Audience Theories (The Receptions Analysis Theory)

The theory was put forward by Professor Stuart Hall and looks at how audiences interact with a media text, taking into account their situated culture. The theory suggests that social and daily experiences can affect the way an audience reads a media text and reacts to it.

What does the theory suggest?	Strengths?	Weaknesses?
Audiences are seen as active producers of meaning, rather than as merely consumers of media meanings. They make sense of media texts according to their social position and their gender.	This approach values highly the specific, personal and contextualised responses of individuals and groups. People’s life experiences are important influences which enable them to make active choices as members of media audiences.	The readings and responses of the audience are given more emphasis rather than the institutional aspects of the media. Some researchers can get side-tracked into analysing audience lifestyles, and thus media reception is sometimes neglected in favour of a more holistic sociological approach.

Audience Theories (The Uses and Gratifications Theory)

The model stems from the idea that audiences are a complex mixture of individuals who select media texts that best suit their needs-which goes back to "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs".

The model suggests that media audiences are active and make active decisions about what they consume in relation to their social and cultural setting and their needs.

This was summed up by theorists Blumier and Katz in 1974; "Media usage can be explained in that it provides gratifications related to the satisfaction of social and psychological needs." This means that audiences choose to watch programmes that makes them feel good, for example Soaps or Sitcoms, or give them information that they can use, for example news and world events.

What does the theory suggest?	Strengths?	Weaknesses?
Instead of researching what the media do to the audience, this approach studies what the audience does with the media. This approach also takes account of people’s personalities and personal needs.	The audience is seen as active and reasonably intelligent. Life experience in general is regarded as more influential than experience of media. The pleasures that the media offer audiences are not regarded as negative.	Too much optimism about the ‘power’ and ‘choices’ of an active audience can distract us from the power certain texts have, or the influence that media institutions and ownership may have on texts and understandings.

Audience Theories (The Active Audiences Theory)

This idea was created by the "Two Step Flow Theory", which was in a previous post, and sees the audience as individuals who are active and interact with the communication process and use media texts their own purposes. It is the active audience model and is considered to be a better and more realistic way to talk about audiences. We behave differently because we are different people from different backgrounds with many different attitudes, values, experiences and ideas.

Audience Theories (The Two Step Flow Theory)

Katz and Lazarsfeld assumes a slightly more active audience and suggests that messages from the media move in two distinct ways. First, individuals who are opinion leaders, receive messages from the media and pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content.

The information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience, but is filtered through its opinion leaders who then pass it in to a more passive audience. 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 theory appeared to reduce the power of the media. and some researchers concluded that social factors were also important in the way in which audiences interpret texts. This then led to the idea of active audiences.

Audience Theories (The Cultivation Theory)

This theory also treats the audience as passive and it suggests that repeated exposure to the same message, such as an advertisement, will have an effect on the audiences attitudes and values. A similar idea is know as desensitisation-which suggests that long term exposure to violent media makes the audience less likely to be shocked by violence and more likely to behave in that manner.

What does the theory suggest?	Strengths?	Weaknesses?
As audiences watch more television or films, they gradually develop certain views about the world, some of which are false.	This approach draws attention to the fact that audiences gain a lot of their knowledge from the media and also recognises the important role the media plays in our lives.	This approach can effect viewer’s perceptions and is hard to prove if accurate or not.

Evaluation of our film (How are social groups represented in your production?)

The trailer opens with the camera panning towards a character, Cory Nelson, sitting in, what seems to be, his lounge area. The mise-en-scene of the character is casual clothing as we see him wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt. The white t-shirt connotes innocence and shows our viewers the first victim of the trailer-adhering to the typical codes and conventions of a horror trailer. The shot used is a medium shot and was used to make it seem like the character is being watched. The non digetic music links with this scene as it helps to create tension and build up the suspense-this creates an enigma as the audience wonder who is watching our character and what the purpose of it is.

The next shot is a tracking over the shoulder shot following the character, Cory Nelson, from the antagonists point of view. During this 3 second shot we can see that the hooded figure is walking with his head down as if he is trying not to be noticed. This conforms to the typical codes and conventions of a horror film-he is unknown to the victims and is wearing dark clothing. The mise-en-scene of the antagonist is a black hooded jumper-which conforms to the typical conventions of a horror film, as the black clothing connotes darkness and evil. He is also concealing his identity-which is effective as it will leave the audience with suspense as they will not be able to see the identity of the villain.

The next shot is an establishing shot of a house-allowing the audience to see one of the many locations that will be used throughout the film. The low lighting outside suggests that something sinister may occur here, leaving the audience to believe that that this will be the main location of the film. The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of a girl, who is home alone, making a cup of tea. This links in with the previous shot and establishes a new character, most likely the protagonist, who also seems vulnerable. This shows a link that our antagonist targets vulnerable teenagers. The white clothing and the actions of the character emphasises this vulnerability as it connotes innocence-which conforms to the typical conventions of a horror film.

The next shot we see is a long shot of two of the characters and a third character approaching them. The character that was approaching them is the character we saw in the first shot- the one being followed. This could then make the audience now understand that these three characters are all the victims as there is a high chance the character following him at the beginning has followed him to the location he is at now. The location is fairly isolated so it would seem to the audience that they are easy targets because if someone was to attack them, there wouldn't be anyone else around. This puts them in a vulnerable position to the villain. The shot is another from the antagonists perspective and shows that they are still following the victims.

The next shot is a high angle shot of the same character that was being followed, and appears to be alone despite meeting two other friends. The characters dialogue of "Guys? Where are you?" and fast walking shows that the character is scared as he is vulnerable in an isolated wooded area. This conforms to the typical conventions of a horror film; it portrays the character as weak and vulnerable which makes him an easy target for the antagonist, causing the audience to feel scared for the character as he looks to be in danger.

The next shot is a mid-shot of the antagonist dragging the character from the last scene through the woods, however there is no sign of any blood which suggests that the character may not be dead yet. The victims body looks lifeless-which creates an enigma and causes the audience to question whether he is actually dead or whether he has been briefly knocked out. This could intrigue them as to how he ended up like this and what has happened to his friends-which would push them into wanting to watch the film so their questions can be answered. These aspects are conforming to the usual representations portrayed in a horror trailer as lots of different scenes are shown to create enigmas and suspense-allowing the audience to work out what has happened. The mise-en-scene of the antagonist a short black hooded coat and blue jeans. This suggests that the antagonist has maybe tried to blend in by wearing casual clothing-allowing him to get close to his victims without being suspected. This again creates more questions for the audience-allowing them to engage in the film, by becoming a detective, and solve the mystery.

In the other scenes, later in the trailer, we see the mise-en-scene of the antagonist change; he has a long black coat that completely covers him and the prop of a knife. This conforms to the typical conventions of a horror film as the audience do not know the identity of the antagonist. It also suggests that, maybe, there are two murderers, which would explain why the mise-en-scene has changed-as one of the murderers is new acts on instinct, the antagonist at the start in the woods, and the other is more professional who plans out their killings and covers their tracks. Or it could be the same person but they choose to work in different ways-making it harder for the police to catch them as they do not follow a pattern. All of these aspects create enigmas-persuading the audience to stay and solve the mystery.

Screenshots of The Disturbed (Evaluation Activity 1)

Screenshot 1 is an image of our titles used in the trailer, on the film magazine and on the film poster. The titles were difficult to make but with the help of Photoshop tutorials, we were able to figure it out and create the sinister titles our film needed. We researched, on YouTube, how to separate the letters from each other to make it look more professional and then placed blood splatters behind the text to make it look like the victims blood. This adheres to the typical codes and conventions of a horror film as red connotes horror and is the common colour used in horror films. The titles are on a black background to help make the titles stand out and is another feature of a horror film. Our film titles are similar to many horror films, such as the Grudge, but the split titles and blood splatters behind the text give the titles its own unique style. 

Screenshot 2 is a long shot of the main antagonist dragging a body through the woods-this creates an enigma as the audience wonder why this happened? How this has happened? And is the character going to survive or not? The use of a long shot allows the audience to see both characters and the setting of the scene-allowing them to put the puzzle of the story together. The setting of a woods is a typical horror setting-conforming to the conventions of a horror film. The mise-en-scene shows the main antagonist wearing all black clothing-this conforms to the conventions of a horror film as the colour black connotes evil. In this shot we do get to see the main antagonists face-this subverts the typical conventions of a horror film as the murderer's identity usually stays discrete or is revealed later in the film, but we did this because we wanted to show that throughout the movie you will follow the main antagonist and see his day to day life of stalking and killing teenage girls. This gives our trailer its own unique style and makes it different to the other horror films out there.

Screenshot 3 is a mid-shot of the main protagonist in their own home-this creates tension as the audience know that the character is alone in a big house, emphasising the vulnerability of the character.

Screenshot 4 is a high angle shot showing the vulnerability of the character as he is unaware that he is being watched. The mise-en-scene of the character is casual clothing but this is overlooked as the audience are focused on who is watching the character and why.

Screenshot 5 is an over shoulder shot of the main antagonist following the victim who still seems aware that he is being stalked. The audience then wonder what will happen to this character and what relevance this scene has to the rest of the film. The black hooded jumper of the main antagonist suggests that he trying to keep a low profile and not be seen by the victim.

Screenshot 6 is an establishing shot that shows that audience the house of the main protagonist-this conforms to the conventions of a horror film; a girl home-alone is the usual setting. The low lighting gives the scene a sinister edge and suggests to the audience that something horrific may occur.

Screenshot 7 is a long shot of the main protagonist with the main antagonist walking towards her without her noticing. This creates agonising tension as they audience know the murderer is there and want Rachel to turn around. The mid-shot shows the supremacy of the antagonist as he is larger than Rachel-emphasising the vulnerability of her character.

Screenshot 8 is a piece of simple text that is effective as it creates tension-it also conforms to the conventions of a horror film; many horror films are based on a true story to make the audience think that this could happen to them, adding to that fear factor. The sentence is simple but powerful as it appeals to a wider audience.

Screenshot 9 is a high angle shot of Connor-showing his vulnerability as he walks upstairs. This is foreshadowing the events as in the next scene we see Connor get thrown off a roof. The emotion Connors character is showing appears to be worry which will denote to the audience that he is worried about Rachel's character being in danger as its the house she appeared to live in earlier in the trailer with the killer behind her-conforming to most horror films as the innocent character is suggested to be killed and the hero has come to her rescue.