Audience essay examples
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Transcript of Audience essay examples
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Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework productions. Audience Examples June 2011 Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. How else could the word the question? Apply theories of audience to one of your coursework productions Explain how one of your coursework productions work could be analysed via the use of audience theories. Apply the concept of audience to one of your coursework productions.
1 (b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. [25] Candidates will need to choose one production from either Foundation Portfolio or Advanced Portfolio. Examiners are reminded that candidates are asked to relate a media production to a theoretical concept and they are at liberty to either apply the concept to their production or explain how the concept is not useful in relation to their production. Level 1 (0-9 marks) Candidates at this level attempt to relate the production to the basic concept of audience, with limited clarity. The account may be incomplete or be only partly convincing. Very few, if any, examples are offered from the chosen production. The answer offers minimal use of relevant basic conceptual terms. Some simple ideas have been expressed. There will be some errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar which will be noticeable and intrusive. Writing may also lack legibility. Level 2 (10-15 marks) Candidates offer a mainly descriptive, basic account of how their production can be understood in the basic theoretical context of audience. A narrow range of examples are described, of which some are relevant. The answer makes basic use of relevant conceptual terms. Some simple ideas have been expressed in an appropriate context. There are likely to be some errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar of which some may be noticeable and intrusive. Level 3 (16-20 marks) Candidates demonstrate the ability to relate their own creative outcomes to some ideas about audience drawn from relevant media theory. Some relevant and convincing examples from the production are offered and these are handled proficiently. The answer makes proficient use of relevant conceptual language. Relatively straightforward ideas have been expressed with some clarity and fluency. Arguments are generally relevant, though may stray from the point of the question. There will be some errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar but these are unlikely to be intrusive or obscure meaning. Level 4 (21-25 marks) Candidates demonstrate a clear understanding of audience and relevant media theory and can relate concepts articulately to the production outcome, describing specific elements in relation to theoretical ideas about how media texts are produced for and received by audiences in various ways. Candidates offer a broad range of specific, relevant, interesting and clear examples of how their product can be understood in relation to relevant theories of audience and reception. Complex issues have been expressed clearly and fluently using a style of writing appropriate to the complex subject matter. Sentences and paragraphs, consistently relevant, have been well structured, using appropriate technical terminology. There may be few, if any, errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
I found examples of many film posters to complete textual analysis on and created a moodboard of conventions. I also asked a target audience for their preferences in this area which I think is essential in order to successfully attract your consumers. Conventions that I identified were bold, graphic fonts for both mastheads and straplines (such as a glowing effect) very glamorous photography with fashionable costume, hair, make up and body attitude, good quality photography, many smaller framed photographs and barcode and edition information. The language created focus on the on the film industry. Using these conventions I created my front cover. My photography was taken on SLR camera in order to make it look better quality, which was successful. I used a long shot of my main character looking glamorous and beautiful but scared. This fits the convention of the front cover using the theme of the main featured film. To follow this I created the masthead with a glowing font and superimposed it onto the character so that her head appeared to be placed on top of the text using cutting, cropping, copying tools and different layers. This made my cover seem professional I think. The glowing font was a deep shade of red to connote blood and danger and fit in with my horror genre. I used more impressive graphic fonts, such as ‘cracked’ fonts to stick to my horror genre theme. My barcode and date of edition were essential touches which I created through scanning in an existing magazine and copying it into my text. This is extremely conventional as all real media magazines include a barcode for the sales side of the industry. Overall, over my 2 year coursework I became more confident in identifying generic conventions of a product. My technology skills and knowledge of the media both developed and allowed me to create a more realistic and professional piece in my Advanced Portfolio. This is a high level 3 response. There is a real sense of progression and a chosen theme – genre conventions is sustained in detail, along with a wide range of examples of creative techniques that led to conventional outcomes. The answer doesn’t quite meet the criteria for level 4 because conventions are sometimes dealt with in a reductive way – eg a barcode, as opposed to being opened up to an analysis of their more symbolic qualities. 1(b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. The concept of audience is fundamental to the making of a media text. A producer must take into account the age, social status and gender and interests of a target consumer in order to adjust the text to make it as appealing to them as possible. For my A2 coursework I created a horror called ‘The sleepover’. Classification of age appropriateness is important in audience identification. Films are screened by an external board and given a minimum age of viewers. Most horror films are rated 18, due to extreme gore, violence, sex and disturbance – not to mention emotional trauma which is why I chose to rate my film as 18 as my film was a very conventional slasher film. The Hypodermic Needle effect is the first audience theory. It originated in the 1920s when mass media first began to be popular. This suggests that a producer has an intended meaning which is definitely understood by the audience. In this theory the audience are completely passive. If this was applied to my text the audience would
view the killing scenes and sex scenes and instantly replicate the actions. This of course is unrealistic and this theory is often argued to be very simplistic and outdate, considering how much the media has developed this century. The uses and gratifications audience theory suggests than an audience consume particular texts in order to receive something from them. Bulmer and Katz identified four uses and gratifications as diversion (entertainment and escape from reality), surveillance (information), personal identity (seeing yourself reflected in the text and learning new values and personal relationships (seeking emotional interaction and substituting media relationships for your own). In my coursework, a consumer may use diversion - the horror trailer is escapist – a route away from reality and they would be entertained by the mystery and fear of my film. Diversion would also include catharsis that my trailer would enable, which is using the media as an outlet of emotion – they would experience horror in the safety of cinema. They would also experience the ‘personal identity’ stage in seeing themselves in, or, admiring, the good characters – particularly the ‘final girl’ character and her charming boyfriend, depending on gender of audience member. They would also have the personal relationships because they could feel emotion of the fear and sadness of the victims whilst substituting their emotional relationship with the friendships in my trailer or the main characters’ romantic relationship with her boyfriend. My audience would not use the surveillance stage as horror films are not intended to be instructional. The most modern and developed theory of audience is reception theory. This model based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model, suggests that a producer will encode a text and the audience will decode it. Their reading is affected by many contextual and personal factors such as age, social status, gender, current mood and personal experiences. I encoded my horror trailer as well as I could using beautiful, edgy, feminine characters which appeal to the female consumers. I used isolated settings which suggest to the audience that escape isn’t possible (deserted house, woods) thus highlighting the experience of fear and panic that one hopes for when watching a horror film. I used acoustic codes in the form of a deep male voice over and jumpy, low orchestral score to hope that my audience will feel tension and suspense. My killer was masked and always appeared silent and in the shadows, connoting evil and dehumanising him hopefully creating a response of fear from the audience. My main target audience were males and females aged 18-30. I used attractive actors to appeal to the audience who would admire / desire them. The ‘cool’ stylish clothing adds to this. I used the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing a victim’s cleavage and the ‘final girl’ theory (hopefully creating a stronger feminist image to other women) to attract both genders. I used audience research in the form of questionnaires to find out my audiences preferences and dislikes in order to make my trailer meet their interests as fully as possible. I also asked for audience feedback on my first drafts which allowed me to make improvements based on the opinions of 20 18-30 year olds. The told me to exaggerate gore and violence more and use more threatening music which I then incorporated using iMovie so that me audience was tempted to watch my piece. I aimed my piece at a low social status as my trailer was a version of British teenagers experiencing the American slasher experience. I used strong language, popular music for soundtrack and fashionable clothing to hopefully attract this group. This is a level 3 / level 4 borderline response
Level 4 qualities –coherence, range of useful examples, ability to answer the question in sustained manner, relating of theory to practice. The understanding of Hall’s encoding / decoding model in relation to own work. The discussion of ‘effects’ early on is clear and relevant. Level 3 qualities – the application of audience theories (insufficiently developed for level 4 – eg the ‘use of’ Mulvey, in the same paragraph as the use of questionnaires for feedback).
Reflecting on Past Student Work Read through the example thinking about the assessment criteria
Explanation/analysis/argument (10 marks) Use of examples (10 marks) Use of terminology (5 marks).
• Highlight in one colour every time a technical/ media term is used. • In another colour highlight where they have used an example from their work to
illustrate a point • In a third colour highlight where they explain the effect or reason, make an
evaluative/ judgement style statement and/or make a link to a central argument/ idea/ theme that runs through the essay
Make a list of all the positive features of the essay:
Based on the assessment criteria what advice would you give this student about how to improve their work?
What aspects, ideas, points could you used from this essay in your own?
at the advanced stage and they added to the quirky image of Lexi. I watched videos like The Pharcyde’s ‘Drop’ and Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ which were great inspirations as they used the reverse editing so differently. Furthermore, Lexi wore a Rolling Stones vest which integrated intertextuality which is a common convention in a lot of music. I also shot test footage and created mood boards of London as this was key in Lexi’s British image. Overall, both projects were influenced by conventions of existing media but to different extents. While the foundation portfolio focussed on rigid conventions, the advanced one was more towards using subtle ones to construct an image and brand. Technically, my knowledge has improved as I researched music more thoroughly and learnt a lot in doing so. This is a level 4 response. The answer clearly describes, and evaluates progression over the course (from following rigid conventions to using more subtle techniques) and combines a theoretical language (intertextuality, connotation) with specific details of creative choices made and how these were informed by conventions. A range of examples of both decisions made and existing media texts provide conviction and substance and the question is answered throughout the response. 1b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. The target audience of my music video for debut artist ‘Lexi Grace’ was a huge consideration as it was important to construct a music video that would entice and excite them. Lexi is an androgynous artist as she is feminine and can attract male audiences, yet has short hair and can wear biker boots to represent a ‘girl power’ image. David Gauntlett addresses ‘fluidity’ in media and Lexi is a prime example of this as she drifts between sexy red lipstick and girly dresses and yet directly addresses the camera, subverting traditional stereotypes of passive women which shows her diversity and appeal to many people. Her target audience is young people of both genders and her Britishness is a key factor. The video is set in London, with Lexi walking around different iconic scenes such as Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden. My aim was that by associating Lexi with iconic places, audiences would associate her as an icon as well. Also, by incorporating post-modern ides through intertextuality as Lexi wears a Rolling Stones vest, audiences would recognise this, gratifying their needs as they would associate Lexi with the band and legendary music in general. Furthermore, Lexi can be a role model to young people as she is a young person herself, at 19 years old and audiences can familiarise with her. Laura Mulvey’s idea on the action of ‘looking’ was an inspiration as Liexi is objectified in someways, for example through ECUs on her lips or pans across her legs as she walks, yet she directly addresses the camera and subverts this ‘passive’ role as she almost objectifies
those looking at her. This ability to be diverse is key to Lexi’s audience appeal and again, her fluidity. Through camerawork, editing, mise en scene and sound I was able to create a brand image for Lexi to appeal to her audience. Editing was used to emphasise sounds, for example, jump cuts on lyrics like “things that are inside” to emphasise the importance of them. The message of the song was important as Lexi needed to attract viewers to watch repeatedly. The majority of shots were very short and Lexi wore many outfits and appeared in different locations ranging from central London to North London. During the audience screening I noticed people talking about places they recognised and Lexi’s clothes, so this was a positive point as it provided a ‘basis for social interaction’ which gratifies the needs of the audience. Moreover Lexi appeals to her audience because she is unlike any other artist. Singers like Pink and Robyn have similar styles but seem very edgy and artists like Pixie Lott are extremely feminine and overtly sexualised. Lexi has the right balance, which is why she can appeal to both males and females. She can embody Winship’s theory of girl power, but also appeal to males through subtle sexuality through costume and styling (using dresses and high heels). She is the ultimate icon of post modernism as she has feminine qualities but isn’t overtly sexualised and subverts stereotypical roles. This is a level 3 response. The question is answered directly and theories of audience / reception are coherently and intelligently applied to one chosen text. There are flaws - Winship’s theories do not relate to ‘girl power’ in this simplistic sense and at times ‘audience theory’ is reduced to ‘appealing to the audience’ and these shortcomings prevent the script from accessing the level 4 mark range.
Reflecting on Past Student Work Read through the example thinking about the assessment criteria
Explanation/analysis/argument (10 marks) Use of examples (10 marks) Use of terminology (5 marks).
• Highlight in one colour every time a technical/ media term is used. • In another colour highlight where they have used an example from their work to
illustrate a point • In a third colour highlight where they explain the effect or reason, make an
evaluative/ judgement style statement and/or make a link to a central argument/ idea/ theme that runs through the essay
Make a list of all the positive features of the essay:
Based on the assessment criteria what advice would you give this student about how to improve their work?
What aspects, ideas, points could you used from this essay in your own?
1b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. ‘Spinning Time’ was the teaser trailer I made in A2 media and is what I will eb analysing in terms of genre. ‘Spinning Time’ is a teen comedy about a teenage girl who has a watch that can control time. As such it is aimed at teenage girls who can relate and identify with the protagonist. Subsequently my target audience is girls aged between eleven and nineteen. I catered for this audience, firstly by presenting a relatable protagonist in Myles Brown. She is a student dedicated to her work, though also a bit lazy as depicted by her hesitance to get out of bed the trailers beginning. The film was intended to be a Disney family film and as such ‘Funmi Buriamoh’ the actress playing Myles Brown is the new up and coming teen start like Selena Gomez in ‘Ramona and Beezus’. As such the casting of Buriamoh would be an aspect to draw in the target audience. My target audience are predominantly fans of popular music – energetic, exciting, like stuff from the top 40. Chick flicks which are the sub genre of films that cater to my audience feature this kind of music throughout teaser trailers and the film. As such I complied with the conventions of Chick Flicks by incorporating this kind of music to entice my target audience. I was in no way trying to create moral panic with my film. It’s Disney-esque vide was highly considered during its creating, empowering it to be the kind of film the family can see together. I think that there are many uses and gratifications to ‘Spinning Time’. The positive portrayal of an Afro-Caribbean teen is not something that is often seen in big-budgeted Hollywood films/ As such it breaks stereotypes and challenges conventions, and subsequently some preconceptions regarding the demographic. Additionally it provides the target audience with a new role model to look up to and possibly use as reinforcement for their personal values and beliefs – as Myles is quite a positive character. The preferred reading of ‘Spinning Time’ is that audiences will wish they were in Myles position; having a watch that could control time as it would make life more exciting, easy and generally more fun. Having the instant opportunity to rewind time and do things over again (like a test for example) would eliminate the universal fear of making mistakes. I think eroding that fear would generally make people happier and less self conscious. However, an oppositional reading to the film could be that Myles is too lazy and selfish to be using such an amazing gift for lazy personal gain reasons – like catching a bus. The audience may expect Myles to do something much more meaningful like prevent deaths or wars. In conclusion I provided for my target audience in a number of ways (including music, casting, mise en scene to give the happy Disney-esque vibe and plot) duting the creation of ‘Spinning Time’. The piece is for entertainment as opposed to creating
moral panic, and hopefully offers audience members the opportunity for self discovery and social integration through discussing what they’d do if they had a time controlling watch. This is a level 3 response. Some elements are proficient and some are competent. Proficient – the ability to select one piece of work and to relate it to theories of audience / effects such as moral panics and preferred readings (though these are not attributed to Cohen or Hall / Morley). Competent – the examples are clear and the theoretical analysis is straightforward – in this sense the understanding of audiences’ reading the text is insufficient for the higher mark level.
Reflecting on Past Student Work Read through the example thinking about the assessment criteria
Explanation/analysis/argument (10 marks) Use of examples (10 marks) Use of terminology (5 marks).
• Highlight in one colour every time a technical/ media term is used. • In another colour highlight where they have used an example from their work to
illustrate a point • In a third colour highlight where they explain the effect or reason, make an
evaluative/ judgement style statement and/or make a link to a central argument/ idea/ theme that runs through the essay
Make a list of all the positive features of the essay:
Based on the assessment criteria what advice would you give this student about how to improve their work?
What aspects, ideas, points could you used from this essay in your own?
I found examples of many film posters to complete textual analysis on and created a moodboard of conventions. I also asked a target audience for their preferences in this area which I think is essential in order to successfully attract your consumers. Conventions that I identified were bold, graphic fonts for both mastheads and straplines (such as a glowing effect) very glamorous photography with fashionable costume, hair, make up and body attitude, good quality photography, many smaller framed photographs and barcode and edition information. The language created focus on the on the film industry. Using these conventions I created my front cover. My photography was taken on SLR camera in order to make it look better quality, which was successful. I used a long shot of my main character looking glamorous and beautiful but scared. This fits the convention of the front cover using the theme of the main featured film. To follow this I created the masthead with a glowing font and superimposed it onto the character so that her head appeared to be placed on top of the text using cutting, cropping, copying tools and different layers. This made my cover seem professional I think. The glowing font was a deep shade of red to connote blood and danger and fit in with my horror genre. I used more impressive graphic fonts, such as ‘cracked’ fonts to stick to my horror genre theme. My barcode and date of edition were essential touches which I created through scanning in an existing magazine and copying it into my text. This is extremely conventional as all real media magazines include a barcode for the sales side of the industry. Overall, over my 2 year coursework I became more confident in identifying generic conventions of a product. My technology skills and knowledge of the media both developed and allowed me to create a more realistic and professional piece in my Advanced Portfolio. This is a high level 3 response. There is a real sense of progression and a chosen theme – genre conventions is sustained in detail, along with a wide range of examples of creative techniques that led to conventional outcomes. The answer doesn’t quite meet the criteria for level 4 because conventions are sometimes dealt with in a reductive way – eg a barcode, as opposed to being opened up to an analysis of their more symbolic qualities. 1(b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. The concept of audience is fundamental to the making of a media text. A producer must take into account the age, social status and gender and interests of a target consumer in order to adjust the text to make it as appealing to them as possible. For my A2 coursework I created a horror called ‘The sleepover’. Classification of age appropriateness is important in audience identification. Films are screened by an external board and given a minimum age of viewers. Most horror films are rated 18, due to extreme gore, violence, sex and disturbance – not to mention emotional trauma which is why I chose to rate my film as 18 as my film was a very conventional slasher film. The Hypodermic Needle effect is the first audience theory. It originated in the 1920s when mass media first began to be popular. This suggests that a producer has an intended meaning which is definitely understood by the audience. In this theory the audience are completely passive. If this was applied to my text the audience would
view the killing scenes and sex scenes and instantly replicate the actions. This of course is unrealistic and this theory is often argued to be very simplistic and outdate, considering how much the media has developed this century. The uses and gratifications audience theory suggests than an audience consume particular texts in order to receive something from them. Bulmer and Katz identified four uses and gratifications as diversion (entertainment and escape from reality), surveillance (information), personal identity (seeing yourself reflected in the text and learning new values and personal relationships (seeking emotional interaction and substituting media relationships for your own). In my coursework, a consumer may use diversion - the horror trailer is escapist – a route away from reality and they would be entertained by the mystery and fear of my film. Diversion would also include catharsis that my trailer would enable, which is using the media as an outlet of emotion – they would experience horror in the safety of cinema. They would also experience the ‘personal identity’ stage in seeing themselves in, or, admiring, the good characters – particularly the ‘final girl’ character and her charming boyfriend, depending on gender of audience member. They would also have the personal relationships because they could feel emotion of the fear and sadness of the victims whilst substituting their emotional relationship with the friendships in my trailer or the main characters’ romantic relationship with her boyfriend. My audience would not use the surveillance stage as horror films are not intended to be instructional. The most modern and developed theory of audience is reception theory. This model based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model, suggests that a producer will encode a text and the audience will decode it. Their reading is affected by many contextual and personal factors such as age, social status, gender, current mood and personal experiences. I encoded my horror trailer as well as I could using beautiful, edgy, feminine characters which appeal to the female consumers. I used isolated settings which suggest to the audience that escape isn’t possible (deserted house, woods) thus highlighting the experience of fear and panic that one hopes for when watching a horror film. I used acoustic codes in the form of a deep male voice over and jumpy, low orchestral score to hope that my audience will feel tension and suspense. My killer was masked and always appeared silent and in the shadows, connoting evil and dehumanising him hopefully creating a response of fear from the audience. My main target audience were males and females aged 18-30. I used attractive actors to appeal to the audience who would admire / desire them. The ‘cool’ stylish clothing adds to this. I used the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing a victim’s cleavage and the ‘final girl’ theory (hopefully creating a stronger feminist image to other women) to attract both genders. I used audience research in the form of questionnaires to find out my audiences preferences and dislikes in order to make my trailer meet their interests as fully as possible. I also asked for audience feedback on my first drafts which allowed me to make improvements based on the opinions of 20 18-30 year olds. The told me to exaggerate gore and violence more and use more threatening music which I then incorporated using iMovie so that me audience was tempted to watch my piece. I aimed my piece at a low social status as my trailer was a version of British teenagers experiencing the American slasher experience. I used strong language, popular music for soundtrack and fashionable clothing to hopefully attract this group. This is a level 3 / level 4 borderline response
Level 4 qualities –coherence, range of useful examples, ability to answer the question in sustained manner, relating of theory to practice. The understanding of Hall’s encoding / decoding model in relation to own work. The discussion of ‘effects’ early on is clear and relevant. Level 3 qualities – the application of audience theories (insufficiently developed for level 4 – eg the ‘use of’ Mulvey, in the same paragraph as the use of questionnaires for feedback).
Reflecting on Past Student Work Read through the example thinking about the assessment criteria
Explanation/analysis/argument (10 marks) Use of examples (10 marks) Use of terminology (5 marks).
• Highlight in one colour every time a technical/ media term is used. • In another colour highlight where they have used an example from their work to
illustrate a point • In a third colour highlight where they explain the effect or reason, make an
evaluative/ judgement style statement and/or make a link to a central argument/ idea/ theme that runs through the essay
Make a list of all the positive features of the essay:
Based on the assessment criteria what advice would you give this student about how to improve their work?
What aspects, ideas, points could you used from this essay in your own?
Section 1B Essay Plan for____________________________________________________________________________________________
Central Argument (Define the concept, why is this thing important, what impact did it have, what theorists could you talk about/quote)
First Example of how you used this idea and effect it had (audience feedback??????)
Second example of how you used this idea and effect it had (audience feedback??????)
Third example of how you used this idea and effect it had (audience feedback??????)
Four example of how you challenged this idea (audience feedback??????)