Audiences Pleasures
The media is obviously very powerful and can influence individuals in many ways, and influences not only individuals but whole sectors of society. There are many theories on this subject and by researching them I can adapt my video to maintain my audience are attracted and the attention is drawn to my video, not just small amount of viewers but a large target audience.
The main theory use and think about when producing my video is the 'Two Step Theory', I think this theory is most realistic when approaching my audience. The 'Two Step Theory' shows how social influence can play a massive part on people's opinions.
Explaining the relationship between audience and text is difficult which is why there are many theories for different aspects. I believe the Two Step is most suitable for my video. Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet analysed the voter's decision making processes during a 1940 presidential election campaign and published their results in a paper called The People's Choice. Their results showed that an influential factor influenced their opinion and reading of the text. For example, their findings suggested that the information doesn't flow directly from the text to the minds of the audience. They do not automatically assume and create an opinion on the subject until the information is filtered though a "opinion leader" who has major influence on the final reading the individual gains of the text. The audience therefore, do not gain their own opinion, they retrieve the information from the media however they also gain the ideas expressed from the opinion leader along with this. Concluding in them being influenced by not a direct process straight from the text but from a secondary input, resulting in 'the two step flow'.
This also meant social factors were important in the way audience interpreted texts and played a massive role. This is sometimes referred to as the limited effects paradigm.
Social factors included sports stars and celebrities that can often be seen as "brainwashing" individuals due to the power the have. People often aspire to be like these people so will also achieve the same views and representations of media texts and this is how memes then become tropes due to influences such as this. For example, Katie Piper and her story about her, many people are far more accepting of people with burns and ate less quick to judge due to her influence and opinion particularly shown in the media.
When referring back to my video, this plays a big part due to people's opinions on women in sport. Over time people have drawn to the opinion, due to various "opinion leaders" that women involved with sport is in attractive. This has lead to young people being influenced and not enjoying or being interested in sport despite all the positive impacts. However, this is changing due to positive opinion leaders, such as Jess Ennis showing recently you can be feminine and successful in sport, influencing individuals.
Opinion leaders can also influence the genre of music people listen too. Fpr example, if one person, eg a celebrity shows a dislike for a certain genre this may influence and shape someone else's opinion.
Overall, the 'Two Step Theory' relates to my video because of the concept idea involved. Many people see women in sport as not very feminine or women should not be as respected as men. As I am relating my video back to this aspect and the "fighter" aspect of it - it will play a big part and I will have to maintain I produce my text well, so people will go against tropes but also opinion leaders help to produce a positive attitude towards the subject.
Uses and Gratifications
When studying the uses and gratifications theory, we have different uses for the media and all have different ideas and different uses for the media and choices we make over what we want to watch. It's not just for some entertainment, we are expecting to get some gratification from it.
The individual has the power to select the model that best suits them and relates this to the media text they are likely to choice with the attempt to satisfy those need. The psychological basis for this model is the 'Hierarchy Of Needs' identified by Maslow, along with McQuail and Katz.
There are four key points when looking at this theory, these include;
Information
This is for people that wish to find out more about society and the world, gaining information on subjects and extending their knowledge in an easy format. These would fit the news and documentaries that provide information about situations in the world and other interesting subjects/factors happening. People wish to satisfy their curiosity on these subjects and give people a sense their learning and gaining knowledge about the world.
Personal Identity
This is for those that wish to identify with individuals, for example, watching TV in order to look for models for our behaviour. A prime example for this is identifying with characters that we see in a soap, we often want to relate to them and form a relationship with them. These characters enable us to help to decide what we feel about ourselves and if we agree with what they're doing and their actions, we often feel a sense of achievement and often feel better about ourselves if they succeed. We create a relationship with them and in some cases this enables the individual to feel and gain happiness about themselves and their own lives when relating and identifying to people in soaps.
Integration and Social Interaction
Some people may use the media to find out more about the circumstances of other people. For example, watching a show can help us to empathise and sympathise with the lives of others. In some cases some people may also form a relationship with the character, and think they think of the characters as friends personally. They feel as if they're personally interacting with the people in the programme. Once again this could possibly make people feel slightly better about themselves. Media and television may also give people a foundation and interaction point with their friends. For example, discussing with real friends about what they see in the media.
Entertainment
This factor is predominately the simplest of them all, as people may just use media for the enjoyment, relaxation or just to their time.
Overall, it's important to realise that often with media texts you do not only gain one gratification from it, but several. Despite this theory being popular with many critics, it has also been criticised for some features of the theory. For example, the theory ignores the fact that we don't always have complete choice as to what media we receive and view. A prime example of this is posters you see in every day life, for example on a billboard, you have no choice but to view it. This undermines the ideas of uses and gratifications, we may not all have the potential to use and enjoy the media products that we want. In society there are plenty of minorities who feel that the media does not provide for them the texts they want to use.
Finally, relating back to my video, I believe three out of four of these gratifications relate to what I wish to create and achieve when creating my own video. Firstly, information. I wish to inform people, if only slightly, on factors such as women in sport. Understandably, it's only a short period of time in my music video but I want it to be able to portray a powerful message and although it's not a documentary, I want it to inform people of women's thoughts and feelings towards how they're treated in certain aspects and try and get their feelings across. Secondly, personal identity. I believe people will be able to view my media text and be able to gain personal identity with it, particularly women in sport. They can relate to the person in the video and relate to their own experiences and what they've also done/do, creating a relationship between the character and themselves. Essentially, they will view this video and feel a sense of satisfaction that someone will feel the same emotions they may feel themselves. I also wish to include social interaction and integration. I wish to enable people to find out more about the circumstances about the certain individuals represented in my video - women in sport. In the short period of time I want to get a strong message across and show the passion they portray. People may begin to feel empathy for them. Finally, entertainment, I want people to enjoy my video and not feel as if it's a waste of their time. Along with the serious aspect and message behind it, music is for enjoyment as well as motivation and other factors so I also want to create this.
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