L04 : Article Review

Page One

 

 

Page Two

L03

L03; Audience responses and behaviour

There are two main theories audiences and they are the “hypodermic needle theory” and the “uses and gratifications theory” these two theories are the main point of reference when it comes to understanding you’re audience and trying to understand how they process , handle and respond to various different aspects of media , advertising and branding.

Adverts have the potential to make a massive impact on an audience, some people more so than others and this depends on which physiographic, demographic and geographic categories they fall into for example young people are a lot more susceptible to influence from media.

The hypodermic need theory

“The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.

 

Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including:

- The fast rise and popularization of radio and television

- The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda

- The Payne Fund studies of the 1930s, which focused on the impact of motion pictures on children, and

- Hitler's monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party”

 

Information source - http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/

In short the hypodermic needle theory suggests that media can be pumped into, forced upon or directly injected into the mind of the audience. A prime example of this is ; a young girl walking down the street will see hundreds of images of skinny super models , makeup and beauty products these images make her think that she needs to buy these products as these woman are made to look like idealistic clones of each other using photo editing software such as photoshop .

 Somebodies ideas and views can be changed in an instant if they are subject to the right piece of media. Even on a sub conscious level we take in media, because it is all around us; billboards, the radio, posters, flyers, the internet and hundreds of other media platforms. Due to the fact that media is always around us as we get older we sort of become numb to it , we know it’s there , we know what to expect and we can make educated conclusions about the things around us ; this is why young minds are a lot more susceptible to advertising.

Uses and gratifications theory

“Uses and gratifications approach is an influential tradition in media research. The original conception of the approach was based on the research for explaining the great appeal of certain media contents. The core question of such research is: Why do people use media and what do they use them for? (McQuail, 1983). There exists a basic idea in this approach: audience members know media content, and which media they can use to meet their needs.

In the mass communication process, uses and gratifications approach puts the function of linking need gratifications and media choice clearly on the side of audience members. It suggests that people’s needs influence what media they would choose, how they use certain media and what gratifications the media give them. This approach differs from other theoretical perspectives in that it regards audiences as active media users as opposed to passive receivers of information. In contrast to traditional media effects theories which focus on “what media do to people” and assume audiences are homogeneous, uses and gratifications approach is more concerned with “what people do with media” (Katz, 1959). It allows audiences personal needs to use media and responds to the media, which determined by their social and psychological background”.

Simplified the uses and gratifications theory , suggests that what we see in the media is dictated by the public as the teams behind all the advertising , marketing and branding that we see on a daily basis are trying to suit the needs and wants of the public.

Information Source - http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Theory/Uses_and_Gratifications

 

 

L02

L02: Target Audience and demographics

My product is aimed at young adult’s in-between the ages of 13 and 30 because they listen to the more electronic music that any other age group. This age group are also constantly up to date with technology e.g. the newest iPhone which is perfect for my product because I aim to sell it digitally as well as a solid copy.

“The music industry is dominated by four large corporations – Universal music group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI. The first three are US based companies while the latter is a UK –based private company”.

I’m going to create a five track EP , create a digipak for it , create an advertising campaign , create a brand name and then reach a point where I can sell it on a professional , commercial level to consumers.

I have created and edited every bit of artwork I’m going to use and own them and their copyright.

I own some of the music on the EP. I have permission from all of the other artists on the album to promote and distribute their music for a percentage of the profits.

Euphoria presets – the very best of extreme euphoria

 

Form - The form of this advert is stand alone

Style - I think this advert has a very dramatic feel to it because everything is dramatised because all this actress is really doing is sitting in a chair listening to a CD yet she looks like she's having the best time ever.

Codes and Conventions - The style of this advert is very dark yet sexy and stylish at the same time , its the mix of the dark science looking lab and the woman who is the main focus of the advert. The camera shot changes repeatedly throughout the advert from medium shots to close ups showing different reactions that this woman is having to the music.

The advert is basically saying well this sexy woman likes this CD so if your a woman you should like this music too and if you’re a man you should buy this CD because women like it , sex sells.

Computer graphics - The only computer graphics used in this advert are when they show the CD cover at the end.

Characteristics of product or services - I think this advert is designed to appeal to a younger audience , its trying to sell an album full of dance music so its not likely to be for anybody under  13 or over 30.

Regulation - Advertising Standards Authority (ASA); Ofcom

 

 

1. Voice over - Their is a voice over at the end of the advert that basically tells you what CD their trying to sell you but they have made the voice loud and very in your face as it captures your attention more than a voice you can't really hear properly , their more or less shouting the name of their product at you.
2. Dubbing - The original audio track that came with the footage would have been deleted because the main focus of the advert is meant to be on the music.
3. Jingles - Like with my advert they have chosen not to put any jingles into this advert, this is very common in adverts trying to sell music.
4. Music tracks - The music track is a short mix of various different tracks that are featured on the CD they go in time with the footage.
5. Special sound FX - The creator of this advert chose not to use sound FX.

Form - The form of this advert is stand alone

Style - This advert follows a realist narrative

Codes and conventions - The whole advert is fast paced and designed with loads of colours to keep people with short attention spans amused , this makes me think that it was created for a younger audience.

Computer graphics - Most of this advert is created using computer graphics although there are a few small parts with real life footage.

Characteristics of product or services - As with the last advert I would definitely say this is aimed at a younger audience the older generations tend to dislike jungle and drum and bass.

Regulation - Advertising Standards Authority (ASA); Ofcom

This research into similar products has taught me a few different things about my target audience, the main point being that young people are drawn too bright, vibrant, fast paced, modern advertising and are far more likely to pay attention to this type of campaign as opposed to a slow , simple and dull campaign. I can apply this information to my campaign and will bare in mind what exactly it is that my demographic are looking for when it comes to media product and advertising.

 

L01

How media producers define their target audience

Media producers have several different methods and techniques that they use to define their target audience. Knowing you’re target audience is a crucial part of marketing, branding and distributing a product. Without knowing you’re target audience, projects can lose their sense of direction and end up tailored to whatever the creators consider a good product.

It is crucial when creating an advert to remember that research must be conducted to find the best possible time and place for broadcasting, there are several things to consider and they are age of audience, gender of audience, where they live and what they like to do in their free time.

If this type of research is not conducted before broadcasting then the advertising campaign can potentially completely fail, if you were to show an advert for a drum and bass CD at midnight on a cooking channel you would sell a fraction of the amount you would if you showed it on channel four around nine.

Once I find out all the basic information on my target audience I can begin looking into what jobs they do and how much money they earn , which could help my with marketing and planning out the price of my product. Different jobs fall into different occupational classifications.

Here is a link to the official standard classification for the UK

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/classifications/current-standard-classifications/index.html

Channel four aims alot of its programming towards young people beetween 15 and 30 , with programs such as Skins , Misfits , facejacker etc etc . . . This is the exact same demographic that I am going to be trying to sell my product to , therefore I think channel four would be the ideal place for me to broadcast my advert.

Method	Is the method suitable	Reason for answer
Surveys	Yes	Yeah surveys would give me a rough outline of what my target audience want and need.
Questionnaires	Yes	Questionnaires would give me specific opinions and in depth answers relevant to the production of my film.
Online forums	Yes	Online forums would give me opinions from people that are really interested in film and will give helpful answers.
Interviews	Yes	Interviews would allow me to have an in depth conversation with somebody from my target audience.
Focus Groups	Partially	Most information gathered can also be gathered with the methods previously mentioned.
Online Ratings	Partially	Most information gathered can also be gathered with the methods previously mentioned.
Magazine Reviews	Partially	Most information gathered can also be gathered with the methods previously mentioned.

 

Quantitive research is the most common aspect of research that media producers are likely to use, this involves critically analysing TV viewing figures using sites such as www.barb.co.uk, radio research is typically gathered via websites such as www.rajar.co.uk and media performance sites such as www.abc.org.uk provide you with a whole different range of figures and analytics from various different media platforms.

Quantitive research is mainly used by well established companies as small businesses cannot afford to advertise via television and radio.

Qualitive research is research gathered through things such as questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, meetings and other face to face scenarios with the target audience. Questionnaires tend to be the most popular method of gathering research when it comes to Qualitive research and this is because it simple, often fairly quick and can easily be done on a wide scale.

 

Socio-economic status recent studies from the BBC have shown that demographics can be broken down into seven different social classes’ e.g. poor people and rich people watch

“The BBC teamed up with sociologists from leading universities to analyse the modern British class system. They surveyed more than 161,000 people and came up with a new model made up of seven groups. To find out where you fit in use this calculator below”

There are many different audience categories in which a member of your demographic can fall under, these will include things like profession, income , gender , location , hobbies , religion , marital status , sexuality , ethnicity , behaviour and many more categories. There are several different things that companies in media will use to collect and gather this information some of the most popular are surveys, questionnaires, interviews, online forums, magazine reviews, online reviews and audience panels. If the information gathered by any of the previously mentioned things is considered to be relevant and useful it falls under the category primary if it’s considered relevant but not that important it becomes secondary information.

Phsycographics are fairly similar to demographics , physcographics puts people into various different boxes and then research is done into how each different type of person reacts with media they encounter on a daily basis.

Once you know what kind of people are intrested in you’re media product , you can start to use this information to influence a whole manner of decisions you make within they company e.g. happy people like bright , uplifting and cheerful advertising and a way more likely to enage with colourful eye catching advertisments

Geo-demographics put people into catagories based on their location , how much money they make in a year , how many cars they own , how old the head of the house is and various other characteristics.

Different parts of the country tend to enjoy different programmes , radio shows , websites and music so gathering geo-demographic research is crucial as you can figure out where the best place to base you’re advertising campaign in order to gather some publicity for a product or company.

Demographics but people into different categories based on the most basic of information for example age , income , education and job status. This information is the most useful research that you can gather about you’re target audience as it enables you to put your’e self in a similar mindset as the people youre selling youre product too , this in turns helps you customise the product to suit their specific needs.