Audience Theory

Audience theory

In class we explored two theories as to why audience's watch and enjoy media. 

One of the theories was the 'Effects model' also known as the 'hypodermic model', this theory was created in 1997 by Hoynes Croteau and is based around creating a strong influence or effect on the viewers. As they watch a scene or music video they feel connected consciously, this means that the media they are watching they beginning to take pleasure from and almost develop an addictive state towards it, this is why it is called 'hypodermic', like a needle or drug, causes an addiction and a relapse; your daily dose of television!

This Effects model can be applied to music videos as they are very engaging, they engage your senses of sight and hearing, so consequentially connect with the mind, causing people to feel like they should mimic  and react to what happens in the video, an example of this it the 'Bo Bo doll experiment' during this experiment they applied the effects of what children saw on the television to how they reacted in reality amongst the same situation, the results were astonishing and the experiment a success, children clearly copied exactly what they saw on television. Music videos can also be mimicked in many other ways such as the fashion style and the dance moves, creating a huge amount of reality in what people have seen as they begin to identify with the mind.

    Another theory I explored in class as to why audience's take interest in different types of media is Uses and Gratification, this theory was developed in 1974 by Blumler and Katz.  I watched the music video by chase and status called 'Time' which is embedded below. I felt that 'uses and gratification' could easily be applied o this video because viewers were given a sense of having there needs and desires met, for example, information the audience were give the chance to find out about new events from the video, seek some advice and satisfy there security of knowledge about the issue raised in the video, it addressed the subject of domestic violence and later gave a help line at the end for anyone suffering from the same thing they had seen. further more it gave audience the feel of personal identity, helping the audience to be re enforce of personal values and find models of behaviour (role models). Social interaction is used to help find a basis of conversation, so the audience all have something they can discuss and debate, this interaction give the audience a sense of belonging and a connection with the people they are with. Finally entertainment, this is usually the main focus of things such as music videos n television channels, this helps the audience to fill time, experience some cultural enjoyment and relax connoting in the needs and desires of the individual being met.

In class we explored these two theories about audiences and there consumption of media and my understanding of them is that they fulfil needs and desires of the audience by meeting pleasures. This type of pleasure applies to music videos As they hold a strong basis for all of these things to be put into place . Music Videos are a perfect opportunity to spread the word about something or create an impact on an audience.
In class we then had to independently identify our own choice of music video and apply these two theories to it, I chose the music video 'So good to me' by Chris Malinchak, the narrative of this video is about a girl and her unusual  best friend, the young girl cannot find her friend for a while but when they are reunited it portrays a sense of happiness and love. The two theories relate to this video as they would appeal to someone looking for that type of entertainment. Uses and Gratification are used as information is incorporated the finding of the giraffe satisfied the audiences curiosity. Personal identity came through by the pure fact that a young girl is best friends with a wild animal, this reinforced personal values and could even provoke the gaining of insight into ones self. furthermore, social interaction would come into the analysis of this video as it creates conversation, the unusual partnership and pleasant viewing will connote the audience emotional reaction to what they see consequentially creating conversation.
lastly, entertainment is met as people are being diverted from there own problems and shown another persons this can be a form of gratification for the Audience or just some escapism.