•Be able to describe how we define audiences •Be able to describe how media producers carry out research•Will be able to describe how products are constructed for an audience

How media producers define audiences Media production is expensive, and they don't want

to lose money. Media producers use audience research agencies which classify and profile audiences to help the industry stay in touch with their audiences’ changing tastes and they use the information they gather to target the correct audience.

Media producers create products for audiences these products are encoded with codes and conventions. Each genre has their own codes and conventions.

In order to encode products media producers first have to define their audience by using audience research

Audience research what can you remember? Two types of research Quantitative Qualitative

Audience research

Media producers use both why? Quantitative audience research (audience ratings and measurement panels) Qualitative audience research (focus groups,

questionnaires, face-to-face interviews)

Question who are the following quantatative audience research boards for BARB, RAJAR, ABC?

Defining an audience

Media producers spend a lot of time and effort defining their audience so their product can be successful. They use both methods to get a true picture of their audience.

They do this through audience profiling by demographics and psychographics

Audience profiling

They use both qualitative and quantitative date to make assumptions about their audiences consumption and preferences , using demographic factors and also psychographic factors.

Demographics

What are demographics? Why do we need to know

this what is the purpose of this information?

Demographics: audience classification

SOC Age Gender Sexuality Ethnicity Location Education

Social Class

What does that really tell you about these people?

Are we all the same?

Psychographics

Psychographics were never intended to replace demographics, what psychographics are supposed to do is to tell you about consumer behaviour, why do people buy certain products.

Psychographics are to do with values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles.

Psychographics are based on social, psychological, and the behavioral,

Psychographics are based on Lifestyle

Lifestyle is: Activities Interests Opinions

Activities why are they important? Activities are interesting to marketers

because they usually involve purchasing something? I.e. DVDs, going to the cinema

With the choice of activities the activities you choose tells us something about you.

Activities help us to identify customer needs.

Make a list of activities that you do

Activities

Activities reflect consumer lifestyle, and so do the means by which consumers learn about, acquire and pay for the products

they use. I.e. from the internet, radio, friends etc.

Market research is usually good way of finding about people’s activities and interest.

Interests

What people are interested in tells you a lot about who they are.

What are your interests? What do they tell people about you?

Opinions or values Personality types

Self actualisers             Focused on people and relationships, individualistic and creative,

                                       enthusiastically exploring change, 'in a framework of no prescriptive                                           consideration for others'.

Innovators                   Self-confident risk-takers, seeking new and different things, setting                                        their own targets to achieve.

Esteem seekers            Acquisitive and materialistic, aspiring to what they see are symbols of                                        success, including things and experience

Strivers                       Attach importance to image and status, as a means of enabling                                        acceptance by their peer group, at the same time holding onto                                        traditional values.

Contented conformers    Want to be 'normal', so follow the herd, accepting of their                                        circumstances, they are contented and comfortable in the security of                                        their own making.

Traditionalists               Risk averse, guided by traditional behaviours and values, quiet and                                        reserved, hanging back and blending in with the crowd.

    Disconnected                Detached and resentful, embittered and apathetic, tending to live in                                         the 'ever-present now'.

Acorn Catergories

Wealthy Achievers Urban Prosperity Comfortably Off Moderate Means Hard Pressed

Geodemographics/ Regional identity Is the way they seem themselves

based on regional identity i.e. Brumies, Cockneys or Scottish.

What does this all mean

Audience research collecting data about both demographic and psychographic information can tell you a lot about the following

media preferences product preferences buying patterns

Three types of audiences: Mainstream, Niche and alternative Mainstream: Mainstream generally the majority of people in this

country its c2de. people so it has the highest viewing figures. Most content is aimed at them. They like mainstream films such as Hollywood blockbusters. Also can be seen as middle of the road people

Niche: Small select group of audience that has a niche or specific interest i.e comics. These are becoming a bigger interest to advertisers because now audiences have more control about what they watch. Today’s companies are using social networking sites, and new scheduling tactics to target these groups

Alternative: These types of people are more likely to protest have an interest in generating their own content, and reading the alternative press. They are anything other than the mainstream. These types of people dislike authority and do not believe everything they read.

How do you see yourselves

Question 1

• How do media producers define audiences using examples

How do media producers create products for specific audiences

Construction of a product

Once an audience has been defined media producers then create a product for their specific audience.

They do this through addressing audiences through the following:

Selection of content Construction of content

Analysing media texts

Selection of content eg what they choose to show:

Words images Sound Sequences Colours Fonts

Analysing media texts

narratives layout captions anchorage; codes and conventions,

eg linguistic, visual, audio, symbolic, technical; modes of address

What you need to analyse

1. Who is the audience for the documentary describe them demographically

2. How has the content been selected for the audience i.e. Words, images, Sound, Sequences, Colours, Fonts

3. How has the product been constructed for the audience analyse to the following:

Anchorage codes and conventions, eg linguistic, visual, audio, symbolic, technical

Documentary Documentary texts are supposedly those which aim to document reality, attempting to depict

people, places and events. However, the process of mediation means that this is something of a oxymoron, it being

impossible to re-present reality without constructing a narrative that may be fictional in places.

Certainly, any images that are edited cannot claim to be wholly factual, they are the result of choices made by the photographer on the other end of the lens. However, it is widely accepted that categories of media texts can be classed as non-fiction, that their aim is to reveal a version of reality that is less filtered and reconstructed than in a fiction text.

Such texts are often constructed from a particular moral or political perspective, and cannot therefore claim to be objective i.e from the directors perspective i.e Micheal Moore’s Bowling for Columbine which is anti guns.

Other texts simply record an event, although decisions made in post-production mean that through edited, re-sequenced they cannot be said to be unbiased. The documentary maker generally establishes what they want to say before starting the construction of their text, and the process of documentary-making can be simply supporting of their idea.

The documentary genre has a range of purposes, from the simple selection and recording of events (a snapshot or unedited holiday video) to a polemic text that attempts to persuade the audience into a specific set of opinions Audiences must identify that purpose early on and will therefore decode documentary texts differently to fictional narratives.

Two major approaches

You can generally categorise documentary into two major approaches:

1. History and biography:Dealing with events of the past, usually involving some re-creation.

2. Filming behaviour:intending to portray different groups of people and are usually contemporary.

Documentary the different types

Documentary formats

Poetic Expository: Observational Interactive or participatory Reflexive Performative

Media theorist Bill Nichols identified six different types of documentary modes. These six can often overlap

Poetic

The poetic mode of documentary moves away from the "objective" reality of a given situation or people to grasp at an inner "truth" that can only be grasped by poetical manipulation

Codes emphasizes visual associations, tonal or rhythmic qualities, descriptive passages, and formal organization favours mood, tone and texture.

Key Examples of Poetic tradition in documentary include:

Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) presents a glorified view of (Aryan) athletes during the 1936 Olympic Games - celebrating power and beauty of the (Aryan) human form + Triumph of the

Will (1935) + Baraka (1981) also Powaqqatsi (2003)

THE EXPOSITORY MODE (voice of god) The expository documentary uses a narrator to address the audience

directly and to present an exposition, or explanation, interpreting what they are seeing on screen. Because of the disembodied nature of the narration, this form of documentary is sometimes known as the voice-of-God mode.

This is one of the oldest forms of documentary and one of the most established conventions. Programmes such as Big Brother and its follow-ups (Channel 4, 2000-2002) still use the voice-of-God narration, in the form of voice-overs by one of the producers, in order to interpret the material we are watching.

Whether or not the narrator is represented visually, we are expected to trust the narration as a definitive interpretation of, or anchor for the visual material and to accept it as authoritative on the subject matter.

Most associated with Television News programming. Key Examples of Expository tradition in documentary include: Work of John Grierson Many nature Documentaries

Exposition mode continued

In order to make this kind of identification easier, the narrator will often represent the target audience for the programme (which frequently means a male, white, middle-class narration) and will address them as a group who share the implied values of the text.On occasions, the narration of a documentary is shared between a number of people, as experts, witnesses or participants. This kind of narration is known as talking heads mode, describing the characteristic medium close-up shot which is used to frame the individual.

This approach is often used in programmes such as Emergency 999 or Crimewatch (BBC) where a number of different perspectives on a single incident are available.

THE OBSERVATIONAL MODE – window on the world Unlike exposition, observation mode grew in response to a move in the

1950’s and 1960s, which wanted to capture real life where filmakers acted as neutral observers i.e fly on the wall documentaries for instance Educating Essex.

Codes and conventions include: The filmmaker remains hidden behind the camera, ignored by the

surrounding environment, he/she neither changes nor influences the actions/events being captured.

Since nothing is staged for the camera, the camera rushes about to keep up with the action resulting in rough, shaky, often amateur-looking footage.

Key Examples of the Cinema Verite/Direct cinema Movement: . Frederick Wiseman, Hospital (1970) – fly on the wall, American

hospital Richard Pennebacker's Don't Look Back (1967) - records Bob

Dylan's 1965 tour of Britain Also Soho Stories (1996), Geri (1999)

THE PARTICIPATORY or interactive MODE Unlike the observational mode, the participatory mode

welcomes direct engagement between filmmaker and subject(s) - the filmmaker becomes part of the events being recorded

The filmmakers impact on the events being recorded is acknowledged, indeed, it is often celebrated. Film makers engage with their subjects through asking questions and sharing experiences

Key Examples of the Participatory Mode include: The films of Michael Moore - here the filmmaker directly

engages with the material being address, he becomes a character in the documentary - an essential part of the subject

Nick Broomfield's work, such as Kurt and Courtney (1998)

Living with Michael Jackson (2004) Bashir

THE REFLEXIVE MODE

– The Reflexive Mode acknowledges the constructed nature of

documentary and flaunts it - conveying to people that this is not necessarily "truth" but a

reconstruction of it - "a" truth, not "the" truth Codes/conventions The structure of the documentary is exposed - the audience are

made aware of the editing, sound recording, etc. Key Examples of the Reflexive Mode include: Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929) - documents

the mechanization of Soviet life in late twenties - the mechanical camera and cameraman become part of the subject. The art of making pictures is part of this "new" mechanical work and it to is part of the film – we literally at points in the film see the film being constructed

THE PERFORMATIVE MODE

This mode of documentary emphasizes the subjective nature of the documentarian as well as acknowledging the subjective reading of the audience - notions of being objectivity are replaced by the use of effect

Codes /conventions This mode emphasizes the emotional and social

impact on the audience Key Examples of the Performative Mode include: Supersize me Morgan Spurlock 2004 Arguably, films by Michael Moore