An introduction to Audience for Section A Question 1B of the OCR G325 exam

1. BQ: How can I develop my
understanding of audience in my
coursework?

2. What do you need to be able to do with
theorists and theories?
 You do NOT need to:
 Learn a load of quotes
 Explain their theories in great depth
 Know them all
 You DO need to:
 Use a few
 Be able to apply them to your work/ case studies
 Consider how useful/ not useful they are when
discussing your work/ case studies

3. How to use theorists…
 Quote
 Summarise
 Comment
 Assume your reader knows about the theory/ theorist.
 Don’t explain the theory; use it.
 A Todorovian analysis would argue…
 Mulvey’s notion of the Male Gaze provides a useful way of
understanding the video in that…
 Kate Wales statement that “Genre is... an intertextual
concept” could be useful here because…

4. AUDIENCE THEORY
When studying the media it is important to recognise that all media
operate within the context of institutions and audiences.
Institution AudienceMedia
A traditional view of this relationship is that the industry
creates a message which is transmitted via the media
and is received by the audience. The audience is passive.
More recent views of this relationship suggest
that the audience is more active, and that the
industry responds to the demands of the viewers.
Institution Audience
Media
triangulated

5. There are several theories which we can apply to explain to
what extent the audience is passive or active.
THE AUDIENCE IS PASSIVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3NRuMOEGk
This is one of the simplest models used to explain the way the media
can have an effect on the audience.
It assumes that the audience are passive and that all members of the
audience group are the same and respond in similar ways.
It states that the media has a direct influence on the audience and it
‘injects’ its beliefs and values directly into the viewers or readers.
For example, if someone watches violence, it will make them behave
violently or accept violent behaviour.
OR in the case of War of the Worlds it can create mass hysteria
Hypodermic Syringe Theory

6. THE AUDIENCE IS PASSIVE
Cultivation Theory
This theory considers the way the media affects attitudes rather
than behaviour.
The media is seen as part of our socialisation process, communicating
‘appropriate’ attitudes and the norms and values of the culture.
According to this theory, while any one media text does not have too
much effect, repeated exposure to certain ideas and values may make
the audience less critical of the ideas presented as they appear ‘normal’.

7. AUDIENCE AND IDEOLOGICAL READINGS
The audience may interpret media texts in different ways depending on
their social situation, cultural reference points, age, nationality, political
affiliations, religious beliefs etc
We can identify 3 interpretations:
DOMINANT READING (or ‘hegemonic’)
most people will read the text in the way it was intended by the producers
NEGOTIATED READING
audience sees dominant reading but also alternatives
OPPOSITIONAL READING
minority audience reject dominant reading in favour of oppositional
interpretation

8. McDonalds want you to think....

9. You may agree
Or.....
You may disagree

10. Or.....
You may think that big macs do taste good,
but I’ll only have them every now and again

11. So here we have three separate readings of
that one advert

12. In 1980 David Morley did a study
of audience responses when
watching the BBC TV show
Spotlight. As a result of his
research, he decided that
audiences tend to fall into three
groups based on their
interpretation of the text.....
Preferred Reading
Negotiated Reading
Oppositional Reading

13. The preferred
reading is the
reading media
producers hope
audiences will take
from the text.

14. Audience members from
outside the target audience
may reject the preferred
reading,
receiving their own
alternative message.

15. Negotiated reading is when
audiences acknowledge the
preferred reading, but
modify it to
suit their own values and
opinions.

16. Mainstream
Prime time scheduling, mass audience,
wide appeal, large commercial potential,
conforming, long-running
Cult
Off peak scheduling, niche audience,
narrow appeal, small commercial
potential, subversive, may become
mainstream

17. Structure for 1B – suggested by OCR
 Paragraph 1 Intro: which of your projects are you going to write about? Briefly describe it.
 Paragraph 2: what are some of the key features of the concept you are being asked to apply?
Maybe outline two of the theories/ideas of particular writers briefly.

 Paragraph 3: start to apply the concept, making close reference to your production to show
how the concept is evident in it.
 Paragraph 4: try to show ways in which ideas work in relation to your production and also
ways in which those ideas might not apply / could be challenged.

 Paragraph 5: conclusion.

18. Things to consider
 Who is the target audience for the production? ( AC Neilsen TAGS, Rubicam's 4Cs
Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation ), how do you know?
 Would this production be successful with it target audience? How might it be
read/understood by a different target audience?
 What uses and gratifications will the target audience get from the production?
 What effect might the production have on audiences?
 What is the Dominant/Hegemonic/Preferred reading of this text? What is a
possible Negotiated reading of this text? What would be an Oppositional reading?
 How would this text suit a Pomo audience (Gauntlett – meaning is fluid and the
audience is intelligent)
 In what ways is the work an example of Jenkins Participatory Culture (audiences
are no longer just consumers, they are also producers and users. They create and
consume, participate and publish, download and upload, receive and share)

19. Practice
 Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to
the concept of audience.