LO4: Audience Research

LO4: Audience Research

RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) - collects data on radio listeners
BARB (Broadcaster Audience Research Board) - collects data regarding television
NRS (National Readership Survey) - collects data regarding how many people read magazines and newspapers

For this section of the exam you have to analyse data that is collected by the organisations.

Django Unchained Regulations

Django Unchained regulation

Django Unchained was rated 18 by the BBFC, therefore it is allowed to contain:

• Extreme violence
• Scenes of a sexual nature
• Illigal drug use
• Detailed portrayal of a violent or dangerous acts

LO6: Starter

LO6: Starter

The two main areas when media products are discussed are passive audience theory and active audience theory.

Example of passive audience theory:

When the mass media demonised groups, people or products that they believe become a threat to society, values and interests it is called a moral panic.

         - Stanley Cohen, 1972

Example of active audience theory:

"We have uses and gratifications; people use media for their own purposes"

          - McQuail, 1972

An example of a media product that caused a moral panic:

"Doom launched by Bethesda at E3 2015, swiftly criticised for being too violent"

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BBFC

British Board of Film Classification, used to be called British Board of Film Censors until 1984. Gives age ratings to films to protect the public from violent or inappropriate content.

Before the BBFC changed its name in 1984, they used to block films and prevent the general public from watching them. After this time when VHS became popular the BBFC realised they could no longer censor everything the public watched as going to the cinema was no longer the only way to watch a film.

Video Recordings Act 1984

This meant that films had to have an age rating

BBFC Age Ratings

Lo6: Media effects

L06: Media effects

The main point of view of the article is that the BBFC should have rated "Batman - Dark Night Rises" a 15 instead of a 12A. I agree with this because as the article states "Unlike past Batman films where the villains were somewhat surreal and comical figures, Heath Ledger's Joker is a brilliantly acted but very credible psychopathic killer, who extols the use of knives to kill and disfigure his victims, during a reign of urban terrorism, laced with torture."

Article: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/aug/05/politicsandthearts

Passive Audience Theory

Hypodermic syringe - implies that media has a negative impact. Mass audiences believe everything they see/hear (Adorno & Horkheimer).

In the 1940's/50's, the mass media were perceived as an extreme influence.

This model does not hold much positivity for the audience, however it is a good method for a media producer, politician and also towards the use of marketing. 

In 1957, Vance Packard looked at the relationship between advertising and media effects in his book.

When the mass media demonised groups, people or products that they believe become a threat to society, values and interests it is called a moral panic.

         - Stanley Cohen, 1972

The group/products are referred to as "folk devil".

High exposure to fast-paced violent games can lead to changes in brain function when processing violent images, including dampening of emotional responses to violence.

          - Chris Anderson, 2007

This is known as desensitisation. 

Find three products that have been criticised for being too violent/ negative impact

1. "Doom launched by Bethesda at E3 2015, swiftly criticised for being too violent"
2. "The Walking Dead’ season 7 premiere criticised for ‘brutal, violent’ scenes"
3. Two events happened in the space of a week that many politicians and members of the media will link together. The first: A mass shooting in Washington, D.C. in which an angry, mentally-ill young man shot and killed a dozen of his fellow citizens. Second: The release of Grand Theft Auto V, the perennially controversial sandbox game.

Also, the two latest Wolfenstein games (The New Order and The Old Blood) were banned in Germany due to the Nazi theme throughout the game.

Representation

"All representations are mediated."

          - Hall, 1980

"Representations of men are linked to equation of masculinity with pathological control and violence.

          - Earp & Katz, 1999

"Representations of homosexuals are stereotypical"

          

          - Butler, 1993

"Ethnic people are seen as: exotic, dangerous, humorous and pitied."

          - Alvarado, 1987

"Black and asian boys are hooligans and trouble causers"

          - Turton, 2014

"Girls are portrayed as double-deviant; trouble causers who shouldn't be trusted because they are women."

          - Lloyd, 1995

I think my film (Django Unchained) would be criticised for having a negative impact as it is extremely violent in parts and uses racial slurs throughout. This links to Alvarado's 1987 theory that ethnic people are seen as dangerous. 

Active Audience Theory

"Other school of thought; we are able to filter and adapt to content in media"

          - Gauntlett, 1995

"We have uses and gratifications; people use media for their own purposes e.g. Personal identity, Escapism, Surveillance, Personal relations"

          - McQuail, 1972

Encoding/decoding model

          - Hall, 1980

Preferred (Dominant) reading - by audience depending on their background but accepts the dominant viewpoint/story.

Negotiated reading - partially agrees with meaning

Oppositional reading - meaning is understood but don't agree and think opposite

Aberrant -  gets the completely wrong meaning entirely

There are certain positive aspects of my film. The overall message is that eventually, good will prevail and the underdog will win. 

FOR A 20 MARK QUESTION THERE SHOULD BE 5 POINTS


INTRODUCTION

1. Give your opinion to the answer to the question
2. Tell me the product, Specific audience and regulation
3. Tell me how you are going to structure your essay

LO4: Uses and Gratifications Theory

LO4: Uses and Gratifications Theory

There are four reasons that people consume media products: surveillance, escapism, building personal identity and building personal relationships

Surveillance - people consume media products to see how other people live.

Escapism - people consume media products to escape from their real lives and pretend they are somewhere better.

Building personal identity - people consume media products to converge with what they see and build their own identity.

Building personal relationships - people consume media products to provide a topic of conversation.

Django Unchained offers the gratification of escapism into a past time in what could be a different country to the one that the audience lives in.

Audience Theory

Audience Theory

All media products have invisible fictions before they are made.

          - John Hartley (1987)

All media producers have imaginary entities in mind before their production.

          - Ien Ang (1991)

Audience Profile

Throughout Django Unchained there are multiple scenes of extreme of extreme violence such as when D'artagnan gets ripped apart by dogs or the final shootout scene at Candy Land. Because of this the target age for the film would be 18 to 50. Over 18 because of the age certificate of the film and younger than 50 as people over this age may not want to watch it as they may deem its use of violence and language "distasteful".  These instances of extreme violence would also lead to the target audience being mostly female as stereotypically, women are less likely to want to watch violent films. The gender split (Male/Female) would be about 70/30.

LO4: Understand the target audiences of media products

LO4: Understand the target audiences of media products

Demographic - Characteristics of the target audience

Conglomerate - A large company that owns other smaller companies (subsidiaries)

Horizontal integration - A conglomerate can market its media products across its subsidiaries on
different platforms

Audience - People who use/view/listen to a media product

Independent - A media company that isn't owned by a conglomerate and doesn't won any subsidiaries.

Niche - A specific target audience

Mass - A large target audience

LO4: Understanding the target audience of media

LO4: Understanding the target audience of media

Audience research is when surveys are taken to find out the demographic of your audience. An example of an audience research organisation is RAJAR.

LO3 Theories of Representation

LO3 Theories of Representation

Key Theory 5: Vladimir Propp (1928)

All narratives feature stock characters and that audiences understood stories because of such features. Villain/antagonist, hero/protagonist, helper/supporter, Princess (the prize for the hero - not necessarily a person) one that is rescued/saved/helped.

Protagonist: Django
Antagonist: Calvin Candie
Supporter: Dr Schultz
"Princess" (prize for the protagonist): Broomhilda (his wife)

Fluid character roles - characters that change roles throughout the film

Representation - how the media shows us things about society.

Django unchained is about a former slave who joins forces with a bounty hunter in an attempt to rescue his wife.

Key Theory 1:Tim O'Sullivan et al. (1998)

For representation to work, there has to be a shared recognition of people and places. All representations therefore have ideologies behind them.

In my film (Django Unchained) the slaves who don't play a main character are represented as being simple and uneducated. 

Key Theory 2: Richard Dyer (1983)

Audiences should question the representations they see in media texts. What does the representation imply? Is it typical of the word deviant?

Key Theory 3: Laura Mulvey (1975)

Male gaze. Women are objectified in media texts and passive objects. audiences are positioned to view the women from the point of view of a heterosexual male. In Django unchained there is only one main female character and she plays the role of someone who needs to be rescued. 

Key Theory 4: Stuart Hall (1995)

Western/white cultures continue to misrepresent ethnic minorities as in the media due to underlying racist tendencies. Edward Said also said that ethnic minorities are portrayed as Pitied, humorous, exotic or dangerous. In Django unchained almost all of the black slaves are portrayed as being simple and submissive. The main protagonist (Django) is black and is portrayed as a binary opposite to the other black characters in the film as he is arrogant and fearless instead of being timid and simple. 

Ways of Seeing - John Berger (1972)

In this study, Berger analyses the manner in which men and women are culturally represented, and the subsequent results these representations have on their conduct and self as well and mutual perception. In "Ways of Seeing" Berger claims that the representations of men and women in visual culture entice different "gazes", different ways in which they are looked at, with men having the legitimisation of examining women.

Orientalism - Edward Said

Orientalism is a way of seeing that imagines, emphasises, exaggerates and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures as compared to that of Europe and the U.S. It often involves seeing Arab culture as exotic, backward, uncivilised, and at times dangerous. Said defined it as the acceptance in the West of “the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on.”