Production Research

Product Market Research

Competition and Competitor Analysis

Advertising Placement and Effectiveness: The Departed

Analysis on trailer and poster 

Focus groups primary

focus group-

Do you think the trailer gives away too much on the movie?

From this question I gathered that everyone thought the trailer had some detail but not too much. Also, they told me that they liked the trailer having some detail on the cast and a bit about the film as it got their attention. However, what really caught their eyes from the trailer was the actors involved in the movie. They went on to say that the cast is what makes them want to watch films. 

Generally, what movie genres are you interested in? 

Everyone said they enjoyed action films, but were not certain on their answer of comedy. They said it depended on what kind of comedy film it is. Someone said that certain comedies are too childish and the it is too turned down. From this I understood that everyone in the focus group enjoys movies aimed for adults. 

Do you think the storyline was told in a poorly manner?

The first response I got was that the director Martin Scorsese done really well with this movie and he did a good job of bringing together great actors and they found found this the best part of the movie, the bringing together of so many known actors. This told me that they liked movies with all stars and good directing. This is because they felt as though the right cast and crew help develop the movie properly.  

What scene did you dislike?

They found that the last part of the movie was too rushed and found it overwhelming to take in so much happening at the same time. From their response I gathered that they felt that it kind of dimmed the movie down too much. I think they felt like too much happening as well as  the good character dying right at the end of the movie in a way spoilt it.  This told me that they would have rather the movie move onto a sequel and carry the movie on with a an extension on the plot. 

What did you like about this movie?

Literally everyone said Leonardo Dicaprio is why they liked this movie. However, other than his acting skills, I gathered that they felt the general story line is what hooked them into the movie. They liked the fact that every single bit of the movie somehow links back together. However, once  again it comes back to the cast. Due to Leonardo Dicaprio being involved with the movie, they enjoyed it even more than they would have if he wasn't in it. 

What did you think about the twist at the end?

They found that Leonardo Dicaprio's character dying was unnecessary, as well as the fact that the ending was rushed overall.  Too much happened in one go for everyone to process it so quickly. Also I think everyone disliked the ending as they knew much more could have been done with the plot such as a sequel and carry the storyline on.  

Do you think the poster clearly showed what genre the movie was?

Everyone said no, as the poster lacked detail and just faces on it. They said they wouldn't have guessed it was an action film just by looking at the poster of the movie. 

Our focus group really enjoyed the movie and speaking on it. They liked the directing of the movie and found that it is due to the director that the story line was portrayed in such a great way. They found the coming together of many A-List actors the main eye catcher as it meant they get to watch their favourite stars working together in a film. However, it was the ending of the movie that they disliked. This was due to it being to rushed and felt as though more could

Meet my audience

Analysis-

• He enjoys action movies, so The Departed would appeal to Jack as the whole film is based around action happening and it is a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Jack's favourite film is Green Street, this film contains lots and lots and lots of gory violence. This tells us that Jack Phillipson he has a big interest in movies with action. 
• Jack likes to socialise with friends and family by going out to watch films in the cinema or even doing activities such as paint balling.  
• He has some what of an interest in politics and what the government is doing, so The Departed would appeal to him as it based on how the government works to take down a big time  gangster. 
• Jack likes to watch movies that involve a lot of action and are fast paced such as Green Street. This is why he likes The Departed, as it consists of constant action and never makes you feel bored while watching. 
• Jack takes pride in having a nice appearance, therefore he always at least wears shirts with jeans. Just like in The Departed, they are always dressed smart even when the cop is undercover he still has a smart/casual appearance. 

Primary Quantitative data research for The Departed

Survey 

The first question i asked was very basic as i wanted to know whether they watched The Departed because then it would give me a rough estimate if my result would be accurate because people who did not watch the film would not be able to answer questions as you would need to have watched the film. Overall i had 36 responses, 20 respondents watched the film and 10 respondents did not watch the film, the reason why people may have not seen the film would may be due to the film being released in 2006, this means it roughly 10 years old, some people do not like to watch old films.

The second question i asked was very generic as i wanted to gain information which allows me to see what they preferred, so i asked them what genre they like the most. Overall from the results it shows that the most favorite genre was crime, this tells us that the respondents like films which have crime in it as it may interest them more. This is one reason why The Departed was very successful as it did feature a lot of crime as we see drug deals take place in the film. 

As you can see this question was more for the specific to the film because i wanted to know the success of the film. As you can see from the above graph 58% of the people said the favorite actor in the film was Leonardo DiCaprio. Leonardo DiCaprio is a worldwide famous actor, this is a another reason why the film was very popular, also from the result we see Matt Damon came second. By having famous characters is the main reason why the got attention from people, by this i mean that they got a lot of views nationally as the actors were known worldwide.

This is another question which is very generic as i wanted to know if they are a big fan of films as people who visit the cinema a lot like to see films but people who don't go are not that fond of films, however some people stream it on the internet. From the result it shows that 22% of the respondents did not go to the cinema in the last sixth months, 13% of the respondents went once in the last sixth month, 19% of the respondents went more than 10 times in the last 12 months. This tells me that i had a mixture of people doing my survey as i have some people who didn't go to the cinema in the last 12 months and i have respondents who went more than 10 times in the 12 months, this is the reason why The Departed has made a lot in box office because a lot of the people going to watch the film at the box office.

As you can see from above the fifth question i asked was them to rank films with the best twist at the ends this is so i know if they thought The Departed had a good twist at the end. From the result you could see that the departed got a highest average score this means that out of the film i put, The departed had the best twist in it. This tells me that the audience the audience like the twist in the film as it was unexpected. This may have been the reason why the film may have been very successful as it did have a big twist at the end of the movie.

In the film The Departed at the last 30 mins was very rushed i believe as there was a lot of action in the last 30 min, this is why i wanted to ask the audience what they thought about it. From my results you can see  55% of the respondents said that they think the end was rushed, some of the respondents may have said no because they didn't watch the film. By the majority saying yes means that the director could have spread the last 30 mins in to one hour at least as the film was around 170 mins long and at some points it was dragging, this is one reason why some people got bored and didn't watch it, the longer the film means that you have to have content which does not bore the audience because the audience need to keep entertained throughout, because most films get popular by word of mouth.

As you can see from the above i seventh question i asked was how important to they think these conventions are, this would help me know what made The departed film very successful. As you can see from my result that most highest average was crime, this is why i believe The Departed was very successful and by knowing this i know that most of the audience like films which contain crime and this is why i know that the The departed was very successful.

This is a another generic question as i wanted to know what makes the audience watch a film, by asking this question i could see why they would watch films. From the above results you can see that the most important factor which makes them watch a film is the director and series, this tells me that most of the audience would watch it if it has been produced by an well known director or they may watch it if they wanted to continue series for example a film which has a lot of series is Fast and Furious. The reason why The Departed may have not been that successful as they didn't have a serious which meant the audience not really knowing the story line and series often attract more audience.

This question was for the people who had watched the film, as i thought it was interesting but i wanted to see if the audience thought it was interesting. As you can see from my results 52% said yes they thought it was interesting this tells me that most of the audience enjoyed the movie. A reason why it would have been successful is because of the plot which was very different. 48% said no, this may have been because some people had not watched the film, the reason why the majority said the that the found the storyline interesting is because The Departed had a plot which made them asks questions for example who was the actual snake from the police force. 

For my last question i asked what they thought of different films CGI. CGI stands for Computer-generated imager, in simple term it basically all the graphics used in the film. As you can see from the results that highest average was for superman, i believe that a film like superman cannot be compared to other films because films like superman are mostly made with CGI, where as The Departed was mostly recorded in real life places. The reason why The Departed may have not been voted as the best film with CGI is because it did not use CGI that much as most scenes were recorded at real life places.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RDKRXXM