Audience 1b

Apply the concept of  audience  to one of your media productions.

Music video

Three questions:

why do audience chose to consume certain texts?
how do they consume texts?
what happens when they consume texts?

There are three theorists of audience that we can apply to help come to better understanding about the relationships between texts and audience.

1. the effects model or the hypodermic model.
2. the uses and gratification mode- 
3. reception theory

PIES

personal identification 

Information- newspaper, news, documentaries 

Entertainment 

Social Interaction- 

reception theory 

decoding/ encoding 

preferred reading 

negotiated 

oppositional

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At A2 we created music video, the genre was pop/R&B and is performance based.  The song we chose was Nostalgia by NAO and our main performer is called Nova. 

We planned our music video with our audiences in mind, our main target audience was teenage girls aged 16-20.  The method in which we chose this age range is by looking at artists which we thought were similar to Nova, such as Dua Lipa, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus.  Some elements which we were inspired to put in our music video from these artists was dancing, bright lights and a main performer.  

Audiences choose to consume entertainment such as films, television, magazines and social media, usually it is fit in with everyone else who is also using them.  These forms of entertainment become more popular when it is recommended by friends, then it just continues. 

The audience theory of the effects model suggests thats audience is very basically modelled, and that they will basically mimic what they see through media.  An example of when this theory is proved is Bandura's study of the Bobo dolls where children were shown adults hitting the doll, the children would automatically replicate what they have seen and also hit the doll.  The theory verifies the audience will replicate what they have witnesses, this can be real life and through media.

We also studied the Hall' reception theory which states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. The text is then decoded by the audience. Different spectators will decode the text in different ways, not always in the way the producer intended.  In addition, he states that once the text is decoded it can be interpretted in 3 different way, which are dominant or preferred reading, negotiated reading or oppositional reading.  Preffered reading is when the audience decodes the media how the producer had desired, which usually happens when the message is very clear.  The second is negotiated reading is a compromise between the audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding of the text. They do not agree or disagree, they can however see a point being made in relation to the reading while also making their own opinions.  The last on is oppositional reading when the audience discards the media view and creates their own view.  

Another theory which stands out is the Hypoderdermic model (nicknamed the hypodermic needle).  As the nickname suggests it means when media has a direct, powerful and direct effect on its audience.  It states the audience is incapable of ignoring this information, as there is no other source of information to oppose it, and there for believe what they are being told.  A real life example of this was the murder of Jamie Burger in 1993, UK tabloids claimed he was attacked by two ten year old boys because they had been inspired by the film 'Child's Play', this indicates that the exposure to these violent film could have encouraged this murder.  

feeback

In conclusion, one of our main aims was to for our music video to be successful with our target audience.  Therefore, from the feedback we received we used this very constructively and bettered our music video.  So overall we learnt how different audience members can interpret and decode media.