Focus Group Evaluation.

(The pitch for our program has completely changed, however below I am evaluating the old idea from the focus group lesson)

Gagan, Anita and I are working together for our MEST2 coursework and in our media lesson we had to pitch the idea for our program. The fact that each group voices were being recorded whilst they were pitching their idea is really useful. This is because, when each group listen back on their recording they will be able to hear everybody else's feedback on their idea if it is good or not, therefore each group can improve their idea in making it even more better. 

Firstly, our focus group involved a brief introduction to our narrative, who the target audience would be, our unique selling point (USP) genre, and what channel/time the program will broadcasted on. The name we decided for our program is called Dilema, which related to our concept and the narrative of a group of best friends who each have their own problems. The narrative of our program and timing has completely changed from hearing everybody feedback during the focus group lesson as we wanted it to make it better and unique. In this focus group recording our previous narrative idea was briefly about a group of female best friends who deal will different problems in their life, so it will be focusing on them. However, our idea for episode one was going to begin with a dramatic scene between a female and male character, followed by a flashback which would then show the audience the narrative which has led to this dramatic moment; non-linear narrative. Moreover, I decided that the program would be broadcasted every Mondays on E4 at 9-10pm (however, that is wrong as the coursework brief said that the program has to be suitable for pre-watershed broadcasting therefore,before 9pm) and will come on repeat every Sundays at 3pm, therefore people can catch up if they have missed any episode. Additionally  the genre for Dilema is a teen drama and the USP was going to be flashbacks. Furthermore, the four programs which we mentioned in the recording that influenced us in creating the idea for out TV program are:

• Friends - related to our concept of a group of best friends, focusing on their lives and problems.
• Misfits - we as a group, really liked their opening sequence for every episodes (the flashbacks) therefore, we wanted to produce something similar.
• 90210 - broadcasted on E4 the channel we want to broadcast our program too. The narrative for each episode are interesting therefore, it hooks the audience. Also, in 90210 their all best friends as well so our idea is pretty similar; however a key difference is 90210 include male best friends as well.
• Hollyoaks - the dramatic narrative used in some episodes are really good because it keeps the audience engaged and appealed in wanting to watch the next episode.

Key Quotes from other people in our media class who were listening to our pitch.

• Harpal "I wouldn't watch it because it is not aimed at me" 
• Vinisha "I would watch it but only if it was abit more original because I don't know if the storyline should of been break up and then a argument, I have seen it  been done before"
• Mr Halsey "Even a show primarily aimed at one gender you do want to at least acknowledge the other gender/ "there has to be some male characters somewhere"/ "Can't have a show between 9-10pm and then be repeated at 3pm on a Sunday as the brief specifically said it is pre-watershed so before 9:00, need to think about scheduling"
• Samuel "Getting some more male characters, get like a gay best friend" 
• Harvey "There are too many character therefore, it is hard for the audience to keep track"

Secondly, I think the whole idea of a focus group is brilliant because you hear other people opinions about your pitch if it is good or not and how you can change it to make your final  product better. The whole discussion is really beneficial for me personally and for our group as well because, of the good critical feedback from everybody else which made us re-think our idea. After the discussion, I learnt that it would be good to include some male characters because then it might appeal to the male audience as well. This is because, if our program just featured all female characters then clearly the audience would be female dominated and would not appeal to any males and that is not what we want to happen; we want our program to aim for both genders not just one specific dominate gender. Also, a important change would be our narrative as it is not original and unique because, it is a typical soap storyline; therefore as a group we have to think of something different which has a strong USP and would appeal to our target audience. Furthermore, one thing I learnt which is important is the scheduling as it must follow the brief "suitbale for pre-watershed broadcasting" therefore it must show before 9pm. All of this feedback impacts us as a group in a positive and effective way as it made us all re-think about changing our whole concept. This is because, the feedback was useful for me especially in making me aware of the things we should include and change to make our final product brilliant therefore, it would appeal to our target audience really well.

Thirdly, the target audience for this idea was aimed towards females from the age of 16-25 year old as the narrative would mostly appeal to females compared to males. This is because, the narrative would of included an element of romance, gossip, bitchiness ect which is likely to appeal to females; where as a  male audience are more into programs which violence, comedy, action, banter ect. The psychographic group which is associated to our idea was aspirers as some of the audience might like one of the female character in our program in terms of what they wear and buy, therefore the audience might aspire to be like that specific character; therefore the audience would want to seek to improve themselves. Furthermore, I researched the characteristics of an 'aspire' and one point it made was,"individuals who pay attention to their appearance and are fashionable/trendy". This is significant, as our whole idea is based on four female girly best friends therefore the audience might what what to look like one of the female character based on her appearance. Furthermore, in term of the demographics the gender associated with our program is clearly female dominated because all of the characters are females, therefore it hardly appeal to males (something we have to change). Also, the ethnicity of the female characters are Asian's therefore that could suggest that our program would as well appeal to the race group. Moreover, the social economic classification would be group D/ C1-B because, as the program is targeting the age group between 16-26, the class D would appeal to teenagers from class D as some students are work around the age of 16; where as C1-C2 would appeal to older females from 20+ as they work and some go to university. Additionally, according to theorist Blulmer and Katz the uses and gratifications associated with our program would be:

• Entertainment -  audience would be able to feel relaxed, shed a tear, laugh whilst watching the program.
• Escapism - this would allow the audience to escape from their daily routines or problems, which would make feel relaxed whilst watching the program.  
• Personal Identity -  the audience would be able to the relate to one of the characters personal problems. This would make the audience feel connected to them and feel as if they are in that character position.