Hittin' Up the Focus Group

[rinue]

Okay; pretend you don't know anything about the film I'm making or the fact that I'm making it. Which short are you more interested in seeing:

1. "The Sleeping People"
2. "Sleepy People"

and what do these titles make you expect?

Comments

Metaphysics!

[bluezybunny.livejournal.com]

1. "The Sleeping People" makes me think there are people who are either engaged in a dream state (possibly synchronous) or are the victims of outside influences (hypnotists or "The Strangers"). Alternatively, it could be a documentary about college students who make their wages donating their subconscious to science, or intricate wordplay for a documentary exposing people who believe in fairy tales (A better title might be "Keep Dreaming, Sleeping Beauty").

2. "Sleepy People" suggests an outbreak of noise or plague of some sort which prevents people from sleeping and portends a fantasy demonstration of how that might pan out should metaphysics somehow suddenly play a role (zombie-like or drug-induced behavior which never rests). It could also be a documentary explaining how college students have learned to make time for schooling, studying, and partying all on twenty minutes of sleep a night.

Depending majorly on what your plans are with these titles, I'd say "The Sleeping People" is more attractive for the intellectual or thriller crowd while "Sleepy People" might be more attractive to the cheesy comedy or action crowd.

Hope that helps!

-Quip

[narcolepticcat.livejournal.com]

vote for, the sleeping people, which seems about existential apathy

do not vote for, sleepy people, which seems about my mother

[solipsiae.livejournal.com]

Yes to The Sleeping People. No to Sleepy People.

The first one is about people who are sleeping, though the fact that attention is called to the fact that they're people-who-are-sleeping (not people-who-sleep, but currently our routinely engaged in it) means I should pay attention to it because it's different.

Sleepy people are people characterized by being drowsy and noddy, and that sounds kind of boring and sleep-inducing.

[azzy23.livejournal.com]

1) The Sleeping People makes me think that the people are in suspended animation or something. Some extreme sleep.

2) Sleepy People sounds likes a bunch of people making a documentary on coffee shops and trying to be clever.

[ksmeg.livejournal.com]

Number one. The second sounds like it would be about how the general populous doesn't get enough sleep. The second sounds like it could be a horror type thing, or maybe political... just sounds more interesting.

Basically: option one makes it sound like sleep is being used as a metaphor, whereas in option two is sounds literal.

[oddment.livejournal.com]

"The Sleeping People." The title is more evocative, almost in a genre-ish way. The ambiguity is nice. It could be science fiction or fantasy and my first thought was of something slightly scary and mysterious.

"Sleepy People" seems a little coy to me, maybe even cute, and I have no idea whether that is a valid response or if I just don't like the two ee sounds right in a row.

[hipgunslinger.livejournal.com]

Honestly?
My first impulse was The Sleepy People, but only because I at once got an image of an absurd door-slammer farce about a group of friends engaged in a sleep deprivation study.
Though, I rather doubt that's what your film is about.
...
sorry. Been watching a lot of farce lately.

[rinue.livejournal.com]

That sounds really fun, though. I'd watch that. I did make a sleep deprivation study film, but it was more along the lines of a Twilight Zone episode - black and white, no budget, people in jumpsuits, some talk about a mysterious weapon. We did it for Halloween a few years ago. It's pretty silly and great. I played the military commander. Ciro was instrumental in telling us how to realistically play exhausted, since he has stayed up the longest consecutively of any member of the friend group. Can't remember how long, but definitely past the hallucination point.

[hipgunslinger.livejournal.com]

Well it rather instantly presented as a comic situation to me. You could have two rivals competing for the affections of one of the other subjects, an intruder pursuing one of the rivals unsolicited, one attempting to barter their way out of the program, an embarassing disaster befalls the research team, one member who is WAY too interested in the study... you'd get plenty of frantic moments, disproportionate emotions, character quirks and a particularly amusing finish to the film of the morning after everybody finally got some sleep and came to grips with how ridiculously they behaved.
Blimey... I could be onto something here.

Good times.

[bluezybunny.livejournal.com]

Good times...

-Quip