LO2 Task 3 - Audiences

Introduction

Hello it’s me Brad, I've returned for another episode sponsored by Education Wise. You are now about to learn about Task 3, specifying in the audience side of the production of films. You are going to learn that before the film is produced it is thought through to appeal to their target audience.

John Hartley (1987) and Ien Ang (1991) Theory

John Hartley and Ien Ang suggested that producers create invisible fiction or imaginary entities before creating a media product, this allows the producers to visualise their specific target audience, this helps because they know what to include in their film to appeal to their target audience and entice them to watch the film.

Imaginary Entity

Jake is 15, he is very interested in films and gaming, but also likes indulging in reading. He can always be found in the cinema.

He is a movie buff and will snort derisively to the 'Film Noobs', he won’t even acknowledge them, and he will never talk to them again. He is currently studying for his GCSE's but finds that it is a better use of his time to expand his ever growing knowledge of the film world. All he talks about are films, his friends are starting to hate him, and he’s so oblivious. His mother is starting to get worried.

He is a very individual person and likes to stand out; he thrives in being the one that everyone turns to in their time of need. He is a walking, talking, breathing entity of film, I wouldn't be surprised if he one day he spontaneously combusted and all that was left was an SD card containing the files that depicted his life. In his spare time he enjoys going to theme parks and out with his friends. He also has an unhealthy obsession with Disney.

Jake is interested in sports such as swimming and martial arts, he says that they are practical and releases the stress from revising for his exams. He also enjoys his family holidays where they venture around the world and visit exotic locations.

Gender

00:42:13 - This is the part in the film, the enigma, this denotes the protagonist escaping the sinking ship, this scene connotes action and fast pace, which would appeal to the target audience being teenagers and young teenagers especially the main gender being male. This narrative stage connoting the disequilibrium/enigma, proposed by Todorov (1997) this also links to the men being dominant amongst the chaos and the females are not present in the chaos. This also links to John Berger's theory; "Men act, women appear" in this scene the male protagonist is acting amongst the chaos while women just appear in the scene. This would influence the audience, as an enigma is denoted, this may influence the audience to tackle any problems they may face in their day to day lives, inspired by the protagonist and how he tackles issues.

00:55:00 - This is the part in the film that denotes the tiger for the first time, this would appeal to the target audience because it connotes that the tiger is viscous and dangerous, appealing to the thrill seeking aspect of the audience. Also essentially a new important character has been introduced adding to the story to grasp a better understanding. This would appeal to the male audience. This introduces a binary opposition, proposed by Claude Levis Strauss (1958) in this specific case the opposition is human and animals, this denotes the tiger obviously holding more power in this circumstances and presents an imminent threat also linking to Todorov Narrative structures, this being the equilibrium. This would influence the audience to become more enthralled in the film, as the target audience would be interested in things such as violent video games and violent television shows, they would become desensitised to the violence and this would entertain them. This could influence the audience’s hobbies and interests, influence their lifestyle.

01:32:46 - This denotes the first time in the film when the protagonist really connects with the tiger, this heart throbbing scene would appeal to the female audience, as seen as the split between male and female is roughly equal, it has been presented to entertain the female audience. This links to Todorov's theory of narrative structures, this scene being the disequilibrium is balanced and the enigma has been solved, it connotes the threat and danger that the tiger imposed onto the protagonist has been withheld. This would influence the audience to connect with any issues or people they are too afraid to; because the audience are mainly urban ventures they would deal with such things as relationship problems and family problems. This would influence the audience to be honest about their feelings and face any issues.

Towards the start of the film, the protagonist is denoted speaking to his crush; this would appeal to the male audience because they can empathise and really connect with this issue. This may even influence the male side of the audience to do the same thing, be more courageous and admit their feelings, this could also inspire them to be more honest about their feelings in general and be a more open person.

00:08:29 - This scene denotes a class room scene full of young children which would instantly appeal to the younger audience, specifically boys because the children are all boys, also there was an embarrassing event where the protagonist is shown up, this is something that we can all relate to and would appeal to. This could connote Carl Rodgers theory. "Ideal Self" since the protagonist is so relatable, this could connote that audience sees him as an idol and wants to be him. This scene also relates to age as well, as seen as the protagonist is presented at all different ages and developments of his life, presenting the theory of Carl Rodgers being the "Ideal Self" theory, as the audience would look up to the protagonist as a role model and learn from the decisions he has made throughout his life. This also could influence to deal with their problems more directly and learn from their mistakes more efficiently.

Age

00:37:22 - This scene denotes the protagonist walking out into the storm, this connotes danger and chaos, also this could connote the disequilibrium introduced by Todorov in terms of narrative structures. This would appeal to the younger audience, the teenage audience, as the chaos and action would appeal to the younger audience rather than the older. Because the younger audience (urban ventures are more likely to be entertained by violence, this could influence them to further their interests in violent video games and television shows.

00:02:03 - This scene denotes a variety of animals presented in a zoo, the wide range of animals would appeal to the younger audience, the beautiful views, bright colours and array of animals. This could connote peace and a nice engaging story, which links to Todorov's theory being narrative structure, this stage being the equilibrium; the problem has not presented itself yet. This could influence the audience to further their interests in narrative driven and compelling films.

00:28:53 - This scene denotes the male protagonist talking to his crush being female, this could connote that he likes her and love and peace. This could appeal to the teenagers because especially the girls are interested in a love story, it would entice them to watch it. This could relate to This could also relate to Claude Levis Strauss's theory being binary opposition, the opposition is gender, but in this case the roles are juxtaposed and the female has the power because she has something the male wants. As seen as the protagonist is talking to his crush, this would appeal to the urban ventures because they can empathise with the situation. This may influence the audience to be more honest about their feelings and confront any issues regarding crushes, because this is a frequent problem teenagers have. This would also relate to Laura Mulvey's theory of "The Male Gaze" because even though the women aren't dressed provocatively, this is because of the culture; they wouldn't allow women to be seen in such way. 

00:31:50 - This scene denotes the protagonist getting ready to set off on a journey and partake in a big change, this could connote confusion and mixed emotions. This would relate to the younger audience as they go through a lot of change throughout their lives, and will make this scene relatable towards them. This could relate to Carl Rodgers theory; "Ideal self" in the idea that, the audience will look up to the protagonist and really connect with him, as they respect him and understand what he is going through. This could influence the audience to be more courageous when it comes to partaking in their own journeys and changes, relevant to teenagers, these changes would be career ideas and choosing schools.

00:55:43 - This scene denotes the first time the audience see's the tiger, respectively a very important addition to the story because the tiger symbolises the protagonist, but the aspect that would appeal to the younger audience is the threat and violence that is connoted by the tiger. This would be the disequilibrium in the narrative structure put forward by Claude Levis Strauss, because of the threat and chaos connoted by the tiger. This connoting the protagonist facing his fears, could also influence the audience to do the same, as the audience is urban ventures it would allow them to tackle the issues in their lives such as relationships and career ambitions.

Lifestyle

NRS Stands for the 'National Readership Survey' is a separate organisation specialising in demographic information. It uses headings to evaluate the lifestyle of the demographics. I have decided that my target audience for my film in terms of the NRS are; settled suburban's, nest builders and urban ventures.

The film is for urban ventures, because of the violence and adult themes, it’s too grown up for a child so its perfect for a teenager. It is classed as settled suburban's and nest builders because at this age their parents buy things for their child, so in this case the parents would be buying the film for their family to watch. The lifestyle would be classed as urban ventures because; the protagonist is a teenager for the most part of the film, this would appeal to the audience because they can relate to the protagonist. As we see the protagonist at every stage of his life, from young to old, the audience is able to connect with him and see him as an "Ideal Self" and are influenced by the choices he makes and how the audience can learn from them.

As seen as this film is aimed at a mass or international audience, the film is mainstream and therefore would be very popular and would have a lot of hype associated with it, this would create spectacle. This would influence what the audience would socialise about and possibly even stimulate a conversation, because the audience are presented watching mainstream films they can be viewed as sociable people.

With all the technology present in the film appeals to the "Digital Natives" which links to the target audience being urban ventures. The film contains a lot of CGI to make the tiger appear, this creates verisimilitude. This also links to the audience watching the film to escape their everyday lives and indulge themselves in a fictional narrative. This theory was introduced by Dennis McQuail called the "Uses and gratifications" and in term of this example, its specifically called Escapism. This would link to the genre of the film being fantasy, action and drama. This would imply that the audience of this film would also be interested in other media products associated with films including; Video games and TV shows, relating to "Escapism." Also relating to the lifestyle of their audience, it could imply that they travel a lot, as Life of Pi includes beautiful scenery, the audience could spend their disposable incomes on holidays and travelling. Because the urban venture audiences are "Digital Natives" and because of the CGI and technology used in the film it would relate to their hobby of gaming, this would allow the audience to sympathise with the film and influence them to further their interests.

In terms of Denis McQuail urban ventures could also be described as watching the film for building their personal identity, as you see the protagonist at every stage of his life and see him make mistakes and learn from them, it used to teach the audience about morality and how to overcome issues. This could be related to that at this age they are very impressionable and can be influenced by all different things, since we see the protagonist at all different ages, he can be seen as a role model. This links to Carl Rodgers theory of "Ideal Self".

As seen as the audience is urban ventures they would be interested and influenced by their sports, such sports as swimming and martial arts are presented in the film, this would influence the audience to take further interest in these sports and be able to empathise with the protagonist. The swimming is seen when the protagonist is diving in the ocean to escape the tiger and martial arts are shown as self defence.

Also as seen as the audience are urban ventures ABC1 audience they would be able to relate to housing, as in the film a nice dethatched house is presented, the audiences parents would have highly paid jobs and would be able to afford such housing.

Spending Power

In terms of the NRS social grade my audience can be classed as ABC1, with generally quite a lot of disposable income to spend on hobbies and interests. In this side of the spectrum, the families are generally middle to upper class. But since it is in fact the parents and not the teenagers that will have the highly paid jobs and therefore have the disposable income, that means that the urban venture audience for the film would come from an ABC1 family. Therefore settled suburban's being the adults would have highly paid jobs and would therefore have high disposable income, and urban ventures have little to non income as they are teenagers.  

The fact that the audience for this film is generally upper class with quite a lot of disposable income to spend on things other than bills and the necessities, could imply that they have the money to spend on merchandise to do with the film, as seen as the film is very popular and mainstream, there are a lot of products associated with the film. Some examples of merchandise associated with the film include; t-shirts and tiger toys. This would relate to the spending power of the audience as they have highly paid jobs they can afford these items, and they are likely to also have children which they would buy these products for. It would be the audiences parents that would be able to afford these items. Also the film could relate to their audiences interests, because their audience may be interested in and donate to wild life centres or zoos, this relates to the film because one of the protagonists of the film is a tiger.

Since the audience for this film has generally quite highly paid jobs, with high pay and a lot of responsibility, they could watch this film because of Denis McQuail's (1972) theory of "Uses and Gratifications." Since these people have high responsibility jobs, they will watch the film to take part in escapism, to escape their everyday lives and indulge in the fictional narrative and forget all their responsibility and enjoy the film. The film contains a lot CGI which could signify that the film would be more expensive as more effort and time has been put into it, the film has a higher budget than other non CGI films. The ABC1 parents would be able to afford this higher priced film and also have money left over for merchandise.

Life of Pi offers the gratification building personal relationships, as the audience is ABC1 which contains a lot of people of higher class and important roles within their jobs; they are going to come into contact with a lot of important people. But before they are to talk about business they need to create a relationship consisting of common interests, this could be to do with; news, magazines and gossip websites, but in this case it’s the film. This is used for talking points and is used to create spectacle, specifically in this film being a very adventurous and action packed film. Also as seen as the target audience is teenagers/urban ventures. Also in terms of Denis McQuail's theory, the film offers the gratification escapism, as it contains a lot of CGI, even though the film creates verisimilitude; the film is that dense and indulging that it would allow the audience to escape from their lives to indulge in the fictional narrative of Life of Pi.

In terms of what else the audience could buy influenced by their spending power, since they are an ABC1 audience they would have highly paid jobs and may enjoy relaxing by indulging in reading, this would link to the book Life of Pi which inspired the film. This related to the theory of escapism, proposed by Denis McQuail, it would enhance the connection with the characters and story as well as prolonging the experience for the audience. As well as being able to buy the book, because of their highly paid jobs they would be able to afford going on holidays, but the location would be influenced by the locations presented in the film because of the beautiful views and culture. It would be the parents that have the highly paid jobs and would therefore would be able to afford such luxuries. 

Because my audience is ABC1 they would be able to afford all the things associated with the film including; merchandise, posters, sound track and because they have a highly paid job and high income they would be able to afford the more expensive aspects, like a tour of the studio and a holiday to the destination of the film. This would link to the audience because they have highly paid jobs they can sympathise with the cast of the film, owning a zoo and therefore also having a high disposable income and high pay. Also the audience can relate to the housing of the cast, as the protagonist is seen as having a nice dethatched house, which relates to the ABC1 audience because they would be able to afford such housing. It would be the parents that are the ABC1 and would therefore be the ones buying the housing, not the teenagers. But the teenagers come from an ABC1 family and would therefore would be able to reek the benefits of this.

That is all for learning about audiences! Join me next time for distribution channels!