2. TYPES OF AUDIENCE
Audiences can be segmented into five different groups: Grassroot, Prestige,
Mainstream, Niche and Global.
Grassroot – Grassroot audiences spread a small meaningful message to a larger
audience.
Mainstream – Mainstream audiences don’t have a specific requirement in a movie,
these types of movies are meant to attract and appeal a large audience.
Niche- Niche audiences are much smaller than mainstream. However, niche audiences
have very specific film interests instead of general film interests.
Global – Conglomerates like Disney attract global audiences because it doesn’t
matter where the movie is located or released .
Prestige – Similar to niche audiences prestige audiences tend to watch movies only
by certain directors or reviewed by critics like Mark Kermode
3. PASSIVE
AUDIENCES
Passive audiences often are very easily
influenced by the media they watch. They
might believe that the media they are
watching has a very powerful meaning.
Passive audiences often find many
similarities between their personal
experiences and the producers. This type
of audiences are viewed as powerless
because it is unlikely, they will challenge
any media they have seen.
4. ACTIVE AUDIENCES
Active audiences are likely to
challenged the media presented by
the producer. This is because active
audiences feel the experiences
presented are inaccurate or difficult
to relate to. Active audiences decide
to interact with the information
shown rather than just accepting it.
5. HIERARCHY OF
NEEDS
T he hierarch y of needs theor y m ade by Abraham
Maslow ref ers to the f ive basic categories of needs:
Phys io log ic a l, Saf ety, Love, Esteem and Self -
Actualizat ion . T his theory suggests that people go
through f ive dif f erent stages of lif e. T hrough each
stage of lif e we have dif f erent things that m otivate us.
Maslow splits the f ive -stage m odel into two groups:
def icienc y needs and growth needs. T he bottom 4 tiers
ref er to the def icienc y and the top tier ref ers to growth.
Maslow believes that in order to reach the growth
needs the bottom f our def icienc y tiers need to be
f ulf illed.
6. USES AND
GRATIFICATION MODEL
T h e u s e s a n d g r a t i f i c a t i o n m o d e l r e f e r s t o t h e c h o i c e s a c t i v e a u d i e n c e s
m a k e a b o u t w h a t t h e y c o n s u m e i n t h e m e d i a t o f u l f i l l t h e i r n e e d s , w h i c h
s i m i l a r l i n k s t o M a s l o w ’ s t h e o r y . T h i s t h e o r y m e a n s t h e p o w e r l i e s w i t h
t h e a u d i e n c e a n d n o t t h e p r o d u c e r s . T h e t h e o r y t r i e s t o u n d e r s t a n d
s p e c i f i c m e d i a t h a t s a t i s f i e s t h e i r a u d i e n c e s n e e d s . I n 1 9 7 4 r e s e a r c h
w a s c o n d u c t e d b y b o t h B l u l m e r a n d K a t z w h i c h e x p a n d e d o n t h i s
t h e o r y ; h o w e v e r , t h e y c a t e g o r i z e d t h e u s e s a n d g r a t i f i c a t i o n m o d e l i n t o
f o u r g r a t i f i c a t i o n s .
T h e f o u r g r a t i f i c a t i o n s a r e :
• D i v e r s i o n – U s i n g m e d i a a s a n e s c a p e m e t h o d t o m a k e u p f o r t h e
l a c k o f s a t i s f a c t i o n i n t h e i r p e r s o n a l o r w o r k l i k e . P e o p l e m a y f e e l
d i v e r s i o n a l l o w s t h e m t o f o r g e t a b o u t t h e i r r o u t i n e s .
• P e r s o n a l R e l a t i o n s h i p s – M e d i a m i g h t d i s t r a c t p e o p l e f r o m t h e
l a c k o f s a t i s f a c t i o n i n t h e i r r e l a t i o n s h i p s .
• S u r v e i l l a n c e – P e o p l e u s e m e d i a t o g a i n a b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f
i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e w o r l d
• P e r s o n a l I d e n t i t y – P e o p l e f e e l u s i n g s o c i a l m e d i a t h e y c a n c r e a t e
a p e r f e c t p e r s o n a l i d e n t i t y .
7. HYPODERMIC MODEL
As audiences are passive this means there is a
greater chance of the audience being influenced
by the consumption of media. As the audience
are powerless to prevent the influence of media
texts, the hypodermic model could be causing a
negative effect on audiences because they are
easily persuaded. Media texts will have a
powerful message which the audience cannot
resist. An example of the hypodermic model is
the research in the 1920’s that apparently
children copy violent behavior when shown an
example.
8. RECEPTION THEORY
S t u a r t H a l l c o n d u c t e d r e s e a r c h t h a t e v a l u a t e d h o w a u d i e n c e s r e a c t a n d r e s p o n d t o
d i f f e r e n t t y p e s o f m e d i a . H a l l s u g g e s t t e x t s w e r e e n c o d e d b y t h e p r o d u c e r s o f t e x t s t o
s o c i a l a n d c u l t u r a l b a c k g r o u n d . H o w e v e r , o n c e t h e a u d i e n c e d e c o d e t h e t e x t , t h e n
t h e i r m a y b e a n o t h e r u n d e r l y i n g m e a n i n g . T h e r e c e p t i o n t h e o r y p o s i t i o n s t h e a u d i e n c e
a s a c t i v e . H a l l h a s t h r e e m a i n p e r s p e c t i v e s w h i c h p o s i t i o n s t h e a u d i e n c e b y t e x t s a n d
i t s s u b s e q u e n t r e s p o n s e .
P r e f e r r e d R e a d i n g s – T h i s i s w h e n t h e a u d i e n c e r e l a t e s c l o s e l y t o t h e t e x t s i n t e n d e d
b y t h e p r o d u c e r . T h i s m e a n s t h a t i f t h e v i e w e r h a s h a d a s o c i a l o r c u l t u r a l e x p e r i e n c e
l i k e t h e p r o d u c e r , t h e n i t i s u n l i k e l y t h e v i e w e r w i l l c h a l l e n g e i t .
N e g o t i a t e d R e a d i n g s – T h i s i s w h e n t h e v i e w e r m a y f e e l t h e y n e e d t o b e n e g o t i a t e d
b y t h e m s e l v e s t o a c c e p t t h e t e x t b y t h e p r o d u c e r . V i e w e r s w i l l f e e l t h e y a g r e e w i t h
s o m e p a r t s o f t h e t e x t a n d d i s a g r e e w i t h o t h e r . T h i s o f t e n c h a l l e n g e s t h e v i e w e r t o
a d j u s t t h e i r v i e w p o i n t t o f u l l y u n d e r s t a n d t h e t e x t .
O p p o s i t i o n a l R e a d i n g s – T h i s i s w h e r e t h e v i e w e r f i n d s i t h a r d t o a g r e e w i t h t h e t e x t
d u e t o t h e i r p e r s o n a l e x p e r i e n c e s .
9. CULTIVATION
THEORY
I n t h e 1 9 6 0 ’ s G e o r g e G e r b n e r d e v e l o p e d a
t h e o r y t h a t a l s o p l a c e s t h e a u d i e n c e s a s
p a s s i v e . T h e t h e o r y s u g g e s t s t h a t c o n s i s t e n t
e x p o s u r e t o s p e c i f i c m e d i a w i l l r e s u l t i n t h e
v i e w e r b e l i e v i n g i n u n r e a l i s t i c e v e n t s . F o r
e x a m p l e i f s o m e o n e w a s t o w a t c h a l o t o f
c r i m e m o v i e s , t h e y m a y s t a r t t o b e l i e v e t h e r e
i s m o r e c r i m e t h e n t h e r e i s . A s t h e a u d i e n c e
a r e p a s s i v e , t h e y m i g h t a l s o c o p y v i o l e n t
b e h a v i o r o r d a n g e r o u s s t u n t s t h a t t h e y h a v e
s e e n . T h i s t h e o r y w o r k s o n t h e p e r c e p t i o n s
o f p e o p l e ’ s s e n s e o f r e a l i t y .
