Audience theory in my foundation portfolio

For the foundation portfolio of my media course we had to create an opening sequence to film. My group created the opening to a thriller/slasher film which begins with a scene showing one of the murders that take place during the film and the resulting news reports the following day.

The main theory to do with audience that I will be applying is “Uses and Gratification” which looks at why a audience would choose a certain piece of media and what they themselves gain from doing so and how they can differ to the “Uses and Gratification” of another individual.

When looks at from the entertainment part of the theory an audience could get a wide range of gratification depending on their individuality.  One member of the audience may receive a scopophilic gratification from watching the opening sequence as they are seeing something that they know is seen a taboo to society (the murder) and so will gain pleasure from seeing it. However as already stated this is only one possible way in which an audience can be gratified by viewing the sequence. Another one of the many is that someone may just view any media without selection as a way of just filling time (this would be for an audience who has boredom influence what they watch.)

An audience may find that the product would gratify them from a social stand point as well. The film could gratify a person’s morals as the protagonist may have shared or had similar ones to the audience. To another audience who comes to identify with the characters it may be a substitute for companionship. The product could also serve as a conversation point especially if watched by/with others and so would gratify that audience member socially in that way. These are only some of the examples of how an audience can be gratified by a media piece but as I’ve already said it will depend on the individual.

Because our piece is fictional and the sequence itself is quite low brow the information part of the theory doesn’t apply as much as the others and would hint towards the theory of how society and media is becoming increasingly “dumbed down” although obliviously the film would have some detective elements if was made a so would possibly give a person satisfying of curiosity depending on the individual.

Audience is of great importance to media as a whole, from one point a producer may target certain audiences and so would construct what the audience thinks and so the media products will be based round audience. In others pieces of media the product itself is only defined by what the audience perceives it to be. Audience are of great importance to the whole concept of media because media cannot exist without someone to use, view or hear it.