Class Notes on Audience Theory Reading

Philip J Hanes


Philip J Hanes stated that texts have many different possible meanings, which are then interpreted by the audience. Andrew Hart believes that audiences are vital in communication, as the media wouldn't exist without them, as it wouldn't have a propose. The Frankfurt school developed the Effects model. The main idea of this, is the Hypodermic syringe in which it believes that a person is vulnerable to media messages, as they believe the audience is injected with the thoughts, attitudes, opinions and beliefs of the producers through the media without any questioning.

I think that this explanation is relevant to the time period, as this was their only source of media, and they wouldn't have known any different, and would have believed anything the read or heard. when television was first introduced in the 90's, research showed that violent programmes reflected into their society. But this was later discarded, as they came to the conclusion that media wasn't the primary source of violence in society, but personal contact and religion was a more likely influence than the media. This effects model has been described as an inadequate representation between the media and public as it does not take into account their own beliefs, opinions, attitudes and ideals. I agree with this second idea, as everyone has different personalities and is entitled to their own opinions. Also, people who are in favour of the Effects model are assuming that the audience are passive in interpreting the text, and that the text is very powerful in influencing the audience. Overall however it is impossible to measure the effects of the media.

Uses and Gratification Model

Theorists do not look into how the media effects audiences, but how the audiences were using the media, and how the audience's point of view, in relation to the media. As audiences have specific needs, they actively turn to the media to consume these texts to satisfy their needs. Here, they have a choice of texts to choose from to satisfy their needs, and according to the effects model, the audiences are seen as active rather than passive.

Bulmer and Katz suggested four main needs for audiences:
-Diversion - a form of escaping from everyday life pressures and stresses
-Personal Relationships - the viewer gains a companionship with the characters, or through conversation with others about television.
-Personal Identity - where the viewer is able to compare, explore, re-affirm or question their life with the lives or situations of characters on a programme.
-Surveillance - this is where the media is looked upon for information about the events around the world.
There are some limitations with the Uses and Gratifications Model. The model implies that the message that are put across in the media, will be read the same by everyone watching, and does not consider how the messages will be read differently or any other factors affecting their interpretation. Another limitation concentrates on why audiences consume media texts rather than investigating what the meanings and interpretations are formed and in what circumstances.

Both of these models ignore the audience and their social background and how they form the interpretations of the media messages and their specific relationship with media texts.

Gaultlette

Post 6: What makes a good short film?.

For our lesson, we had a short film producer called Becky Knapp come in to talk to us about short films and their scripts. We talked about a variety of topics, such as what short films include, and what not to include, and some of the basics about how to write a script. Here are my notes from the lesson, and I will point out some of the thngs that I have learned form her talk.





 

One of the main points that I learned form this lesson was around the main character. We learned that it would be easier to only have one main character, with one idea, as it would be too complecated to have more than this in the short space of time that we have, and would confuse the audince. We also need to make sure that the character we make up will be able to fit in the plot, the stucture and the dialogue, so it would be a bad idea for me to use a british dialect dialogue for a scottish actor. 

We also need to show the character being confrounted with a problem or an obsticle. These can be internal, like being too shy to talk to someone, or external like a traffic jam. These problems too can remain hidden from the character or the audience, depending on what type of genre we choose. They also need to have a world that they live in, and this needs to be familiar to the audience. This is benefitial to uis as script writters, as this gives us more time for the narrative, as the audience are familiar with the surroundings.

We also need to show what's at stake for the character, as this is what makes the narrarive of the film. This can include many things such as death, disease or a broken heart, and these again are recognisable for everyone, and helps with our short film.

Another important aspect that we need to think about is the tone of the film. This is directly linked with genre, so this will be easier once we have chosen our genre. But we need to be careful, as we have been warned that it is easy to divert from this through our film, so we need consistancy.

We also need to be aware that our caracter isnt too passive, as this can become boring to watch for the audience. To avoid this, we can think about aspects of the character that can make them different and interesting, such as traits, these can be emphasised and used in the narrative. Through Mise-en scene, we can show a change in the character, by their clothing and the colours that they wear, and this can change depending on how they are feeling.

Becky Knapp also gave us a few hand outs, including two scripts, 'Donna' and 'Does God Play Football'.

When first reading the script "Donna" I understood the main body of the short film, but it left me uninterested in the story, as I wasn't intrigued by the story line. It also felt just like a story without any dialogue, and when there was dialogue, it was written in the accent, which made this hard to follow along. On the other hand, when I started watching the short film, it pieced together, but I was still not that interested in the story line, as there was nothing that stood out to me as a viewer. If i had a child, grew up in familiar conditions or had gone through the same neglect as 'Donna' then I may have felt a connection to this short film, but having not experienced this myself, I felt it hard to grasp, even though I knew what was going on. As a page of script writing was equivalent to a minute of filming, the vast description put me off the film, as I am not much of a reader.

Compared to "Donna", "Does God Play Football" intrigued me more, as there was more dialogue in the script, and this made me feel like I knew the character 'Tommy' better. This short film also had more of an attention-grabbing story line, and one that I could understand much clearer than "Donna". on the country, I got more of a feel of the tone, atmosphere and setting in "Donna" than "Does God Play Football". This showed to me that there is a real importance for the direction and setting of the scene. In my script that I will be writing in the future, I think I will aim to try and use around 50/50 of dialogue and description, as this will hopefully grab the audiences attention as well as helping them get an understanding of the tone, atmosphere and the storyline.


This exercise has shown me, that what i may try to convey on paper, may be read differently to other people, and may be conveyed much differently on screen. I therefore need to be very careful when writing my script, as I may not be able to show what i want. To do this, I will write my script, and show it to a few people and get their opinions and see whether I was able to achieve this, if not I shall get feed back and re-write it until this is done. In this way, it will show me the best way to write, and will help later on when in a group doing our real project.

The Times Article
after reading The Times article, i noted down some of the key points;

"there is no hard and fast rule" in short film making.

Why Am I Making This Film? Most people use short films as a tool for learning and testing ideas. This can also however, be a way of showing their skills and talents in certain areas in a short film. When making a short film, you have to always keep in mind the budget. For example, if you only had a couple thousand pounds budget, you would want many special effects or car chases, as this would be too expensive for the budget.

What Is A Short Film? A short film is roughly around under six minutes. Anything up to thirty minutes is a feature film. Therefore, it would be hard to fit a really long story line in under six minutes, and best to only have one main character, with one problem.

Finding A Story. There are three basic elements when constructing a story; a world, a character and a problem, and as mentioned before, it is always best to focus on one character and one problem as you do not have the time in a short film to develop and establish the character. Short films are best done in real time, as a small problem wouldn't last over a couple of days.

-The World. It is easier to set a short film in a familiar setting or event, for example, a school environment or a wedding. This will help the audience, as they are already familiar with those surroundings and can identify with them on an emotional level. This also gives it a finite time frame for the short film. 'The journey' is popular as they can use the journey the character makes as the setting.

The Character And The Problem. There are a few questions you would need to consider when choosing the character;
~Who is the main character?
~What is their problem?

~How will the audience recognise their problem?

~Are the stakes high enough?

~Am I telling the the story from the best point of view?

Audiences must be clear about who the film is about, otherwise this will be confusing for them. The drive from the character in the short film must be either a want, a need or an obligation, and this needs to be clear to the audience; this does not always need to be clear to the character straight away.

Making Problems Manifest To The Audience. When watching short films, as well as other films, the audience need to see what the characters are doing and this shows us what they are feeling and thinking. This can be done for example, by a voice over.

Are The Stakes High Enough? If a character is around a life or death situation this is clear to the audience that the stakes are high, and makes it much more interesting for them to watch. If the characters car broke down, this would be an uneventful story line, whereas if you convey that this is a massive deal to the character, it will make the story line more lively. Unless you show that it really matters to the main character, it will not come across as a life or death situation.

Am I Telling The Story From The Best Point Of View? Sometimes, changing the point of view in the story will make the ending and the whole story completely different. For example, if Cinderella was told by one of the ugly sisters, the ending wouldn't have been a happy ending, it would be a cautionary tale and people don't want to see this. Telling the story from another point of view can change the meaning of the story and have an impact on the ending.

What Does My Story Mean? When making a film, you do not intentionally input moral codes within your story, but this is always evident in each short film. This is because we've grown up thinking certain moral standards are either good or bad and these will influence what we will or wont include, and how we will show these. Once the beginning and the end is evident to us, we will need to define and develop the script in relation to...

The Tone Of The Film. Tone is directly connected to the genre. For example, the tone of a horror would not be upbeat and happy, it would be dark and mysterious.

What i learned from this: I have realised that in preperation for my script I need to first define my character, the problem, and their world, and from this I will be able to easily link the beginning, middle and end. I also didn't think about any moral messages that I would have in my film, so this has given me much to think about. Another point that I havent really thought about, was the tone of the film, so I need to give this some consideration in the future.

Post 5: Audience Theory and My Short Film

After talking about short films, we were given the task to watch a few short film. After watching these, we were asked to analyse these on the following points; I will be looking at four short films includind 'Doodlebug', 'About A Girl', 'Wasps' and 'Cubs'.

http://klsmediadepartment.blogspot.com/2010/09/audience-theory-student-powerpoints.html  This is the link to our power point following our reading, but here are my notes on Audience Theory;

*Preferred Reading / Dominant hegemonic position: This means that the viewer can easily recognise the moral, social and other messages that the produers wanted to get across. For exapmle, if a male character robs a bank, and gets put in prison for it, everyone will read in the same way, that commiting robery is wrong.

*negotiated hegemonic position: This is when the audience understands the messgae that the producers put across but adapts the reading differently than what they initially wanted. For example, a woman in a red dress, the audience may read it as a woman who is a romantic or who is being sexual, but the producers wanted to just to be dressing smartly.

*Oppositional hegemonic position: This happens when the audiences understand the message the producers wanted to put accross, but they do not agree with this. The audiences upbringing, theyre religion, or even theyre age can change this in each case. For instance, someone an older person who will watch a coloured person go to jail, will be different than someone in this generation, as they will believe this would be racist.

*Aberrant Decoding: This means that the audience reads the text in unpradictable ways. This has been discussed by Philip J Hanes.

*moral panic: This is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order by the media. For example, if a television programme focused on bomb attacks, many of the audiences may feel anxiety as to this happening in the real world.
*mode of address: This is the way the producers put the message across to ther audience. For example, an internal monologue could show how the character is feeling, or a series of shots could also show this, along side body language.


*Profile the Target Audience: This is the descriptive writing of who the producers want the media text to be aimed at. For example, teenagers aged 13-18, male and female.
*concidering the viewing environment: Here, the producers have to think about where the person would be watching the media text, as this can change depending on where it is watched. For instance, a person would view a tragedy in a soap differently by themselves, than if they were watching with friends.

Doodlebughttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WhKt_CkXD0

This was a short film, totalling 2 minutes and 59 seconds. It is about a man trying to catch a 'bug', which turns out to be himself trying to catch a 'bug' which is himself, and so on.

Prefered reading/ dominant hegemonic position:
From this short film, the message I got, was that the funny side to having some sort of problem in the head, as this film plays on you psychologically. This was mainly because of the whole idea of it all, which in itself is quite weird, yet it is portrayed in a funny way, but showing how determind he was to catching the 'bug' even though he could see it was himself. An example of the funny side to this short film, is when the main character is jumping high and dashing for the 'bug'.

Negotiated Hegemonic Position:

I think the negotiated hegemonic position was unclear to the audience, as i think the main idea that the majority of the audience would read from this short film would be the light hearted attitude towards the situation, however this short film explores a deeper psychological attitude towards the main character, leaving the audience questioning is mental state and maybe their own.

Opositional Hegemonic Postition:

From this short film, I can see that the producer wanted to question the mental state of the character, but personally, I feel that this short film is more about the funny side of it the story line and how the character behaves, rather than the deeper meaning.

Moral Panic:

Personally, I dont feel that there was any moral panic in this film, as there is nothing that jumps out as a moral issue to be worried about. Some could arguee that the psychological problems could affect people, as they would be questioning

i am quite sure that the majority of the audiences watching this short film would have the same view towards it; it was a funny clip about a character with a questionalble mental health state, and therefore think that some of the audiences wont grasp the philisophical and psychological side to it, asking questions about life.

Mode Of Address:

i believe that the main mode of address in 'Doodlebug' to be that it makes fun about the mental state of the main character, by making using such a comical story line. on the other hand however, this could just be a playfull short film that just wants to give the audience a laugh.

Main Target Audiene:

i think that the main target audience can be many, as there isnt a challange on any age restrictions, whiich makes the film viewable to anyone. this film is also comical, which also could be for many target audiences, however the audience would have to have some knowlegde of certain mental states of people, which suggests an older age audience. I think that this can be watched by most ages as I think this is more of a comical short film than anything else.

The Environment:

the environment in which the audiences view this short film can change the tone, mode and meaning of the short film. If they were watching it with friends, like i did, they will only see the funny side to the short film, as this was wha happened to me. however upon looking at it at home by myself, i began to look deeper at the hidden meanings of this short film. This can also be true for age, as a younger viewer would also just focus on the comical side, and and older viewer would read the hidden meanings. your background history can also change this, as someone with a higher status wouldnt so much relate to the situation of catching a bug, whereas someone of a poorer status would more likely relate.

Wasp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rL0lq4fxpQ (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAsBC9-W6Lc&feature=fvw (part 2)

'Wasp' was a short film is about a single mother stuggleing to keep her four children. She is torn between being a mother and going out meeting guy mates.

Dominant Hegemonic Positions:

I felt that when I watched this, I found myself feeling sorry for the main woman, as you could see she was struggeling, trying to help her children, but also how she was still a young woman who wanted to go out with male friends and have a good time. I also felt that there could be a moral message about having children at a young age, as you can clearly see the neglect the children have, and for this, you automatically dont feel happy towards the main character, but seeing her trying to help her children, like when she spends her money on crisps for her kids, instead of a drink for herself, but this is an ongoing battle through out the short film. This too could link into a moral message, that she shouldnt have the right to look after her children if this is how she treats her children. Also from this, I found that the male role was dominant, and I didnt like how they portraid her as like a slave to him, buying him drinks because he said so. But this is turned around when he doesnt react in the typical way a male would react to founding out the news she had four children, which was a nice way to end the film, I thought.

Negoticated Hegemonic Postition:
I think that another message that could be read from this could be about her attitude. Through out the film, the main character changes her mind, and is quite unsure as to what she wants, as she tries to fight for her children when she confronts the mother of the child that bulied her child, whereas at other points in the film, she cant afford food or shoes or even a babysitter for her children, and ends up putting them in danger. This comes across that that the woman has an unstable mental health. This alongside the fact that she has had four children, which she knows she cant look after, and this could also link into the idea that the woman shouldn't take care of her children.

Opposisional Hegemonic Position:
As a woman, I reject this idea that she should have her children taken away from her, as even though they have suffereed from neglect, which is a behaviour which I reject, she is trying. This may not be the case for someone else, for example, a male may say that because of the neglect, no matter what, the children should be taken into care. Age too could affect this, as someone of older generations would see how she has had children out of wed lock, and they would automatically rejet this idea and think that she is a bad parent and should have her children taken away.This too can be said if the person watching is religious.

Aberant coding

read in unparadictable ways

m.p

a.d

m.o.a

t.a

e

Cubs

d.h, n.h, o.h, m.p, a.d, m.o.a, t.a,

About A Girl

d.h, n.h, o.h, m.p, a.d, m.o.a, t.a, e

what I will consider in my own short film script.

Post 4: Genre as a Media Concept.

When thinking about Genre, we immediately think about specific ones like horror, romantic comedies, action or thrillers. However nowadays, they have branched off into many many other ones, like psychological horrors and zombie comedies. Robert Altman discussed these issues and i will be expressing my own opinions on these as well.

Robert Altman claimed many Genre theories, such as 'Genres are defined by producers and are easily recognised by audiences.' I agree with this statement, as the producers choose what type of genres they will make, and this has to be recognised by audiences, as they want to know what they are going to see. This is usually done by codes and conventions of that specific genre. For example, romantic comedy, you will expect a romance in one way or another, a problem that gets in the way of them and a happy ending; this is the basic codes for a romantic comedy. In our opening sequence, we showed codes for a romantic comedy, like the obvious feelings one of the characters had, and an obstacle in the way. As the producers, we chose the genre and was able to convey the genre using these unique codes and conventions, with a twist.

Another theory of Altman is 'Texts 'belong' clearly to a particular genre in each case'. Certain texts, codes and conventions will belong to a particular genre, as the genres are what we expect from a film. If an audience went to see a drama film, and all there was in the film was blood guts and horror, they wouldn't be pleased, as this wasn't what they wanted to go see. a person will go and see a particular film as they like that genre of film, and know roughly what will happen. in our opening sequence in AS, we did a survey and found that Rom-Com's were popular, so we knew this was what people liked, and we made one.

'Genre develops in predictable ways.' I agree with this to an extent, as the industries have to always be changing, as the audience wants something new. If this didn't happen, all films in their genres would all be the same, and audiences wouldn't want to see them anymore. However, you cannot really say in which way they will develop, as the producers are always doing 'something new' which could lead to another branch of genre. However, in our opening sequence, we explored the issues of homosexuality, and we thought that as this wasn't really done before this would be a big twist; something the audience wouldn't expect. But, in actual fact, we are influenced by many other media sources, for example the television programme "Will and Grace" and a small number of films such as "I Love You Philip Morris". we are largely influenced by the media, as we today find it acceptable to talk about this subject openly, whereas a few years back, even the idea of homosexuality was wrong.

Another theory is 'Texts in a genre share key characteristics'. This is true because filmmakers have to follow set codes and conventions for a film, otherwise the audience will not get what they will be expecting and will leave unsatisfied and confused. This also makes it easier to create a film, as there are set conventions to follow. For example, the scary setting, the chase or a horror/thriller. In our opening sequence, we followed the conventions of a romantic comedy like the main character who goes through internal barrier. However, just like film producers, we had to have a twist, as this gave the audience what they wanted, plus a twist which they wouldn't have seen before.

'Genres are ideological' is another one of Robert Altman's theories, and this is basically meaning that the film is aspiring to something, and follows the codes and conventions of that genre. In our opening sequence, we used the main codes and conventions of a romantic comedy, but used the twist of two guys as the main characters rather than the usual male and female.

'They are not specifically located in history'. I agree with this statement, as thought time, the popularity of certain genress change. For example, western films were popular in the 50's and 60's but now, they are quite rare. This is because the audiences are demanding, and always want something new. sometimes, this can be because of whats happening in the world, and this may affect the popularity of genre.

'Genre critics are distant from the practice of genre, or is working' This statement is saying that the critics are not involved with the making of the film. This can mean that they don't understand the planning and effort they have put into the film but then they themselves are watching the film, as an audience, so they are the ones it is aimed at, and can voice their opinions about the quality of the film.

Thoughts on Genre
When an audience goes to see a film, they go to see that film, as they like that genre, and when we like a genre, we have stereotypes and conventions that we as an audience associate with that particular genre. However, the  producers decide how they construct the stereotypes for in the film. As mentioned before, they have to constantly be changing and yet stay in the similar field of that genre, as we as an audience automatically link the conventions to the genre. Many people too today go to see films for many reasons, but most of the time, to escape from life, so they need to satisfy the needs of the audience.
In viewing genre as either a noun or an adjective, I personally think that we should view genre as an adjective. This is because 'Genre' as a word in a noun, which is a thing, however there are different types of genre like horror, comedy or action. These help describe what type of genre it is, which would be an adjective. For example, blood, guts and gore, would be describing the genre of horror.

A Philosophical Question

Where a tube of tomato puree was placed in a supermarket it can have an impact on how the person buying the item views the object. If it was placed by the pasta, they would associate this with a pasta dish, whereas if they placed it by the tomatoes, they will more likely to have a more open minded view as to what dish they would use it in. This can have the same affect on genre, and the way it is shown. For example, if a film was distributed as a romantic comedy, that is what people are going to see it as, and likewise with a horror. However, this is where they can get it wrong, as in 'Shaun of The Dead', this was shown to be a comedy where in actual fact, it was a zom com, which is a romantic comedy with zombies. The item itself wouldn't be any different, but the way the buyer sees the product would change. This can also happen with film and genre. For example, some people see the film James Bond as an action and adventure film, whereas some may view it as a romantic film, concerning his love affairs with other characters. Just like the tomatoe purre, the pakaging of the media text, and what you choose to highlight in the film will be what the audience view as most important about the film.



Also, when talking about genre, rather than focusing on how genre works, but why. "Genre" isn't really needed, but this works by a two-fold cord. the audience need to know what to expect, and the producers need to know what they're heading towards. we need not to think about how it works, rather why it works, as when you think about it, you dont need it and seems unnecessary. Coming back to the 'two-fold-cord' idea, this works because audiences have made it clear which genres they like, and which they dont, so from this information, producers can make films which will be popular for the audience, and ones that they will enjoy; everybody is happy at the end of the day. This has lead to the success of genre, as they have benfited from the demands of the audiene, and can make their money by making films that people will want to watch.