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Understand how media producers define audiences for their products (LO1) Quantitive audience research: Quantitive research is essentially about asking people for their opinions in a structured way so that producers can define hard facts and statistics to guide the audience. In order to get reliable results, it’s important to survey people in fairly large numbers and to make sure they are a representative sample of your preferred target audience. BARB: Broadcaster’s audience research board deliver the official viewing figures for the UK television audiences. They collect data which represents the viewing behaviour or the UK’s 26 million TV households. BARB viewing data offer clients, such as broadcasters and advertisers, a minute by minute breakdown of viewing at regional and national levels. This information is vital for assessing how different programmes, channels or advertising campaigns have performed and also provides the basis for airtime advertising tradingRAJAR: Radio joint audience research designs and operates a single audience measurement system for the UK radio industry. RAJAR are responsible for setting the research specification, the awarding of the research contracts to third party suppliers and the overall quality control, management and delivery of the service. Qualative audience research: Qualative research is about finding out not just what people think by also why they think it. It’s about getting people to talk about their opinions so that producers can understand their audience’s motivations and feelings. Face to face interviews and group discussions are the best way to get this kind of in-depth feedback. Qualitive research can be valuable when developing new products. Qualative research is used to gain an insight into people’s attitudes, behaviour, concerns, aspirations and motivations, cultures or lifestyles. Questionnaires: A questionnaire is essentially a structured technique for collecting primary data. It’s generally a series of written questions for which the respondents have to provide answers. They enable respondent’s time to consider responses carefully rather than feeling rushed in something like a face-face interview. Questionnaires are a good form of research because essentially you get a sense of someone’s beliefs and ideas from the way that they answer the questions. Questionnaires are a good way of gathering broad information about something cheaply and efficient. People are also more likely to be truthful compared to if a person was asking them face-face. Face-Face Interviews: Interviews allow people to speak freely, in a manner which is most comfortable to them. They allow producers to investigate issues in an in depth way as well as discovering how individuals think and feel about a topic and why they hold certain opinions. They are useful to obtain detailed information where interviewees are not influenced by others in the group. However some interviewees may be less self-conscious in a one to one situation. A major problem with interviews is that they can be very time consuming. Producers have to prepare for the interview, undertake the interview, transcribe, analyse, gain feedback and then report that feedback. All of this may cost a lot of money. -609600-27305000Audience profiling: Audience profiling is essentially finding out the profile of your target audience so that when producing a product, producers are creating it for the right kind of audience. Audience profiling beforehand ensures that producer’s messages will be put across in the most effective way to produce the best result. It may include details like age, sex, education qualifications, work experience financial background, field of work, interest, mood, orientation, bias, religious background, health condition etc. A common method of audience profiling is known as demographics. This defines the audience by what they do. You can also use psychographics to understand the audience’s behaviour and personality traits. They label a particular type of person and assess their views and habits. This kind of audience profiling puts them into groups that suggest their position in the modern society. 5334002540000Understand how media producers create products for specific audience (LO2)Addressing audience: When creating a product for an audience, one of the key stages the producer will go through is ensuring that the product addresses the audience. By selecting the appropriate content and constructing that content in a particular way, producers can guarantee that the product will be a success with the specific target audience. Content such as words, images, sounds, sequence, colour and font allow the producer to craft specific material that would appeal to the audience. Once the target audience has been defined, ways of attracting that audience with various methods can then be applied to make the product stand out. Some of these methods are deciding how the layout will look, what colors to use, the style of the text and what images would be suitable to useWords: Before creating a product for an audience, producers need to know who their target audience is. Once this has been clarified the types of words chosen for the product may vary. Producers may need to figure out how familiar audience are with a certain kind of product, this will then help to decide what to include. For example, if a producer was to write a text about snowboarding they will need to know if the audience has ever been before. So if the audience hasn’t been then the produces job will be to explain this sport in more detail. A producer should always keep their audience in their mind as they are designing a product. Images: Use of images can really attract an audience. Sometimes an image can describe more by themselves rather than adding words or text which could make it not look as attractive at first glance and could give too much information away. The Dark Knight’s back cover shows a few images that show a few more characters that will be important in the storyline alongside some action images in order to keep the audience interested and keen. Colours: Colour can stimulate the visual senses creating a tone for the scene. Colour correcting and colour grading will be done to add effect to the scene. Productions aimed at young audiences will have lighter tones and embrace colours with a higher saturation. This is because children are attracted to bright and colourful objects. For example, the film Finding Nemo has rich bright colours which keep scenes light and friendly. The colours being so vibrant stand out against each other which make it pleasant to look at. However, The Dark Knight is aimed at an older audience. It deals with the darker, more sinister themes set in a broken city, these colour tones are very different compared to Finding Nemo. There are more shadows with everything looking a little uncomfortable in The Dark Knight; the film also has a slight blue tone representing the cold environment. Different audiences will expect and enjoy certain colour tones more than others depending on the theme and the message of the feature. Colour is also used in many other media products. For example, icons on a desktop are different coloured pictures which will subconsciously link to that application. The first thing we notice is the colour before anything else and this can often make a difference especially on a mobile phone. Say you’re scrolling through a huge list on a small screen the only information that we will see is the title and an icon, this catches the viewer’s eye. Gender: Gender is quite an easy way of identifying an audience as it is quite often easy to find out which gender would prefer your text and who you advertise it to. Although this is an effective way of finding out some vital information about your audience, there is a danger or alienating a potentially large audience. For example, the Fosters adverts are directed at males and that is its demographic. Although this is generally a good thing, it does lead to alienating the entire female audience. Age: Age is another factor a producer has to consider as a way to define an audience. Again producers must be careful of discrimination. Using age is essential to define your audience. A 30-40 year old male will not respond to a vibrant colourful advert as a small child would. In the same way that things such as cooking utensils will not be advertised to young children. Race: Race is also another way that an audience can be defined by producers. This is a very difficult thing for producers to define their audience by as racism is a very touchy subject which means it is more than likely to be used for expansion and analysis. Using this date producers can see which ethnicities are using their product and can see how they can reach many more ethnicities. Construction of content: By constructing the content in such a way, producers are able to create a product which will target specific audience. Construction of content includes elements such as: narratives, layout, captions, and anchorage, language, visual, audio and symbolic graphics. The construction of content is crucial when trying to create an effect or broadcast your message to a viewer or user of a distinct audience dependant on that of the product.Codes and conventions (linguistic, visual, audio, symbolic, technical): each different product in which a producer creates will have different codes and conventions. I’ve decided to analyse the codes and conventions of a typical sitcom so for example ‘Only Fools and Horses’ or ‘The Mighty Boosh’. I have discovered that near enough every sitcom have similar codes and conventions. They will more than likely have limited characters so for example in Gavin and Stacey there is: Gavin, Stacey, Smithy, Pam and Mick. These main characters will appear in every episode. As well as characters most sitcoms will have limited sets which are used. For example, in Mrs Browns Boys they have 3 main set which is the kitchen, living room and the pub. In each episode the characters are always in 1 of the 3 rooms. By using limited sets it makes the sitcom seem more homely. Sitcoms ALWAYS start with an opening them tune which is more than likely to be catchy. The use of a theme tune being catchy is that it helps the audience to recognise the program. Canned laughter is also used intentionally to make the audience laugh. Catchphrases are also used in sitcoms; this is where there is a phrase that is used over and over again in near enough each episode so that the audience will start to recognise it. Sitcoms will also use a linear narrative which uses equilibrium and disruption. A linear narrative is where it is essentially about everyday life however something will happen which characters may have to solve or deal with to change the equilibrium in which then the problem is sorted but isn’t the same. Storylines are rarely on going and always come to a resolution at the end of an episode; however Friends sometimes will carry on the series as they end it on a cliff-hanger. A one liner is usually a throw away remark which is mainly used in a modern sitcom. The one liner joke is made in one sentence and is often observational to an event that has just happened so for example in the Simpsons when Homer does something wrong he will use the one liner ‘D’oh’. Finally there is a use of small social group, so like friend’s family or colleges. In inbetweeners the program is about a small group of friends. Each character will have a distinct personality from each other which would show throughout the sitcom. Essentially codes and conventions are what separate mediated products from others. Audience feedback: Gaining audience feedback is just as important as constructing the product in the first place. In order to gain audience feedback, producers employ companies to carry out studies so that they can find out if the product works or not. Audience feedback defined by information being received upon a product through either qualative or quantitive data in a variety of forms such as questionnaires, surveys or interviews. The use of audience feedback can allow a producer to improve on the initial product suggested by their target audience. Feedback in every sense is beneficial as it allows the producer to benefit a product based on what the audience want to see or what they want to be included.Focus Groups: Focus groups are a research method used to gather feedback and opinions from audience. This type of feedback is usually used before the product is created so the producer can make improvements and changes from target audience before releasing the product. Essentially a focus group can be used to test out ideas and gather opinion on whether the product will be liked and needed by the target audience. Focus groups can also be used later on in the process (after the product has been released) to give initial feedback to the producers. They provide producers with a useful tool to generate audience feedback at any stage of the product. Audience Panels: An audience panel is the audience of viewers in which watch a show, movie or even listen to the radio. Different content will result in a different audience panel. The audience panel will help a company to know if their content is up to good standard, most likely through feedback and viewer ratings. Understand how media audiences respond to media products (LO3) Hypodermic Needle: This particular model dates back to the 1920’s when the mass media was just beginning to develop. This theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences may respond to mass media. The Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that the audience passively receive the information transmitted through a media text without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data. Essentially the Hypodermic Needle suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly by ‘injecting’ them with the appropriate messages designed to trigger a response. This media messages are essentially ‘injected’ into a passive audience who are immediately influenced by the message, they express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. Uses and Gratification Theory: This theory focuses on why people use particular media rather than focusing just on the content. Uses and Gratification arose originally in the 1940’s; it presents the use of media in terms of the gratification of social or physical needs of the audience. Typically, audience will usually watch TV for information, personal identity, social interaction or entertainment. Theorist Bulmer and Katz believe that there are many reasons as to why individuals use media. The theory suggests that the audience has a free will to decide how they will use the media and how it will affect them. Uses and Gratification is essentially the optimist view of the media, it takes out the possibility that the media can have an influence on our lives and how we view the world. Reception Theory: Stuart Hall’s theory suggests that all audience can read texts a different way. These different ways are: preferred reading which means that the audience will respond to the text they way media producers want them too, negotiated reading which means the audience will be 50/50, essentially the audience will partly agree with the message but may also disagree or an oppositional reading which means that the audience will completely disagree with the text. Reception Theory is based on Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience, the text is encoded by the producer and decoded by the audience. When a producer creates a text it is encoded with a meaning or message in which they wanted to convey to a mass audience. This is what we know as a preferred reading. Sometimes the producer can encode a message that is not correctly understood by the audience making the message non-effective. Passive or Active Consumption: An active consumption is when the audience will engage and discuss media messages that are delivered to them but will also sometimes question the media messages. Different individuals may interpretate the message in a different way or question it, by doing this the audience won’t be as suggestible to tell them what to think. A passive consumption is when the audience doesn’t engage or question the media message but instead just accepts it. This is ideal to media producers as that is what they want to achieve, they want the audience to except and not question. Passive consumption of media specifically talks about the way we as individuals are influenced by things on a day to day basis without consent or consideration. This affects the person on a psychological scale but doesn’t always get into view or consideration meaning that we can passively recognise things but not necessarily remember where from. Active consumption is the complete opposite to a passive consumption, as a person would generally go out of their way to consume specific media for personal needs (uses and gratification). This often allows the audience to directly know what they are recognizing and also engaging. Effects of exposure to explicit sexual or violent content: A lot of people will argue that violence with young people can originate from anywhere. However, the media will always have an effect on people’s behaviour and how it is seen to viewers. Uses and Gratification theory understands why people choose to surround themselves with certain types of media. For example, GTA4 is a popular game for the younger generation in which the user will control a character completing violent missions which also involve guns, bombs and fighting. Essentially it diverts the user away from their usual life to indulge behaviour they wouldn’t normally do; it tends to feed the violent side of the user without them actually causing any damage. The series on channel 4 ‘Misfits’ in fact did an episode on how dangerous this violence in video games would be if real. This essentially plays a ‘copycat’ because mass audiences may be influenced by what they see and in fact copy what they see. A shocking amount of crimes are actually blamed and inspired by video games. Video games are essentially active whereas TV is passive. People tend to learn better when they’re actually involved with what’s going on. Players of a violent video game are more likely to identify with a violent character. For example, if the game is a first person shooter then the players have the same visual perspective as the killer. However if the game is third person shooter then the player controls the actions of a violent character from a more distant visual perspective. When watching a TV programme, viewers might not identify with a violent character. As said above people are more likely to behave aggressively themselves when they identify with a violent character. Finally, violent games directly award violent behaviour such as awarding points or allowing players to advance to the next game level. In some games, players are awarded with a verbal praise such as “nice shot” after killing somebody. It is known that rewarding behaviour will increase its frequency. Audience ResponsesNegotiated: A negotiated response is when the audience will go through some kind of negotiation with themselves to allow them to accept the way in which the text is presented. The audience may agree with some elements of the text but disagree with others. This could mean they way in which you are position in a series or film where you are asked to empathise with a character who you do not like, however you’re enjoying the film or series generally. You may have to adjust your viewpoint in order to get the most out of your viewing. Preferred: This is where the audience interprets the text as closely to the way in which the producer of the text intended. If the social and cultural experience of the reader of the text is close to that of the producer then there is little for the audience to challenge. For example, if you were a nurse you may well agree with the situations and narratives addressed in Casualty because they are within your breadth of experience. Oppositional: This is where the user of the text finds themselves in conflict with the text itself due to their beliefs or experiences. For example, a narrative in a soap opera that views a woman who is having an affair sympathetically will encourage a resistant reading in a person whose culture is against the particular event. All of these readings allow the audience to begin to understand that one text cannot have a static meaning that is communicated in the same way to a mass audience. Different audiences will respond to the same text differently according to:Gender: the relationships between the audience and text according to gender are complex. Men and women will respond to certain media texts in different ways. Research has shown that women prefer television like soap operas which deal with narratives concerned with relationships and have strong female characters. However, men apparently prefer more factual programmes related to news and current affairs. Although it is easy to say that women would respond to ‘lads mags’ in a disapproving way but how then to account for the women who send in their photographs to be published in these magazines or on the website? Situated culture: this is how or daily lives, routines and relationships can affect how we respond to media texts; where we are and who we are with can have an effect on our media consumption. For example, watching a film surrounded by friends or family will be a different viewing experience to one where you watch a film alone. This response will also change if you are watching the film at home or at the cinema. Cultural experience: this is how our culture, upbringing, experiences and beliefs affect our response to a text. This also relates to how our understanding and our view of the world are shaped by our media experience. For example, we may have never been to New York but our media consumption of film and television programmes have constructed a view for us. We also may have never been in hospital but we feel knowledgeable about a range of medical procedures because of our viewing habits including Casualty and Holby City. Representation within Television There are different sorts within representation. These are most commonly addressed as: Gender, Race, Age and Disability Gender is the basic category producer’s use when defining an audience. It is a key issue when discussing representation. Many objects, not just humans are represented by the media as being particularly masculine or feminine; we grow up with an awareness of what the ‘appropriate’ characteristics. Representations of women across all media tend to highlight that women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, and colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper or an object, passive rather than active. Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women and tend to be the main focus of news stories. The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of social expectations, and characters that do not fit into the scene tend to be seen as dangerous and deviant. Woman’s representation in the media tends to revolve around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other values and the lack of powerful female role models. However, male characters are often represented as isolated, meaning they don’t need to rely on others. It is said that men are finding it as difficult to live up to their media representations as women are to theirs. This is partly because of the increased media focus on masculinity. For example men’s magazines, both lifestyle and health, men are feeling like they have to live up to expectations of looking like these people in the magazines. Anorexia in teenage males has increased majorly in recent years. As media representations of masculinity became more specifically targeted at audiences with product promotion in mind, for example products such as male fashion, male skin & hair care products, fitness products such as weights men are encouraged to aspire to be like the role models who they see in magazines. Typical MaleTypical FemaleToughFragileHardSoftSweatyBeautyPowerfulEmotional Independent Relationships Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort of stereotypes which gender also portrays. Differently to gender, stereotyping race is seen as more harmful as media representation may constitute the only experience of contract with a particular ethnic group that an audience may have. Racial stereotypes are often based on a social myth which is perpetuated down the ages. Racism on the TV in the UK exploded as a global issue in 2007. However race remains a hot button issue on UK TV both in fiction and non-fiction programing, largely because it’s always going to attract headlines. Race is extremely tangled with the immigration issue and questions of national identity. What does it really mean to be British? Seeing as modern Britain is populated by a diverse range of people, do national media outlets represent different colours and ethnicities fairly? Whether it is an ‘all black’ episode of Eastenders or panorama about teenage racists on a London housing estate, there will continue to be heated discussions about how different races are represented and how that representation affects the way people treat each other in reality. After gender and race, age is the most obvious category under which we file people. There is a whole range of instant judgements which go along with the categorisation. Age is the easiest way to categorise someone other than you. Everyone you meet will be to some extent older or younger, a different age than you. And with different comes, a tendency to stereotype. Young OldImmatureGrumpyLazySlow SelfishWeak Violent Unable to use technology Unreliable Out-dated Careless Unhealthy We understand that stereotyping someone according to their gender or colour of their skin is unfair and unacceptable. Age, like race is something you can’t change about yourself, but people still go to great lengths to disguise how old they really are in order to avoid being the victim of age stereotyping. A person’s age will determine how they approach different media products. For example, a teenager may approach games, whilst someone older would approach the news and other forms of media that better suits their age. This is also taken into account by the different media types and can also determine who their products are aimed at. A games console would typically be targeted a younger audience while serious forms of media would be aimed at a more mature audience. All types of media will take into account the ages of their consumers and create products that are optimized for this audience. Essentially all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, written, captioned, branded and targeted by their producers and they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. From studying media I know it is vital to remember that every form of media from a home video to a magazine is a representation of somebody else’s concept of existence which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited and that we as an audience do need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the world. Representation is a fluid two way process, the producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on it’s relationship to reality. ................
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