Post 7: Audience Theory

Maslow came up with a pyramid of 'deficiency needs'. If these needs aren't met then the body gives no physical indication but the individual feels anxious and tense. He suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire the higher levels of needs. 

In the 1970's, Blumier and Katz suggested that media audiences make active choices about what to consume in order to meet certain needs. They came up with the Uses and Gratification Theory to show the different reasons that audiences have for consuming certain media texts. The Hyperdermic Needle Theory also explains audience theory. It suggests than an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The audience is seen as passive.

When looking at audience theory and watching the short films in class we focused on looking at :
Dominant-Hegemonic Reading (Preferred Reading)- Consumers unquestioningly accept the message that the producers are transmitting to them.
Negotiated Reading- Reader partly shares the text's code and broadly accepts the dominant-hegemonic reading.This involves contradictions.
Oppositional Hegemonic Position- Reader understands the dominant-hegemonic reading but doesn't share the texts codes and rejects this reading.
Aberrant Decoding- An example is critic of Fiske. Fiske attempts to demonstrate by a series of tracings, the cave drawings appear strikingly similar to what we see as dead animals laying on their sides.
Mode of Address- The point of view we are getting in the film. Indirect address and intimate mode of address.

On short film we watched was 'Tender'. The dominant-hegemonic reading or preferred reading from Tender would be the social environment and situation which we see the main character living in. When watching Tender we accept his situation and where he lives and it is quite dominant in the film. The mode of address in this film is not very clear, however we are shown many close ups and other camera angles in which we can relate with the character, it is though quite indirect. 

Another short film we watched was 'Pop Art'. This has a much more common dominant-hegemonic reading as the negotiated reading is much more accepted as the audience are more likely to relate to this social situation than the one we see in 'Tender'. The use of having a 'blow-up' boy emphasises the negotiated reading because as a member of the audience you feel more empathy for the blow up boy. 

From looking at these short films and looking at the different readings we can get from them, it has helped me to think more about my ideas for our own short film. We need to make sure that our storyline is quite clear and we want to make our audience feel drawn into the film and hopefully empathise with our characters. I think we need to try and make the audience feel a part of the film and make the storyline exciting for them and maybe leave them with a few enigmas.