Most of the people from the focus that I conducted remember the details of the first episode of money heist. This shows that the producers of the show made it a memorable episode. The people of the focus remembered Tokyo in particular and her story about how she met the professor
This is because the producers wanted them to remember and be able to identify the main characters of the show immediately. With the viewers being able to identify the main characters the directors could use the main characters and their actions to keep the viewers interesting and keep on watching the show, this was the starting point of why money heist was so successful.
The people in the focus group said that their favorite characters were Tokyo and Rio
The reasons they gave varied but the most common reason was because of their joined storyline and how the producers presented them as a couple, and how they progressed over the series. The producers of the show made them a couple so that there would be a romantic aspect to the show, this was to invite afianados of the genre romance to keep on watching. With the producers adding this aspect and the suspense of how their relationship might or might not end created another reason for viewers, such as the ones in my focus group, to keep on watching. This particular relationship played a big part in the success of the series for these reasons of them being there to invite more aficionados and keep viewers watching.
About 50% of the people in my focus group said that they finished watching the series in under a week. Their reasoning of this is because of the cliffhangers and the enigmas at the end of each episode.
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Some of the participants stated that the show was a thriller and that they didn’t want to stop watching it because they just kept on wanting to know what came next. The producers do this for that exact reason of wanting to keep the viewers interested and watching.
The viewers most memorable episode ending seemed to be season 3 episode 1, when Rio gets captured. They said the reason why they remembered this episode ending was because it was Rio that got captured, not any other less important cast member. The producers of the show chose Rio to get captured because they knew he was a fan favorite of the show, and that if he got captured viewers would be more interested and want to watch more to see if Rio escapes or gets released. This is why season 3 in particular was successful, because the producers chose the correct character to create the suspense and enigma in the show to keep viewers watching, as if the producers would have chosen another cast member such as Helsinki, viewers would be less keen to keep on watching.
The setting of the show was also liked by the viewers of the show, the participants of the focus group said they liked the bank and the concept of the show in particular. This again plays into the narrative of the story and how the setting was vital for the narrative to be as successful as it was.
“The masks were like iconic”
The costumes of the show also seemed to be very memorable to the viewers, as when asked all of the participants of the focus group stated if they saw a red jumpsuit or a Dali mask, they would think of money heist. The producers of the show chose the color red as it stands out and if commonly associated with genre crime drama, the Dali masks are very unique as no other show (that I know of) have used them. This is why on many of the posters (figs. 5, 6, 8, 15, & 16) the characters are seen wearing the Dali mask or the red jumpsuit, as it is unique to the show and helps the viewers recognize money heist anywhere.
“It’s iconic” The song that the producers chose to be the main basis for the show is called Bella ciao. A lot of thought went into choosing this song as it would be remembered by hundreds of people because of the show. The producers made sure that the song sounded good and had meaning behind it, the song was generally used for rebellion and is now known as a brand for the show money heist (fig. 5) When asked why the participants of the focus group liked the song they said it was because of the connections it has with the characters, the producers did this on purpose as the song was playing during Berlin's death, this made the viewers of the show immediately connect the song with one of the favorite and now dead characters. The song also played whilst the 2 brothers came up with the plan for the heist, and when the robbers successfully escaped, thus when hearing the song you would also relate to the heist as a whole. The song also sounded very good and “had a good tune” which helped the viewers remember the song and therefore remember the show.
(fig. 13) Supports the data from the focus group and why which poster was the most effective in drawing in viewers.
The overwhelming response in both the focus group and questionnaire for the best/most attractive poster was fig. 7. Many of participants agreed that it was best poster because it show cased all of the characters and had a sense of mystery to it as “all of them were standing out in the dark wearing red” The use of the color red is to make it stand out (as said above) and to give a sense of what the genre would be like. This poster made them want to watch the show because of the darkness and mystery to it, the artists that created this poster had this vision in mind when making the poster, the success of the show came from the same points as there was lots of mystery and genre involved in making the show as successful as it was. The second favourite poster was fig. 8, also agreed by the results of the questionnaire. The reason this show attracted viewers was because it was colourful and the colour caught the viewer's eye and made them want to watch the show. The poster also had genre icons such as the masks, jump suits and guns which invited the genre fans to want to watch the show. Another poster that was liked was fig. 6. One of the participants of the focus group said it tells us the story of the series using the probs like the guns and masks, this made her want to know more about the story as she liked at first chance. These posters are again another way of advertising the genre of the show to invite the large group of genre aficionados to watch the show.
“They had a reason to do what they were doing” They didn't hurt anyone” “The last thing they wanted to do was hurt people” These a few reasons why the viewers of the show liked the robber (who are usually antagonists) more than the cops. This kept the audience engaged as they wanted to see if their favorite character, the robbers, got the money and got to escape, the writers write the characters like this to gain audience sympathy for the characters of the show, so that they keep on watching the show. The writers make the robbers the protagonists so that the audience keeps on watching the show, allowing it to become successful.