How could your film franchise have tried to use focus group feedback to determine content of the next film in the franchise?
I showed my focus group the trailer for the newest Star Wars film, Star Wars The Force Awakens, i then asked my group a sequence of questions to get an answer to the question above.
Erin – Age: 17. Erin watches films regularly and has her own opinion about films and only watches them if she wants to. She is a potential member of the audience for my focus group
Jack – Age: 18. Jack watches a lot of films and would watch a big film because it is in the mainstream media. He is most likely to have seen all of the films in the franchise.
Maddy – Age : 18. Maddy is very resistant to watch anything. She does not watch many films at all, not much will really change her mind about films at all.
Question 1 – Reasons for why you like it or you don’t?
Erin – “Don’t really like sci-fi films” Erin didn’t really like it but found it “cool” that things were blowing up.
Jack – Liked it because he had seen other films and sci-fi things interest him such as lightsaber battles.
Maddy – Doesn’t understand the plots of sci-fi films and cant concentrate. Didnt make sense that things could be flying around
Question 2 – What their likes and dislikes about the film are?
Erin – Like: Things blow up Dislike: Not realistic because space crafts flying around space doesn’t make sense
Jack – Like: Likes the characters such as Kylo Ren Dislike: Not enough fighting scenes like the old Star Wars films where they have an exceptional amount of lightsaber fights such as the fight with Darth Maul.
Maddy – Like: Didn’t like the film in itself but liked the camera quality Dislike: She dislikes the fact that it is in space and is just unrealistic.
Question 3 – Have they seen any previous films in the franchise?
Erin – Hasn’t seen any of the other films but is aware of them.
Jack – Has seen all of the films including the new one.
Maddy – Hasn’t seen any of the other films but is aware of them because her brother has seen them and so she knows quotes from the film, she also knows about the Star Wars crawl at the star of the film and the theme song.
Question 4 – If they haven’t seen the film, what do they like about the trailer?
Erin – Erin said that “its a bit like woah, there is so much happening!” also that “it looked pretty cool”. She said she would go and see the film if it was free or her friends paid for her to go and see it so she was going with a group of people.
Jack – Has seen the film.
Maddy – By the trailer she understands why other people like it with the guns and fights and space ships etc. She said “its well thought out but i just don’t like it but i appreciate the work and time that has gone into it and the way they have made it look real when it obviously isn’t but they make you believe it”.
Question 5 – Is there any character(s) you wouldn’t/would like to see? (Only if they have knowledge of the film)
Erin – Erin would like to see more of Chewbacca,
Jack – Would like to see more of Kylo Ren, would also like to see more of Luke Skywalker but he knows you don’t see much of him for a reason.
Maddy -Doesn’t have any knowledge of the film.
What genre or codes and conventions would you change?
Erin – Erin would say don’t put it in space to make it more realistic but she acknowledged that it would be ‘Star Wars’ if it wasn’t set in space. She would take out the sci-fi elements.
Jack – Jack likes the mix between all the different genres but would like to see more comedy.
Maddy – Would change all of the genres to make it more realistic, it would change the whole conventions of the film and it wouldn’t be the same.
Conclusion
As a result of the focus group, the way i could use this information to improve the next film in the franchise, could be to add in more lightsaber battles, and more fights in general including dogfights etc. The film does have a healthy balance of comedy so i wouldn’t add anymore because it would disrupt the conventions of the film because anymore additional comedy may disrupt what the film is actually about and what target it is aiming its audience at. In terms of members of my focus group wanting to change the genre and location altogether, that wouldn’t ever happen with Star Wars because otherwise it wouldn’t ever be the same. If it was based in space, then in wouldn’t be called Star Wars and it wouldn’t be following the traditional tracks of your ordinary Star Wars film. The newest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, had a budget of $200,000,000 and overall made a worldwide box office of $2,054,857,528, these statistics prove that i wouldn’t need to change the conventions of the film or the genre because the film itself has such a wide audience and the group that do not like it are such a minority. This means that if i was going to determine anything about the next film based on this four group and the figures that the film got, i would not change anything significant because it would upset such a huge fan base. The only way i would consider changing anything would be if there was to be a large percentage of the audience telling me the same problem.
Jack would be the main focus if i was trying to see how i could improve the next film, this because he has seen all the films and has an opinion on them all. He said “i am interested by sci-fi films and like the lightsaber battles” this shows that he is an active part of the audience and enjoys watching them, this means his opinion on what we could improve would be helpful and be part of what a big audience think to. Things he likes and dislikes about the film is that he likes the villain because he is cool and would like to see more lightsaber battles because he enjoys the action element of the film. He understands why you don’t see as much of Luke Skywalker as he would like to because the film is about that. So to take something from Jack’s part would be to add more action, a little more comedy without ruining the genre conventions and maybe show a bit more of the villain in the film.
Erin would be the next persona who i would take tips from about the next film, this is because she is a potential audience. Although she doesn’t like sci-fi films she did find it “cool” that things blew up showing that she liked the action elements. She said it wasn’t realistic which is one of the reasons she doesn’t like the film. She hasn’t seen any of the film but she is definitely aware of them. Erin said that she would go and see the film if someone paid her to go or her group of friends were seeing it and offered to pay. This shows that something may appeal to her as part of the trailer that i showed her, and she also said “I would like to see more Chewbacca”. This shows that she has atlas some knowledge of the film and her opinion therefore is helpful. So, for Erin, to help improve the next film she would want more action.
Maddy is the least likely to gather tips from, she said she can’t concentrate while watching the film and just doesn’t like the genre or conventions or anything. She says “Its just unrealistic” which shows these types of films obviously don’t appeal to her. She understand why people like the film because other people are interested by guns and space etc. Her opinion isn’t really helpful for what i could improve on the next film because she just doesn’t accept anything i show her, the only way she could help is the way that she knows all the theme tune etc and her brother is a big fan of the franchise, this means that say if it was her brothers birthday, she might buy him a present that is Star Wars merchandise and so would still bring in revenue to Disney. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t buy the film for herself because all that matter is the way that she is buying merchandise and so whoever it is for, the money still goes to Disney, so they are still making a profit on their franchise.
George Foy 