Week 4 - Media Theories

We have been looking at 3 important Meida Theories this week. The theories are all about how Media Producers want us to consume and think about the Media they produce. The Three Theories, The Hypodermic Needle Model, Reception Theory and Uses and Gratifications.
Hypodermic Needle Model: This suggests that the Media text has a direct and immediate effect on the passive audience. It is quite a flat concept in that it is supposed to be that for instance, if a TV advert for Milk says "Buy Milk" the audience will immediatley want to buy some. The theory is the basis for propoganda and advertising, as you are trying to tell people what to think and feel. In a media savvy age, the majority of the audience won't be affected, but there is still the chance that someone will be affected strongly.

Reception Theory: This suggests that Media is upfor interpretation. The Producer Encodes the text with a message, through the visuals, sound, themes etc. It is up to the Audience to then Decode the message and take a meaning from it. Obviously the theory allows for people to take different meanings from the same visuals. However, Producers tend to have a point they are trying to make and will use familiar elements to attract the audience. As we have learnt in the previous sections of this Unit, you can use codes and conventions and genre to to create familiar elements for the aduience.

Uses and Gratification: This theory works on the idea that Media consumption is an interactive experience, and the Audience gets something out of viewing your media. For instance, a viewer could watch a Soap such as Eastenders to fill the need for real world relationships. The audience feels they know the characters, and so do their friends, as if they are real people with real lives. Another example of Gratification would be entertainment. For instance people watch horror for the entertainment factor in fear.

These are simplified to their core values, as obviously each piece of media has a different effect on each person. We can use these Theories to generalise when analysisng Media Texts. It can give us further ideas on how the audience thinks and feels, so we as Media Producers can create more content accordingly.

Week 2 and 3

After doing an investigation on why media producers target their audiences, we are now moving onto how they target audiences. One of the ways companies do this is by producing products with familiar codes and conventions. These are identifiable elements for the audience, so they know what they are getting. For instance, a Horror film will always have the codes and conventions of things like blood, darkness, violence, scary music etc. Media producers can use these individual codes and conventions so that an audience can feel comfortable with new product.

We looked at Sit Coms (situation comedies), as an example of a format which has strong codes and conventions. Why is this? Producers are always making new Sit Coms as they are so popular. And how do you make something enitrely new intresting to an audience? You give it that genres codes and conventions so the audience knows the format already. Codes and conventions of Sit Coms include a "laugh track", a domestic settings, a small group of family or friend characters, 3 or 4 sets, exagerated characters. By comparing both traditional and new sit coms, you can see, where even in brand new, experimental products, producers keep familiar elements to keep it appealing to the audience.

We have moved onto looking at Meida theories, such as the Hypodermic Theory, looking at other ways producers target their products and campaigns.