What kind of audience questions could come up? And how many will come up?
Broadly, there are only two types of audience question:
How does the producer target/position audiences?
How do audiences respond to this media product?
However, these can be phrased and presented in lots of different ways. But just remember, you will be talking about what the producer does to the audience, or what the audience does to the product... broadly...
We don't know how many questions will come up. At least two we imagine. Remember, for component one B, it's one minute for each mark. A mark a minute.
What theories are important for these questions?
George Gerbner - cultivation
Repeated representations affect how the audiences sees the world. Cultivation theory refers to how the ideology of the audience grows with repeated exposure. and the the more audiences are exposed to a particular ideology, the more likely they are to accept an ideology.
Example: often videogames present an ideology that violence is good, and an acceptable way to solve a problem. By continousy being exposed to this ideology, it can reinforce this ideology in audiences
A passive audience theory. Assumes the audience is basic and straightforward
Criticism: it's too basic and straightforward
Stuart Hall - reception theory
How the audience decodes the ideology of the producer. Encoding/decoding model. The audience can choose to receive the ideology of a media product in many different ways
Preferred - the audience agrees with the ideology of the producer
Negotiated - where the audience agrees in general but may also disagree with with certain parts
Oppositional - the audience disagrees with the ideology of the producer
Active audience theory. Assumes the audience is complex and opinionated
Criticism: too complicated and unwieldly
What ideologies are encoded in the WaterAid advert?
Ideology 1: Water is essential to life and happiness. We, the audience are responsible for Claudia's happiness. We live in a position of privilege, and we therefore have an obligation to help others
Ideology 2 : Donating to charity is the right thing to do. If the audience donates to charity, it will make them a better person
Ideology 3: There are people in the world who do not have access to water, and it is up to us, as the audience, to help them. Therefore the intended response is to donate money.
Applying reception theory to the WaterAid advert
Preferred reading: The audience will agree with the ideology and will either donate or intend to donate money. We believe that donating money is the right thing to do, and is an efficient way of making 'people like Claudia's' life better. We are in a better position than 'them', and must use our advantage to help 'them'
Oppositional reading: The audience audience may believe that Claudia is not entitled to help. She clearly already has water, and therefore doesn't need help. Audiences may also believe that this is not their problem and that again she is not entitled to help.
Negotiated reading: Donating money to charity may help people, but we actually don't know exactly how our money will be spent. The advert was clearly expensive, so perhaps this was too extravagant. Helping people is good, but some audiences may not be in a position to regularly donate money, which may mean the advert is upsetting and guilt tripping. Finally some audiences may agree with charity but might see the representation of 'Africa' as being broad and offensive. Some audiences may also find the advert annoying...
How do adverts 'work'?
An advert doesn't sell a product. It sells a lifestyle. The lifestyle sold by the WaterAid advert is one of philanthropy.
Having a straightforward and agreeable ideology means the advert can appeal to and target as many people as possible
Audience positioning - where the audience is 'placed' by the producer. This is achieved through media language
R block - Explore how the Wateraid advert positions it's audiences
Knee jerk reaction: This advert uses a range of media language including tracking shots to position the audience with Claudia
Introduction: DAC
Audience refers to the people that consume media products, and who the producer intends to target the product towards. One way in which producers can do this is through positioning, which is where the audience are 'placed' through media language. In this essay, I shall argue that the audience are aligned with Claudia to provide an insight in to her life, and to allow us to see we have made an impact. WaterAid are a UK based charity that specialise in providing access to clean water for people in developing countries.
One way in which audiences are positioned is through the frequent use of extreme close ups. For example, the audience are positioned directly behind Claudia and her bucket, which emphasises and confirms her poverty. This symbolic code connotates the journey that Claudia must take every day, which reinforces her poverty, and also the fact that she is hard working. The bucket is bright blue, which signifies positivity, which functions as a clear binary opposition. By positioning the audience with Claudia, the producers of the advert reinforce their positive and gentle ideology.
Additionally, the advert uses a range of long shot and wide angle shots, typically to connote themes of commaradie and community. For example, a long shot of Claudia's friends and villagers uses a range of bright, positive colours, which positions the target audience in a positive and optimistic mode of address.
The function of a charity advert is to get audiences to donate, and as such can be considered way more direct than most adverts. This is most clearly seen through the lexis of the on screen graphics t the end of the advert, which asks he audience to donate money to "help people like Claudia". Through this informal mode of address, a friendly tone is taken, which may mean that some audience members are more inclined to donate
P block - Explore how the WaterAid advert appeals to multiple audiences (15)
Knee jerk: The WaterAid advert appeals to multiple audiences through its use of positive, uplifting representations
Introduction: DAC
Audience refers to the consumers of a media product. A producer will always attempt to make a media product appeal to a target audience. This is to maximise profit. In this essay I shall argue that The WaterAid advert appeals to multiple audiences by using positive and uplifting representations. This is highly unconventional for a charity advert featuring African people. WaterAid is UK based charity that provides access to fresh water in underdeveloped countries.
The WaterAid advert uses a combination of high key natural lighting and bright colours in order to construct a positive atmosphere. For example, there is a highly effective long shot low angle of the young, black female villagers. In a tracking shot, we follow Claudia in to the village, and the collected shot of women standing together is symbolic of unity and togetherness. This reinforces the dominant ideology of the advert as being positive and uplifting, by presenting an uplifting and atypical representation of Africa.
The WaterAid advert would typically be screened during daytime television, and would therefore target a stereotypical working class audience. One audience in particular that it may target is an older, retired working class audience. Teenagers are often represented in stereotypical ways, as grumpy, threatening and 'other' . However, Claudia is represented as hardworking and nonthreatening, which challenges stereotypical representations of black teenagers. First of all, Claudia is singing throughout the advert. The Song, 'Sunshine On A Rainy Day' is an early 90's pop song, which was popular in England and is sung in English. This allows this advert to appeal to it's target audience of older working class people from England. Additionally, Claudia is dressed in a conservative style, with a pink polo neck and floral skirt, which reinforces the ideology that she is young, innocent and non-threatening. The preferred reading of this advert is that the audience, through donating money, is making the lives of the people in the advert better,
White saviour, stereotype of the British philanthropist...
Close up and extreme close up shots
T block: Explore how different audiences can respond to the WaterAid advert (12)
Knee jerk reaction: Some audiences may agree with the dominant ideology, while other audiences may disagree
DAC introduction
Audience refers to those who engage with or consume a media product. Audiences are absolutely essential because they essentially financially support the media product. Producers must therefore ensure audiences engage with and consume a media product. In this essay I shall argue that by and large, most audience members will confirm the preferred reading of the ideology, while some audiences will reject this ideology. To back this up, I shall be looking at the WaterAid 'Claudia' advert, which is an atypical charity advert'.
One way in which one audience can respond to this advert is a sense of responsibility and a duty to donate money. This idea is encoded through the frequent use of binary oppositions. The initial establishing shot features the MES of rain and a boring radio voiceover, which positions the target audience in the UK in winter. However, we immediately cut to a dry sandy location, presumably 'Africa'. This binary opposition symbolically communicates a sense of British privilege and even guilt to the target audience. The intended response is clearly to donate money.
One of the key target demographics for charity adverts includes stay at home mothers. Typically working class, this group may well have a sense of empathy towards young children. The producer has cast a young woman in this advert with a British name (Claudia), and she is also singing in clear English. This may allow this target audience to identify with the character of Claudia far more effectively than the anonymous representation of 'starving Africans' often see n in this kind of advert. This provides the audience with the gratification of identity. It also repeats and reinforces the ideology that Africa is vulnerable is is in need of help.