The uses and gratification theory holds that people actively seek out media to satisfy specific needs like entertainment, education, social interaction, and identity formation. Some key points: - People use media for entertainment purposes like enjoyment and escapism from daily stresses. - Media can also be used to gather information and expand one's knowledge on various topics, especially through online sources like YouTube educational videos. - Finding identity and social interaction are other motivations, like identifying with media personalities or having topics of conversation. - Music is particularly useful for both identity and socializing.

1. Audience uses and Gratification
Theory
This theory contradicts the id
that media has an unconsciou
effect on our lives.

2. What is the uses and Gratification
Theory?
• Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to
understanding why and how people actively seek out
specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an
audience-centred approach to understanding mass
communication.
• Why do people use media and what do they use them
for? UGT discusses how users deliberately choose
media that will satisfy given needs and allow one to
enhance knowledge, relaxation, social
interactions/companionship, diversion, or escape.

3. The Basics:
• There are four main reasons that people use media:
• To entertain; it can be seen as an escapism from everything
else, the stresses of daily life. To give the audience enjoyment.
• To inform/ educate; being able to expand on knowledge and
information from the media that is watched.
• Identify‘; Being able to identify the people or reason in front
of you, typically ones who have similar aspirations to yourself.
• To socialise; its is a topic of conversation to socially interact
with other people.

4. Examples of this Online:
• You tube can be used to entertain, listening to music and
watching videos at the click of a mouse, millions of people use
it every day/ YouTube can also be used to educate, many
video’s are unloaded which are helpful with everything,
manual tasks as well as school studies.
• Facebook and social media allows people to interact socially
online, it can also be very entertaining and can drag us away
from the stress of everyday life.

5. Watching for Entertainment
• Audiences who watch the media daily are most likely doing it
for entertainment purposes, it allows a person to have an
escapism from reality as well as fill up spare time that they
have. Social problems are often addressed in films or soap
operas, most films or TV shows typically have a moral to the
story, or it explicitly flouts the ‘right’ message.
• Watching media for entertainment is usually just for general
enjoyment, the audience doesn't’t hope to gain anything
useful from the media.
• People can watch something for enjoyment and end up
finding out useful information, which is goes slightly into the
‘education’ section, but it is this purpose if the intention is not
to learn something.

6. Watching to Inform or Educate
• The audience may watch to broaden their knowledge on a topic, this
is less likely to be a film and more likely to be a documentary or
other educational source.
• The internet is now a huge factor in this section. Websites, social
networking, you tube and many other online services are very
educational and people do this to learn new things or expand on
what they already know.
• Social networking now includes many forums and other sources
which can be very informative, more often than not, this encourages
the audience to gather or seek information if they see something
which catches their attention.
• Things like You tube video’s are now often used to learn to do
something for visual stimulation, this is used more commonly
through the younger generations. There are also a lot of education
videos for students who are studying at school, for students who are
revising or need extra clarification on a subject or even just need to
find new ways to learn.

7. Personal Identity
• Watching for identity usually happens when people don’t have a
sense of who they are; when watching the media, if they are feeling
isolated and lonely, people can mimic the actions, manner and
sometimes speech to try and become more socially interactive
when finding who they are.
• Being able to identify can increase self-esteem levels, the individual
being able to find a way to fit in and be more themselves.
• Especially with the social networking today people tend to find they
feel like part of a community and that they’re supported and being
encouraged regularly.
• This can also happen through music, people listen to music for an
escapism; however, it is also used as a vice for people to have a
sense of who they are.

8. Watching for social interaction
• People watch the media, especially soap operas and seasonal
shows to take something to talk about. ‘Did you watch Easterners’
or ‘Did you watch the X factor on Saturday?’ give people something
to talk about.
• This links to both entertainment and personal identity. Being able to
talk to people, even people something you don’t know, give some
people a sense of belonging. Others watch it for a form of
companionship if they live in solitude. This also helps making
people more relatable, they are able to make ‘small talk’ until other
sources of topic arise.
• Music is a huge aspect in social interaction, different genre music
and mainstream chart toppers are usually a good starter for
conversations and therefore music allows people to connect with
others, whether that’s in person, or online.

9. How will I incorporate this into my
opening?
• Watching for entertainment: This is going to be the main focus for
the opening scene, to set up the narrative for the story to then
develop further.
• The voice-over monologue should be comedic to entertain the
audience which should accompany what’s happening on scene.
• The music which will be playing in the background of the the
opening two minutes will be recent and upbeat, so that it Is well
known to the audience and therefore memorable. This will
therefore contribute to watching for social interactions as people
tend to use music to further their social skills.
• Based on the whole film, it could be suggested that it has aspects
of educational information, as it will comment on the amount of
underage pregnancies and how this has increased.