Audience Essay

Discuss how you applied the concept of Audience to one of your coursework productions.

For my AS media studies coursework i created a film opening, called Cohen, about an old aged former football star who reflects on his career and life through flashbacks. The audience that i specifically wanted to make this for was teenage boys between the ages of 13 and 19, this was from the knowledge that high amounts of teenage boys love football. There is also a secondary audience for this film which is people who lived through the period the flashbacks are set in. For example, the first flashback in the film opening is to the England football team in the dressing room before the world cup final. I wanted to convey the life footballers used to live to the audience so they could compare it to today. The audience would get and education on the football hero, they will also get enjoyment. Other older audience members would get a feeling of nostalgia from the film as they were alive during this era.

I applied the hypodermic syringe model to my film opening. Through the use of long cuts and emotional non-dietetic music, Cohen injects an instant emotive feeling and tone. The music is emotive so it instantly forces an empathetic feeling to audience. This is played at the same time as the protagonist is on screen this was so the audience knew who to feel this empathy for. The long cuts made the pace slow and instantly showed the viewers that this film was going to be emotional.

I applied Halls Reception Theory to my film opening. A dominant symbol is used near the beginning in the film opening. We used a old,  dirty, flat, England football to symbolise the characters life as it is in the future. This symbol is dominant because there are clear links between the character and the football. For example they are both old and they both live flattened unenthusiastic lives. The football is also England themed and some viewers would know that Cohen, the protagonist, was an England footballer.


Uses and gratifications
You getting something from the media for you.
Diversion
Escapism
Information
Pleasure
Watercooler

Maslows Hierarchy
Pyramid

Self-actualisation
Esteem
Love/belonging
Safety
Physiological

Marxist  Hegemony
There was a powerful elite and below were passive masses.

Liberal Pluralism
Active.
Allowing anyone a voice.
Avenue- 3 different personality so they can cling to them.
Messages which were encoded