TV Comedy: Audience Pleasures

The type of audience pleasures you need to write about in the exam include:

• narrative pleasures such as those of narrative resolution, 
• character identification, snowballing narrative, suspense, comedy, and so on
• pleasures of recognition, familiarity and anticipation
• pleasures of difference-within-repetition
• performance unpredictability and spontaneity
• transgressive pleasures
• specific pleasures associated with performers or personalities.

Audience Demographic Categories

TV Comedy: Audience Pleasure

4. (b) Discuss in detail how one programme offers audience pleasures. Give examples from the programme. [15 marks]

The pleasures are:

• narrative pleasures such as those of narrative resolution, 
• character identification, snowballing narrative, suspense, comedy, and so on
• pleasures of recognition, familiarity and anticipation
• pleasures of difference-within-repetition
• performance unpredictability and spontaneity
• transgressive pleasures
• specific pleasures associated with performers or personalities.

Remember to include clear examples from Friday Night Dinner. 

Scheduling (4a) and Audience Pleasures (4b)

Date and time:

• Wednesday 10th December (period 1)

Task:

• Answer questions 4a and 4b (see posts below for details)

Duration:

• 25 minutes planning
• 30 minutes writing (15 minutes per question)

Film Poster and Target Audience Research

Find six posters for each of the two films (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Amazing Spiderman 2)

Annotate one of the posters using the following headings:

• title
• tag line
• billing
• logo
• key image
• website
• release date

Then write about the target audience (who the film is aimed at) for both films. 

Consider the following:

• genre
• actors
• character
• themes

Look at this example for help

Stuart Hall’s ‘Audience Reception Theory’ 2

Stuart Hall’s ‘Audience Reception Theory’

Hall argues that the media appear to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it. He also addressed theoretically the issue of how people make sense of media texts. 

In a key paper, 'Encoding/Decoding', Stuart Hall (1980), argued that the dominant ideology is typically inscribed as the 'preferred reading' in a media text, but that this is not automatically adopted by readers. 

The social situations of readers/viewers/listeners may lead them to adopt different stances. 'Dominant' readings are produced by those whose social situation favours the preferred reading; 'negotiated' readings are produced by those who inflect the preferred reading to take account of their social position; and 'oppositional' readings are produced by those whose social position puts them into direct conflict with the preferred reading Hall insists that there remain limits to interpretation: meaning cannot be simply 'private' and 'individual'.

Theory: Katz, Hartley and Maslow

Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory

• Personal Identification – Where the audience can relate to a character or their situation
• Personal Relationship – Where the audience builds a close bond with a character or group of characters
• Inform & Educate – Where the audience LEARN something from consuming the text
• Diversion – Where the audience can ESCAPE from their reality and immerse themselves in the text.

 Hartley’s Seven Subjectivities

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Class
4. Ethnicity
5. Self-Image
6. Nation
7. Family

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Social Climbers– Where the audience are driven by improving their status in society
• Caregivers– Where the audience sympathise with the characters situation.
• Explorers– Where the audience are driven by social change.
• Survivors – Audience members who want the security and routine of knowing the characters will be ok (For example) or something will be resolved.

Extension Work-Year 11

The area we will be covering is Institution and Audience.

As a starting point I want you to think about some of the TV comedies that you've seen recently

• What made you want to watch those comedies? 
• Try to think beyond peer influence and consider any other factors that contributed to your choice.
• Did you like or dislike the comedies?
• What factors impacted or your enjoyment or lack of enjoyment?
• Compose a post with your conclusions.

Audience Research Questionnaire by Holly Armitage

Click on the image above to look at Holly's audience research questionnaire results.

Click on the image below to access the actual questionnaire.

Audience Research-UK Tribes by Megan Kiely

This is only an estimate of the type of audience my magazine would appeal to, it gives a good all round view of the type of people that would buy my magazine and what their style, music taste, hobbies and lifestyles are. It is also good to see that the type of audience i want to aim my magazine at has a fairly high interest in magazines and is one of the main sources of their media consumption, two of the media magazines (Dazed & Confused and VICE) are also listed above in the common media interests of this type of person, which is great as these two magazines (Dazed & Confused in particular) have been a significant influence/inspiration in my research and planning. However i must keep in mind that this isn't completely accurate and focuses on a lot of stereotypical views.

Audience Profile by Megan Kiely

I have decided that my magazine will be aimed at a male and female audience age 16-24, however i feel that each issue could differ more to each sex depending on the cover star. The genre of music i have chosen is indie/alternative, the magazine i will produce will mainly focus on a electronic/alternative pop genre of music, focusing on upcoming, and major artists/bands of the moment. The magazine will be published every month and will contain 80-100 pages depending on the season/month e.g. in the summer months July-September there would be festival exclusives (Reading, Benicassim, Coachella etc).

This is an audience profile i have produced myself, it is an accurate description of the type of person that would buy my music magazine.

Name: Ivy Greene

Age: 21

Interests: Indie/Alternative/Electronic music, fashion, art (exhibitions), going to gigs, reading, drawing, cooking and sewing.

Favourite bands/artists: AlunaGeorge, Disclosure, The XX, SBTRKT, T.E.E.D., Jessie Ware, Delilah, Iggy Azalea, Azealia Banks, Foals, The Weeknd, MMOTHS

Favourite Places to shop/brands: ASOS, American Apparel, Acne, The Kooples, Zara, Topshop, COS, House Of Holland, Monki

Profession/Ocuupation: Final year at London College of Fashion studying Fashion Contour. Currently has a part-time job at Urban Outfitters (Covent Garden) and is living in Shoreditch, Central London.

Other info: Ivy regularly reads magazines such a i-D, Dazed & Confused & POP. She also blogs her latest styles and interests on blogspot.com and Tumblr with a significant cult following. As a student Ivy loves to find a bargain on her favourite markets in Camden Lock, Brick Lane & Dover Street.

Name: Harvey Smith

Age: 20

Interests: Indie/Alternative/Electronic music, fashion, journalism, football, attending gigs and festivals

Favourite bands/artists: AlunaGeorge, Disclosure, The XX, SBTRKT, T.E.E.D., London Grammer, Haim, The 1975, Foals, The Weeknd, MMOTHS, Hudson Mohawke

Favourite Places to shop/brands: American Apparel, Comme De Garcons, Carhart, Acne, Penfield, The Kooples, Pretty Green.

Profession/occupation: Music journalism degree at Brighton University, currently writes reviews for albums and gigs for Virgin music.

Audience

Choose two magazines that appeal to different ages. Analyse the covers in terms of audience appeal. Use LIAR and magazine terminology to help with this. Layout both images on a landscape word doc. and label appropriately. You can of course choose your own magazines (the ones below are just examples).

Year 10 Summer Work

YEAR 10 BOOKLET SUMMER 2013.docx