AUDIENCETheory

Food for thought…

� Question 1� Why do audiences choose to consume certain texts?

� Question 2

� How do they consume texts?

� Question 3

� What happens when they consume texts?

REMEMBER

� QUESTION 1B

� Examine ONE production in relation to a media concept

� CHOOSE THE PRODUCTION THAT RELATES MOST EFFECTIVELY TO THE CONCEPT

THEORY – READ/INTERACTION

� A main area of focus is the relationship between the text and audience, which is fluent and changing.

� It is no longer acceptable to suggest that there is only one way of interpreting a text and only one possible audience response. Audiences nowadays are not mass. They are complex and sophisticated in their responses.

� Audiences are made up of individuals who bring social and cultural experiences to their interpretation of any text which may then alert the messages they receive from the text. Audiences are not unquestioning consumers as they once were in the past.

� “Far from being turned into “zombies” it has grown increasingly clear that audiences are in fact capable of a high degree of self-determination in the nature of the response that they make to products offered to them.” (Stewart et al, 2001)

AUDIENCE THEORY

� RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEXT AND AUDIENCE

� Effects Model (Hypodermic Needle)

� Uses & Gratifications

� Reception Theory

THE EFFECTS MODEL

� The consumption of media texts has an EFFECT or INFLUENCE upon the audience

� It is normally considered NEGATIVE

� Audiences are PASSIVE and powerless to prevent the influence

� The power lies with the MESSAGE of the text

� HYPODERMIC MODEL

� Messages in media texts are INJECTED into the audience by the powerful, syringe-like media

� Therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is DRUGGED, ADDICTED, DUPED

AUDIENCE POSITIONING

� STUART HALL (1973) suggested texts were encoded by the producers of texts to contain certain meanings related to social and cultural background of the creator of the text. However, once the viewer of the text ‘decoded’ that text, then the meanings intended by the producer may change.

� He suggested 3 main perspectives involved in the way in which an audience responds to a particular text

� This involved how the audience is positioned by the text and their subsequent response

STUART HALL

� PREFERRED (Dominant) READINGS� The audience interprets the text as closely to the way in which the producer intended

� Ideological perception

� Similar social/cultural experience = little to challenge� E.g. Watching a political speech and agreeing with it

� NEGOTIATED READINGS� Audience negotiates with themselves to allow them to accept the way in which the text is presented� Agree – Disagree – Adjust viewpoint in order to get the most out of your viewing

� The audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views

� E.g. neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested

� OPPOSITIONAL (Resistant) READINGS� Audience in conflict with the text itself due to beliefs / experiences

� Where the preferred meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons

� E.g. Total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

STUART HALL – Reception Theory

� Considered how texts were ENCODED with meaning by producers and then DECODED by audiences� When a producer constructs a texts, it is encoded with meaning or message(s) that the producer

wishes to convey to the audience

� In some instances, audiences will correctly decode the meaning or message(s) and understand what the producer was trying to say (preferred meaning)

� In some instances, the audience will either fail to correctly understand the message (negotiated) or completely reject it(oppositional)

USES & GRATIFICATIONS

� Total opposite to Effects Model

� The audience is ACTIVE

� The audience USES the text and is NOT used by it

� The audience uses the text for their own GRATIFICATION or PLEASURE

� Here, POWER lies with the AUDIENCE and not the producers

� This theory emphasises what audiences DO with media texts – how and why the USE them

� Far from being duped by the media, the audience is free to REJECT, USE or PLAY with media meanings as they see fit

� Audiences therefore use media texts to GRATIFY their needs for:

� Diversion

� Escapism

� Information

� Pleasure

� Personal Identity and Relationships *often comparisons

� Stimulation

USES & GRATIFICATIONS

� The audience is IN CONTROL and consumption of the media helps people with issues such as:

� Learning

� Emotional Satisfaction

� Relaxation

� Help with issues of personal identity

� Help with issues of social identity� CAN YOU THINK OF ANY MORE??

USES & GRATIFICATIONS

� What about this one:� Help with issues of aggression and violence??

� Controversially, the theory suggests that the consumption of violent images can be HELPFUL rather then harmful…

� The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence� Think video games...

� The audience’s inclination towards violence is therefore sublimited and they are less likely to commit violent acts

USES & GRATIFICATIONS

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS 1943

Dyer Mulvey Goodwin

� Thinks that audiences want to consume media products that offer them Utopian Solutions to their problems

� Believes that the media texts often encourage the audience to objectify women and look at them with a ‘male gaze’

� Believes that audiences are often played in the position of a voyeur within music videos. He also believes that the use of CUs is important to help the audience appreciate the ‘star persona’ of the lead singer.

ESSAY INTRO

� Why is it important/essential for a media product like a film or a music video to appeal to an audience?

� Who was your target audience for your production? Social Demographics & Psychographic Profiles (gender, age, class, hobbies, media interests)

� What did you do to research what your audience wanted? What did you find out about what they wanted? Why might they USE these things? – insert Media theory here!

� CHANGE FROM PASSIVE (FRANKFURT SCHOOL) TO ACTIVE (U&G) AUDIENCE.

MAIN PARAGRAPHS

� How did you use the following micro elements to attract/engage an audience?� Cinematography

� Shot types, angles, movement

� Editing� Experimental – Jump Cuts etc etc

� Sound� Diegetic Vs Non-Diegetic

� Synchronous Vs Asynchronous – Audio & Visual

� Mise-en-Scéne� Characters, Costume

� Location, Lighting, Colour

� Props

TERMINOLOGY BOOKLET

MAIN PARAGRAPHS

� What feedback did you seek MIDWAY / AFTER production and what was their responses?� Focus Groups

� How did a “real” audience react to your product?� YouTube responses on the Lingfield Media Channel?

� Oscars Night – 8th May

� Did they react in a way you thought they would? Why?� Reception Theory

CONCLUSION

� How important is it to consider your audience in depth?

� How has this changed or affected your production?

TO GET YOU’RE A/B GRADES:*Incorporate theories into textual analysis of

micro elements

PLANNING

THEORIST THEORY MICRO ELEMENT HOW DOES IT APPLY TO MY VIDEO?LAURA MULVEY

BLUMLER & KATZMASLOW

MALE GAZE

U&G

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

CINEMATOGRAPHY USING A PREDOMINANCE OF CLOSE UP SHOTS ENGAGES THE AUDIENCE & BUILDS A ”PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP” WITH THE STAR PERSONASENSE OF BELONGING

MASLOW HIERARCHY OF NEEDSHALL RECEPTION THEORYGOODWIN VOUYEURISMDYER UTOPIAN SOLUTIONS