do you like the most and why? The sub-genres include things such as slasher, supernatural and psychological.

Archie: Oh I like slashers, because I find films like Scream and Saw hilarious! I like old slasher films because I don't find them scary I find then hilarious!
Bernette: I like films like Saw, what's sub-genre is that?
Me: That's more of the torture sub-genre. Why do you like that sub-genre?
Bernette: Erm, because I like how they come up with ideas of how to kill people and how they do, I think that makes it interesting.
Archie: I like zombie films because I don't like being too scared, more tame. yeah like more mild.
Daisy: Yeah because I like more mild horror films too because I like films like 'Zombieland', more comedy horror like 'Shaun of the Dead'.

If you went into a shop to specifically buy a DVD, what would attract you to a particular DVD? What would you look for in a horror DVD?

Archie: It has to be quite stylish, I don't really like 'cheesy' DVD covers.
Daisy: I guess if it looked quite young...
Archie: I think if it was tailored towards my generation I would like it.
Me: What would that include?
Daisy: Well, I guess because you would be able to relate to it and you get drawn into it, if it looks exciting but it doesn't look too... terrifying.
Bernette: I think I a DVD cover with action and cool effects on it would attract me to it, and also a well-known actor or actress. Something that doesn't look too gory either, something that would make you think of what's going to happen.

What do you think would be a good name for a horror film? And what are some of your favourite horror film titles?

Bernette: Well, my favourite horror film is Saw, and maybe The Texas Chainsaw Massacre too.
Archie: I like Scream. I think I like film titles like Scream because you don't really know what the films about.
Me: So kind of single word titles?
Archie: Yeah, like with a film like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre it kind of gives away what the films about straight away.
Bernette: I think that 'The Eye' is a good name for a horror film.
Archie: I think 'The Hills' sounds quite good too, like it doesn't sound very scary until you put it into context.
Bernette: The Grudge' sounds very scary too.
Archie: Yeah, I just think like unconventional titles are good.
Bernette: I think like '6 Rooms' would be good and what would happen is there is six rooms and people get killed in different ways in each room.

Do you think it would make you want to see a particular horror film if the poster came across as very explicit, for example if blood is shown, or would you prefer to watch a film that was slightly mysterious and left you asking questions?

Bernette: Mysterious.
Archie: I guess I would go with a film that is more mysterious, because it sounds more intriguing. Especially because I don't like really gory films anyway, because if the poster looked really explicit I think it would put me off, because It would me think it was too much.
Daisy: Yeah you would want it a bit mysterious.
Archie: Yeah, because with your mock-up's I much more prefer 'The Unexpected' poster because it was less explicit and the idea seemed more mysterious and interesting.