Unit 6 LO1 Introduction

Why do media producers need to know their audience?

It is vital producers know their audience is to create a good production to whatever doing, you need
to find out the vital information which can make your production a success, so this would be to find
out what gender you are targeting, what age group? What do they want to see? And why would they
want to see it, the more Quantitive and Qualitive research the better which will make a better
production. With knowing all this information procuders can then go towards making their
production and taking the research in using it into their production to make more income. The
drawbacks that if producers do not do this I think personally are huge, you could create a production
and it be completely all wrong, you may have a idea in your head of what you want to do, but their
may not be a market for it, and people may not want to see it, usually when you dont know your
audience, the production you make could be completely wrong and make no money of it. A good
example of this is the film that Madonna directed and acted in called Body of Evidence, this was a
film with strong Nudity and sexual references, but it was huge flop, this was because there was
research into their audience, and what they wanted to see and what would work, instead they came
up with the idea to make the film and just made with no research being put into it.
Give Examples of 2 Media Theories
Hypodermic Needle Theory Most of the theories on media explained about the effects media had
on people. It is the theory which explains of how people use media for their need and gratification.
In other words we can say this theory states what people do with media rather than what media
does to people. Also this theory is contradictory to the magic bullet theory which states the
audience is passive. According to uses and gratification theory, it is not so people make use of the
media for their specific needs. This theory can be said to have a user/audience-centered approach
.Even for communication (say inter-personal) people refer to the media for the topic they discuss
with themselves. They gain more knowledge and that is knowledge is got by using media for
reference. There are several needs and gratification for people they are categorized into five
categories.

Cognitive needs
Affective needs
Personal Integrative needs
Social Integrative needs
Tension free needs

The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and
uniformly by shooting or injecting them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired
response. So for example if a passive audience saw a film where a strong influence was given of all
Americans are bad, then the audience will then believe all Americans are bad and they are bad
people. When really this isnt true but it is almost like we are being told, this is what we are saying,
this is true, youre sitting down and watching this and were right. A great example of this is the
Columbine massacre, which was influenced by the music of Marolyn Mancen, which made the group
of people who committed the crime think that shooting and killing kids was acceptable and because
he was singing about it was okay to do it, so they were influenced by what the music was and
believed it was ok.

Uses & Gratifications Theory This theory suggests that we as an air active audience feel more
involved, so therefore we are not being told what to believe and what to watch, we have our own
choice and we can feel more involved, a example of this would be X Factor, we have a influence in
the programme as we can have a option to vote who we want to stay in the competition and who
we want to win. Another example of this is a negotiated version, this is where the director has given
us what they want us to believe, but we have our own opinion to think no this isnt right and we
have the opportunity to think, a good example of this is Godzilla, everything about the film, the
story, the advertisement, the plot suggests Godzilla is the bad person in this film, but really we feel
tricked and it turns out that Godzilla is the good person in this film and saves the city, but we may
pick things as the film goes on and figure this out ourselves.
Which Organisations supply audience information?
Organisations like BABB can supply information on the amount of viewers that watch British
television so for BBC and ITV Etc. This is very useful to find out information on what people watch on
their TV the most and what time they are actively on their television and what kind of things they
like to watch. Another one is RJAR which is a radio research company, so they carry out research
which will help radio stations like the BBC stations and other commercial radio stations. They are
very similar to BARB but instead operate in the radio department.
List a variety of ways how producers can obtain information?
Producers can easily obtain information by using different methods of research, so this could be
done making and using questionnaires to find out information on what they would prefer. You can
use internet surveys to which is also a good way to find out important information and also internet
is a very good access as millions of people are on the internet every day. Also research using the
internet which is a massive tool as there is many pieces of information you can get on the internet.
Old Archives maybe to if you needed old information which could be of some use. I would advise
personally a questionnaire survey on the internet, this way this can give you personal research and
people can offer you their opinion to what you are asking, also as well the internet is a massive tool
in todays world which means there is much more possibility of other people from all different places
and different people with different interests who could answer your survey as well and you could
get strong feedback and come to a conclusion.