Audience research focus groups: blog write-up

Due to my absence during this particular lesson Pratisha and Salma lead the focus group which involved both discussing the narrative ideas for our three minute production. 

·         Approval  / Low key - Title

·         Teenage girl murdered by mystery killer

·         Momento style

·         Set in west London/Indoors

·         Rated  15 /violent

·         Nora/ Character name

·         Ethnic based

·         Two characters are half sisters

·         One is adopted /other is taking by her real family

·         Use of flashbacks

·         Arthouse film/crime

·         Promoting women/feminist

·         ''Female gaze''

·         The end is the beginning 

The narrative in Memento is told backwards and is therefore a non-linear narrative. The audience is found out how and why the protagonists wife as the story gets repeated and more information is revealed. This particular art house film is considered as a classic when it comes to playing around with the viewers perspective of the story, to lead our production in this direction is thrilling and can become an excellent outcome overall. In terms of its genre the film is a hybrid as it is both a crime and a psychological thriller, It's narrative is played by a female protagonist. The focus group mentioned several times that the it is promoting feminism in a way that all the cast involved are female, suggesting that women have equal rights as a man when it comes to casting, because they are equally skill setted as the next man. The structure of the narrative was going to play with time and certain flashbacks the character has. The first half of the clip is going to be the story of Nooras death. Reversed. I have no more information of how it is structured because the focus group lacked detail on this specific part. Key elements within the discussions was about the title and whether it should be called Approval or Designation. The story line is quiet simple, involving a young girl called Noora ( the name meaning of light shinning above) is adopted into a new family. The family already has a daughter who is about the same age as Noora however this particular character does not warm to the idea of having a sister and would do all she pleases to make sure she succeeds in getting rid of her. In the recording it is stated that the character is the mystery killer. I think we will keep this idea because it falls into the idea of following into the footsteps of the film Momento and having her identify and her true from concealed from the audience at the start and revealed within the film would be fantastic. I also think it's best to keep the name Approval as it's catchy and easier to remember than Designation.