Target Audience
L.O.: To understand why target audience is essential during production
What factors I must consider?
L
ifestyle – how you spend your day
lass – social status (upper class, middle class, lower class)
ge – making products that appropriate with each age groups
ender – Female or male
thnicity – different cultures and religions / movies with subtitle
S
pending power – how much you can afford (disposable income / tight budgets)
C
A
G
E
There are 3 theories of audience that we can apply to help us come to better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience.
-
The effects model or hypodermic model
-
The used and gratifications
-
Reception Theory
The Effects Model or Hypodermic Model
The effects model:
​
-
The consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience.
-
It is normally considered that this effect is negative.
-
Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence.
-
The power lies with the message of the text.
Hypodermic model
​
-
Here, the messages in media texts are injected into the audience by the powerful, syringe-like, media.
-
The audience is powerless to resist.
-
Therefore, the media works like a drug and the audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.
Example of the effects model or hypodermic model
Moby & The Void Pacific Choir
Key evidence for the Effects Model:
-
The Frankfurt School theorised in the1920s and 30s (World War I) that the mass media acted to restrict and control audience to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments.
-
The Bobo Doll Experiment – This is a very controversial piece of research that apparently proved that children copy violent behavior.
The Bobo Doll Experiment
This was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura:
In the experiment:
-
Children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo Doll.
​​
-
The Children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch.
​​
-
The children were then led to another room with Bobo Dolls.
​
-
88% of the children imitated the violent behavior that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behavior.
Social Learning Theory – Bandura
Bandura’s key idea is Social Learning Theory that people learn how to behave from one another, through observation, imitation, and modeling.
“Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling from observing others, one forms and idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.”
- Albert Bandura -
Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral and environmental influences.
‘There is a large body of research evidence showing that both children and adults can acquire attitudes, emotional responses, and new patterns of behavior as result of observing filmed or televised models.’
​
- Albert Bandura -
Key examples sited as causing of being contributory factors are:
-
The film Child’s play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993.
-
The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc.
-
The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks.
-
The film Severance (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt.
It is claimed that the 10 year old killers of James Bulger in 1993 had seen Child's Play 3 prior to the attack. In the film, the evil doll Chucky dies after being splattered with paint and having its face caved in; James Bulger was splashed with paint and violently killed.
​
In 1999, two teenagers killed 13 people at their high school in Columbine, Colorado. In the aftermath of the massacre, multiple media products that the killers had access to were blamed, including the video game Doom, the film Natural Born Killers and the music of Marilyn Manson (although it was later found out they were not fans of his music).
The Effects Model contributes to Moral Panics whereby:
-
The media produce inactivity, make us students who won't pass their exams or ‘couch potatoes’ who make no effort to get a job.
-
The media produces violent ‘copycat' behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisements.
Moral Panic
A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order.
Stan Cohen and Moral Panics
The term moral panic was developed by Stan Cohen (1970, pictured left). It is based on a false or exaggerated idea that some group's behaviour is deviant and is a menace to society. Cohen used the term ‘folk Moral panics' to refer to such groups. ‘Moral panics’ are generally fuelled by media coverage of social issues.
Nationwide Audience
[David Morley 1980]
Different social/economic groups watched same TV programme.
Interviews reveal different readings of same text.
Nationwide Audience
Members of the same subculture will tend to decode texts in similar ways. Individual readings of texts will be framed by shared cultural formations and practices.
Target audience means “A specific group of consumers which a company will aim its products and services.”
Demographic means “A specific characteristic of that target audience”
The difference between target audience and demographic:
*** Demographic is more specific ***
CASE STUDIES
The target audience for Tomb Raider is the teenager group who age more than 13 years old. Because, this movie is an action movie which has lot of fighting and violence scenes, which children below than the available age might be try to copy the characters in the movie which can make them get injured or harm.
​
This movie is suitable for teenagers, who love adventure and sci-fi, mostly attract to the males who do not like slow life and romance movie. Also, this movie is adapted from the PlayStation’s game so the gamers who had played this game before might interested to watch the movie.
In term of spending power, in my opinion, the company may would like to target their movie to both type of these people – disposable income and tight budget. For disposable income is the people who have the power to spend their money on the things that they wish and for the tight budget group the company may target to the person who had played this game and interested that what it will be like if the game become the live action movie.
For Tinker Bell, the target audience will be a group of younger children especially the girls because it is an animation which not popular in the adult group. Also the theme of this movie is fantasy that the girls would be interested. In my opinion this movie can be watching in the family group too because it has a soft story which always has a good ending and no violence scenes.
​
In term of spending power, this movie is suitable to the disposable income because this movie is fantasy movie which does not have the content that can use it the daily life so in term of the salary man who does not have lot of income,
they may does not agree to let their child to spend the money on this movie. Moreover, children do not have jobs and budget to
they may does not agree to let their child to spend the money on this movie. Moreover, children do not have jobs and budget to
MAINSTREAM
VS
NICHE
L.O.: To understand the key terms mainstream and niche audiences
MAINSTREAM
MOVIES
NICHE
MOVIES
Mainstream Audience means "Is known to incorporate a wide range of people, something with popular appeal."
::. Example .::
Avatar was a very popular film therefore would appeal to a lot of people. Avatar was easily available screened at lots of cinemas all over the world, it was rated PG 13 and released during a holiday period. The narrative is easily accessible for all ages and genders.
Niche Audience means "Refers to a specific group of people and the media product will be unpopular.
::. Example .::
‘Memento’ would have a niche audience. It was released at the Sundance film festival, not screened in cinemas and went straight to DVD. It was rated R for violence, language and some drug content. It features a complex and disturbing narrative. Therefore would only appeal to a small, niche target audience.
*** The difference between Mainstream and Niche audiences is that the former only watches popular media texts which will be widely accessible, whereas the latter will watch upon their own personal taste in less popular films that may not be as accessible or covered in various media platforms as Mainstream texts. ***
MAINSTREAM
CASE STUDY
​Production company:
-
Universal Pictures
-
Amblin Entertainment
​
Release date and year:
-
16 July 1993
​
Director: Steven Speilberg
​
Genre:
-
Science Fiction film
-
Fantasy
​
Country of production: United States
​
Run-time: 143 minutes
​
Synopsis:
-
During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.
​
Box office revenue: $1.029 billion
​
Budget: $63 million
Actors:
-
Sam Neill
-
Laura Dern
-
Jeff Goldblum
-
Richard Attenborough
-
Bob Peck
-
Martin Ferrero
-
BD Wong
-
Joseph Mazzello
-
Ariana Richards
-
Tom Mishler
-
Greg Burson
-
Samuel L. Jackson
-
Wayne Knight
-
Gerald R. Molen
-
Gerald R. Molen
-
Cameron Thor
-
Christopher John Fields
-
Whit Hertford
-
Dean Cundey
-
Jophery C. Brown
-
Adrian Escober
-
Richard Kiley
Jurassic Park 1
NICHE
Mother
​Production company:
-
Protozoa Pictures
​
Release date and year:
-
September 15, 2017
​
Director: Darren Aronofsky
​
Genre:
-
Horror
-
Mystery
-
Drama
​
Country of production: United States
​
Run-time: 121 minutes
​
Synopsis:
-
A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
​
Box office revenue: $44.5 million
​
Budget: $30 million
Actors:
-
Jennifer Lawrence
-
Javier Bardem
-
Ed Harris
-
Michelle Pfeiffer
-
Brian Gleeson
-
Domhnall Gleeson
-
Jovan Adepo
-
Amanda Chiu
-
Patricia Summersett
-
Eric Davis
-
Raphael Grosz-Harvey
-
Emily Hampshire
-
Abraham Aronofsky
-
Luis Oliva
-
Stephanie Ng Wan
Media Convergence
LO: To understand the key term Media convergence
What is it?
Media convergence is how production companies use a variety of media to display their product.
Example:
Film Production Companies often have parent companies (conglomerates) that own or use other (subsidiary) companies to advertise and market their product through print, video, radio, apps, social media and the internet.
- Mobility
- Ease
- Size
- Distribution
Why is Cross Media Convergence Possible?
Cross Media convergence is made possible by Technological development and convergence. Technological convergence is how technology allows media texts to be produced and distributed on multiple media devices.
- Access
- Interaction
- Speed
Convergence case study montage
The Used and Gratifications
-
Help the audience to gain the gratifications and become addicted.
-
Katz & Blumler's Uses & Gratifications Model proposes that the media has 4 main ‘uses’ for its audiences.
-
Whereas much audience theory focuses on the negative impact of the media (for example, how audiences are manipulated and duped), Uses & Gratifications research is far more positive, and emphasises on how the audiences uses the media.
The U&G model proposes 4 main reasons as to why we choose to consume media texts:
-
Surveillance
-
Personal Identity
-
Relationships
-
Diversion/Escapism
Surveillance
-
We want to be aware.
-
We want to be safe and secure.
-
We want to be educated about the world we live in.
Relationships with the media
-
We want to form relationships with the media.
-
We want to share experiences with the media.
Personal Identity
-
We want to form our own identity.
-
We want to know what makes a good/bad identity.
-
We want to know where our identity fits in society.
Diversion
-
We want to escape from our own lives.
-
We want to experience both:
- Positive (e.g. Happy Ending – “Ah, I want to be this happy in my life”)
- Negative (e.g. Christmas in Eastenders – “Wow, how thankful am I that my Christmas isn’t that bad?”)
PSYCHOGRAPHICS
​
-
Segmenting the audience by personality.
Young & Rubicam 4C Model:
​
-
Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation.
-
Also known as 'LIFESTYLE GROUPS'.
-
Advertising company Young & Rubicam devised another in which audiences could be segmented-by lifestyle.
-
They devised 6 groups which they use when determining what kinds of people they would like to target.
-
ASPIRERS: People who want to “get on”. They seek money, approval and social status. Obvious buyers of “aspirational goods”.
-
REFORMERS: Creative, caring, charitable, not brand conscious, they want to see change in society.
-
EXPLORERS: They seek novelty and want to try new things. Ther are likely to be early adopters of completely new products.
-
SUCCEEDERS: People who are successful and self-confident. They tend not to buy aspirational products and follow their own ideas of what is a good product. Not so swayed by advertising.
-
MAINSTREAMERS: The laegeat segment; conformists-they like to fit in. They buy “safe”,big brand products.
-
CONSTRAINED: They are the resigned and struggling poor, Restricted culturally and financially. Demographics C2, D and E.
Audience Positioning
Stuart Hall (1973) suggested texts were encoded by the producers of texts to contain certain menaings 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 went on to suggest three main perspectives involved in the way in which an audience responds to a particular text. This involves how the audience is positioned by the text and its subsequent response.
Reception Theory
Reception theory focuses on the idea that the meaning of a media text is decoded by the audience The meaning decoded is affected by a wide range of factors including gender, age, social class, ethnicity, education, regional location, values, etc.
Reception Theory - Hall
​
Halls ‘encoding-decoding’ model argued that media producers encode 'preferred meanings into texts, but ese texts may be read' by their audiences in a number of different ways:
-
The dominant-hegemonic position: a preferred reading that accepts the text's messages and the ideological assumptions behind the messages
-
The negotiated position: the reader accepts the text's ideological assumptions, but disagrees with aspects of the messages, so negotiates the meaning to fit with their lived experience'
-
The oppositional reading: the reader rejects both the overt message and its underlying ideological assumptions.
-
A preferred reading (or dominant system of response) is a way of understanding the text that is consistent with the ideas and intentions of the producer or creator of the product. This may lead to an acceptance of the dominant values within the text.
-
With a negotiated reading (or subordinate response) the individual has a choice as to whether or not they accept the preferred reading as their own. Audience members may read the text though the filter of their own personal agenda. Although there may be an acceptance of the dominant values and existing social structure, the individual may be prepared to argue that a particular social group may be unfairly represented.
-
In an oppositional reading (or radical response) individual members of an audience may completely reject the preferred reading of the dominant code and the social values that produced it.
-
An aberrant reading is where an entirely different meaning from that intended by the maker will be taken form the text. This could be when individual members of the audience do not share, in any way, the values of the maker of the text.
Hall's three main perspectives
Preferred or dominant readings - this is where the audience interprets the text as closely to the way in which the producer of the text intended. If the social and cultural experience of the reader of the text is close to that of the producer then there is little for the audience to challenge.
Negotiated Readings - This is where the audience goes through some sort of negotiation with themselves to allow them to accept the way in which the text is presented. You may agree with some elements of the text and disagree with others. You may need to adjust you viewpoint in order to get the most out of your viewing
Oppositional or resistant readings - This is where the user of the text finds themselves in conflict with the text itself due to their beliefs or experiences. E.g: A narrative in a soap opera that views a woman who is having an affair sympathetically will encourage a resistant reading in a person whose culture is against adultery.
Encoding/Decoding
Hall argues that media producers have a preferred reading (the meaning they are trying to communicate) which they encode using technical elements and codes and conventions (e.g. camerawork, sound, mise-en-scene, colour, etc.). The audience then decode the meaning. How the audience respond to a media text will depend on the context of reception.
Hall believes audiences can respond in one of three ways to a media text:
-
Dominant-hegemonic - accepts the meaning communicated and ideological values.
-
Negotiated - accepts the ideological values of but disagree with some elements based on their own experience.
-
Oppositional - rejects the preferred reading and ideology.