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Current Talk '04 I / Are Focus Groups An Enemy Of Art?
« on: April 27, 2004, 10:44:45 PM »
** DIATRIBE WARNING **
I know focus groups are a fact of life in the entertainment industry, and we're not about to lose them anytime in the foreseeable future because networks and studios love them - with millions of dollars riding on their every decision, heaven forbid they should make those decsions based on their own gut feelings - but I'm just one of those people who thinks they're killing artistic vision. The fact that a bunch of people taken off the street can have an actor's entire performance removed from a film or TV show, or they can force a scene to be completely rescored is a very sad commentary on the way films and TV shows are produced nowadays. Heaven forbid a character or a music cue produce an emotion that these people might not be comfortable with, or a story not conclude the way they think it should. Whatever happened to remaining true to the vision the creative people behind a project had and letting that vision speak for itself instead of playing to the least common denominator? Profit has taken an almost exclusive forefront to art
And people wonder why so much of what's produced today has a sameness to it?
::getting off my soapbox now::
I know focus groups are a fact of life in the entertainment industry, and we're not about to lose them anytime in the foreseeable future because networks and studios love them - with millions of dollars riding on their every decision, heaven forbid they should make those decsions based on their own gut feelings - but I'm just one of those people who thinks they're killing artistic vision. The fact that a bunch of people taken off the street can have an actor's entire performance removed from a film or TV show, or they can force a scene to be completely rescored is a very sad commentary on the way films and TV shows are produced nowadays. Heaven forbid a character or a music cue produce an emotion that these people might not be comfortable with, or a story not conclude the way they think it should. Whatever happened to remaining true to the vision the creative people behind a project had and letting that vision speak for itself instead of playing to the least common denominator? Profit has taken an almost exclusive forefront to art
And people wonder why so much of what's produced today has a sameness to it?
::getting off my soapbox now::