For whom do we make our media for? Sure, we can say the product is for us to enjoy and some people make their product for their own enjoyment. This is not the most cases, for the main reason many people make a product is for an audience to consume it.

Now, What is an Audience? the group of spectators at a public event; listeners or viewers collectively. They can be of any age group, gender, race or nationality.

I also thought that this video helped a little in understanding about audience

Defining the Audience | media studies | Quick Intro by Grant Abbitt

There are many types of audiences, and for this I studied theories about audiences. The first theory is

Passive Audience :

Researchers investigating the effect of media on audiences have considered the audience in two distinct ways. A passive audience is an audience that merely observes and event rather than actively responding it.

The earliest idea was that a mass audience is passive and inactive. The members of the audience are seen as couch potatoes just sitting there consuming media texts – particularly commercial television programmes.

It was thought that this did not require the active use of the brain. The audience accepts and believes all messages in any media text that they receive. This is the passive audience model.

This is defined by

The Hypodermic Model

The Hypodermic Needle Theory is a linear communication theory which suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of a passive audience. It suggests that we’re all the same and we all respond to media messages in the same way.

the hypodermic needle theory by Grant Abbitt

In 1957, an American theorist, Vane Packard, who was working in advertising, wrote an influential book called The Hidden Persuaders. This book suggested that advertisers were able to manipulate audiences and persuade them to buy things they may not want to buy. This suggested advertisers had power over audiences. In fact, this has since proved to be an unreliable model, as modern audiences are too sophisticated.
This theory stems from a fear of the mass-media, and gives the media much more power than it can ever have in a democracy. Also, it ignores the obvious fact that not everyone in an audience behaves in the same way. 

Cultivation Theory:

According to the theory, people who watch television frequently are more likely to be influenced by the messages from the world of television. The influence goes to such an extent that their world view and perceptions start reflecting what they repeatedly see and hear on television. It states again and in favour of passive audience that the audience consue what they see.

Cultivation Theory: Media Theories by Mr. Sinn

Two Step Flow Theory

The two-step model says that most people are not directly influenced by mass media, and instead form their opinions based on opinion leaders who interpret media messages and put them into context. Opinion leaders are those initially exposed to a specific media content, and who interpret it based on their own opinion.

Active Audience:

This newer model sees the audience not as couch potatoes, but as individuals who are active and interact with the communication process and use media texts for their own purposes. They are prosumers (producers and consumers). Active audience theory argues that media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively involved, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts.

We behave differently because we are different people from different backgrounds with many different attitudes, values, experiences and ideas.

Active audience consists of different theories too, one of them being

Uses and Gratifications Model

This model stems from the idea that audiences are a complex mixture of individuals who select media texts that best suits their needs. The users and gratifications model suggests that media audiences are active and make active decisions about what they consume in relation to their social and cultural setting and their needs.

This was summed up by theorists . This means that audiences choose to watch programmes that make them feel good (gratifications), e.g. dramas and sitcoms, or that give them information that they can use (uses), e.g. news or information about new products or the world about them.

‘Media usage can be explained in that it provides gratifications (meaning it satisfies needs) related to the satisfaction of social and psychological needs’. Blumler and Katz in 1974

This video sums up this theory well

Why do we watch TV? | Uses and Gratification theory explained by The Media Insider

Blumler and Katz (1975) identified four main uses:

• Surveillance – our need to know what is going on in the world. This relates to Maslow’s need for security. By keeping up to date with news about local and international events, we feel we have the knowledge to avoid or deal with dangers.
• Personal relationships – our need for to interact with other people. This is provided by forming virtual relationships with characters in soaps, films and all kinds of drama, and other programmes and other media texts.
• Personal identity – our need to define our identity and sense of self. Part of our sense of self is informed by making judgements about all sorts of people and things. This is also true of judgements we make about TV and film characters, and celebrities. Our choice of music, the shows we watch, the stars we like can be an expression of our identities. One aspect of this type of gratification is known as value reinforcement. This is where we choose television programmes or newspapers that have similar beliefs to those we hold.
• Diversion – the need for escape, entertainment and relaxation. All types of television programmes can be ‘used’ to wind down and offer diversion, as well as satisfying some of the other needs at the same time.

Reception Analysis

Reception analysis is an active audience theory that looks at how audiences interact with a media text taking into account their ‘situated culture’.The theory suggests that social and daily experiences can affect the way an audience reads a media text and reacts to it.

Hall suggests that an audience has a significant role in the process of reading a text, and this can be discussed in three different ways:

• The Dominant or Preferred Reading. The audience shares the code of the text and fully accepts its preferred meaning as intended by the producers.
• The Negotiated Reading. The audience partly shares the code of the text and broadly accepts the preferred meaning but can change the meaning in some way according to their own experiences.
• The Oppositional Reading. The audience understands the preferred meaning but does not share the text’s code and rejects this intended meaning. This can be called a radical reading that may be, say Marxist or feminist or right wing.

The general difference between Passive and Active audience:

To sum it all up, A passive audience accepts the message in the way the media outlet intended it while an active audience questions what they see and independently form their own opinions.

All of this research would difinitely help me consider what type of film opening I am going to create and what audience I am going to target. Which brings me to my last point.

What is Target Audience? _{A target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message.}

I will go in more detail in my next post for target audience and what my target audience will be.