A Level media research into music video theories by Laura Vaabel. Includes audience type research, uses and gratifications model, audience reception theory, hypodermic needle theory, Hartley, examples of where these theories can be applied and how they can be applied to my own product.

1. AUDIENCE THEORY
BY LAURA VAABEL

2. AUDIENCE TYPES
• Mass audience – large audiences – often termed as ‘broadcast’ audiences, who consume
mainstream or popular culture texts. E.g. soap operas, sit coms, reality TV shows etc.
• Niche audience – smaller than mass – influential, dedicated, loyal – BBC Four is aimed at a
niche audience interested in artistic programmes.
• The audience for my music video will be a niche audience as I am trying to promote a music
genre that is currently not overly popular in the age category that I am aiming for. I want my
audience to be influential so my product will reach it’s purpose of popularising the genre. I will
do this by producing a music video to attract a niche audience, one who is open minded with
their music preferences, through the process of including elements of reggae music videos
that aren’t stereotypical of the genre. I found out about the popularity of the genre and what
the audience want through the use of audience feedback which can be found on a separate
blog page.

3. BLUMLER AND KATZ – USES AND
GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
• The initial uses and gratifications theory is defined as the identification and theory behind why
audiences are drawn to certain media types and what effect it has on them, as they play an active role
in choosing and using media. It also explains that the audience uses media texts to fulfil personal and
emotional needs. It assumes that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their needs.
• The summarised theory Katz and Blumler offered suggests that the audience uses the media text to
satisfy a specific psychological or social need. In relation to music videos, this means that audience’s
choose music videos that make them feel good or offer specific information that they can associate
with.
• If I was going to apply this theory to the music video, that I intend to make, I hope my audience
would use it for the purpose of diversion. However, I believe that this video could be interpreted to
offer satisfaction to all 4 uses that they identified.
• The 4 main uses that Blumler and Katz identified in 1975 were surveillance, personal relationships,
personal identity and diversion. There are 2 other uses that Blulmer and Katz outline that a media
text can be used to achieve, these are information/education and role models.

4. USE ONE - SURVEILLANCE
• Surveillance – provides information useful for living, offers true information about real life
issues, this could be informative for the audience and is generally involved in rap/hip hop
music videos.
• How it may apply to my video? As the man is singing about being upset and in pain, he
doesn’t ‘sugar-coat’ the idea of depression or the upset that he is going through. This
suggests to me that he is providing an insight to a real life issue and is being informative
about this in his lyrics. Therefore, this will be amplified within my music video, therefore
meaning that it can be used for the purpose of surveillance.
• A prior example of a music video that can be used for this purpose is ‘Close Your Eyes’ by
Run The Jewels, this follows the real life issue of police brutality against coloured people in
America. This is an everyday issue that is ongoing and thus featured in this rap music
video. This adds emotion to the video as it shows the perspective of the victim.

5. RUN THE JEWELS – CLOSE YOUR EYES
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGwI7nGehA

6. USE TWO – PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
• This means that the text is used for a specific emotional interaction. Many pop songs music videos
could be used for this purpose, they find songs that are appropriate for the mood they are currently
in. Someone who wants to relax will choose a different song to watch the music video for than
someone who wants to get themselves motivated to do exercise.
• How it may apply to my video? People would use my music video if they wanted to relax as it is an
acoustic song that would be considered soft and mellow. The music video will consist of a slow pace,
something that the audience can watch and become engrossed in as it helps them to relax. It may
help the audience with their own personal relationships because the media text could be interpreted
as offering advice; it encodes the meaning of female strength and independence.
• A prior example of a music video that could be used for personal relationships is Taylor Swift’s
‘Blank Space’. This may be used as a comeback, revenge song that helps the audience work up
emotion and let it out over a bad break up. It was created, in my opinion, to create a menacing
demeanour about the video and help the audience to relate. This is evident in the Mise en scene of
the music video when she wrecks his belongings, reflecting the lyrics ‘we’ll take this way too far’.

7. TAYLOR SWIFT – BLANK SPACE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg

8. USE THREE – PERSONAL IDENTITY
• This use refers to the audience finding themselves relating to or being reflected in the
lyrics/narrative. The audience may interpret the narrative as being specific to them and their
situation, thus creating a deeper meaning to the media text. They reflect upon themselves and feel a
sense of belonging within the lyrics.
• How it may apply to my video? The narrative of my music video follows the heartbreak of a young
woman and how she comes to cope with this and move on. Relationship breakdowns are very popular
situations that people come by, therefore it is likely that my audience will be able to relate the
narrative back to themselves and a similar scenario they’ve been in.
• Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is a song that could clearly be used for the purpose of personal
identity. The song’s lyrics follow the joyous feeling of being in love and his dedication to his partner;
this is similarly reflected in the song’s music video narrative that uses dance to express these
emotions. Love is one of the most profound emotions there is and so it can easily be related to, hence
why this song is popularly chosen as a ‘first dance song’ at weddings.

9. ED SHEERAN – THINKING OUT LOUD
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-EO5I60KA

10. USE FOUR - DIVERSION
• Diversion is a way of escaping everyday problems and routine. If the audience is using the music
video for this purpose, they will be looking to watch a music video that they cannot associate with
their everyday life, something that allows them to escape their everyday stresses and problems.
• How it may apply to my video? This use applies to my music video because it doesn’t follow an
everyday issue, if someone was going to watch my video they’d be looking for a video that isn’t
relatable to their current situation. The content in my video is relatable but under circumstances
that it’s unlikely for them to be going through at that exact point in time. It offers diversion from
everyday life with an interesting and twisting narrative that offers difference from the viewers
normal life with something capturing and unusual to the everyday life. As it’s aimed at a younger
audience, the video could act as a diversion from the stresses of education and exams.
• The Black Eyed Peas ‘Boom Boom Pow’ is a perfect example of a song that could be used for the
purpose of diversion. The narrative of the video appears to be non existent, something that could
easily be used as a form of diversion, the audience can immerse themselves in a meaningless
reality.

11. THE BLACK EYED PEAS – BOOM BOOM
POW
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m48GqaOz90

12. USE FIVE – INFORMATION/EDUCATION
• Education/information refers to the way in which music videos may attempt to educate their
viewers on some form of subject matter. Someone may watch this music video to gain
information on something in particular. The author of the media text may intend to educate
their audience on a particular matter because they feel it’s important to raise awareness of a
certain topic.
• How it may apply to my video? This use doesn’t directly apply to my music video. In theory
however, an audience may infer information from the product through the narrative that
presents a girl gaining autonomy through a rough breakup. They may denote information
from this narrative and thus become educated on the matter. The information they may
denote would be that females don’t have to rely on males, they too can be independent and
strong.
• A prime example of this is Rachael Lynn’s “Dare to be different.” This music video production
incorporates a clear narrative surrounding a girl who is being bullied and statistics cropping
up on screen to support this. This has been done to raise awareness of an important matter in
a bid to make a difference through audience awareness.

13. RACHAEL LYNN – DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j17axG1s1fo

14. USE SIX – ROLE MODELS
• Role models may be presented in a music video; these are characters that the audience can look to
as being an example, someone to be imitated. This may be due to their values, attitudes or
behaviour. Someone may use a music video to seek one of these.
• How it may apply to my video? My female character acts admirably through a tough milestone in
her life – her first heartbreak. This behaviour is something that my target audience may aspire to
themselves if they are experiencing a similar tough time. Remaining strong, independent and
autonomous through a time like this is something that can be looked up to as a positive mental
attitude and many people seek this in themselves so they use my female character in my product
as a role model.
• Little Mix’s “Shout Out To My Ex” perfectly mirrors how the use of role models can be present in
a music video. This production reflects upon it’s lyrics and presents the artist as being
independent and strong following a break up. In the video, the narrative presents the characters
literally driving in a new direction, presumably the right direction. This behaviour can be
perceived as admirable after a break up and so they represent role models and the text can be
used to gain role models.

15. LITTLE MIX – SHOUT OUT TO MY EX
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFDzhKdrN9M

16. Stuart Hall – Audience reception theory
• This theory sees the audience as being aware of how they interpret texts. Hall believes that each audience
member interprets the text in a different way. It conveys the idea that even though the same text is
delivered, multiple understandings of its meaning is received. Hall also believes that an author of a text
encodes a specific meaning but the audience may decode this text differently to how the author encoded it.
A different meaning can be decoded from a text than the one the producer intended them to.
• For example, Nikki Minaj’s “Anaconda” music video could have a few interpretations regarding its
meaning. The song takes lines from Sir Mixalot’s “Baby got back”. This could be thought to be amplified in
her music video using semiotic pornography, however, it has also been believed that Minaj at 3.20minutes
into the video (when she’s cutting the banana up) and at 4.20minutes into the video (when she moves
Drake’s hand to stop him touching her) is presenting women as not being there just to please men and that
they love and own their own bodies. The contrast in these meanings that can be taken from this media text
evidences how Hall’s reception theory functions.

17. Nikki Minaj – Anaconda
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs

18. Stuart Hall – Audience reception theory
• Hall decided that there is three different types of reading when it comes to decoding a text;
dominant/preferred, negotiated and the oppositional.
• The dominant reading refers to the text being interpreted in the way the producer intended for, they
agree with the message they are witnessing.
• The negotiated reading is an interpretation of the text that is a compromise between dominant and
oppositional readings, they understand and agree with parts of the text but disagree with other areas
they have their own views on.
• The oppositional reading rejects the encoded meaning; an audience with an oppositional reading create
their own meaning for the text, they disagree with the message that’s being delivered to them.
• Factors that alter what kind of reading an audience member could take; life experience, mood when
viewing, age, culture, beliefs or gender. These could all impact how individuals decode a text.

19. Stuart Hall – Audience reception theory (1980)
• How it may apply to my video? Although the intended meaning for my music video is to be
something that teenage girls to young adults could relate to, it also has the meaning of
promoting reggae music and helping to attract a younger audience to it. Audience reception
theory may apply here because my audience could actually view it as attempting to change
reggae music and put my own spin on it. It could also be decoded as putting an alternate view
on reggae music that shows it as being sad and slow. The audience members with a dominant
reading of my media text will follow my meaning of the video if they have a similar
background to me, however the audience members who take an oppositional reading, who
could be older, may decode the text differently and see it as an attempt to change reggae
music and not modernise it in a positive way, they will not relate to my video. The negotiated
reading may include audience members who simply disagree with the way I have displayed
my narrative and not disagree with the content, for example.

20. Functionalists – Hypodermic needle theory
• This theory outlines the idea that the audience are like robots and they can be programmed to respond how the
author would like them to be. It says that the audience are like sponges, so for example, if a game portrays violence
positively, this theory suggests that the audience will now see violence as leading to positive results. The idea is that
the media can influence a large influence by injecting them with the appropriate message designed to trigger a
specific response. The audience is seen as passive, they are powerless to resist and are immediately influenced by
the message.
• This theory is thought to have been brought around by; the fast rise and popularisation of radio and television, the
emergence of the persuasion industries like advertising, Hitler’s monopolization of the mass media during WWII to
unify the German public behind the Nazi party and the Payne Fund’s studies of the 1930s, which focused on the
impact of motion pictures on children.
• A music video that could be interpreted as seeing the audience as passive is The Cranberries music video for their
song ‘Zombies’. This portrays multiple shots of violence from ‘The Troubles’ in Ireland. The audience, by way of this
theory could see this video and the violence that is shown within it and take that as meaning that violence is
acceptable. However, the fault in this theory is evident here because the pragmatics behind this video tell us that
violence is trying to be ended through the message in this video; violence is causing pain and misery due to loss of
loved ones.

21. The Cranberries - Zombies
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts

22. Functionalists – Hypodermic needle theory
• How it may apply to my video? If the audience are thought to be passive, according to this theory, then my
music video may be interpreted very differently to how I currently intend it to be interpreted. The girl that has
been through a difficult break up, goes for a drink at the pub to distract herself from her sorrows, if the
hypodermic needle theory was applied to this part of my music video then it could be interpreted as
encouraging drinking alcohol. In an attempt to remove this possible interpretation from my video, I will
emphasise the girls misery after her drinking. This hopefully will mean that my audience will take away from
my music video that alcohol isn’t a positive.
• Applying the hypodermic needle theory to my production, I hope that the moral message my audience will be
‘injected’ with will be autonomy and not needing to rely on men to be strong. The influence I want to have on
my audience is one that gives them power and independence after a tough time. The moral message I want to
relay will be portrayed through my use of narrative and the media language. With regards to specifics in
media language, I will use mise en scene like locations (aesthetically pleasing to reflect her solitude and
accepting nature of this), costuming (casual clothing to portray her as not caring overly about her appearance)
and jump cut editing to present her fast paced movement towards independence.

23. HARTLEY (1987)
• Hartley’s theory states that institutions must produce ‘invisible fictions of
the audience which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must
enter relations with.’ In other words, they must know their audience so
they are able to target them effectively.
• How may it apply to my video? This theory may apply to my music video
because through my audience research and feedback I was able to
understand and gauge what my audience want and need from a text in
order for it to be effective in meeting its purpose, therefore I will now be
able to target them effectively through my media product.