Analyse one of your coursework

productions in relation to the

concept of audience.
The concept of audience is vital in the creation of a film as I had to consider the
audience profile of my intended consumers to adjust the text so that it will not
only appeal to them but it is also suitable for the age rating. For my A2
coursework I created a teen drama teaser trailer for the film Hey, Hayley.
Classification is key as you have to take into account the content of your film and
the likely audience members when an external company watches the film and
classifies it. The fact that my film would feature drug and alcohol abuse means
that my film would be classified 15. Along with this there were other theories I
had to take into consideration when creating my production: The Hypodermic
Needle Theory, Halls Audience Reception Theory and Uses and Gratification
Theory.
The Hypodermic Needle Theory suggests that the media is like a syringe which
injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience who because they are
usually passive, have little choice but to be influenced by the behaviour they see
and will then eventually copy it. One of the main messages portrayed in my
production is that Driving Under Influence (DUI) can lead to serious
consequences (death, serious injury) to try and discourage any future behaviour
of our target audience who could act irresponsibly in the future. However, some
of my audience received the car crash as a bad event but leads to ok
circumstances which wasnt the message I was trying to create as I wanted to
show that the irresponsible behaviour of my target audience can have serious
consequences that sometimes cant be reversed. There were also negative
messages portrayed in my trailer including drug abuse as Cara is seen showing
off the drugs to the camera almost proudly which connotes that it is an
acceptable act despite the hesitancy of Wesleys character and the fact that he
shushes her, encodes that the act isnt acceptable but will still partake in the
act which can influence the more passive members of my audience by making
them think that taking drugs is okay as long as it is kept secret especially as
drugs are present in a lot of similar media types meaning that they may be
desensitised to the behaviour and see it as acceptable. This theory is only
applicable slightly as the lower age of my target audience can be influential as it
starts at 15. However my audience would be mostly active as they are online and
are able to choose their own media to suit their needs (entertainment, personal
relationships e.c.t) meaning that they may not be influenced by the negative
messages shown in my production.
Halls Audience Reception Theory suggests that the audience will read messages
that the creator encodes differently due to their own individual ideologies and
beliefs. There are three different types of reading: Dominant (where the reader

agrees with the desired meaning), Oppositional (where the meaning is

recognised but rejected) and Negotiated (the reader accepts, rejects or redefines
elements of the message based on previous views). The key messages I hoped to
convey in my production were to do with conveying the genre, target audience
and the storyline to my audience. I conveyed my genre and target audience
through the characters and props present in my trailer. The use of teenagers
made it obvious that this was the age range that my product was aimed at as
well as giving a hint as to what the genre is. The use of drugs and alcohol also
helped convey the target audience as these are props that are commonly
associated with teenagers once again hinting at both the genre and the target
audience. The biggest element that helped convey my genre and target
audience is the sense of the storyline in terms of the vlogging effect as my
target audience spend a lot of time online and would recognise the notion and
would therefore convey the genre and target audience of my production. My
target audience understood the messages I conveyed in terms of the genre,
storyline and target audience due to the conventions I used in terms of the drugs
and alcohol which were the biggest input into them understanding who the
target audience was in terms of age and the focus on two female characters and
the colours shown meant that they could understand that the production was
mainly aimed towards females rather than males. My target audience were also
able to correctly understand the narrative of my production due to the structure
of my trailer and the dialogue of my characters. The theory is extremely relevant
to my production as although there was a mostly dominant reading of my
product, there was one message in that there was a negotiated reading in my
text which was to do with the nature of Hayley as my target audience read the
text as she dies in the car crash where this may not be the case but due to the
enigma code, I had to keep some of the narrative a mystery to create questions
for the audience when they watch the production. The fact that my audience had
some different readings due to what they saw means that I can indeed apply this
theory to my A2 production.
The Uses and Gratification Theory suggests that the audience determines what
to do with the media rather than being influenced by it. This suggests that the
audience is active. There are 4 different types of gratification, these are: Personal
Identity (The audience look for models of their own behaviour), Surveillance (The
audience uses media to gather information), Entertainment (The audience uses
media as a means of enjoyment and relaxation), Personal Relationship (The
audience uses media as a means of social interaction and integration). My
product gratifies all four needs of the theory. Mostly entertainment, personal
identity and personal relationships but there are also elements of surveillance in
there due to the production company title so the audience is aware of who
produced the film. The need for entertainment is gratified as the production is
quite light-hearted which could lead to people watching it so they can escape
their own lives for a short while, whilst getting caught up in the lives of the
characters in the production. The need for personal Identity is also especially
gratified as my characters are of a similar age to my target audience and would
therefore show similar behaviours which would appeal to my target audience as

they would be able to relate to the characters and their actions. Personal
Relationships is also gratified through the use of the social media hashtag
meaning that my audience would be able to discuss my product with other
people online as well as talking to their friends about it and sharing the
anticipation of the upcoming film. I can tell that this is the case as my target
audience mostly said that theyd watch the film because of the personal identity
as it was a teen drama and they are teens. This proves that the need of personal
identity was gratified as they would watch my production because of the
relations with the characters rather than for informational purposes. This theory
is incredibly applicable as my audience is active due to living in an online age
meaning that they choose which media they would consume and for what
reason. The personal identity, entertainment and personal relationships are
extremely key, relevant points for my production as these were the main needs
that were gratified for my target audience. Also, as my product is polysemic, it
can have more than one meaning; therefore this theory is extremely useful in
terms of my A2 production.
In conclusion, the most useful theory is the Uses and Gratification Theory as my
product is polysemic meaning that my product could have different meanings
which explained why my audience would watch my product for different reasons,
especially in terms of entertainment and personal identity. The least useful
theory would be the Hypodermic Needle Theory as my audience would be mostly
active as they are online and are able to choose their own media to suit their
needs meaning that they are unlikely to be influenced by the negative messages
shown in my production. Despite this, I had to consider all three theories when
classifying my A2 production.