Writing about the audience in ‘Narrative and ideology’

Media narratives are more than just products. They are living, breathing things that have been influenced by the world and have audiences engage with them in a range of different ways.

It isn’t enough to think about how the media product was created, it’s also important to consider how different audiences engages with the product in a range of different ways. Through this the media has a relationship with the audience.

Relationship between media narratives and audiences

The relationship between a media narrative and it’s audiences is complex and is highly dependant on the audience itself. A media audience can be a specific person, or a certain group or type of person — but they will all engage with, consume and read the narrative differently, which will have an effect on the relationship.

When discussing this relationship it’s important to name a specific audience.

One important audience to keep in mind is the media narrative’s target audience. The target audience (or target market) is the specific group of people that the narrative was made for. These are the people that the producers had in mind when shaping the codes and conventions of the narrative so they were done in such a way that they would find it very engaging.

Some media narratives try to appeal to a broad audience. Often big Hollywood Studio films need to consider how the film will be received in other country’s such as China in order to get the most box office receipts.

Other media narratives may strive for a niche audience — a more specific subset of people. Often niche audiences enjoy a certain genre. These audiences are usually very well versed in the genre conventions and have particular expectations for the products they consume.

Other target audience considerations include demographic (age, gender, location) and also psychographic (interests, hobbies, lifestyle).

When discussing the relationship between a media narrative and an audience, consider these questions:

1. Who are the different target audiences for the media product?
2. What expectations did these target audiences have for the film in terms of codes and conventions?
3. Did the producer conform to these expectations?

Audiences and Psycho (1960)

In terms of a target market — Alfred Hitchcock brought his own with him. By the 1960’s Hitchcock was very well known. He had been nominated five times for an Oscar for best director and had won best film for ‘Rebecca’ in 1940. At the time, he was most well known for his television show ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ which was a popular anthology type show on CBS. This show was also shot in black and white, and the crew from this show were the same ones that worked on Psycho whilst the show was between seasons. Hitchcock was well known for his drama, thriller and mystery narratives which set expectations for his audience on what they would expect from Psycho.

Another target audience, and an influence on Hitchcock when making Psycho, was fans of 1950’s, low budget, black and white horror movies. Hitchcock was looking to create a cheap horror film in his own style — capitalising on how popular these films were at the time. It also allowed Hitchcock to make Psycho for cheap — around $800,000 as the target audience he was tapping into didn’t expect large and expensive films.

Fans of Hitchcock were loyal to him, but expected well crafted films that had twists, thrills and drama.

Audiences and Baby Driver (2017)

A good place to figure out who the target audience for a film is to watch the trailer:

• Fans of heist films: the film sets up the genre conventions of a heist film; a team coming together to do a job, someone’s last job and then they are out, a B love story.
• Fans of Edgar Wright: Wright is well known for his unique take on genre films such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs The World. They would be interested to see his take on this genre.
• Fans of Ansel Elgort: Famous for the films ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ and ‘Divergent’ this niche audience would be interested in Elgort’s love story.

Audience engagement with, consumption and reading of media narratives.

Producer’s may think they have control over a media product, but as soon as that product is distributed, it is up to audiences to decide how they might understand it.

Audience engagement with media narratives

How can you measure how engaged you were with a media narrative? It could be about understanding the different codes and conventions in the text and how strongly you reacted to them. It could be how strongly you related to a character in the narrative or that the themes of the story personally resonated with you.

There are many ways that audience engagement is measured — a very popular way is for audience members to give the film a star rating, or to say if they would recommend it to others or not. This is now done broadly over social media and can have a huge effect on how the film is viewed by others and also how well the film will do financially.

Audience engagement can be connected to the characteristics and construction of the media narrative. These are the codes and conventions that the producer has used in interesting ways. It might be such things as the use of the soundtrack, interesting characters or playing with genre conventions. Think about the last film you enjoyed — what part of it made it unique, or why did it hold your attention?

There are many theories regarding how and why an audience engages with the media. A common theory in this area is called the uses and gratification theory. This theory states that audiences choose media products for a specific reason, or need. When choosing a media product to consume, it might be for one of these reasons (PIES):

1. Personal Identity: Audiences could be looking for a media product that aligns with their values or ideologies. The media product aligns with how they understand the world
2. Information: Audiences could be looking for a media product to learn, find out about relevant events or they could be seeking advice.
3. Entertainment: Audiences could be using a media product for a diversion — to relax or to fill time.
4. Social integration: Audiences might be using a media product to help to connect with friends, family or society.

These different reasons for engagement are going to change the ways that an audience may read a media product. It will change the audience expectations of their experience and also change the way they decide if their engagement with the product is successful or not. If you take someone on a date to the cinema, and they break up with you straight after the movie — you will probably have a negative reaction to that movie.

An important aspect to uses and gratification theory is that the audience has all the power in this relationship — media producers must make a product that meets the demands of their different audiences.

When writing about the audiences engagement with a media narrative, consider these questions:

1. How was the narrative generally received? Did it receive positive or negative reviews?
2. How is the film’s characteristics and construction connected with it’s audience engagement? Is this connected to the audience’s expectations?
3. For what reason is the audience reading the media product? This might link back to the type of target audience they are in.

Audience consumption of media narratives

How an audience consumes a media narrative can have large effects of how they may engage with and read that media product. Consumption of media narratives include:

• The medium the narrative is in.
• The technologies used to consume the narrative.
• The environment the narrative is consumed in.

Media producers design products to be consumed in specific ways in order to get the most engagement possible. For example, film-makers usually design films to be consumed in a cinema on a large screen with surround sound, but audiences may end up consuming that film on their phone.

Producer’s may not like it — but audiences have a wide range of choices when consuming media products. These different types of consumption may change how audiences understand the codes and conventions in the media narrative, or it may also change how they read and understand it.

Audience reading of media narratives

How audiences read a media narrative is about their understanding and interpretation of the product. When looking at different ways a product can be read you are discussing active audience theory. Active audience theory states that when individuals consume a media product they don’t just blindly believe everything they see, but are intellectually engaging with it.

One way this is done is through the interpretation on the product. Active audience claims that media products are polysemic — which means that they can be interpreted in lots of different ways by audiences. Audiences bring their own prior knowledge, understandings, wants and needs and then use these to make their own meaning from it.

There is also the social context in which an active audience interprets a media narrative. The audience might discuss with their friends the film they just saw and share what they thought of it, or they might go on social media to do the same.

How different audiences from different periods of time engage with, consume and read media narratives

When an audience engages and consumes a media narrative can change their reading of it. The intended audience from when the media narrative was originally made for, in it’s own contexts — to present day audiences that have new contexts of consumption and readings of their own.

Intended Audience

The intended audience of a media narrative is the target audience for which the product was originally made. The producer is able to shape the media narrative using codes and conventions especially for the audience. This knowledge of the audience may lead to a higher engagement with the product. The producer knows what the audience expects and can more easily meet these expectations.

Depending on when the original product was produced, the producer may also be able to control how the media product is consumed. With film, even now generally the first intended audience will watch the narrative in a cinema where the producer has the most control over how it is consumed. However this is now changing with some films going straight to video on demand services or streaming services with a big loss of control of how they are consumed. This would have an impact in how those products are constructed to meet the wide variety of needs.

When reading the media narrative, the intended audience will hopefully be likely to read the product how the producer intended. That all depends of course on the context of the production and their understanding of the product — which would be a lot more limited than present day audiences.

Present Day Audiences

A present day audience is an audience that will consume the media narrative now. The difference between the intended audience maybe a long time (over 100 years!) or could be very short — but the context of how these products are understood can shift dramatically either way. In just a few months prior understandings, cultural contexts and personal understandings can shift dramatically.

Since the conventions of media change over time, a media product that was engaging to — and constructed by — an audience just a few years ago may not be engaging now. Acting might seem over the top, The plot could seem to drag and the genre conventions could have changed. This isn’t a surprise to a present day audience, but could be a barrier to older products. Some audiences find it difficult to watch black and white films or find older horror films not as scary as newer ones.

Present day audiences also have much broader options in terms of consumption. Although some industries may try to control the distribution of older texts, generally it will never be shown in the same way than it was to the intended audience. Present day audience prefer convenience. Some say that this convenience makes media products not as valuable, or more disposable than ever before. If you are streaming a film — you are more likely to be distracted by your phone or even turn off the film quicker if any of it becomes not as engaging as you would hope.

Present day audiences may have a variety of different readings of a film then the intended audience will. This might be because the product is in a new context. It could be nominated for awards and be seen as more prestigious or be seen as a dud film and not to be taken seriously. New information could have come out about the film, director or actors that create new readings of the text. Or the film could sit in a dramatically different ideological context which creates new readings of the film.