How does the Trailer for Topboy (Channel 4) target their audience?
· Primary audience: young males, a demographic between 16-25 given this is the age of the characters represented in the drama.
· Secondary audience: members of the young, black community as the race is predominantly represented through the characters.
· The mise-en-scene consists of high-rise flats and council estates, representing a crime-ridden neighbourhood. Young people may are also more likely to identify with and sympathise for these characters (Blumler and Katz) – the dialogue reinforces this when the protagonist states “I wanna life... I wanna good life”.
· This may also appear to audiences who want to escape into intense narratives, which are a welcome contrast to their more routine lives (Richard Dyer).
· The trailer features close-up shots of a black hand carrying a knife, drug weighing and a Long Shot of an abducted black man, suggesting ‘Summerhouse’ is a dangerous and undesirable place to many people who do not live in these poverty stricken areas. Even though this is a drama, this may gratify an audience through finding information about what life is like in deprived areas in Britain.
· There is grime/electronic music playing (non-diegetic sound), creating an exotic vibe which matches trailer’s narrative of building up intensity.
· The grime/electronic music could provide a form of entertainment (Blumler and Katz) through building up the intensity from the narrative, making the audience eager to find out what is going to happen next.
· There are many low-angle shots utilised to represent the protagonist as an intimidating and dangerous character (Alvarado) - gratifying the audience through constructing a dramatic narrative.
· The narrative structure of equilibrium (the two boys walking calmly through the estate), disequilibrium (tracking shot of boy running away scared, drug dealing and police lights) to equilibrium of the protagonist calmly overlooking the Summerhouse estate. This would provide a form of entertainment for audience to resonate with (Blumler and Katz).
· How does the Trailer for Topboy (Channel 4) position their audience?
The text has attempted to position the audience to see the black characters as the perpetrators of crime (as drug dealers and crime-ridden), yet the white characters are framed as being the victims in the short narrative (being chased, suffering from fear etc.), reinforcing Alvarado’s theory of black people as ‘dangerous’.
· Although the audience is positioned to feel sympathy for the lead character (who is also black) through the use of voice over: “I was born and bred in Summerhouse. I’m 26 years old”, “I haven’t got nothing else to be except this”. This reinforces another one of Alvarado’s representations of black people as being pitied in the media.
· The repeated visual codes of violence positions some audiences to view London council estates as dangerous places.
How may audiences respond differently to the trailer for Topboy (Channel 4)?
· Stuart Hall’s ‘Reception Model’ (1980) theory; audiences have contrasting responses to the same texts; preferred, negotiated and oppositional.
· Old people may view this trailer with an oppositional viewpoint, from witnessing youths and juvenile delinquents with a taboo, creating a moral panic (Cohen) of them as being ‘dangerous’. Therefore they may feel no sympathy for the central character.
· Mainstream audience may respond with a negotiated viewpoint, opposing the drug culture and crime-ridden lifestyles the characters lead, however, understand this is a result of their unfortunate upbringing and view them as being ‘pitied’ (left-wing ideology).
· Young people who are going through a rebellious stage could view the culture depicted as something they desire, rather than something that is a negative part of these character's lives - as a glorification of inner-city crime.
· Some viewers may see the drama as a reinforcing negative stereotypes of inner-city culture - and by focussing on the crime and drama for narrative's sakes are creating a melodrama that exploits the issues in which it is dealing with (and certainly doesn't provide any accurate information about these places).
· Some views may see the representation of black characters as violent, reinforcing negative stereotypes - and may see this text as possibly racist (in the vein of blaxploitation movies in the 1970s - look it up!).
The next PP covers a range of theories and ideas mainly linked to how media texts affect us - are we active or passive media consumers? You may need to go through this slowly and more than once to ensure you get the basic ideas. Please come and ask for help, if you are struggling with any of these!
accompanying links to extracts from above Powerpoint
Bisto
Mini
Call of duty
wild ones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpZPPJw4xvE
The next PP contains some texts that you can use to explore some of the key ideas about audience that you need to cover
The next PP contains some texts that you can use to explore some of the key ideas about audience that you need to cover
Texts for audience topic work from smcmediastudies
And, finally, a PP with three key texts that you SHOULD analyse over the next few weeks and use as your case studies for the exam
And, finally, a PP with three key texts that you SHOULD analyse over the next few weeks and use as your case studies for the exam
Audience - Social Grading - ABC1C2DE
Question 2 of exam (Practice)
2. a) Choose one of the film posters (A team). Suggest two different audiences for this film. Give brief reasons for your choice (6)
b) Using either of the film posters (A Team) explain how the main audience for the film has been targeted. (9)
c) What different uses are available to a range of audiences from different media texts? Refer to your own detailed examples (15) – This is about uses and gratifications
One of the three questions in the summer exam for MS1 will be about how audiences use and respond to media texts and how producers make texts with specific audiences in mind.
To tackle this topic, you need quite a range of theory and ideas and will need to apply them to some case study texts and, possibly, to the unseen text you will analyse in the exam.... Here are some PPs to support the work you've done for this topic. The first accompanies the Who Is Your Audience? topic and focuses on the different ways we describe and define the audience, as well as considering the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches:
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