Why this audience?Emilia Waterhouse

Did we make the right choice?

I believe that we chose the correct Target Audience for our production. This is because the feed back from our questionnaires mainly corresponded with our original ideas and there were no problems involving communication. In addition we have taken into account all of the feed back we were given by our target audience, and some from the secondary audience. We have also made a conscious effort to consider any changes which may have displeased or effected the audience.

Why the audience was appropriate

The audience were appropriate for our media product because they realize that the representations in our product are stereotypical ones and they enjoy the way in which they can actively challenge them. Also the way we have challenged certain convents; such as having a female protagonist.

The secondary audience were appropriate because they are the people who will appreciate and experience issues such as the pressure of popularity, peer pressure and bullying.

Continued

The film appealed to a sophisticated audience who actively wanted to challenge and be challenged by the product and who also wanted to be engaged by the product and learn from it. Our target audience will receive entertainment and diversion, social interaction, information and surveillance.

People of a lower income bracket were also targeted by the film because they would receive personal identity from it, we could have chosen this group as our target audience. However the younger people from a lower income bracket are our secondary audience because they do no wish to be challenged and would only receive entertainment, diversion and personal identity from the production. This suggests that our audience choice was correct because our primary audience receive more from our product.

The questionnaire

How does this indicate a correct choice of audience?

Questions two and 9 shows us that we do have an understanding of our audience because the large majority were in agreement that we should use an inner city location and parks and high streets rather than flats. Also the audience want something that is informative and thought provoking rather than laid back. This informs us that we have chosen a narrative that appeals to our Target Audience as these locations and themes were in our original, rough, narrative.

Further Audience Research

We wanted to refer to issues in order to provide a large amount of verisimilitude through an accurate representation of the working class. This is because:

The accurate representation would be acknowledged by our sophisticated Target Audience who enjoy questioning stereotypes.

The secondary Audience would appreciate the representation because they would be able to identify with it.

Further Audience Research

We also discovered that only 39% of participants (in the results of the survey we looked at) belong in the established traditional class, which is because the traditional working class is becoming smaller due to the fact that the new generation are more likely to be affluent workers.

We found that the official definition of the traditional working class: “low on all forms of the three capitals although they are not the poorest group. The average age of this class is older than others.

We found that our product also targets the Precariat class: Thee most deprived class of all with low levels of economic, cultural and social capital. The everyday lives of members of this class are precarious.

Continued

Questions 2, 11 and 12 indicate that despite choosing the correct audience, our understanding of them could have been improved and there were certain things in our production, which we needed to change. Our audience wanted minimal dialogue and we had originally planned for an almost even amount of dialogue and music. They also wanted an even amount of low and high-key lighting whereas we had planned for more low-key lighting. Only after research did we discover that our Target Audience also includes the Precariat class (under class), therefore we should have previously have classified our Audience to a better standard.

On the other hand, our research indicates that we also Targeted the correct audience because our production displays a modern, young form of working class, who would be the affluent workers. Furthermore, we displayed a certain lack of money and material goods in our production, through the mise-en-scene of clothing and the setting of the council estate.

How does the Production and Distribution company address the

Target Audience?

We chose BBC films to produce and British Pathe to distribute our production.

This would appeal to our Target Audience because they are commonly released in more sophisticated venues and would therefore reach our audience.

Also BBC and independent companies are renowned for releasing films, which deal with more sophisticated subjects than mass market, conglomerate companies. Our Target Audience enjoy information and surveillance but also entertainment and diversion, which they would receive from the products produced by independents, which is why they would find interest (from the AIDA scale) in a product produced by an independent, niche company.

Theory

In our production we address the needs of the Target Audience such as morality, problem solving and acceptance of facts.

Problem solving is provided because we leave room for the audience to question the stereotypical representation of the working class. Furthermore they can solve the disequilibrium within our narrative. However the acceptance of facts is also provided because there is a limited amount of fact in our stereotypical representation of the working class, so the Audience can see, to a certain extent, how they live.

Morality is provided in our product because we display the lifestyle of the working class, who have far less resources and materials than our Target Audience. Additionally we display the suffering of our protagonist, causing the audience to pity her. An example of this is the use of the CCTV footage of Laura in the shop, the high0angke Very Long Shot connotes Laura bowing to the outside pressure of others, the audience are made to see it at a comfortable distance, which would cause them to acknowledge the suffering of others, which is not experienced by them.

Theory

We offer a stereotypical representation of the working class within our product, which our Target Audience would question because they are active.

David Morley's reception theory suggests that an audience is active and acknowledge how they interpret an ideology. They will either reject the opinion the producer wanted you to have, accept the reading or will recognize and understand the dominant reading but adjust it to suit their personal circumstance.

We believe that because our Target Audience are both sophisticated, educated and active, they will take the third approach to the stereotypical representations in our production.