TV Industry 3 case study analysis

Identify use of iconography, visual and technical codes in specific scenes of the three case studies.

In preparation for an audience positioning question on TV industry.

Starter: Use the white boards to allocate 'production roles' for each of the students on your table.

Sound, editing, lighting, framing. These will be rotated.

Happy Valley

First Dates

Always Sunny

In order to appeal to their audiences, television texts use conventions and construct representations using visual and technical codes.
Your responses to exam questions need to refer to specific extracts from the 3 texts.
This means you should be able to discuss the relevant iconography, visual and technical codes whether you are answering a Text question (genre, narrative, representation) or an Audience question.

Task 1:
You adopt a department role. One of the following:

• Sound
• Editing
• Lighting
• Framing
• Costume (include make-up, hair and jewellery)
• Props / Setting

Watch the clips of Happy Valley, First Dates, Always Sunny and indicate on white boards the approach taken by your 'department' to that specific clip.

Task 2: Note on the master sheet (middle of the table) the observations that people have made about their department.

Task 3:
You adopt a different department role. One of the following:

• Sound
• Editing
• Lighting
• Framing
• Costume (include make-up, hair and jewellery)
• Props / Setting

Watch the clips of Happy Valley, First Dates, Always Sunny and indicate on white boards the approach taken by your 'department' to that specific clip.

Assessment 8 TV Audience Responses.

Consider how texts are encoded to encourage a preferred reading and the ways audiences are positioned to accept this.

STARTER: Complete column 1 of the handout, (production companies, channel etc)

Explore the different ways audiences or users respond to texts.

One of the key words here is ‘explore’, this implies a detailed analysis. So include specific extracts from the case studies.

You need to demonstrate your understanding of the terminology used.

1. For example; what are the different types of audience?

2. Notice that the focus of this question is on audience responses, these would need to be defined too.

________________________________________________________

The mark scheme for this question says to look for the following:

Answers may begin within a discussion of the texts’ audiences - which is acceptable. 
Answers may include references to theory (acceptable) but theory should be linked to (studied) texts and to the ways audiences respond. Answers may make reference to some of the following points:

 Media texts are (generally) polysemic
 Responses may be dependent on social positioning, demographic and psychographic profiles
Actual responses – e.g. fan sites, critics’ reviews, audience/user forums, awards, news reports etc.
Links to preferred, dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings (Stuart Hall)

Response may be dependent on the reasons for “using” it – links to Uses and Gratifications theory.

Demographics and Psychographics 

____________________________________________________________

Task 1: 
Look at the specific extracts which are shown on the handout provided.
In the boxes, comment on each of the following:

• Polysemic? Does the scene have several different messages encoded?
• Social positioning of target audience, demographic and psychographic (NRS).
• Preferred, dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings (S. Hall).
• Audiences reasons for “using” it (Uses and Gratification theory.

_____________________________________________________________

Task 2: 

With consideration given to audiences for the three texts, comment on the issues which are shown on the handout provided.

In the boxes, comment on each of the following:

• Representations of Gender
• OfCom issues.
• Use of technical codes in specific scenes.
• How did the show affect you personally?
  Change of Opinion/Learned New Information/Left a Strong Impression/Affected You Deeply

Exams - Essay Structure and Approach to exam questions

Starter - Whiteboards, 

List visual codes which have been used to construct one character from each of the three TV case studies.

Understanding the question.

It is important that before you start answering the question in the exam, that you consider what the question is actually asking you.

The key to this is to unpick the question, look for key words that will allow you to establish a focus for your response.

Example question: How stereotypical are the representations in you chosen texts?

By the use of the word ‘how’ you are being asked to make a judgement and come to a conclusion.

You would also be expected to explain what you understand by the word stereotypical in relation to the texts.

Example question: Explore how your chosen texts use digital technology in their marketing.

One of the key words here is ‘explore’, this implies a detailed analysis. You need to demonstrate your understanding of the terminology used. For example; what is meant by digital technology? Notice that the focus of this question is on Marketing not of the text itself.

Example question: To what extent is the success of your chosen texts dependent on stars and celebrities?

‘To what extent’ allows you to qualify which texts ARE dependent and which aren’t but the question suggests that you need to comment on how much they are dependent. This suggests there may be other factors that have contributed to their success. If this is the case, you will need to develop this point with examples. You should also discuss the notion of success.

Criteria Terms and command verbs

Command verbs that you will see in internal assessments can be confusing. Different command verbs will ask for different types of information. Below is a table, which has the command verb and definition.

Assessment/Command word	Definition
List	Write a list of the main items (not sentences).
State	Point out or list the main features.
Define	To state the meaning of something using the correct terms.
Identify	Give all the basic facts which relate to a topic.
Outline	Write a clear description but without going into too much detail
Demonstrate	Show that you can do a particular activity or skill.
Explain	Make your point clear by providing sufficient detail.
Describe	Give a clear, straightforward description which includes all of the main points.
Summarise	Write down or articulate briefly the main points or essential features.
Discuss	To present an argument for and against.
Explain	Give logical reasons to support your view.
Describe	Give a full description including details of all the relevant features.
Demonstrate	Prove you can carry out a more complex activity.
Analyse	Identify the factors that apply, and state how these are linked and how each of them relates to the topic.
Justify	Give reasons for the points you are marking so that the marker knows how you arrived at that conclusion.
Suggest	Give your own ideas and thoughts.
Assess	Evaluate in terms of advantages and disadvantages.
Analyse	Identify several relevant factors, show how they are linked, and explain the importance of each.
Evaluate	Bring together all of your information and make a judgement on the importance or success of something.
Recommend	Suggest changes or improvements.
Make recommendations	Make relevant and appropriate suggestions; usually for improvement.
Select and demonstrate	Select several relevant examples or pieces of related evidence which clearly support the arguments you are making. This may include showing particular practical skills.
Review	Consider each factor in turn, providing a description and explanation of their uses, strengths and weaknesses, making recommendations.

Essay Structure

Example question: 
Explore the different ways audiences/users respond to texts

Define the question - set out some structure for your response.

Audiences respond in a variety of ways - Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding theory.
Texts are polysemic. Expalin.
This can apply to TV

Introduce specific texts.
Happy Valley - 
Genre - Crime drama
Narrative conventions - Multi strand. Appeal to audiences?
Give a specific example from the episode.
Preferred response- enjoy the programme and understand the situation.
(Crime in rural areas).
Will watch all episodes as the narrative employs cliffhangers.
Oppositional response - offensive due to negative representations.

First Dates
Give specific examples from the episode

Always Sunny
Give specific examples from the episode

Show awareness of target audience.
(A, B, C1)

Discuss Uses and Gratifications.
Diversion/escapism - audience may see the text as a world worse off than their own.
Social interaction - 'Did you see Happy Valley on TV?'
Information on policework.
A variety of opportunities for construction of personal identity.

Conclusion:
Audience responses depend on a number of factors.
Consider:
Gender - men and women may respond differently to certain media texts. Some texts may alienate a particular gender through, or example, images and terminology.

Age - The age of audiences may evoke different responses. For example, younger people are said to be more desnsitized to violence in certain media texts.

Ethnicity - The upbringing and beliefs of different ethnic groups may affect their response to, for example, a news report on war in a foreign country.

Culture and cultural experience - The upbringing and ideologies of the audience as well as life experiences will affect how an audience responds to a text. The text itself may also shape the experience of the audience. For example, you may never have been to America but your perception of it may be formed by what you have seen in films, newspapers and television.

Cultural competence - This also links with age experience and gender. Some audiences may have different cultural competences than others. For example, older people may be less comfortable with accessing information through digital technology.

Situated culture - Where you are and who you are with affects how you respond to a text.

_______________________________________________________

Task 1: Look at the examples of past paper questions and practise ‘unpicking’ them.

Produce a structure for your response.

In the exam you should spend around 45 minutes on each question.

SECTION B: INDUSTRY AND AUDIENCE

Answer one question from this section.

B1. Discuss the different ways audiences are positioned by your three main texts. [30]

B4. Discuss actual audience responses to your three main texts. [30]

Music Industry Revision 1 - Audiences

Music Industry Texts - 

Starter: What are the genres and genre conventions related to the three texts?
Indicate on the handout sheet provided.

Beyonce

Little Mix

Catfish and the Bottlemen

How do media texts POSITION audiences?

Through technical codes employed by the text. 

Camera shots and angles are used to place the audience in a particular position.

For example the use of a close up at an emotional time in the text will position the audience to feel sympathy with a character.

A point of view shot positions the audience as the character allowing them to experience what the character feels.

This may enhance audience pleasure.

Positioning through camera angles can also be uncomfortable for the audience.

For example taking the audience where they do not want to go in a horror film or an extreme close up in a tense moment.

Through language and mode of address.

the use of colloquial or chatty language in a text aimed at teens will position the intended audience as part of the world of the text.

The audience can feel involved through the use of a direct and informal mode of address and the use of subject specific lexis.

Formal language used by texts positions the audience differently, in a position of superiority, for example.

Making them feel valued as a fan with the expectation that they understand the text and want to be informed.

Through the construction of the text using imperatives. The reader of a particular magazine for example is told by the text how to live their lives and what should be important to them.

Task 1: Indicate how audiences are positioned by the three texts. Use the handout provided.

What affects the way in which an audience RESPONDS to a media text?

An audience is not a mass all behaving in the same way. It is made of individuals who respond differently according to a range of factors.

Gender: Different genders respond to media texts differently.

It is suggested for example that women will enjoy and take pleasure from the themes and narratives of soap operas because they deal with domestic narratives and human relationships which are in the experiences of most women on a daily basis. (It is important not to generalise but you should talk about a primary and secondary audience).

Age: Again be careful generalising but different audiences respond to and decode texts differently. Older audiences may be uncomfortable with bad language or sexually explicit material.

However a younger audience amy have been desensitised to this sort of content and will be more comfortable consuming these types of text.

Ethnicity: groups from different cultural backgrounds will respond to texts differently because of their ideas, beliefs and heritage. For example nudity in a music video may elicit a different response according to the ethnic make up of the audience.

Different ethnic groups may also have strong responses to how they themselves have been represented in a text.

Cultural competence: This relates to audiences taking particular pleasure from a media text depending on their own experience and a shared knowledge. For example the audience who engage with the rules of Call of Duty will understand the control aspects of the game and the online sharing techniques because they are computer literate.

Situated culture: This is literally to do with where the audience is. The communal viewing of a film in a cinema, in the dark produces a different response to sitting and watching tv in a well lit room where you can be distracted or interrupted. Who you watch the text with will impact on the response. For example, watching a music video containing nudity with an older person may produce a more uncomfortable experience for the teenager.

Audience Reception Theory

This theory looks at three ways in which audiences respond to media texts

Audience Response	How the audience responds
Preferred Meaning	The audience accept what the media text is saying about about how the world is and how to think about the topic of the text.
Negotiated Meaning	The audience accept some of the views of the media text but reject other parts and so form a partial opinion of what the media text is saying about how the world is.
Oppositional Meaning	The audience completely reject what the media text is saying about how the world is and do not accept any part of the views expressed in the text.

Task 2: List the possible different responses to each text. Use the handout provided.

Fandom Issues

Fandom covers the ways that devoted audiences respond to different media texts. They are normally split into mainstream, alternative and balanced fan groups.

Fan Group	Definition
Mainstream fans	These are fans that tend to become extremely knowledgeable about one particular area of the mainstream media and become devoted to that part of the media at the expense of others. Twi hards for example, fans of Twighlight.
Alternative fans	These fans reject the mainstream as corrupted and boring and focus on the alternative media and usually are very negative about most areas of the media. They do like unusual and rule breaking media that rejects the mainstream. They will support new and innovative trends in the media until they become successful and then they will reject them as mainstream, critiscise them and then move on to other newer, innovative media trends…
Balanced fans	These are fans that have a mixture of mainsteam and alternative likes and dislikes. They enjoy the mainstream but also have alternative tastes. They look for the links between alternative and mainstream texts. They are knowledgeable about how the media works.

Task 3: Explore issues of fandom for each text. Use the handout provided.

Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory suggests that media texts potentially give audiences four things:

Element of the theory	What it means to an audience
Personal identity	Our lives may be reflected in the text (we may see a storyline or an incident that has happened to us at some point in our lives or at the same time). We choose to identify with the character in the text and model ourselves on them.
Diversion, escapism, entertainment	The text may help us escape from reality for a while. (almost like a safety valve from the frustrations of life.
Personal relationships, Social interaction	We may treat the text as a friend. (The regularity of Eastenders helps audiences build a relationship with the programme). We are interested in the text because our friends or peers are interested in it.
Surveillance, information	A text may give us information about a particular issue or subject. (coping with illness, teenage pregnancy for example). We just need information about the weather for example.

Task 4: Apply Uses and Gratification theory to the three texts. Use the handout provided.

Homework-Attempt the exam question below.. E-mail responses to me before next Friday.

Example exam question:

Explore the different ways audiences / users respond to texts.

Approaching this question...

1 Define the terms used in the question. In this case 'Explore audience responses'.

One of the key words here is ‘explore’, this implies a detailed analysis. You need to demonstrate your understanding of the terminology used. For example; what is meant by respond?

- Audiences respond in different ways to a text, as set out in Stuart Hall's response theory. 

Hall states that media texts are encoded with messages and values that are then decoded in various ways by audiences.

Responses can be dominant (or preferred), oppositional or negotiated.

Explain this briefly, say what the preferred response might be but relate it to a specific example from the text to support your point. 

Identify reasons for oppositional responses. Again, relate it to a specific example from the text to support your point. 

Discuss the nature of negotiated responses, also with specific examples.

Audiences applied to three TV Industry case studies.

Example exam question:
Using your own detailed examples, explore the ways in which media texts target audiences.

Starter:
Give an example of how gender may affect how an audience may respond to a media text.
(Bullet points-White boards)



Key terms:
Narrow Cast - This is where a text, for example a show about gardening, will target a very specific narrow audience.
Genre specific lexis - Choice of words used that are linked to a specific genre.

Audience responses

How and why do different audiences respond in different ways to media texts?

An audience is made up of individuals who will respond to media texts and the messages contained within them in different ways according to:

Gender - men and women may respond differently to certain media texts. Some texts may alienate a particular gender through, or example, images and terminology.

Age - The age of audiences may evoke different responses. For example, younger people are said to be more desnsitized to violence in certain media texts.

Ethnicity - The upbringing and beliefs of different ethnic groups may affect their response to, for example, a news report on war in a foreign country.

Culture and cultural experience - The upbringing and ideologies of the audience as well as life experiences will affect how an audience responds to a text. The text itself may also shape the experience of the audience. For example, you may never have been to America but your perception of it may be formed by what you have seen in films, newspapers and television.

Cultural competence - This also links with age experience and gender. Some audiences may have different cultural competences than others. For example, older people may be less comfortable with accessing information through digital technology.

Situated culture - Where you are and who you are with affects how you respond to a text.

*This can be used with Stuart Hall's audience response theory.

Task 1: Identify two or three responses to Happy Valley by audiences.
Task 2: Identify two or three responses to First Dates by audiences.
Task 3: Identify two or three responses to  Always Sunny target by audiences?

Audience Targeting

Who is the target audience of the text?
How do media texts target and appeal to an audience?

Questions like this address what the particular text does to attract an audience. In order to understand how this happens you need to be aware of the target audience of the text. Different texts will adopt different approaches - some texts narrow cast and others will try to attract a broad audience.
Techniques used to attract audiences include:

Technical and audio codes-the text may employ these to target an audience. The fast paced editing and dramatic music of an action format serves to attract audiences, likewise the colourful layout and varied fonts of a gossip magazine

Language and mode of address-may target a specific audience and alienate another. For example, the images and text on the call of Duty games cover may use lexis and a tone specific to an audience of young men, only they will understand the language and references as they are the intended audience. The voice over of a reality TV show may attract viewers through the promise of an awkward narrative.

Construction-The way in which the trailer for a film is edited and constructed will be designed to target an audience . This may involve the inclusion of enigmas, multi strand narratives, use of stars, a persuasive voice over.
A magazine may, using the image, sell lines and cover lines on its front cover, construct a clear idea of who the readership of the magazine should be.

Context-The context is extremely relevant-the placing of an advertisement for beer or a sports car during half time of a football match will more obviously target the audience for the product.

Positioning-This may be through camera shots and angles, the use of music and other audio codes, the language and mode of address or through empathy with the characters.

Task 4: How does Happy Valley target and appeal to an audience?
Task 5: How does First Dates target and appeal to an audience?
Task 6: How does Always Sunny target and appeal to an audience?

Example exam question:
Using your own detailed examples, explore the ways in which media texts target audiences.

Audience theory - Recap

Example question:
Explore the different ways audiences or users respond to texts.

Key terms:
Polysemic - Texts that have more than one meaning and can therefore be interpreted by audiences in different ways.
Demographic Profiling - Dividing customers into groups based on age, sex, income, education, occupation, household size, marital status, home ownership and other factors. This information helps text producers determine the target audience for their texts and attract advertisers for particular products which might be aimed at that taarget audience.
Audience fragmentation. ... division of audiences into small groups due to the wide spectrum of media outlets. This is a situation that becomes increasingly baffling to advertisers as the specialization of publications and broadcast opportunities becomes even more diverse. 

Audience theory provides a starting point for many Media Studies tasks. Whether you are constructing a text or analysing one, you will need to consider the destination of that text (i.e. its target audience) and how that audience (or any other) will respond to that text.

Remember that a media text in itself has no meaning until it is read or decoded by an audience.

Ways of categorising audiences/users and audience/user composition. 

Media Audiences an Introduction 

Psychographics is the study of personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Because this area of research focuses on interests, activities, and opinions, psychographic factors are also called IAO variables. 
Psychographic studies of individuals or communities can be valuable in the fields of marketing.

“A media text is always created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this target audience.”
These audiences can be categorized and how the target audience is made up affects the media language employed by and the commercial viability of a text. 
The key thing to remember about the media industry is that it is a money making indu$try. What this means is each media text is a product that needs to be made for, and sold to, the right target audience in order to gross a profit.
In other words, everything is done with the target audience in mind.
Due to this being the case a lot of money is invested in audience research and the industry will refer to key theories when considering how to attract/represent this group.

 MASS AUDIENCE: 

Mass audiences are basically large mainstream audiences who consume mainstream or popular culture (Marxist would claim that this audience is largely made up of the ‘working class’), such as Hollywood films, Eastenders, reality TV, Premiership football, simple Hollywood, tabloids etc.
High culture, by contrast, is usually associated with broadsheets, opera, ballet and BBC Four.

 NICHE AUDIENCE: 

A niche audience is smaller than a mass audience but usually very influential. E.g. those that Marx would define as upper class/middle class, who controlled the media and may wish to see ‘high culture’ programs. Hence the launch of BBC Four for those who wish to hear/see artistic high culture programs.

Niche audiences don’t have to be this group though, they can be any small, dedicated group who advertisers feel are worth targeting or creating products for.
Examples could include, certain films (e.g. 'adult' movies - which can not really be called ‘high art’), fishing magazines, farming programs, underwater knitting!

When media text producers profile their audience they take into account AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS (class/economic status, gender, age, geographical location) along with their viewing preferences/needs: In other words, they think about the following before developing a text...

1) What social class will the primary target audience fall under?
2) What gender is the primary target audience?
3) What age will the primary target audience be?
4) What nationality will the primary target audience be?
5) What values do the primary target audience have? (Ideology).
6) Audience appeal - what will the primary target audience be looking for in a text? (UGT).

They then think about how they can best represent their primary target audience through;
genre, narrative, characters, cast, locations, cinematography, sound, editing, advertising etc.

Key Theories 

The following theories are all taken into account when profiling, representing and pitching to audiences:
Class: One of the most common ways of identifying a target audience is the social-economic model. Even though this model, used by the NRS (National Readership Survey Ltd), has been used for a long time, it is still useful way of identifying an audience and deconstructing a text.
The basis for the system is money – A/B audiences for example are assumed to have more spending power than CDE audiences. However, it is also presumed AB audiences prefer high culture (e.g. art-cinema, broadsheets and late night art programs on TV). While C/D/E, who stereotypically like Hollywood commercial films and consume more texts, make up a lager proportion of society making this the 'mass audience.'

 EFFECTS THEORY

The ‘Frankfurt School’ is the term given to a group of social scientists who were originally based at the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt. They conducted research into the potential power the mass media had over audiences.
They were concerned that the media could be used as a tool of fascist propaganda. The founders were left-wing (Marxist) and criticised the capitalist system controlling the mass media for creating a mass culture that eliminated any opposition or alternatives.
This group was responsible for the ‘HYPODEMIC NEEDLE MODEL’ believing that the mass audience were passive and could simply be ‘injected’ with messages created by media producers.
Even though some critics still believe that there is some truth to this model (hence why age restrictions exist and some products are banned completely) others felt that this model over simplifies the situation.

Reception Theory

For example, the theorist Stuart Hall deals with ‘Reception Theory’ study which determines how different audiences view the same text.
He found that the way audiences interpreted a text generally fell under one of the following:

• A preferred reading; of the text most likely to be received by the intended target audience who share the same ideologies (people read it as the creators intended – this is the closest to the hypodermic needle).

• An oppositional reading; generally by people who are not in the intended target audience (they reject the meaning intended and receive an alternative meaning).

• A negotiated reading; basically accept the meaning but interpret it to suit their own position/ideologies.

In short, what this shows is that the majority of consumers are not passive and their reading of a text is influenced by their own ideologies – a product simply cannot ‘brainwash everyone’ like an injected drug. However, some are more susceptible and easily influenced (especially children who have yet to complete the early years of the socialization process), hence age ratings etc.

Two-Step Flow

The Hypodermic model quickly proved too clumsy for media researchers seeking to more precisely explain the relationship between audience and text. As the mass media became an essential part of life in societies around the world and did NOT reduce populations to a mass of unthinking drones, a more sophisticated explanation was sought.

Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet analysed the voters' decision-making processes during a 1940 presidential election campaign and published their results in a paper called The People's Choice. 

Their findings suggested that the information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered through "opinion leaders" who then communicate it to their less active associates, over whom they have influence. 

The audience then mediate the information received directly from the media with the ideas and thoughts expressed by the opinion leaders, thus being influenced not by a direct process, but by a two step flow. This diminished the power of the media in the eyes of researchers, and caused them to conclude that social factors were also important in the way in which audiences interpreted texts. This is sometimes referred to as the limited effects paradigm.

Nationality/values: IDEOLOGY: 

Ideology is an important factor to consider when creating a product because you have to represent the ideology your target audience wish to see. Ideology refers to the system of beliefs that is constructed and presented by a media product. As Marx claims, the dominant ideologies are those that already underpin society.
This can differ country to country, for example a soap made for a UK audience will differ to one made for a US audience, Spain or Iran (the same can be said for social realist programs like Shameless, music and comedy). This should in theory mean that British audiences should prefer British texts, however this is not the case because America has dominated the market for so long that American ideologies have been adopted in these countries (a form of cultural imperialism). As Kissinger (2011) stated; "globalisation is really another name for the dominant role of the United states" because they consider national and international cinemas as vehicles to represent and protect USA values. In short, Hollywood caters first and foremost for American audiences, but because Hollywood films have dominated the market place for so long many other countries, the UK included, see themselves represented by the values portrayed.

Uses and Gratification Theory: 

 This theory is the opposite of effects theory because it relies on the premise that audiences have free will and choose to consume certain things for different reasons. The theory was developed in the 1960s and was in expanded in 1974 by Blumer and Katz who suggested a series of possible reasons why audience members might consume a media text:
• Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)
• Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life OR using the cinema as a social event).
• Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)
• Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

THE FOUR C’S (cross-cultural consumer characteristics): 

This is one of the earliest, but still most popular, ways of profiling audiences. It profiles the audience in terms of wants and needs, not simply demographic. The categories are as follows:

 • Mainstreamers (this is the largest group. They are concerned with stability, mainly buying well-known brands and consuming mainstream texts).

• Aspirers (they are seeking to improve themselves. They tend to define themselves by high status brands, absorbing the ideologies associated with the products and believing their status alters as a result).

 • Succeeders (people who feel secure and in control – generally they are in positions of power. They buy brands which reinforce their feelings of control and power).

• Reformers (idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products and buy brands which are environmentally supportive and healthy. They also buy products which establish this ‘caring and responsible’ ideology). Individuals (highly media literate, expects high-production advertising and buys product image not product, requires high-profiling sophisticated advertising campaigns).

How media producers and texts construct audiences and users.

Constructing Audience

When a media text is being planned, perhaps the most important question the producers consider is "Does it have an audience?" If the answer to this is 'no', then there is no point in going any further. If no one is going to watch/read/play/buy the text, the producers aren't going to make any money or get their message across. Audience research is a major part of any media company's work. They use questionnaires, focus groups, and comparisons to existing media texts, and spend a great deal of time and money finding out if there is anyone out there who might be interested in their idea.

It's a serious business; media producers basically want to know the

• income bracket/status
• age
• gender
• race
• location

of their potential audience, a method of categorising known as demographics.

Once they know this they can begin to shape their text to appeal to a group with known reading/viewing/listening habits.

Creating Audience

Once a media text has been made, its producers need to ensure that it reaches the audience it is intended for. All media texts will have some sort of marketing campaign attached to them. Elements of this might include

• posters
• print, radio, TV and internet advertisements
• trailers
• promotional interviews (eg stars appearing on chat shows, information leaked to Internet bloggers)
• tie-in campaigns (eg a blockbuster movie using McDonalds meals)
• merchandising (t-shirts, baseball caps, key rings)

Marketing campaigns are intended to create awareness of a media text. Once that awareness has been created, hopefully audiences will come flocking in their hundreds of millions.

How audiences and users are positioned 

(including preferred, negotiated and oppositional responses to that positioning).

Stuart Hall - Audience Positioning

Modes of Address

Modes of address can be defined as the ways in which relations between addresser and addressee are constructed in a text. In order to communicate, a producer of any text must make some assumptions about an intended audience; reflections of such assumptions may be discerned in the text (advertisements offer particularly clear examples of this).

Once audiences have been constructed, media producers will assess the correct mode of address to use.

Direct - Identifies with the audience directly - 'Get out of the rain'.

Referential - Refers audience with advice - 'You might be better indoors'.

Expresssive - 'It's pissing down with rain'.

Poetic - 'How heavy fell the rain that day'.

Task 1: Produce a one page plan which you would use in response to the following question:

Example question:
Explore the different ways audiences or users respond to texts.

One of the key words here is 'explore', this implies a detailed analysis. You need to demonstrate your knowledge of the terminology used. Define audiences. Notice that the question focuses on responses and not on the texts themselves.