Audience effects

Moral panics Hypodermic needle theory: 
This theory first came out when when media had just been introduced and was still very new, which was when it was mainly used for propaganda. It implies that the media has an extremely powerful and direct effect on audience members. The hypodermic needle theory was one of the first theories to try and explain how audiences react to theory, it basically suggests that audiences, without actually realising receive information via media text without actually processing or challenging the information given. The fear arose when the government wanted to influence their citizens through advertising campaigns e.g. they provoked strong anti-german feelings when they depicted german soldiers killing babies with bayonets this just represents how strong and powerful the media can be, without people realising what it is even doing which is how this theory came about. When referring this needle theory to moral panics, it has been said certain people in society can't be shown certain types of media e.g. violent or sexual media contents as they then may go and reenact what they have just witnessed in real life.

Media effects theory (Natural born killers & Marilyn Manson):
The media effects theory was firstly introduced by the Frankfurt school of social researchers in the 1920s, from peoples reaction of nazi propaganda. this theory basically explains the way that media can affect society and society can affect the media. Also it helps explains the moral panic in relation to representations of: defiant behaviour, violence and sex which is supposedly most effected on youth. And the summary of moral panic is that the feeling is out of control in some way therefore representing a threat to moral order. The film natural born killers, is extremely disliked for the effect it had on the public especially teenagers. Director Oliver Stone, portrayed his two main characters Mickey and Mallory as some sort of folk heroes but instead were criticised for sending the wrong message. Not only did the teenagers who watched the movie dress like them they also went out and killed people like them to. These psychopathic teenagers went out and killed but blamed their whole actions on the movie. Which demonstrates again how major the media affects people. Marilyn Manson however is a singer who was partially to be blamed for two teenage boys who massacred 13 people at a columbine high school due to the influence of his music. It is said that his music promoted ideas like violence, hate, death, suicide and drug use. The boys were both big fans of his music and both wore trench coats which happened to be one of mansions signature looks, Marilyn was turned into a  villain by the public and the whole shooting incident made his career come to an end. He never meant for his lyrics to be interpreted that way he had said in an interview which just goes again and shows how audiences can misinterpret certain things and the go and act like it themselves.

Gillette advert analysis

Audience response

What affects the way in which an audience responds to a media text?

There are several ways which can affect an audience members response: age, ethnicity, gender, situated culture, historical competence, cultural experience.

Theorists

Stuart Hall - Reception theory 

Stuart Hall created a theory that audiences could react in three ways to which we read a media text and its intended message.

• Dominant-This is the exact message they try and sell and people completely agree with it. e.g "Oranges are great" they would fully believe this.
• Negotiated - This type of audience response partly agrees with the message but isn't fully convinced by it. 
• Oppositional -  Here, Audiences completely disagree with the message they are trying to sell and reject their idea of it. 

Steve Neale - Genre theory

Steve Neale came up with the idea that genres are instances of repetition and difference (difference is an essential part to the genre economy) and that genres are not systems but processes of systemisation. .  He believed that there was a system of expectation and that by using our own knowledge and applying conventions of the genre, the audience should be able to understand/infer the narrative of the storyline. If the film, book etc. must match up to the genres individual conventions and stereotypes to match that genre. And a film must subvert convention enough so it can differ itself from other genres to be considered unique.


Roland Barthes - Semiotics (language)

He researched how audiences interpret what they see. Roland stated " If narratives are episodic this helps our reading. A chain of cause and effect is expected but the audience desires to see a story of morals". He then argued that the audience look for signs to help them interpret the narrative and that these signs are based on the audiences expectations due to their prior knowledge of old tales or myths. How we interpret this is shown:
3.The total of the signifier and signified e.g. how we interpret the combination of signifier and signified.
2.Semiology (the relationship between the signifier and the signified)
1.Signifier (the object) and the signified (the meaning)

Example -  The Nike symbol is so recognisable that marketing methods like 'just do it' and the actual word 'Nike' are not needed as the tick now has deeper meanings and can be recognised by itself.


George Gerbner - Cultivation

 Cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more subjected to media messages and they will eventually start to believe that they are real and valid.Their primary focus is on the effects of viewing in the attitudes of the viewer as opposed to created behaviour. And the more people who are exposed to long term effects of media the more they will be effected by it. One of the main topics of the theory is that television and media cultivate the status quo, they do not challenge it. Many times the viewer is unaware the extent to which they absorb media, many times viewing themselves as moderate viewers when, in fact, they are heavy viewers. (Definition from https://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/)


Albert Bandura - Effects
The idea that media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly and that audiences require attitudes emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling. Media representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence or physical aggression can lead to imitate those forms of behaviour and Bandura looks at the direct influence of this. Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. Children are the biggest influenced people in todays society and they are surrounded by models like parents and teachers etc. who they observe their behaviour and how they react and act so they can imitate. This is illustrated during the famous Bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961).

Shirky - End of audience

In the old media producers would addressed atomised consumers where as in the 'new' media every consumer is now a producer - they aren't employees but they 'publish then filter' whereas traditional media producers 'filter then publish'. These amateur producers have different motivations such as valuing autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connections between people who care about similar things and now 'the audience' who had predictable behaviour is now gone and replaced with behaviour that is variable across different sites. With some: creating content, synthesising content and consuming content. To conclude the 'old' media created a mass audience the 'new' media gives a platform to people to provide value for each other.

Demographic and Psychographic profiling

Audience- The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert, or meeting.

Target Audience- A particular group at which a product such as a film or advertisement is aimed.
Niche Audience-  a small, specialised market for a particular product or service. 

 

Demographic Profiling

 

A - Higher Management, Bankers, Lawyers, Doctors

B Middle Management, Teachers, Graphic designers

C-1 Office Supervisors, Junior Management, Nurses, Clerical Staff, White collar jobs

C2- Skilled Manual Workers, Plumbers, Builders, Blue Collar jobs

D- Semi-skilled, Unskilled Manual Workers

E Unemployed, Students, Pensioners, Casual Workers

 

Psychographic Profiling

 

Mainstreamers- Seek security. Tend to be domestic, sentimental, value for money family brands.

Aspirers- Seek status. Materialistic, oriented to image and appearance. Typically younger.

Succeeders- Seek control, Strong goals, confidence, work ethic, organisation. Typically higher management and professionals.

Resigned- Seek survival. Rigid and authoritative values, past and traditional, typically older.

Explorers- Seek discovery. Energy and experiences, value adventure. Typically a younger demographic (students)
Strugglers- Seeks escape. alienated and disorganised. Few resources beyond physical skills. Buys alcohol, junk food, lottery tickets. Typically lower demographic.
Reformers- Seeks enlightenment. Freedom of restrictions and personal growth. Social awareness and independent judgment. Anti-materialistic but aware of good taste.

Mise en scene task

Setting and props 

Task: "What settings and props would you find in..."

• science fiction: space related backgrounds, asteroids, high tech gadgets, space shuttles, inside a spaceship backgrounds, other worlds, alternative universes, settings that represent the future advancement at the time. 
• a romantic comedy: set in whatever period, candles, beds, houses, holiday settings, red props to symbolize love, sweets. 
• horror film: isolated, historical, abandoned areas with a sense of claustrophobia and an uncomfortable atmosphere, candles, blood, extreme weapons, masks.  

Positioning of characters and objects within a frame

Image 1 - the positioning between the couple on both ends of the couch and how far away they are from each other on the couch shows how there could be perhaps tension between the couple, suggesting they could be had an argument.

Image 2 - The axe in the middle of the frame represents how the film is revolved possibly around violence and action.

Image 3 - The positioning of the two men in the middle of the frame back to back, doing the same pose show how they are perhaps close and work together, the same way with the guns they are both holding suggests to the audience that this could be an action film. 

Image 4 - The main character is positioned in the middle and is much larger than the other objects emerging from the outside of the frame, emphasising the point that this film is about him. 

How does miss en scene convey period ? 

Mise en scene uses costumes props and settings as an immediate indication to the audience what period the film is set in. This way people can look at their clothes and realise if they are from the past or the future. 

Lighting and colour 

Image A - high lighting 

Image B - low lighting 

Image C - high lighting 

Image D - low lighting 

Image E - low lighting 

Image F - high lighting 

This image uses low key lighting, the key light is the lamp, the filler lights are the blinds behind him and the background lights ae the ones on the wall in front of him. The key orange/yellow light emphasises how eerie the man is. 

This image also uses low key lighting. The key light is the circular light coming through the back window of the car, the filler light is the street lamp and the background light is the floor space behind him. the use of the lights make it quite menacing as if something is about to happen. 

This as well uses low key lighting where the key light is coming from the door and the filler lights seem to be coming from the bin behind the opened door and the wall above it and the background lighting is next to the two gentlemen. This bright yellow orange light suggests how she could be very important as it makes her stand out more.

This image uses a mix between high and low key lighting. As the red heart shape is so bright shows how significant the love is. The filler lights are coming from the lamp the ceiling light and the blinds whereas the background light is the rest of the space. 

Generic conventions

Steve Neale - Genre Theorist


Describe 
In detail
Setting (location/indoors/outdoors/weather/tome of day)
Themes (horror, love, forgiveness, good vs evil etc)
Icons
Narrative - plots
Characters
Textual analysis (camera, edits, miss en scene, sound)

Semiotics

Denotations 

• A man and a women standing in the center of the poster.
• The man is crouching the women is standing.
• Seem to be high above the ground.
• Surrounded by a destructed city 
• Bold font of the title, all in capitals at the top of the poster 
• Both wearing army type clothing 

Connotations 

• the way the women is the only one standing suggests how she is more superior then the man in this 'relationship'.
• the fact that there is a blue straight diagonal line through the title 'divergent' could represent the divide between someone or something, the line also looks quite sci-fi ish which could suggest how this is set in the future.
• the way that they are the only two people and seem to look stranded shows their significance to the movie and represents how they could be the only two people left in the world. 
• they are surrounded by a cramped city which has been destroyed, by looking at some of the roofless buildings, this could suggest how they are in war and are battling against something to perhaps save their town. Which allows the viewer to notice that this could be an action adventure film. 
• The colors of the sky, however, are quite nice joyful colors which could show how their is happiness in this film.
• The bright sun revealing in the corner could represent the new beginning for the destructed city. 
• the characters are also both looking at something in the distance that we cant see that could perhaps be something worrying due to their quite startled facial expressions. 

Dancing animals music video

When making this music video, i wanted to involve a variety of different videos and songs which would compliment and contrast against each other nicely. At the start of the video it opens up on a black screen with music playing in the background  but then a skyscraper town opens on the first beat of the music, the camera slowly pans to the side where the scene changes to two dancing animals in a car with a different music playing,i transitioned this by using a video effect of a split circular motion and the reason i did this was to throw the viewer off as they wouldn't be expecting it. The video then quickly changes to a busy crowd and then using another video effect goes back onto the car where i have changed the color contrasts to represent how they're in a different state of mind. This then transitions to a range of animals dancing where i have added 3D like effects and have blurred and slowed down the video. After a while the music stops and goes to a clip of a phone texting. I then introduced a different music and used two different animals and kept switching the video between the two whilst changing the colors of them to represent how it was a dance battle. it then goes onto a street dance group and on the last two beats the video goes back to a now blurred skyscraper like the one from the beginning.

Youtube video

Media Vocabulary

New Vocab that I've learnt from media:

• Semiotics - The study of signs (e.g. a cross could represent death, religion, health)
• Denotation - What we see when we look at an image (what is it) 
• Connotation - What we understand from this image (other meanings)
• Genre - a style, or category or art music or literarute
•  Target audience: DR CAGES

Disability

Regions

Class

Age

Gender

Ethnicity

Sexuality

• Liar: Language, Industries, Audience, Representation. 
• Mise en scene: CLAMPS

Costume 

Lighting

Actors

Make-Up

Props

Setting

Audience- The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event such as a play, film, concert, or meeting.

Target Audience- A particular group at which a product such as a film or advertisement is aimed.
Niche Audience-  a small, specialised market for a particular product or service. 

• Representation - Is how different groups of people, events and ideas are represented. These representations are created by producers and what they choose to present us is controlled by gate keepers.
• Stereotypes - Media industries use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. A 'visual shortcut' is what they can also be called. They're repeated so often that we assume they are normal or 'true'. 
• Archetypes - Ultimate stereotype e.g. the white stiletto wearing, big busted, brainless blonde bimbo.
• Counter-type - A representation that challenges traditional stereotype associations of groups, people or places. 

Gatekeeper - A term applied to the editing and filtering process where decisions are made to let some information 'pass through' to the receiver (audience) and other information.

Photos representing different genres

Documentary: For the documentary photo we decided to take it from a low down angle to represent how its a natural,action shot. If we were to do it again, i would perhaps take it from a birds eye view angle to give it a different look.

Good vs evil: By taking this photo in a typical school scene (where the bully beats up the less weak and the hero of the school saves the day) from a straightforward shot, demonstrates how realistic it is, like a bystander is watching. It might of been better if we had made it a bit more clearer who was good and who was bad by perhaps positioning the camera in a different perspective.

Thriller: We decided to take this photo from above and further away from the actor as it gives more of an eerie feel to the picture. It would've been better if perhaps we took the picture in a different lighting to emphasize the cliche of a thriller.

What I like in the media.

Summer transition work.