Audience Theory

Today my classmates and I considered various theories related to audience including: -

- Hypodermic Needle Theory

We are all affected by the media in the same way.

- Reception Theory

Text has no inherent meaning because meaning is created by the audience during consumption of a text.

- Two Step Flow Theory

'Opinion leaders' influence the thoughts and interpretations of media texts by others.

- Uses and Gratifications Theory

The audience is very much active and can determine their own interpretations of texts.

What I found interesting in relation to creating a music video, hence why I'm blogging about this, was Blulmer and Katz's four purposes that might make an audience consume a text. These are: -

- Diversion - to escape from everyday problems and/or routines.

- Personal Relationships - using a text for emotional and other types of interaction.

- Personal Identity - finding themselves reflected in texts, helping them to learn about their own behaviour and values.

- Surveillance - retrieving useful information such as weather updates and news bulletins.

I feel these four purposes could be particularly useful in the research and production stage of my music video. Taking these into consideration could help to determine the audience our video is aimed at, which in turn could help us come to decisions about the design of our ancillary tasks.