Audience theory holds that understanding the target audience of a media text is important. It suggests that the audience should be understood as specific people who can relate to and engage with the media. Understanding the target audience allows the creator to know what topics and information to include to appeal to and solve problems for that audience, making the media more effective. A film trailer can target a specific intended audience through the use of technical elements like characters, scenes, music and language.

1. AUDIENCE
THEORY
HAARIS HUSSAIN PRESENTS:

2. WHAT IS
AUDIENCE
THEORY?

3. WHAT IS AUDIENCE THEORY?
AUDIENCE THEORY IS AN ELEMENT OF
THINKING THAT HOLDS IMPORTANCE TO
THE AUDIENCE.
CERTAIN THEORISTS SUGGESTED THAT
THERE ARE SPECIFIC WAYS THE AUDIENCE
FOR A MEDIA
PRODUCT NEED TO BE UNDERSTOOD.

4. TEXTWHY IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE FOR A MEDIA TEXT
IMPORTANT?
▸ The target audience for any media text are extremely important.
▸ This is because of the fact that your target audience is made up
of people that can understand and engage with what you’re
saying. They’re people who come to you for a reason and will
keep coming back to you, and bring new people to see what you
have to offer too.
▸ If someone can relate in any way to what you’re making, then
chances are they’re in your target audience.

5. WHY DO WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND OUR
TARGET AUDIENCE?
▸ You can solve their problems
▸ You can decide what categories you’re going to talk about and
what information you’re going to include. You can create and
make a list of resources to give to them. You can do everything
possible to thoroughly solve their problem.
▸ It’s the key to effectiveness
Unfortunately, it’s not enough to just know your audience. Digital
marketing today is about building strong, loyal, lasting relationships
with people. Which is why it’s so useful to have an understanding of
them.
You can understand them as real people, get to know them, find out
what they like and where they go when they’re online. And that, dear
readers, is the key to effectiveness.
Everything can be planned around them. From what time you send
them an e-newsletter, to when you publish a blog post, to when you
interact with them on social media.

6. How can a film trailer
target a specific audience
through it’s use of
technical and audio
codes?
A film trailer can easily target a specific
audience due to the types of material that
the trailer contains. For example, if you were
to see cartoon characters in a trailer along
with child friendly fight scenes and songs
along with no swearing at all, then the trailer
would be directed at children.
If you were to see a movie trailer with live
action and guns along with parkour and
stunts with a serious story leading to
dangerous problems and violence with a
few swears here and there then it is pretty
obvious that the movie is meant for teens
and up.

7. WAYS I THINK THE AUDIENCE MIGHT RESPOND TO MY FILM
OPENING
▸I personally think that the audience will feel a sense of
uncertainty and discomfort after watching such a strange
and unsettling opening, they may also feel confused as to
what happened and if they do end up feeling this way then I
can proudly say that I have achieved my goal.

8. TEXTUSES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY
▸ Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to
understanding mass communication. The theory places more
focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual
message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than
“what media does to people” (Katz, 1959) . It assumes that
members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in
interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory
also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to
meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the
media to fulfil specific gratifications. This theory would then imply
that the media compete against other information sources for
viewers' gratification. (Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M.
1974)