evaluation question 2 AS media studies, audience engagement

1. ENGAGING WITH AUDIENCES:
DEMOGRAPHICS
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
STUART HALL

2. What are demographics?
• Demographics are categorization
of people – the structure of
populations, which in the film
industry make up different
audiences
• Examples:
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Socio-economic status (ABC1C2DE)
• Sexuality
• There are different ways to
target different demographics –
through representation of
characters, locations, plot etc.
• Films can have a niche audience
appeal (a small demographic), or
at the opposite end of the
spectrum can aim for a four
quadrant appeal (male, female,
above 25 and under 25)

3. Conglomerates
4 Quadrant strategy
• The Big Six conglomerates of the film
industry have managed to almost
monopolize the market, as most of their
films target a 4 quadrant audience
• In the last 8 years, almost every single
highest grossing film of the year was
produced by one of the Big Six, and
didn't have a BBFC rating above 12
• Because they use the tentpole strategy
(their films cost $100m+) there is a
massive financial risk, as if only a few of
their films are flops, their entire company
fails

4. Indies
Issues faced
• Indie films have less of a financial risk when
making their films, as not only are budgets
lower, so they do not have to make as much
money to make profits, but they also
receive government funding in the form of
grants, which they do not have to pay back
• Because they do not use the tentpole
strategy, they can make films which appeal
to niche, or smaller audiences
• The most expensive Warp film was still only
£8.1m ('71)
• But, audiences still get missed out on
because they do not have the budget to
market their films
• The BBFC plays a big role in this issue

5. The BBFC
• There are inconsistencies in the BBFC
ratings which seem to favor
conglomerate productions over indie
• Conglomerate examples:
• Hot Fuzz
• Shaun of the Dead
• The World's End
• All received a rating of 15 – all of these films
include graphic violence, with blood, cussing
(F-bombs and the C-word)
• Indie examples:
• This is England
• Received an 18 rating, has cussing throughout
and destruction of property
• Involves a violent scene at the end, but the
message of the film condemns the violence (it is
not for comedic effect like it is in the Cornetto
trilogy)
• Tyrannosaur
• Also received an 18 rating, there are dark
themes and cussing throughout, and the
protagonist kills his dog in the opening scene
although the camera cuts away
• Sweet Sixteen
• A Ken Loach film, the script was mostly
improvised by the teenage actors – there was so
much cussing that the cast could not go to the
premiere as they were not old enough
• The film was also given an 18 rating, missing out
on a large portion of younger audience
members that the name of the film appeals to

6. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• U+G theory suggests that an audience will actively seek out media they wish to
consume, based on certain criteria – the audience is active, not passive
• What they wish to consume is based on 4 specific gratifications:
• Escapism
• Personal Identity
• Personal relationships
• Information
• Conglomerates aim for 4 quadrant audiences, so aim to fulfill as many of these as
possible in their productions
• Indie productions on the other hand, do not always aim to gratify the audience as
much, so only some of these will be fulfilled
• This isn't to say that the audience is not viewed as active, only that smaller audience will find
appeal in indie productions

7. Examples of U+G
Jurassic World (2015) - distributed by Universal
• Escapism
• The film takes place on a theme park island where humans have found a way to
genetically re-create dinosaurs – this fantasy plot is non-fictional and provides
elements of escapism
• The large budget for convincing CGI really helps with this element
• Personal identity
• Identification
• The plot follows 4 people – 2 older workers (a man and a woman), and 2 boys (high school aged and his younger brother)
• This allows audience identification form both younger and older audiences
• There are non-Caucasian side characters, although the main cast is exclusively Caucasian – this brings in wider ethnic audience
appeal, although does endorse in tokenism
• Aspiration
• Younger audience members may aspire to be like either the children or the adults
• Personal relationships
• The film features family conflict as the children's parents are going through a divorce – many children would be
able to identify with this
• There is a romantic relationship which occurs between the two adults which most people are able to identify with
• Information
• Although the film is fictional, it does have some 'fun facts' about dinosaurs which some audience members will
engage with

8. Escapism
• With a budget of $150m, this Big Six
production could make convincing CGI to
effectively allow for audience escapism
• This is also part of what makes it
entertaining

9. Personal identity
• To target a 4 quadrant audience the 4 main characters are crafted to
appeal to young and old men and women
• This is so the audience can identify with the characters, or maybe aspire to
be like them
• Men
• Chris Pratt's character – a very masculine older man (25+). Is quite rugged in his
appearance, with facial hair and durable clothes, but still well-groomed
• identification
• Has secondary female audience appeal through sex appeal
• Women
• Bryce Dallas Howard's character is a feminine older woman (25+), career focused
• identification
• Has secondary male audience through sex appeal
• Boys
• The 2 boys are high-school aged and about 10, allowing for identification from
both
• Girls
• There are no young female characters, as the film is aimed more towards men than
women this does make sense, but the teenage boys and the older man have a
secondary female audience through sex appeal
Chris Pratt's character
Bryce Dallas
Howard's character
The 2 brothers

10. Personal Relationships
• Many audiences would be able to connect and identify
with a lot of the relationships seen, making the film
appeal to more audiences
• Family
• The 2 brothers go from being very distant to overcoming their differences
• Their parents are going through a divorce
• At the start they hardly know their aunt, but as the film goes on they grow
closer
• Romantic
• A romantic relationship develops between the central man and woman of
the film
• Friendship
• Workplace

11. Information
• The film is fictional, so there isn’t a lot of information, but there are dinosaur
facts littered throughout the film
• 2 characters know how to fix bikes/cars, so there is some element of
surveillance there
• The focus for this film is more on escapism than surveillance

12. Examples of U+G
Tyrannosaur – Warp (2011)
• Escapism
• as this is a social realist film, more like the one we are creating, there is not a lot of escapism
• This does not fit the genre, nor would the film have the budget for it
• Personal identity
• The protagonist is an unemployed, racist, sexist, heavy drinking middle-aged man who kills his dog in the
opening scene
• This does not allow for a wide variety of audiences to identify with, nor aspire to be like him
• But, the film focuses on explaining why he is like this, and the difficulties in his life, allowing for empathy
• Personal relationships
• There is a friendship which grows between the protagonist and a charity shop owner, who is struggling in an
abusive relationship
• There is also the relationship between the protagonist and his dying father
• The friendship between the protagonist and a boy across the street, who is afraid of his mum's boyfriend's dog
• Information
• The film is fictional, but as a social realist aims to reflect the darker parts of real life, so in giving an accurate
representation of the difficulties many working class UK citizens face it does somewhat inform people who are
less aware of these hardship and evokes a strong audience reaction

13. Escapism
• The film falls into the social realist genre, so aims to represent life in a
realistic way, not allowing for much escapism
• Furthermore, this film has darker themes and content (alcoholism,
domestic violence and abuse, religion and nihilism, brutal hardships of
working class life, unemployment, racism)
• There is an element of escapism as some people will not have been
challenged by these themes in such a raw and gritty way, and there is still a
linear plot to follow, but this film only appeals a very small demographic

14. Personal identity
• The audience is not encouraged to aspire to be like the
protagonist, though they are encouraged to empathize
with him – the incidental acoustic music which plays after
he kicks his dog evokes this
• The protagonist is a 3 dimensional character, shown doing both
stereotypical masculine things, and counter typical (images on
the right)
• The other most prominent character is a middle-aged,
working class, female charity shop owner – more
identification is here, as she is kind to the protagonist
when he barges into and hides in her shop (showing traits
more people would be inclined to want to identify with)
• The opening scene is shocking for audiences, but as the
film goes on you are encouraged to, if not identify, then at
least empathize with the characters

15. Personal relationships
• Friendship
• An unlikely friendship grows between the charity shop owner and
protagonist, which though the audience may not be able to identify
with, is entertaining none the less
• The protagonist goes to the pub with his friends throughout the film -
identification
• Romance
• There is the relationship between the charity shop owner and her
boyfriend, and though they aren't in the film together for many scenes,
the abuse seen is a realistic portrayal of domestically abusive
relationships, and allows for audience identification form some, and
evokes a strong reaction from those who cannot identify
• Family
• The relationship between the protagonist and his dying father is
important, and some audiences could identify
• The protagonist does not have any children, but he looks out for the
young boy living across the road by killing the dog of his mum's
boyfriend – he is somewhat of a father figure

16. Information
• The plot of the film is still fictional, but the social realist genre aims to
represent life realistically
• Though it isn’t a documentary, it still shows things that many people would
not know – e.g. collecting unemployment benefits

17. Stuart Hall's Theory of Readings
• Reception theory – it is theorized that a producer encodes specific meaning into a
text, and the audience then decodes it (preferably) in the way the creator
intended. If the audience does not decode the text in the way intended, their
reading is not inherently wrong
• BUT – different audiences may not be able to decode some texts based on things
like cultural background, gender, age etc.
• Different audiences pick up on different levels of reading:
• Preferred reading
• The audience is able to understand the text in the way the creator intended
• Negotiated reading
• The audience is able to understand some of the text, but not all
• Oppositional reading
• The audience rejects the intended meaning and creates their own, maybe
because they disagree with the content, or they are not able to understand
it
• If a text has multiple possible interpretations, it is polysemic

18. Stuart Hall - intertextuality
• One way to allow for a negotiated reading
from a secondary target audience is to
include intertextual references to texts they
would understand
• If the primary target audience is youth,
references to an older film, or having an older
actor known for other films, appeals to a
secondary older target audience
• For example Halloween (1979) was aimed at a
teen target audience, but the actor Donald
Pleasance was used to appeal to an older
target audience as well