3 audiences and representation

Audiences and Representations

Learning Objectives:To develop understanding of the concept of audience (for Exam Section B AO1 & AO2 also for Magazine design)

To develop understanding of concept of representation (for Exam Section B AO1 & AO2 also for Magazine Design)

To draw attention to links between Practical and Theoretical aspects of the course.

Audience = group that consumes the product

Target group can be wide/mass audience or specific/niche group

Each audience and member of audience will consume product in a different way

In order to target the most appropriate audience the producers of media texts will research using categories such as:

Age

gender

Socio economic group

Sexual orientation

Consumption history and preference

Things you must be able to discuss:

•The fact that all media texts have a target audience

•The various ways in which both institutions and producers research and target the audience

•The ways in which the audience responds to representation in media texts

•The means by which individuals learn to consider their role within an audience

•The consumption of media texts by the audience

To target audiences effectively media institutions and producers use various methods of research to discover preferences and expectations in that audience:

Qualitative research – opinions and preferences e.g. focus group shown product their response is used to alter, focus or confirm the look and content (you should do this for your adverts)

Quantitative research – Data gathered by:

BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) – TV

RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) – Radio

NRS (National Readership Survey) – Magazines

Grade Social class Typical occupation

A Upper Middle Class doctor, solicitor, barrister, accountant, company director

B Middle Class teacher, nurse, police officer, probation officer, librarian, middle manager

C1 Lower Middle Class junior manager, student, clerical/office workers, supervisors

C2 Skilled Working Class foreman, agricultural worker, plumber, bricklayer

D Working Class manual workers, shop worker, fisherman, apprentices

E Underclass casual labourers, state pensioners

The grades are often grouped into ABC1 and C2DE and these are taken to equate to middle class and working class respectively

NRS uses the following socio economic grades or classes:

For example:

Once the target audience is established the product producers will target the audience by promotion e.g:

In magazines read by the target audience

Internet sites (pop ups banners viral adverts etc)

Adverts between preferred programmes

Some other audience descriptors you could refer to:

Segmentation (advertisers):

1.succeeders 2.aspirers 3.carers 4.achievers 5.radicals 6.traditional 7.underachievers

Social Values (social scientists):

1.Traditionalist – keep things the way they are

2.Materialist – have something now, pay later

3.Hedonist – to play, or enjoy life now

4.Post Materialist – to be something later

5.Post Modernist – to have, to be, and to play

Magazines themselves are pitched through adverts, cover presentation and location on shelves as well as where ‘the shelves’ are. E.g. supermarket shelves now very important

‘It is clear, therefore, that audiences consume the media texts… …in different ways: they may accept, reject or negotiate a response to a preferred textual reading and will often be extremely active within the consumption process’ (in contrast with early media theories of passive consumption and influence)

‘an audience will often respond emotionally to what they are consuming’(they don’t often consciously analyse stuff)

‘We might also have a particular ideological position that is being engaged by the media text’ (ideology is a set of ideas or ideals within a society)

‘Remember that whether we read something from a dominant, negotiated or oppositional perspective it is intrinsically linked to whatever personal experience or detail the text encourages us to reflect upon.’

(p25 AS Media Studies for OCR)

Audiences are often prepared to question stereotypes yet frequently relate themselves to a stereotype or typical audience

e.g. describing yourself as ‘A Guardian Reader’ or ‘Radio 4 listener’ might be indicating certain interests, political orientation, socio economic status (see NRS grid) and educational experience.

This could help you convey or derive STATUS or give you a sense of COMMUNITY or SECURITY. The ‘feeling of belonging’ or ‘identity’

Typical Guardian reader according to Google

As individuals we often define ourselves through groups within which we are included e.g. different musical tastes:

punk emo

New romantic

raver

Representation

Basically this idea of social groups which are defined through images, reports, articles etc.

OCR text book defines representation as: ‘the process by which images, words or sounds are used to indicate

(connote) issues or debates beyond what they literally mean.’

Representations can be positive or negative and this notion is subjective – different social groupings might have opposing views of what is or isn’t a positive/negative representation. (e.g. use of the term ‘nigger’ in Big Brother.)

Debates arise when a stereotype is explored or exploited.

Representation (A-level) from MediaKnowall site

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

•beauty (within narrow conventions) •size/physique (again, within narrow conventions) •sexuality (as expressed by the above) •emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings •relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood (see the discussion of the misogynistic PantyRaider below). Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories. The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to societal expectations, and characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant. And they get their comeuppance, particularly in the movies. Think of Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction or, more recently, Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) in Boys Don't Cry. America seems to expect its women to behave better than their European counterparts - British viewers adored the antics of Patsy & Edina in Absolutely Fabulous, but these had to be severely toned down (less swearing, NO drugtaking) for the US remake, High Society (which was a flop).

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

•beauty (within narrow conventions)

•size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)

•sexuality (as expressed by the above)

•emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings

•relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)

Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood.

Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women, and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories.

The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical

Characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant.

And they get their comeuppance, particularly in the movies:

Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction

Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) in Boys Don't Cry.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171804/synopsis

America seems to expect its women to behave better than their European counterparts - British viewers adored the antics of Patsy & Edina in Absolutely Fabulous, but these had to be severely toned down (less swearing, NO drugtaking) for the US remake, High Society (which was a flop).

Moving Image Media (Film and TV) use the following devices to suggest the ways the audience should respond to situations and people: (this is known as positioning the audience)

Characters who offer ‘shorthand’ representations of real types of people (or stereotypes)

Narrative which is visually presented and demands high levels of active audience understanding (of what is assumed to happen between edits e.g. passage of time – the difference between plot and story)

Mise en scene (costume, props, lighting ‘authenticity’)

Camerawork that ensures continuity and creates drama through visual conventions

Dialogue, sound and music which create a balance between ‘verisimilitude’ (the believable logic of the world within the text – usually diegetic sound)

and drama e.g. dialogue more polished than it would be in reality and ‘scary music’ non diegetic sound.