Audiencetheory

Audience Theory

Firstly

• Sorry I’m not in today, but I’ll see you all on Thursday.

• Bring all work from today to Thursdays lesson including your Narrative essay with feedback.

Box Office Mojo

http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/uk/yearly/Visit this website and identify the 3 highest grossing films so far for 2014.

Apply Social Grade, Uses and Gratification – and if you have seenLego Movie consider how you could apply Hypodermic Needle.

A paragraph for each top grossing film with its gross and releasedate included.

If you are unsure what any of these films are about go to IMDB.

Key questions• What is audience theory?

• Who are the key theorists?

• What are the key terms?

• How does this help with your section a: 1b?

Today's menu

• Box Office

• Peer assessment

• Audience theory – active

• Mind map

English and Maths

• Maths – handling data

• English – communication, reading, writing, listening and research

Peer assess & Self assess

• Using the mark scheme and SPaG book mark you already have, assess either on your own or in pairs.

• But first read through your own work and give yourself a Level, but do not write it on your essay (keep it secret).

• Essays to be passed on to another student (not the person you are sitting with).

• Give a Level and feedback, identify spelling, punctuation and grammar errors.

• Give this work back. • Read through the feedback and write down the Level you

thought it was, and whether you agree with the feedback or not.

Level 4 (21–25 marks)Candidates demonstrate a clear understanding of representation andrelevant media theory and can relate concepts articulately to theproduction outcome, describing specific elements in relation totheoretical ideas about how media texts are constructed asnarratives. Candidates offer a range of specific, relevant,interesting and clear examples of how their product can beunderstood in relation to relevant theories of narrative. The use ofconceptual language is excellent.Complex issues have been expressed clearly and fluently using astyle of writing appropriate to the complex subject matter.Sentences and paragraphs, consistently relevant, have been wellstructured, using appropriate technical terminology. There may befew, if any, errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Level 3 (16–20 marks)Candidates demonstrate the ability to relate their own creativeoutcomes to some ideas about representation drawn from relevantmedia theory. Some relevant and convincing examples from theproduction are offered and these are handled proficiently. Theanswer makes proficient use of relevant conceptual language.Straightforward ideas have been expressed with some clarity andfluency. Arguments are generally relevant, though may stray fromthe point of the question. There will be some errors of spelling,punctuation and grammar but these are unlikely to be intrusive orobscure meaning.

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 representation. A narrow range of examples are described, of which some are relevant. The answer makes basic use of relevant conceptual terms Candidates will need to choose one production from either Foundation Portfolio or Advanced Portfolio.

Level 1 (0–9 marks)Candidates at this level attempt to relate the production to thebasic concept of narrative, with limited clarity. The account maybe incomplete or be only partly convincing. Very few, if any,examples are offered from the chosen production. The answeroffers minimal use of relevant basic conceptual terms.Some simple ideas have been expressed. There will be someerrors of spelling, punctuation and grammar which will benoticeable and intrusive. Writing may also lack legibility.

The active audience

This is the dominant (most accepted) model.

• ‘Two step’ model (Katz & Lazarsfeld; 1940s)– They concluded the media alone wasn’t that

influential in affecting an audience’s attitudes, but was part of a larger system of situated culture.

– The audience often received the media’s message through ‘opinion leaders’ – individuals who pay close attention to the media and filter information to family and friends, so people receive the message without consuming the text.

Question

• How long ago was 1940?

• Does this make this study irrelevant?

Uses & Gratifications Theory -reminder

• Term coined by Blumler and Katz in the 1970s.

• It suggests the audience uses the media to fulfil needs and motivations:

– Diversion.

– Personal Relationships & Social Interaction.

– Personal Identity.

– Surveillance.

Diversion

• Entertainment

• Relaxation

• Something to do

Personal Relationships & Social Interaction

• Audiences can become involved in the social lives of people presented in media texts through interviews, and gossip.

• Audiences can observe a range of relationships with others and understand the dynamics involved.

• Audiences can learn empathy.

Personal Identity

• Audiences can identify with characters represented in the media.

• Audiences can make comparisons between characters and their own behaviour.

Surveillance

• The media provides information and education, helping the audience to stay informed and know what’s happening in the world.

• Uses and Gratifications theory argues that the audience uses the media to fulfil needs – is it possible that sometimes those needs have been created by the media in the first place?

• Is the model affected by developments in new technology? Do we need to add to the list of Uses and Gratifications?

Research Task

• Reception Theory – summary, theorist and year

• What does encode and decode mean?

• Research the different types of readings this theorist identified Dominant reading, Negotiated reading and Oppositional reading.

• Try and apply this this theory to your work.

Reception Theory

• Encoding and Decoding – Stuart Hall (1970s)

– Texts are encoded with meaning (semiotics!).

– Different audiences respond (decode) in different ways.

– Both encoded and decoded meaning will be understood in the context of the social and cultural background of the producer and audience.

Evaluating encoding & decoding (consider)

• Is there one single message in a text which has been deliberately encoded by producers?

• Would all audiences agree on the intended meaning?

• How do we know if we have found the preferred meaning?

• If there isn’t a single preferred meaning, does that mean there is a range of oppositional readings? Ooh!

Outdated?

• These models were constructed 30 years ago.

• The available mainstream media was:

– Terrestrial TV: 4 free to air channels

– Analogue radio: BBC and commercial stations

– Press and magazines

– Film: cinemas and home video

– Home video games consoles

Modern Media

• Make a list which reflects the available media today.

• How do these changes in technology and introduction of new media forms affect the relationship between the audience and the media?

• Consider...

• Reception:

– Where and who do you receive media texts?

– Are there times when you receive more than one media text simultaneously?

– What are the different platforms (eg computer, mobile phone) you use to receive media?

• Existing audience models:

– Does the increased range of media forms affect the theory of encoding and decoding?

– Does the emphasis on interactive technology make the audience more or less likely to be active or passive?

– Do new media technologies provide alternative uses and gratifications?

'Effects' debate and moral panics

• Tales from the Crypt - 1955 Children and Young Persons (harmful Publications) Act

• Panics about effects traced to the 18th Century

• (Tax duty on newspapers and made it so only the rich could buy newspapers)

• Can this be applied to your work?

Moral Panics

• Cohen - Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972)

• A mass response to a group, a person or an attitude that becomes defined as a threat

• (Naming and shaming paedophiles, legislation to control dangerous dogs)

• Can this be applied to your work?

Gender preferences - Research• Gray (1992) Video Playtime: The Gendering of a

Leisure Technology

• Geraghty (1991) Women and Soap Opera: A Study of Prime Time Soaps analyses the critical role of women characters in the families and communities of soaps and suggests that the utopian possibilities of soaps can be used not just to maintain the status quo, but to promote change and influence attitudes and prejudices.

• Can this be applied to your work?

Mind map

• Map all theory covered to date, ALL.

• Work in pairs to completed this