Entry 4 – Improvement Plan 18/10/2011

I need to improve upon how I have applied Audience Classification Theory in my written reports. Although I feel confident in my knowledge of how Media Producers Define and Target an Audience, I haven’t applied this knowledge effectively. I intend to rewrite both my reports for Unit 6 and show that I have a thorough understanding of Audience Classification and Audience Reception of Media. I will reference appropriate examples such as the Hypodermic Needle and Uses and Gratification Models to explain how audiences are interpreted by large media producers, and then subsequently how these models help them to target audiences. Clearly more applied knowledge is needed in my written work for my grades to improve, hopefully I will be able to achieve this.

Entry 3 – Understanding the effects of Media on Audiences 11/10/2011

I have learned the 3 main debates concerning the effects of Media on Audiences:

1)      The effects of exposure to explicit sexual or violent content

2)      The effects of advertising

3)      Censorship

These are the predicted results of Media on Audiences:

Direct: Audiences may demonstrate more aggressive behaviour themselves, or they may have more approving attitudes towards the use of violence to resolve conflicts.

Desensitization: The audience becomes so used to explicit material they no longer find it offensive or obscene. They reaction is lessened and this is the reason why movies have gone to greater extremes to provoke a reaction from an audience with films like the Human Centipede and Saw.

Mean World Syndrome: Watching large amounts of violence on TV may lead audiences to belive that the real world contains this amount of pain and violence.

The effects of media are more often assumed to be negative than positive. People who use these theories ignore outside elements such as cultural background, education and upbringing. They rely on the hypodermic Needle Model to argue their debate and ignore the uses and gratifications model. Despite the high number of theories, the relationship between violent media influencing our actions has never been proven completely, media can even have a cathartic effect on audiences.

Entry 2 – Audience Theory 4/10/2011

We have looked at Audience Theories on

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/documents/short/usegrat.html

I have documented the difference between passive and active consumers and how they are defined through the following theories:

Hypodermic Needle

Uses and Gratification

Reception Theory

Entry 1 – The Relationship Between Media Producers and their Audience 13/09/2011

In the first media studies lesson, I learned how media producers target their audiences through the use of “audience classification” and how this process is implemented to tailor media products towards their target audience. I also learned how the audience themselves react to the media that is presented to them.

We studied some media producers and discussed possible reasons why they would use Audience Classification when producing their media. Below are a few examples:

BBC – To create programming blocks based around the work schedule of the different social classes. For example 3:30-6:00 onward, would be children’s programming to coincide with the end of school. 6:00 onward would be for people returning home from work.

Newspapers – The stories presented in many different newspapers are tailored to the social group that reads them. For example, the Daily Mail, which is more right-wing, will put a more negative spin on it’s stories to pander to the conservative portion of the country, whereas a tabloid like the Sun might have a more liberal approach and include petty journalism in order to appeal to the lower classes.

Radio – This works much the same way as TV because the type of Music and advertisements that play throughout the day, are built around the work schedules of the different social classes.

We looked at several adverts and highlighted how Audience Classification has been used to aim each advert at a certain audience demographic. How people are presented in the adverts, and the type of language used subtly influence the audience and affect their choices when it comes to purchasing products seen within each one.

M & S advert – Uses a lengthy description on how to prepare your own ravioli using home, then offers the alternative choice of buying the food from M & S. From this we can tell that M & S food is of a high quality, yet might as we have just seen how it is prepared, and the fact that it looks like a lengthy process indicates that this advert is aimed at an audience of working class people in the “B” socio-economic group. Working class people who earn good money, (teachers, bankers, etc.) would be able to afford something like this, yet would not have time to prepare it due to their busy work lives.

Sainsbury’s Jamie Oliver – This advert strongly  supports the view of a healthy diet and lifestyle as we see Jamie Oliver walking in a field as he explains about Sainsbury’s food. By using Jamie Oliver, an already strong supporter of healthy eating and a down to earth family man, the audience can gather that Sainsbury’s provides good healthy food to feed families and this will appeal to health conscious parents who need to prepare quick meals for their children.

Iceland Mums Advert – Lots of women are happily shopping around as we see row upon row of 1 pound priced food. By using mainly women and some children as well as the inclusion of the one pound offers suggest that this advert has been aimed at people lower down in the socio-economic grouping, mainly single mothers or unemployed parents who can make full use of the 1 pound only special offer.

Learning Outcome: I’ve learned how important audience classification is when it comes to not only advertisements but everything media based.