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EXAM RESOURCE
Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework
productions.
	
  
Audience	
  Examples	
  
	
  
June	
  2011	
  
	
  
Analyse	
  one	
  of	
  your	
  coursework	
  productions	
  in	
  relation	
  to	
  the	
  
concept	
  of	
  audience.	
  
	
  
How	
  else	
  could	
  the	
  word	
  the	
  question?	
  
	
  
Apply	
  theories	
  of	
  audience	
  to	
  one	
  of	
  your	
  coursework	
  productions	
  
	
  
Explain	
  how	
  one	
  of	
  your	
  coursework	
  productions	
  work	
  could	
  be	
  
analysed	
  via	
  the	
  use	
  of	
  audience	
  theories.	
  
	
  
Apply	
  the	
  concept	
  of	
  audience	
  to	
  one	
  of	
  your	
  coursework	
  
productions.	
  
1  (b)    Analyse  one  of  your  coursework  productions  in  relation  to  the  concept  of        
audience.    [25]                        
    
Candidates  will  need  to  choose  one  production  from  either  Foundation  Portfolio  or  
Advanced  Portfolio.      
    
Examiners  are  reminded  that  candidates  are  asked  to  relate  a  media  production  to  a  
theoretical  concept  and  they  are  at  liberty  to  either  apply  the  concept  to  their  production  or  
explain  how  the  concept  is  not  useful  in  relation  to  their  production.    
    
Level  1  (0-­9  marks)    
    
Candidates  at  this  level  attempt  to  relate  the  production  to  the  basic  concept  of  audience,  
with  limited  clarity.  The  account  may  be  incomplete  or  be  only  partly  convincing.  Very  few,  if  
any,  examples  are  offered  from  the  chosen  production.  The  answer  offers  minimal  use  of  
relevant  basic  conceptual  terms.        
    
Some  simple  ideas  have  been  expressed.  There  will  be  some  errors  of  spelling,  punctuation  
and  grammar  which  will  be  noticeable  and  intrusive.  Writing  may  also  lack  legibility.      
    
Level  2  (10-­15  marks)    
    
Candidates  offer  a  mainly  descriptive,  basic  account  of  how  their  production  can  be  
understood  in  the  basic  theoretical  context  of  audience.  A  narrow  range  of  examples  are  
described,  of  which  some  are  relevant.  The  answer  makes  basic  use  of  relevant  conceptual  
terms.        
    
Some  simple  ideas  have  been  expressed  in  an  appropriate  context.  There  are  likely  to  be  
some    errors  of  spelling,  punctuation  and  grammar  of  which  some  may  be  noticeable  and  
intrusive.      
    
Level  3  (16-­20  marks)    
    
Candidates  demonstrate  the  ability  to  relate  their  own  creative  outcomes  to  some  ideas  
about  audience  drawn  from  relevant  media  theory.  Some  relevant  and  convincing  examples  
from  the  production  are  offered  and  these  are  handled  proficiently.  The  answer  makes  
proficient  use  of  relevant  conceptual  language.        
    
Relatively  straightforward  ideas  have  been  expressed  with  some  clarity  and  fluency.  
Arguments  are  generally  relevant,  though  may  stray  from  the  point  of  the  question.  There  
will  be  some  errors  of  spelling,  punctuation  and  grammar  but  these  are  unlikely  to  be  
intrusive  or  obscure  meaning.      
    
Level  4  (21-­25  marks)    
    
Candidates  demonstrate  a  clear  understanding  of  audience  and  relevant  media  theory  and  
can  relate  concepts  articulately  to  the  production  outcome,  describing  specific  elements  in  
relation  to  theoretical  ideas  about  how  media  texts  are  produced  for  and  received  by  
audiences  in  various  ways.  Candidates  offer  a  broad  range  of  specific,  relevant,  interesting  
and  clear  examples  of  how  their  product  can  be  understood  in  relation  to  relevant  theories  of  
audience  and  reception.      
Complex  issues  have  been  expressed  clearly  and  fluently  using  a  style  of  writing  appropriate  
to  the  complex  subject  matter.    Sentences  and  paragraphs,  consistently  relevant,  have  been  
well  structured,  using  appropriate  technical  terminology.    There  may  be  few,  if  any,  errors  of  
spelling,  punctuation  and  grammar.  
I found examples of many film posters to complete textual analysis on and created a
moodboard of conventions. I also asked a target audience for their preferences in this
area which I think is essential in order to successfully attract your consumers.
Conventions that I identified were bold, graphic fonts for both mastheads and
straplines (such as a glowing effect) very glamorous photography with fashionable
costume, hair, make up and body attitude, good quality photography, many smaller
framed photographs and barcode and edition information. The language created focus
on the on the film industry. Using these conventions I created my front cover. My
photography was taken on SLR camera in order to make it look better quality, which
was successful. I used a long shot of my main character looking glamorous and
beautiful but scared. This fits the convention of the front cover using the theme of the
main featured film. To follow this I created the masthead with a glowing font and
superimposed it onto the character so that her head appeared to be placed on top of the
text using cutting, cropping, copying tools and different layers. This made my cover
seem professional I think. The glowing font was a deep shade of red to connote blood
and danger and fit in with my horror genre. I used more impressive graphic fonts,
such as ‘cracked’ fonts to stick to my horror genre theme. My barcode and date of
edition were essential touches which I created through scanning in an existing
magazine and copying it into my text. This is extremely conventional as all real media
magazines include a barcode for the sales side of the industry.
Overall, over my 2 year coursework I became more confident in identifying generic
conventions of a product. My technology skills and knowledge of the media both
developed and allowed me to create a more realistic and professional piece in my
Advanced Portfolio.
This is a high level 3 response. There is a real sense of progression and a chosen
theme – genre conventions is sustained in detail, along with a wide range of
examples of creative techniques that led to conventional outcomes. The answer
doesn’t quite meet the criteria for level 4 because conventions are sometimes
dealt with in a reductive way – eg a barcode, as opposed to being opened up to an
analysis of their more symbolic qualities.
1(b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of
audience.
The concept of audience is fundamental to the making of a media text. A producer
must take into account the age, social status and gender and interests of a target
consumer in order to adjust the text to make it as appealing to them as possible. For
my A2 coursework I created a horror called ‘The sleepover’. Classification of age
appropriateness is important in audience identification. Films are screened by an
external board and given a minimum age of viewers. Most horror films are rated 18,
due to extreme gore, violence, sex and disturbance – not to mention emotional trauma
which is why I chose to rate my film as 18 as my film was a very conventional slasher
film.
The Hypodermic Needle effect is the first audience theory. It originated in the 1920s
when mass media first began to be popular. This suggests that a producer has an
intended meaning which is definitely understood by the audience. In this theory the
audience are completely passive. If this was applied to my text the audience would
view the killing scenes and sex scenes and instantly replicate the actions. This of
course is unrealistic and this theory is often argued to be very simplistic and outdate,
considering how much the media has developed this century.
The uses and gratifications audience theory suggests than an audience consume
particular texts in order to receive something from them. Bulmer and Katz identified
four uses and gratifications as diversion (entertainment and escape from reality),
surveillance (information), personal identity (seeing yourself reflected in the text and
learning new values and personal relationships (seeking emotional interaction and
substituting media relationships for your own). In my coursework, a consumer may
use diversion - the horror trailer is escapist – a route away from reality and they
would be entertained by the mystery and fear of my film. Diversion would also
include catharsis that my trailer would enable, which is using the media as an outlet of
emotion – they would experience horror in the safety of cinema. They would also
experience the ‘personal identity’ stage in seeing themselves in, or, admiring, the
good characters – particularly the ‘final girl’ character and her charming boyfriend,
depending on gender of audience member. They would also have the personal
relationships because they could feel emotion of the fear and sadness of the victims
whilst substituting their emotional relationship with the friendships in my trailer or the
main characters’ romantic relationship with her boyfriend. My audience would not
use the surveillance stage as horror films are not intended to be instructional.
The most modern and developed theory of audience is reception theory. This model
based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model, suggests that a producer will encode a text
and the audience will decode it. Their reading is affected by many contextual and
personal factors such as age, social status, gender, current mood and personal
experiences. I encoded my horror trailer as well as I could using beautiful, edgy,
feminine characters which appeal to the female consumers. I used isolated settings
which suggest to the audience that escape isn’t possible (deserted house, woods) thus
highlighting the experience of fear and panic that one hopes for when watching a
horror film. I used acoustic codes in the form of a deep male voice over and jumpy,
low orchestral score to hope that my audience will feel tension and suspense. My
killer was masked and always appeared silent and in the shadows, connoting evil and
dehumanising him hopefully creating a response of fear from the audience.
My main target audience were males and females aged 18-30. I used attractive actors
to appeal to the audience who would admire / desire them. The ‘cool’ stylish clothing
adds to this. I used the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing a victim’s
cleavage and the ‘final girl’ theory (hopefully creating a stronger feminist image to
other women) to attract both genders. I used audience research in the form of
questionnaires to find out my audiences preferences and dislikes in order to make my
trailer meet their interests as fully as possible. I also asked for audience feedback on
my first drafts which allowed me to make improvements based on the opinions of 20
18-30 year olds. The told me to exaggerate gore and violence more and use more
threatening music which I then incorporated using iMovie so that me audience was
tempted to watch my piece.
I aimed my piece at a low social status as my trailer was a version of British teenagers
experiencing the American slasher experience. I used strong language, popular music
for soundtrack and fashionable clothing to hopefully attract this group.
This is a level 3 / level 4 borderline response
Level 4 qualities –coherence, range of useful examples, ability to answer the
question in sustained manner, relating of theory to practice. The understanding
of Hall’s encoding / decoding model in relation to own work. The discussion of
‘effects’ early on is clear and relevant.
Level 3 qualities – the application of audience theories (insufficiently developed
for level 4 – eg the ‘use of’ Mulvey, in the same paragraph as the use of
questionnaires for feedback).
Reflecting	
  on	
  Past	
  Student	
  Work	
  
	
  
Read	
  through	
  the	
  example	
  thinking	
  about	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  
	
  
Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  examples  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).  
	
  
•   Highlight	
  in	
  one	
  colour	
  every	
  time	
  a	
  technical/	
  media	
  term	
  is	
  used.	
  
•   In	
  another	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  have	
  used	
  an	
  example	
  from	
  their	
  work	
  to	
  
illustrate	
  a	
  point	
  
•   In	
  a	
  third	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  explain	
  the	
  effect	
  or	
  reason,	
  make	
  an	
  
evaluative/	
  judgement	
  style	
  statement	
  and/or	
  make	
  a	
  link	
  to	
  a	
  central	
  argument/	
  
idea/	
  theme	
  that	
  runs	
  through	
  the	
  essay	
  
	
  
Make	
  a	
  list	
  of	
  all	
  the	
  positive	
  features	
  of	
  the	
  essay:	
  
Based	
  on	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  what	
  advice	
  would	
  you	
  give	
  this	
  student	
  about	
  how	
  to	
  
improve	
  their	
  work?	
  
What	
  aspects,	
  ideas,	
  points	
  could	
  you	
  used	
  from	
  this	
  essay	
  in	
  your	
  own?	
  
at the advanced stage and they added to the quirky image of Lexi. I watched videos
like The Pharcyde’s ‘Drop’ and Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ which were great
inspirations as they used the reverse editing so differently.
Furthermore, Lexi wore a Rolling Stones vest which integrated intertextuality which
is a common convention in a lot of music. I also shot test footage and created mood
boards of London as this was key in Lexi’s British image.
Overall, both projects were influenced by conventions of existing media but to
different extents. While the foundation portfolio focussed on rigid conventions, the
advanced one was more towards using subtle ones to construct an image and brand.
Technically, my knowledge has improved as I researched music more thoroughly and
learnt a lot in doing so.
This is a level 4 response. The answer clearly describes, and evaluates
progression over the course (from following rigid conventions to using more
subtle techniques) and combines a theoretical language (intertextuality,
connotation) with specific details of creative choices made and how these were
informed by conventions. A range of examples of both decisions made and
existing media texts provide conviction and substance and the question is
answered throughout the response.
1b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of
audience.
The target audience of my music video for debut artist ‘Lexi Grace’ was a huge
consideration as it was important to construct a music video that would entice and
excite them. Lexi is an androgynous artist as she is feminine and can attract male
audiences, yet has short hair and can wear biker boots to represent a ‘girl power’
image.
David Gauntlett addresses ‘fluidity’ in media and Lexi is a prime example of this as
she drifts between sexy red lipstick and girly dresses and yet directly addresses the
camera, subverting traditional stereotypes of passive women which shows her
diversity and appeal to many people. Her target audience is young people of both
genders and her Britishness is a key factor. The video is set in London, with Lexi
walking around different iconic scenes such as Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden.
My aim was that by associating Lexi with iconic places, audiences would associate
her as an icon as well. Also, by incorporating post-modern ides through intertextuality
as Lexi wears a Rolling Stones vest, audiences would recognise this, gratifying their
needs as they would associate Lexi with the band and legendary music in general.
Furthermore, Lexi can be a role model to young people as she is a young person
herself, at 19 years old and audiences can familiarise with her. Laura Mulvey’s idea
on the action of ‘looking’ was an inspiration as Liexi is objectified in someways, for
example through ECUs on her lips or pans across her legs as she walks, yet she
directly addresses the camera and subverts this ‘passive’ role as she almost objectifies
those looking at her. This ability to be diverse is key to Lexi’s audience appeal and
again, her fluidity.
Through camerawork, editing, mise en scene and sound I was able to create a brand
image for Lexi to appeal to her audience. Editing was used to emphasise sounds, for
example, jump cuts on lyrics like “things that are inside” to emphasise the importance
of them. The message of the song was important as Lexi needed to attract viewers to
watch repeatedly. The majority of shots were very short and Lexi wore many outfits
and appeared in different locations ranging from central London to North London.
During the audience screening I noticed people talking about places they recognised
and Lexi’s clothes, so this was a positive point as it provided a ‘basis for social
interaction’ which gratifies the needs of the audience.
Moreover Lexi appeals to her audience because she is unlike any other artist. Singers
like Pink and Robyn have similar styles but seem very edgy and artists like Pixie Lott
are extremely feminine and overtly sexualised. Lexi has the right balance, which is
why she can appeal to both males and females. She can embody Winship’s theory of
girl power, but also appeal to males through subtle sexuality through costume and
styling (using dresses and high heels). She is the ultimate icon of post modernism as
she has feminine qualities but isn’t overtly sexualised and subverts stereotypical roles.
This is a level 3 response. The question is answered directly and theories of
audience / reception are coherently and intelligently applied to one chosen text.
There are flaws - Winship’s theories do not relate to ‘girl power’ in this
simplistic sense and at times ‘audience theory’ is reduced to ‘appealing to the
audience’ and these shortcomings prevent the script from accessing the level 4
mark range.
Reflecting	
  on	
  Past	
  Student	
  Work	
  
	
  
Read	
  through	
  the	
  example	
  thinking	
  about	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  
	
  
Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  examples  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).  
	
  
•   Highlight	
  in	
  one	
  colour	
  every	
  time	
  a	
  technical/	
  media	
  term	
  is	
  used.	
  
•   In	
  another	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  have	
  used	
  an	
  example	
  from	
  their	
  work	
  to	
  
illustrate	
  a	
  point	
  
•   In	
  a	
  third	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  explain	
  the	
  effect	
  or	
  reason,	
  make	
  an	
  
evaluative/	
  judgement	
  style	
  statement	
  and/or	
  make	
  a	
  link	
  to	
  a	
  central	
  argument/	
  
idea/	
  theme	
  that	
  runs	
  through	
  the	
  essay	
  
	
  
Make	
  a	
  list	
  of	
  all	
  the	
  positive	
  features	
  of	
  the	
  essay:	
  
Based	
  on	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  what	
  advice	
  would	
  you	
  give	
  this	
  student	
  about	
  how	
  to	
  
improve	
  their	
  work?	
  
What	
  aspects,	
  ideas,	
  points	
  could	
  you	
  used	
  from	
  this	
  essay	
  in	
  your	
  own?	
  
1b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of
audience.
‘Spinning Time’ was the teaser trailer I made in A2 media and is what I will eb
analysing in terms of genre.
‘Spinning Time’ is a teen comedy about a teenage girl who has a watch that can
control time. As such it is aimed at teenage girls who can relate and identify with the
protagonist. Subsequently my target audience is girls aged between eleven and
nineteen.
I catered for this audience, firstly by presenting a relatable protagonist in Myles
Brown. She is a student dedicated to her work, though also a bit lazy as depicted by
her hesitance to get out of bed the trailers beginning. The film was intended to be a
Disney family film and as such ‘Funmi Buriamoh’ the actress playing Myles Brown is
the new up and coming teen start like Selena Gomez in ‘Ramona and Beezus’. As
such the casting of Buriamoh would be an aspect to draw in the target audience.
My target audience are predominantly fans of popular music – energetic, exciting, like
stuff from the top 40. Chick flicks which are the sub genre of films that cater to my
audience feature this kind of music throughout teaser trailers and the film. As such I
complied with the conventions of Chick Flicks by incorporating this kind of music to
entice my target audience.
I was in no way trying to create moral panic with my film. It’s Disney-esque vide was
highly considered during its creating, empowering it to be the kind of film the family
can see together.
I think that there are many uses and gratifications to ‘Spinning Time’. The positive
portrayal of an Afro-Caribbean teen is not something that is often seen in big-
budgeted Hollywood films/ As such it breaks stereotypes and challenges conventions,
and subsequently some preconceptions regarding the demographic. Additionally it
provides the target audience with a new role model to look up to and possibly use as
reinforcement for their personal values and beliefs – as Myles is quite a positive
character.
The preferred reading of ‘Spinning Time’ is that audiences will wish they were in
Myles position; having a watch that could control time as it would make life more
exciting, easy and generally more fun. Having the instant opportunity to rewind time
and do things over again (like a test for example) would eliminate the universal fear
of making mistakes. I think eroding that fear would generally make people happier
and less self conscious.
However, an oppositional reading to the film could be that Myles is too lazy and
selfish to be using such an amazing gift for lazy personal gain reasons – like catching
a bus. The audience may expect Myles to do something much more meaningful like
prevent deaths or wars.
In conclusion I provided for my target audience in a number of ways (including
music, casting, mise en scene to give the happy Disney-esque vibe and plot) duting
the creation of ‘Spinning Time’. The piece is for entertainment as opposed to creating
moral panic, and hopefully offers audience members the opportunity for self
discovery and social integration through discussing what they’d do if they had a time
controlling watch.
This is a level 3 response. Some elements are proficient and some are competent.
Proficient – the ability to select one piece of work and to relate it to theories of
audience / effects such as moral panics and preferred readings (though these are
not attributed to Cohen or Hall / Morley).
Competent – the examples are clear and the theoretical analysis is
straightforward – in this sense the understanding of audiences’ reading the text
is insufficient for the higher mark level.
Reflecting	
  on	
  Past	
  Student	
  Work	
  
	
  
Read	
  through	
  the	
  example	
  thinking	
  about	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  
	
  
Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  examples  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).  
	
  
•   Highlight	
  in	
  one	
  colour	
  every	
  time	
  a	
  technical/	
  media	
  term	
  is	
  used.	
  
•   In	
  another	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  have	
  used	
  an	
  example	
  from	
  their	
  work	
  to	
  
illustrate	
  a	
  point	
  
•   In	
  a	
  third	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  explain	
  the	
  effect	
  or	
  reason,	
  make	
  an	
  
evaluative/	
  judgement	
  style	
  statement	
  and/or	
  make	
  a	
  link	
  to	
  a	
  central	
  argument/	
  
idea/	
  theme	
  that	
  runs	
  through	
  the	
  essay	
  
	
  
Make	
  a	
  list	
  of	
  all	
  the	
  positive	
  features	
  of	
  the	
  essay:	
  
Based	
  on	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  what	
  advice	
  would	
  you	
  give	
  this	
  student	
  about	
  how	
  to	
  
improve	
  their	
  work?	
  
What	
  aspects,	
  ideas,	
  points	
  could	
  you	
  used	
  from	
  this	
  essay	
  in	
  your	
  own?	
  
I found examples of many film posters to complete textual analysis on and created a
moodboard of conventions. I also asked a target audience for their preferences in this
area which I think is essential in order to successfully attract your consumers.
Conventions that I identified were bold, graphic fonts for both mastheads and
straplines (such as a glowing effect) very glamorous photography with fashionable
costume, hair, make up and body attitude, good quality photography, many smaller
framed photographs and barcode and edition information. The language created focus
on the on the film industry. Using these conventions I created my front cover. My
photography was taken on SLR camera in order to make it look better quality, which
was successful. I used a long shot of my main character looking glamorous and
beautiful but scared. This fits the convention of the front cover using the theme of the
main featured film. To follow this I created the masthead with a glowing font and
superimposed it onto the character so that her head appeared to be placed on top of the
text using cutting, cropping, copying tools and different layers. This made my cover
seem professional I think. The glowing font was a deep shade of red to connote blood
and danger and fit in with my horror genre. I used more impressive graphic fonts,
such as ‘cracked’ fonts to stick to my horror genre theme. My barcode and date of
edition were essential touches which I created through scanning in an existing
magazine and copying it into my text. This is extremely conventional as all real media
magazines include a barcode for the sales side of the industry.
Overall, over my 2 year coursework I became more confident in identifying generic
conventions of a product. My technology skills and knowledge of the media both
developed and allowed me to create a more realistic and professional piece in my
Advanced Portfolio.
This is a high level 3 response. There is a real sense of progression and a chosen
theme – genre conventions is sustained in detail, along with a wide range of
examples of creative techniques that led to conventional outcomes. The answer
doesn’t quite meet the criteria for level 4 because conventions are sometimes
dealt with in a reductive way – eg a barcode, as opposed to being opened up to an
analysis of their more symbolic qualities.
1(b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of
audience.
The concept of audience is fundamental to the making of a media text. A producer
must take into account the age, social status and gender and interests of a target
consumer in order to adjust the text to make it as appealing to them as possible. For
my A2 coursework I created a horror called ‘The sleepover’. Classification of age
appropriateness is important in audience identification. Films are screened by an
external board and given a minimum age of viewers. Most horror films are rated 18,
due to extreme gore, violence, sex and disturbance – not to mention emotional trauma
which is why I chose to rate my film as 18 as my film was a very conventional slasher
film.
The Hypodermic Needle effect is the first audience theory. It originated in the 1920s
when mass media first began to be popular. This suggests that a producer has an
intended meaning which is definitely understood by the audience. In this theory the
audience are completely passive. If this was applied to my text the audience would
view the killing scenes and sex scenes and instantly replicate the actions. This of
course is unrealistic and this theory is often argued to be very simplistic and outdate,
considering how much the media has developed this century.
The uses and gratifications audience theory suggests than an audience consume
particular texts in order to receive something from them. Bulmer and Katz identified
four uses and gratifications as diversion (entertainment and escape from reality),
surveillance (information), personal identity (seeing yourself reflected in the text and
learning new values and personal relationships (seeking emotional interaction and
substituting media relationships for your own). In my coursework, a consumer may
use diversion - the horror trailer is escapist – a route away from reality and they
would be entertained by the mystery and fear of my film. Diversion would also
include catharsis that my trailer would enable, which is using the media as an outlet of
emotion – they would experience horror in the safety of cinema. They would also
experience the ‘personal identity’ stage in seeing themselves in, or, admiring, the
good characters – particularly the ‘final girl’ character and her charming boyfriend,
depending on gender of audience member. They would also have the personal
relationships because they could feel emotion of the fear and sadness of the victims
whilst substituting their emotional relationship with the friendships in my trailer or the
main characters’ romantic relationship with her boyfriend. My audience would not
use the surveillance stage as horror films are not intended to be instructional.
The most modern and developed theory of audience is reception theory. This model
based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model, suggests that a producer will encode a text
and the audience will decode it. Their reading is affected by many contextual and
personal factors such as age, social status, gender, current mood and personal
experiences. I encoded my horror trailer as well as I could using beautiful, edgy,
feminine characters which appeal to the female consumers. I used isolated settings
which suggest to the audience that escape isn’t possible (deserted house, woods) thus
highlighting the experience of fear and panic that one hopes for when watching a
horror film. I used acoustic codes in the form of a deep male voice over and jumpy,
low orchestral score to hope that my audience will feel tension and suspense. My
killer was masked and always appeared silent and in the shadows, connoting evil and
dehumanising him hopefully creating a response of fear from the audience.
My main target audience were males and females aged 18-30. I used attractive actors
to appeal to the audience who would admire / desire them. The ‘cool’ stylish clothing
adds to this. I used the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing a victim’s
cleavage and the ‘final girl’ theory (hopefully creating a stronger feminist image to
other women) to attract both genders. I used audience research in the form of
questionnaires to find out my audiences preferences and dislikes in order to make my
trailer meet their interests as fully as possible. I also asked for audience feedback on
my first drafts which allowed me to make improvements based on the opinions of 20
18-30 year olds. The told me to exaggerate gore and violence more and use more
threatening music which I then incorporated using iMovie so that me audience was
tempted to watch my piece.
I aimed my piece at a low social status as my trailer was a version of British teenagers
experiencing the American slasher experience. I used strong language, popular music
for soundtrack and fashionable clothing to hopefully attract this group.
This is a level 3 / level 4 borderline response
Level 4 qualities –coherence, range of useful examples, ability to answer the
question in sustained manner, relating of theory to practice. The understanding
of Hall’s encoding / decoding model in relation to own work. The discussion of
‘effects’ early on is clear and relevant.
Level 3 qualities – the application of audience theories (insufficiently developed
for level 4 – eg the ‘use of’ Mulvey, in the same paragraph as the use of
questionnaires for feedback).
Reflecting	
  on	
  Past	
  Student	
  Work	
  
	
  
Read	
  through	
  the	
  example	
  thinking	
  about	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  
	
  
Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  examples  (10  marks)  
     Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).  
	
  
•   Highlight	
  in	
  one	
  colour	
  every	
  time	
  a	
  technical/	
  media	
  term	
  is	
  used.	
  
•   In	
  another	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  have	
  used	
  an	
  example	
  from	
  their	
  work	
  to	
  
illustrate	
  a	
  point	
  
•   In	
  a	
  third	
  colour	
  highlight	
  where	
  they	
  explain	
  the	
  effect	
  or	
  reason,	
  make	
  an	
  
evaluative/	
  judgement	
  style	
  statement	
  and/or	
  make	
  a	
  link	
  to	
  a	
  central	
  argument/	
  
idea/	
  theme	
  that	
  runs	
  through	
  the	
  essay	
  
	
  
Make	
  a	
  list	
  of	
  all	
  the	
  positive	
  features	
  of	
  the	
  essay:	
  
Based	
  on	
  the	
  assessment	
  criteria	
  what	
  advice	
  would	
  you	
  give	
  this	
  student	
  about	
  how	
  to	
  
improve	
  their	
  work?	
  
What	
  aspects,	
  ideas,	
  points	
  could	
  you	
  used	
  from	
  this	
  essay	
  in	
  your	
  own?	
  
 
Section	
  1B	
  Essay	
  Plan	
  for____________________________________________________________________________________________	
  
Central	
  Argument	
  (Define	
  the	
  concept,	
  why	
  is	
  this	
  thing	
  important,	
  what	
  impact	
  did	
  it	
  have,	
  what	
  theorists	
  could	
  you	
  talk	
  
about/quote)	
  	
  	
  
	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
First	
  Example	
  of	
  how	
  you	
  used	
  
this	
  idea	
  and	
  effect	
  it	
  had	
  
(audience	
  feedback??????)	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
Second	
  example	
  of	
  how	
  you	
  
used	
  this	
  idea	
  and	
  effect	
  it	
  had	
  
(audience	
  feedback??????)	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
Third	
  example	
  of	
  how	
  you	
  used	
  
this	
  idea	
  and	
  effect	
  it	
  had	
  
(audience	
  feedback??????)	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
Four	
  example	
  of	
  how	
  you	
  
challenged	
  this	
  idea	
  (audience	
  
feedback??????)	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  

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Audience essay examples

  • 1. EXAM RESOURCE Section A: Theoretical Evaluation of Production In Question 1(b) you must write about one of your media coursework productions.   Audience  Examples     June  2011     Analyse  one  of  your  coursework  productions  in  relation  to  the   concept  of  audience.     How  else  could  the  word  the  question?     Apply  theories  of  audience  to  one  of  your  coursework  productions     Explain  how  one  of  your  coursework  productions  work  could  be   analysed  via  the  use  of  audience  theories.     Apply  the  concept  of  audience  to  one  of  your  coursework   productions.  
  • 2. 1  (b)    Analyse  one  of  your  coursework  productions  in  relation  to  the  concept  of         audience.    [25]                             Candidates  will  need  to  choose  one  production  from  either  Foundation  Portfolio  or   Advanced  Portfolio.           Examiners  are  reminded  that  candidates  are  asked  to  relate  a  media  production  to  a   theoretical  concept  and  they  are  at  liberty  to  either  apply  the  concept  to  their  production  or   explain  how  the  concept  is  not  useful  in  relation  to  their  production.         Level  1  (0-­9  marks)         Candidates  at  this  level  attempt  to  relate  the  production  to  the  basic  concept  of  audience,   with  limited  clarity.  The  account  may  be  incomplete  or  be  only  partly  convincing.  Very  few,  if   any,  examples  are  offered  from  the  chosen  production.  The  answer  offers  minimal  use  of   relevant  basic  conceptual  terms.             Some  simple  ideas  have  been  expressed.  There  will  be  some  errors  of  spelling,  punctuation   and  grammar  which  will  be  noticeable  and  intrusive.  Writing  may  also  lack  legibility.           Level  2  (10-­15  marks)         Candidates  offer  a  mainly  descriptive,  basic  account  of  how  their  production  can  be   understood  in  the  basic  theoretical  context  of  audience.  A  narrow  range  of  examples  are   described,  of  which  some  are  relevant.  The  answer  makes  basic  use  of  relevant  conceptual   terms.             Some  simple  ideas  have  been  expressed  in  an  appropriate  context.  There  are  likely  to  be   some    errors  of  spelling,  punctuation  and  grammar  of  which  some  may  be  noticeable  and   intrusive.           Level  3  (16-­20  marks)         Candidates  demonstrate  the  ability  to  relate  their  own  creative  outcomes  to  some  ideas   about  audience  drawn  from  relevant  media  theory.  Some  relevant  and  convincing  examples   from  the  production  are  offered  and  these  are  handled  proficiently.  The  answer  makes   proficient  use  of  relevant  conceptual  language.             Relatively  straightforward  ideas  have  been  expressed  with  some  clarity  and  fluency.   Arguments  are  generally  relevant,  though  may  stray  from  the  point  of  the  question.  There   will  be  some  errors  of  spelling,  punctuation  and  grammar  but  these  are  unlikely  to  be   intrusive  or  obscure  meaning.           Level  4  (21-­25  marks)         Candidates  demonstrate  a  clear  understanding  of  audience  and  relevant  media  theory  and   can  relate  concepts  articulately  to  the  production  outcome,  describing  specific  elements  in   relation  to  theoretical  ideas  about  how  media  texts  are  produced  for  and  received  by   audiences  in  various  ways.  Candidates  offer  a  broad  range  of  specific,  relevant,  interesting   and  clear  examples  of  how  their  product  can  be  understood  in  relation  to  relevant  theories  of   audience  and  reception.       Complex  issues  have  been  expressed  clearly  and  fluently  using  a  style  of  writing  appropriate   to  the  complex  subject  matter.    Sentences  and  paragraphs,  consistently  relevant,  have  been   well  structured,  using  appropriate  technical  terminology.    There  may  be  few,  if  any,  errors  of   spelling,  punctuation  and  grammar.  
  • 3. I found examples of many film posters to complete textual analysis on and created a moodboard of conventions. I also asked a target audience for their preferences in this area which I think is essential in order to successfully attract your consumers. Conventions that I identified were bold, graphic fonts for both mastheads and straplines (such as a glowing effect) very glamorous photography with fashionable costume, hair, make up and body attitude, good quality photography, many smaller framed photographs and barcode and edition information. The language created focus on the on the film industry. Using these conventions I created my front cover. My photography was taken on SLR camera in order to make it look better quality, which was successful. I used a long shot of my main character looking glamorous and beautiful but scared. This fits the convention of the front cover using the theme of the main featured film. To follow this I created the masthead with a glowing font and superimposed it onto the character so that her head appeared to be placed on top of the text using cutting, cropping, copying tools and different layers. This made my cover seem professional I think. The glowing font was a deep shade of red to connote blood and danger and fit in with my horror genre. I used more impressive graphic fonts, such as ‘cracked’ fonts to stick to my horror genre theme. My barcode and date of edition were essential touches which I created through scanning in an existing magazine and copying it into my text. This is extremely conventional as all real media magazines include a barcode for the sales side of the industry. Overall, over my 2 year coursework I became more confident in identifying generic conventions of a product. My technology skills and knowledge of the media both developed and allowed me to create a more realistic and professional piece in my Advanced Portfolio. This is a high level 3 response. There is a real sense of progression and a chosen theme – genre conventions is sustained in detail, along with a wide range of examples of creative techniques that led to conventional outcomes. The answer doesn’t quite meet the criteria for level 4 because conventions are sometimes dealt with in a reductive way – eg a barcode, as opposed to being opened up to an analysis of their more symbolic qualities. 1(b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. The concept of audience is fundamental to the making of a media text. A producer must take into account the age, social status and gender and interests of a target consumer in order to adjust the text to make it as appealing to them as possible. For my A2 coursework I created a horror called ‘The sleepover’. Classification of age appropriateness is important in audience identification. Films are screened by an external board and given a minimum age of viewers. Most horror films are rated 18, due to extreme gore, violence, sex and disturbance – not to mention emotional trauma which is why I chose to rate my film as 18 as my film was a very conventional slasher film. The Hypodermic Needle effect is the first audience theory. It originated in the 1920s when mass media first began to be popular. This suggests that a producer has an intended meaning which is definitely understood by the audience. In this theory the audience are completely passive. If this was applied to my text the audience would
  • 4. view the killing scenes and sex scenes and instantly replicate the actions. This of course is unrealistic and this theory is often argued to be very simplistic and outdate, considering how much the media has developed this century. The uses and gratifications audience theory suggests than an audience consume particular texts in order to receive something from them. Bulmer and Katz identified four uses and gratifications as diversion (entertainment and escape from reality), surveillance (information), personal identity (seeing yourself reflected in the text and learning new values and personal relationships (seeking emotional interaction and substituting media relationships for your own). In my coursework, a consumer may use diversion - the horror trailer is escapist – a route away from reality and they would be entertained by the mystery and fear of my film. Diversion would also include catharsis that my trailer would enable, which is using the media as an outlet of emotion – they would experience horror in the safety of cinema. They would also experience the ‘personal identity’ stage in seeing themselves in, or, admiring, the good characters – particularly the ‘final girl’ character and her charming boyfriend, depending on gender of audience member. They would also have the personal relationships because they could feel emotion of the fear and sadness of the victims whilst substituting their emotional relationship with the friendships in my trailer or the main characters’ romantic relationship with her boyfriend. My audience would not use the surveillance stage as horror films are not intended to be instructional. The most modern and developed theory of audience is reception theory. This model based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model, suggests that a producer will encode a text and the audience will decode it. Their reading is affected by many contextual and personal factors such as age, social status, gender, current mood and personal experiences. I encoded my horror trailer as well as I could using beautiful, edgy, feminine characters which appeal to the female consumers. I used isolated settings which suggest to the audience that escape isn’t possible (deserted house, woods) thus highlighting the experience of fear and panic that one hopes for when watching a horror film. I used acoustic codes in the form of a deep male voice over and jumpy, low orchestral score to hope that my audience will feel tension and suspense. My killer was masked and always appeared silent and in the shadows, connoting evil and dehumanising him hopefully creating a response of fear from the audience. My main target audience were males and females aged 18-30. I used attractive actors to appeal to the audience who would admire / desire them. The ‘cool’ stylish clothing adds to this. I used the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing a victim’s cleavage and the ‘final girl’ theory (hopefully creating a stronger feminist image to other women) to attract both genders. I used audience research in the form of questionnaires to find out my audiences preferences and dislikes in order to make my trailer meet their interests as fully as possible. I also asked for audience feedback on my first drafts which allowed me to make improvements based on the opinions of 20 18-30 year olds. The told me to exaggerate gore and violence more and use more threatening music which I then incorporated using iMovie so that me audience was tempted to watch my piece. I aimed my piece at a low social status as my trailer was a version of British teenagers experiencing the American slasher experience. I used strong language, popular music for soundtrack and fashionable clothing to hopefully attract this group. This is a level 3 / level 4 borderline response
  • 5. Level 4 qualities –coherence, range of useful examples, ability to answer the question in sustained manner, relating of theory to practice. The understanding of Hall’s encoding / decoding model in relation to own work. The discussion of ‘effects’ early on is clear and relevant. Level 3 qualities – the application of audience theories (insufficiently developed for level 4 – eg the ‘use of’ Mulvey, in the same paragraph as the use of questionnaires for feedback).
  • 6. Reflecting  on  Past  Student  Work     Read  through  the  example  thinking  about  the  assessment  criteria     Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)       Use  of  examples  (10  marks)       Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).     •   Highlight  in  one  colour  every  time  a  technical/  media  term  is  used.   •   In  another  colour  highlight  where  they  have  used  an  example  from  their  work  to   illustrate  a  point   •   In  a  third  colour  highlight  where  they  explain  the  effect  or  reason,  make  an   evaluative/  judgement  style  statement  and/or  make  a  link  to  a  central  argument/   idea/  theme  that  runs  through  the  essay     Make  a  list  of  all  the  positive  features  of  the  essay:   Based  on  the  assessment  criteria  what  advice  would  you  give  this  student  about  how  to   improve  their  work?   What  aspects,  ideas,  points  could  you  used  from  this  essay  in  your  own?  
  • 7. at the advanced stage and they added to the quirky image of Lexi. I watched videos like The Pharcyde’s ‘Drop’ and Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ which were great inspirations as they used the reverse editing so differently. Furthermore, Lexi wore a Rolling Stones vest which integrated intertextuality which is a common convention in a lot of music. I also shot test footage and created mood boards of London as this was key in Lexi’s British image. Overall, both projects were influenced by conventions of existing media but to different extents. While the foundation portfolio focussed on rigid conventions, the advanced one was more towards using subtle ones to construct an image and brand. Technically, my knowledge has improved as I researched music more thoroughly and learnt a lot in doing so. This is a level 4 response. The answer clearly describes, and evaluates progression over the course (from following rigid conventions to using more subtle techniques) and combines a theoretical language (intertextuality, connotation) with specific details of creative choices made and how these were informed by conventions. A range of examples of both decisions made and existing media texts provide conviction and substance and the question is answered throughout the response. 1b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. The target audience of my music video for debut artist ‘Lexi Grace’ was a huge consideration as it was important to construct a music video that would entice and excite them. Lexi is an androgynous artist as she is feminine and can attract male audiences, yet has short hair and can wear biker boots to represent a ‘girl power’ image. David Gauntlett addresses ‘fluidity’ in media and Lexi is a prime example of this as she drifts between sexy red lipstick and girly dresses and yet directly addresses the camera, subverting traditional stereotypes of passive women which shows her diversity and appeal to many people. Her target audience is young people of both genders and her Britishness is a key factor. The video is set in London, with Lexi walking around different iconic scenes such as Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden. My aim was that by associating Lexi with iconic places, audiences would associate her as an icon as well. Also, by incorporating post-modern ides through intertextuality as Lexi wears a Rolling Stones vest, audiences would recognise this, gratifying their needs as they would associate Lexi with the band and legendary music in general. Furthermore, Lexi can be a role model to young people as she is a young person herself, at 19 years old and audiences can familiarise with her. Laura Mulvey’s idea on the action of ‘looking’ was an inspiration as Liexi is objectified in someways, for example through ECUs on her lips or pans across her legs as she walks, yet she directly addresses the camera and subverts this ‘passive’ role as she almost objectifies
  • 8. those looking at her. This ability to be diverse is key to Lexi’s audience appeal and again, her fluidity. Through camerawork, editing, mise en scene and sound I was able to create a brand image for Lexi to appeal to her audience. Editing was used to emphasise sounds, for example, jump cuts on lyrics like “things that are inside” to emphasise the importance of them. The message of the song was important as Lexi needed to attract viewers to watch repeatedly. The majority of shots were very short and Lexi wore many outfits and appeared in different locations ranging from central London to North London. During the audience screening I noticed people talking about places they recognised and Lexi’s clothes, so this was a positive point as it provided a ‘basis for social interaction’ which gratifies the needs of the audience. Moreover Lexi appeals to her audience because she is unlike any other artist. Singers like Pink and Robyn have similar styles but seem very edgy and artists like Pixie Lott are extremely feminine and overtly sexualised. Lexi has the right balance, which is why she can appeal to both males and females. She can embody Winship’s theory of girl power, but also appeal to males through subtle sexuality through costume and styling (using dresses and high heels). She is the ultimate icon of post modernism as she has feminine qualities but isn’t overtly sexualised and subverts stereotypical roles. This is a level 3 response. The question is answered directly and theories of audience / reception are coherently and intelligently applied to one chosen text. There are flaws - Winship’s theories do not relate to ‘girl power’ in this simplistic sense and at times ‘audience theory’ is reduced to ‘appealing to the audience’ and these shortcomings prevent the script from accessing the level 4 mark range.
  • 9. Reflecting  on  Past  Student  Work     Read  through  the  example  thinking  about  the  assessment  criteria     Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)       Use  of  examples  (10  marks)       Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).     •   Highlight  in  one  colour  every  time  a  technical/  media  term  is  used.   •   In  another  colour  highlight  where  they  have  used  an  example  from  their  work  to   illustrate  a  point   •   In  a  third  colour  highlight  where  they  explain  the  effect  or  reason,  make  an   evaluative/  judgement  style  statement  and/or  make  a  link  to  a  central  argument/   idea/  theme  that  runs  through  the  essay     Make  a  list  of  all  the  positive  features  of  the  essay:   Based  on  the  assessment  criteria  what  advice  would  you  give  this  student  about  how  to   improve  their  work?   What  aspects,  ideas,  points  could  you  used  from  this  essay  in  your  own?  
  • 10. 1b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. ‘Spinning Time’ was the teaser trailer I made in A2 media and is what I will eb analysing in terms of genre. ‘Spinning Time’ is a teen comedy about a teenage girl who has a watch that can control time. As such it is aimed at teenage girls who can relate and identify with the protagonist. Subsequently my target audience is girls aged between eleven and nineteen. I catered for this audience, firstly by presenting a relatable protagonist in Myles Brown. She is a student dedicated to her work, though also a bit lazy as depicted by her hesitance to get out of bed the trailers beginning. The film was intended to be a Disney family film and as such ‘Funmi Buriamoh’ the actress playing Myles Brown is the new up and coming teen start like Selena Gomez in ‘Ramona and Beezus’. As such the casting of Buriamoh would be an aspect to draw in the target audience. My target audience are predominantly fans of popular music – energetic, exciting, like stuff from the top 40. Chick flicks which are the sub genre of films that cater to my audience feature this kind of music throughout teaser trailers and the film. As such I complied with the conventions of Chick Flicks by incorporating this kind of music to entice my target audience. I was in no way trying to create moral panic with my film. It’s Disney-esque vide was highly considered during its creating, empowering it to be the kind of film the family can see together. I think that there are many uses and gratifications to ‘Spinning Time’. The positive portrayal of an Afro-Caribbean teen is not something that is often seen in big- budgeted Hollywood films/ As such it breaks stereotypes and challenges conventions, and subsequently some preconceptions regarding the demographic. Additionally it provides the target audience with a new role model to look up to and possibly use as reinforcement for their personal values and beliefs – as Myles is quite a positive character. The preferred reading of ‘Spinning Time’ is that audiences will wish they were in Myles position; having a watch that could control time as it would make life more exciting, easy and generally more fun. Having the instant opportunity to rewind time and do things over again (like a test for example) would eliminate the universal fear of making mistakes. I think eroding that fear would generally make people happier and less self conscious. However, an oppositional reading to the film could be that Myles is too lazy and selfish to be using such an amazing gift for lazy personal gain reasons – like catching a bus. The audience may expect Myles to do something much more meaningful like prevent deaths or wars. In conclusion I provided for my target audience in a number of ways (including music, casting, mise en scene to give the happy Disney-esque vibe and plot) duting the creation of ‘Spinning Time’. The piece is for entertainment as opposed to creating
  • 11. moral panic, and hopefully offers audience members the opportunity for self discovery and social integration through discussing what they’d do if they had a time controlling watch. This is a level 3 response. Some elements are proficient and some are competent. Proficient – the ability to select one piece of work and to relate it to theories of audience / effects such as moral panics and preferred readings (though these are not attributed to Cohen or Hall / Morley). Competent – the examples are clear and the theoretical analysis is straightforward – in this sense the understanding of audiences’ reading the text is insufficient for the higher mark level.
  • 12. Reflecting  on  Past  Student  Work     Read  through  the  example  thinking  about  the  assessment  criteria     Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)       Use  of  examples  (10  marks)       Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).     •   Highlight  in  one  colour  every  time  a  technical/  media  term  is  used.   •   In  another  colour  highlight  where  they  have  used  an  example  from  their  work  to   illustrate  a  point   •   In  a  third  colour  highlight  where  they  explain  the  effect  or  reason,  make  an   evaluative/  judgement  style  statement  and/or  make  a  link  to  a  central  argument/   idea/  theme  that  runs  through  the  essay     Make  a  list  of  all  the  positive  features  of  the  essay:   Based  on  the  assessment  criteria  what  advice  would  you  give  this  student  about  how  to   improve  their  work?   What  aspects,  ideas,  points  could  you  used  from  this  essay  in  your  own?  
  • 13. I found examples of many film posters to complete textual analysis on and created a moodboard of conventions. I also asked a target audience for their preferences in this area which I think is essential in order to successfully attract your consumers. Conventions that I identified were bold, graphic fonts for both mastheads and straplines (such as a glowing effect) very glamorous photography with fashionable costume, hair, make up and body attitude, good quality photography, many smaller framed photographs and barcode and edition information. The language created focus on the on the film industry. Using these conventions I created my front cover. My photography was taken on SLR camera in order to make it look better quality, which was successful. I used a long shot of my main character looking glamorous and beautiful but scared. This fits the convention of the front cover using the theme of the main featured film. To follow this I created the masthead with a glowing font and superimposed it onto the character so that her head appeared to be placed on top of the text using cutting, cropping, copying tools and different layers. This made my cover seem professional I think. The glowing font was a deep shade of red to connote blood and danger and fit in with my horror genre. I used more impressive graphic fonts, such as ‘cracked’ fonts to stick to my horror genre theme. My barcode and date of edition were essential touches which I created through scanning in an existing magazine and copying it into my text. This is extremely conventional as all real media magazines include a barcode for the sales side of the industry. Overall, over my 2 year coursework I became more confident in identifying generic conventions of a product. My technology skills and knowledge of the media both developed and allowed me to create a more realistic and professional piece in my Advanced Portfolio. This is a high level 3 response. There is a real sense of progression and a chosen theme – genre conventions is sustained in detail, along with a wide range of examples of creative techniques that led to conventional outcomes. The answer doesn’t quite meet the criteria for level 4 because conventions are sometimes dealt with in a reductive way – eg a barcode, as opposed to being opened up to an analysis of their more symbolic qualities. 1(b) Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to the concept of audience. The concept of audience is fundamental to the making of a media text. A producer must take into account the age, social status and gender and interests of a target consumer in order to adjust the text to make it as appealing to them as possible. For my A2 coursework I created a horror called ‘The sleepover’. Classification of age appropriateness is important in audience identification. Films are screened by an external board and given a minimum age of viewers. Most horror films are rated 18, due to extreme gore, violence, sex and disturbance – not to mention emotional trauma which is why I chose to rate my film as 18 as my film was a very conventional slasher film. The Hypodermic Needle effect is the first audience theory. It originated in the 1920s when mass media first began to be popular. This suggests that a producer has an intended meaning which is definitely understood by the audience. In this theory the audience are completely passive. If this was applied to my text the audience would
  • 14. view the killing scenes and sex scenes and instantly replicate the actions. This of course is unrealistic and this theory is often argued to be very simplistic and outdate, considering how much the media has developed this century. The uses and gratifications audience theory suggests than an audience consume particular texts in order to receive something from them. Bulmer and Katz identified four uses and gratifications as diversion (entertainment and escape from reality), surveillance (information), personal identity (seeing yourself reflected in the text and learning new values and personal relationships (seeking emotional interaction and substituting media relationships for your own). In my coursework, a consumer may use diversion - the horror trailer is escapist – a route away from reality and they would be entertained by the mystery and fear of my film. Diversion would also include catharsis that my trailer would enable, which is using the media as an outlet of emotion – they would experience horror in the safety of cinema. They would also experience the ‘personal identity’ stage in seeing themselves in, or, admiring, the good characters – particularly the ‘final girl’ character and her charming boyfriend, depending on gender of audience member. They would also have the personal relationships because they could feel emotion of the fear and sadness of the victims whilst substituting their emotional relationship with the friendships in my trailer or the main characters’ romantic relationship with her boyfriend. My audience would not use the surveillance stage as horror films are not intended to be instructional. The most modern and developed theory of audience is reception theory. This model based on Stuart Hall’s encoding model, suggests that a producer will encode a text and the audience will decode it. Their reading is affected by many contextual and personal factors such as age, social status, gender, current mood and personal experiences. I encoded my horror trailer as well as I could using beautiful, edgy, feminine characters which appeal to the female consumers. I used isolated settings which suggest to the audience that escape isn’t possible (deserted house, woods) thus highlighting the experience of fear and panic that one hopes for when watching a horror film. I used acoustic codes in the form of a deep male voice over and jumpy, low orchestral score to hope that my audience will feel tension and suspense. My killer was masked and always appeared silent and in the shadows, connoting evil and dehumanising him hopefully creating a response of fear from the audience. My main target audience were males and females aged 18-30. I used attractive actors to appeal to the audience who would admire / desire them. The ‘cool’ stylish clothing adds to this. I used the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing a victim’s cleavage and the ‘final girl’ theory (hopefully creating a stronger feminist image to other women) to attract both genders. I used audience research in the form of questionnaires to find out my audiences preferences and dislikes in order to make my trailer meet their interests as fully as possible. I also asked for audience feedback on my first drafts which allowed me to make improvements based on the opinions of 20 18-30 year olds. The told me to exaggerate gore and violence more and use more threatening music which I then incorporated using iMovie so that me audience was tempted to watch my piece. I aimed my piece at a low social status as my trailer was a version of British teenagers experiencing the American slasher experience. I used strong language, popular music for soundtrack and fashionable clothing to hopefully attract this group. This is a level 3 / level 4 borderline response
  • 15. Level 4 qualities –coherence, range of useful examples, ability to answer the question in sustained manner, relating of theory to practice. The understanding of Hall’s encoding / decoding model in relation to own work. The discussion of ‘effects’ early on is clear and relevant. Level 3 qualities – the application of audience theories (insufficiently developed for level 4 – eg the ‘use of’ Mulvey, in the same paragraph as the use of questionnaires for feedback).
  • 16. Reflecting  on  Past  Student  Work     Read  through  the  example  thinking  about  the  assessment  criteria     Explanation/analysis/argument  (10  marks)       Use  of  examples  (10  marks)       Use  of  terminology  (5  marks).     •   Highlight  in  one  colour  every  time  a  technical/  media  term  is  used.   •   In  another  colour  highlight  where  they  have  used  an  example  from  their  work  to   illustrate  a  point   •   In  a  third  colour  highlight  where  they  explain  the  effect  or  reason,  make  an   evaluative/  judgement  style  statement  and/or  make  a  link  to  a  central  argument/   idea/  theme  that  runs  through  the  essay     Make  a  list  of  all  the  positive  features  of  the  essay:   Based  on  the  assessment  criteria  what  advice  would  you  give  this  student  about  how  to   improve  their  work?   What  aspects,  ideas,  points  could  you  used  from  this  essay  in  your  own?  
  • 17.   Section  1B  Essay  Plan  for____________________________________________________________________________________________   Central  Argument  (Define  the  concept,  why  is  this  thing  important,  what  impact  did  it  have,  what  theorists  could  you  talk   about/quote)                                                                                                                             First  Example  of  how  you  used   this  idea  and  effect  it  had   (audience  feedback??????)                         Second  example  of  how  you   used  this  idea  and  effect  it  had   (audience  feedback??????)                         Third  example  of  how  you  used   this  idea  and  effect  it  had   (audience  feedback??????)                         Four  example  of  how  you   challenged  this  idea  (audience   feedback??????)