Audience.

The target audiences of films have certain classes. A,B,C1,C2,D,E.

 One of the most common ways of identifying a target audience is the social-economic model. Even though this model, used by the NRS (National Readership Survey Ltd), has been used for a long time, it is still a useful way of identifying an audience and deconstructing a text. 

The basis for the system is money – AB audiences, for example, are assumed to have more spending power that CDE audiences. 

However, it is also presumed AB audiences prefer high culture (e.g. art-cinema, broadsheets and late night art programs on TV). While CDE, who stereotypically like Hollywood commercial films and watch more TV/films makes up a larger proportion of society making this the 'mass audience

Mass Audience

 mass audiences are basically large mainstream audiences who consume mainstream or popular culture (Marxist would claim that this audience is largely made up of the ‘working class’), such as Hollywood films, Eastenders, reality TV, Premiership football, simple Hollywood, tabloids etc. High culture, by contrast, is usually associated with broadsheets, opera, ballet and BBC Four.

Niche Audience 

 A niche audience is smaller than a mass audience but usually very influential e.g. those Marxist would define as upper class/middle class who controlled the media may wish to see ‘high culture’ programs hence the launch of BBC Four for those who wish to hear/see artistic high culture programs. Niche audiences don’t have to be this group, though, they can be any small dedicated group who advertisers feel are worth targeting/marking products for. Examples could include, certain films (e.g. 'adult' movies - which can not really be called ‘high art’), fishing magazines, farming programs.

'Even though some critics still believe that there is some truth to this model (hence why age restrictions exist and some products are banned completely) others felt that this model oversimplifies the situation. For example, David Morley did a nationwide ‘Reception Theory’ study in 1980 to determine how different audiences view the same text (he showed them all the same edition of Nationwide – a local news program shown after BBC One’s main evening news bulletin). He found that the way audiences interpreted a text generally fell under one of the following:

Exam practice question...

"Successful media products depend upon catering for the needs of a specific target audience." To what extent do you agree with this statement within the media area you have studied? 

In terms of this quote, Zombieland's target audience is Men aged 15-30 with a nationality of American and sexuality of straight. The class would be a C1-E (lower middle class to lowest grade workers.) As Hall and Holmes said, 'Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience'  I could relate this to Zombieland and how they had made it because all throughout the process of making it, they kept in mind that their target audience of men would like all the blood and gore that they were offering. 

They also used the casting stage of the production to relate to the target audience because they cast a young(attractive) actor to play the damsel in distress. this links to the theory by laura Mulvey who said women are seen 'as erotic objects of desire.' And Emma Stone fits that description of skinny, attractive and usually the victim. This all helps men to engage with the film. 

My other chosen film, Shaun of the Dead, the target audience were 15-30-year-old men who were straight and British who belonged to the classes of C1 to E. This film would have a Niche audience because of the content of the film. it is more of a fan-based film that would have liked zombies and the key actors in the film. in the production process of this film, they would have been thinking about this when they cast it with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Both in the program spaced which was written by Pegg. They even cast the extras from a fandom site of the program spaced. This would strongly relate to their audience. 

The film that made the most money was Zombieland because of its mass audience and use of marketing. To link back to the question, I agree with the statement because the Hollywood film catered for all aspect of its target audience, whereas the British film had a niche audience and did not make as much money. It also was made by a smaller production studio than the Hollywood film. 

The impact of Technology

The Technology Timeline. 

Movie Camera Development/black and white                                                                          1894 

silent era of black and white films                                                                                    1900-1927 

Edward A Turner and George Albert Smith invented colour                                                    1906

Scotsman invented television                                                                                                    1926 

Some synchronised sound appears                                                                                  1927- 1979 

Computers getting invented                                                                                                       1939

Technology improved                                                                                                       1970-1990 

Home Video invented                                                                                                       1970-1980 

CGI                                                                                                                                           1980's

non linear                                                                                                                          1990-2010

DVD'S replaced VHS                                                                                                                1995 

Internet                                                                                                                            1990s-2005 

Technology Has come a very along way and we can see it in films like avatar and all the technology
that was used in the making of the film.

Key quotes. (taken from Miss Stott's Blog.) 

“A broader version of conventional literacy, which enables all visual, aural and digital forms, seeking to enable people to become thoughtful producers and interpreters of media” (Peter Fraser)


“By looking at how culture is used and transformed by social groups, cultural studies see people not simply as consumers, but as potential producers of new social values and cultural language” (Toby Miller 2006) new media such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger etc. is a classic example of consumers becoming producers and, as Miller says, ‘potential producers of new social values and cultural language’ because any individual can reach as mass audience.


Gauntlett (2007a) goes as far as to say that new media (and new media technologies) erodes the boundary between producer and audience to the extent that it makes little sense to talk about media audiences at all anymore: “Conventional research methods are replaced—or at least supplemented by new methods which recognise and make use of people's own creativity, and brush aside the outmoded notions of 'receiver' audiences and elite 'producers' (Gauntlett, 2007)

Exam practice question.

The continuing of media practices throughout the years has a huge effect on the audience for many reasons and one of huge significance would be that when making a film, the producers and directors want to emerge their audience into the movie and make them feel as if they are in the movie without characters. However with bad equipment , this would not be possible because the technology these days allow the directors and producers to do such things. They fully emerge their audience and they want to see more. 10 to twenty years ago, this would have been the same because then, people would not have known any better quality of technology but with the continuing of media practices in the film world, people these days have seen pretty much everything, making it difficult to create something new and exciting.This is very significant because it could eventually lead to the fall and collapse of the film industry now. (as we know it)

The theory that can relate to this would be Toby Miller's quote in 2006, " by looking at how culture is used and transformed by social groups, cultural studies see people not simply as consumers, but as potential producers of new social values and cultural language." because it shows that the viewers of the films are very important because they are the ones that can show interest in the technology. If they see that the technology is not changing or improving, they may find it boring and not go to see many more movies.

Apart from the audience, the other significant thing that it can change and help would be the cinemas because if you use a brand new type of filming equipment for filming a new film, it may not be compatible with the screening type of the cinema.

Marketing

Marketing Draft. 

My Two chosen films were shuan of the dead(2004) and Zombieland (2009). The Marketing budget for Shaun of the dead was ........................... the marketing budget for Zombieland was ........................................ .

Marketing to the right target audience is very important and as Hall and Holmes said in 1988, ' any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal to this particular target audience.' which is very true and can be applied to all types of target audiences in film. It is important because without knowing who will be watching your film, how will you know what to put in your film? How will you know anyone will go and see it in the cinema.

Shaun of the dead Marketed to its target audience by releasing 2 trailers in about a month. This would of caught the attention of its target audience because after watching the first one, you would be more inclined to watch the second one. On the other hand, Zombieland, being a Hollywood film would of released two or three trailers. Giving them the advantage over the British film. The posters were also bigger in budget scale for the Hollywood film. Hollywood would of had the advantage here because of the budget they had. For example, Zombieland had two or three different posters advertising their film at the time and shaun of the dead would of had one or two advertising it. However both Hollywood and British would of had billboards with their posters on. But, Zombieland would of had the advantage because of the amount of posters it had in comparison to Shaun of the Dead.

I think that marketing is not as important as production because without the production, you would not have a film to market. I also believe that more money should be spent on the production step of the movie making process than the marketing because it uses more resources and completes the film in general. In Zombieland's case, I believe that the production would have been more important because of the amount of actors and extras and CGI in the film. Also, the budget for the whole film would have been higher altogether because it is the Hollywood film out of my two films. However in Shaun of the dead's case, the production would have been around the same as the marketing because the films budget would have been low.

Viral marketing would be a great addition to the marketing game because it is basically free to post a trailer to social media and youtube. It would also level the playing field because both hollywood andBritish film companies would be able to market their films for free.  Giving them more money to spend on different things in the films, just like the production.