Media - Audience theories

Is your text popular for a mass audience?

Julian McDougall (2009) -  suggests that in the online age is it getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable identifiable group. (difficult to define specific audience)

Niche or Alternative audience. The song has a dance genre that is slightly alternative. We've created the illustion of a house party but also incorporated a minimalistic and quirky style that would appeal to a niche audience.

Another definition of 'popular' is a kind of folk culture that encompaasess a kind of alternative culture which includes minority groups. This relates to the audience of my music video.

The initial target audience:

The initial target audience for the music video was for a mass audience as the song had a popular dance genre. However when we decided the band and planned out the storyboard it seemed that the video would take a more alternative appearance. 

In the media industry people are categorised into groups to determinded what media products they would be interested in.

What the audience might identify with my media product: 
The bright colours - the colours at the start of the video appeal to a young audience. The colours continue through the video as a method of continuity. These bright colours and youthful band represent/appeal to a young audience. 

costume of the band - The causal style of the band matches an indie genre yet purposefully goes against what real artists in a dance video would wear. 

What meanings might the audience assume from consuming your media product?

The audience could draw on a number of interpretations/meanings from the video. The girl dancing in the video could be identifiable with other teenage girls as this is something young people enjoy doing. The whole theme of a house party is also relevant to the age and culture of the audience.


Ang (1991) - 'audiencehood is becoming an ever more multifaced, fragmented and diversified repertoire of practices and experiences.'

I woud agree with Ang in relation to my media product. There are many people that enjoy media products that are targeted at different audiences. for example, someone might like pop video's but enjoy alternative electro music. (more sub-categories)


John Hartley (1987) also suggests that institutions must produce "invisible fictions of the audience, which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must enter into relations with"

i also agree with this theorist as i (the institution) had an idea of who i must enter into relations with. This was fairly easy because the audience was myself and the video was created for people my age and culture to enjoy. Therefore i knew my audience very well and was able to address them effectively. (understanding your audience)


Gaining feedback from my audience: 

One way i did this was by creating a Facebook group and twitter group. This allowed anyone to be a part of the progress of the fictitious band and video. We could gain feedback from the audience we were addressing which became very useful after handing in our draft video. i also posted all my work and progression onto my blog along with a pitch.


Passive and active audience: 

controlling the way that people think and behave - the media injects people with ideas and views 

i wouldnt apply this theory to my music video because due to the minimalistic approach and alternative audience i would consider them more of an active audience who are able to make their own decisions regarding what to beleive or assume from music videos. 

Media is influenced by society therefore we have more of an active audience that are open minded about the media products they consume. 

(pluralist theory)