POST 7:Audience Theory

I am going to analyis 4 short films in relation to audience theory,many people have researched into the effects that the media has on an audience and film/tv makers still target genreal audiences during their productions.

The problem with audience is that they way someone reads the text depends on their social situation and how they have been brought up. For instance the main reading for the text 'Tender' would be the dominant-hegemonic reading with an element of Negotiated hegmonic reading, this is because the social situation in the film is a common one many of us can relate to the events in the film and accept the dominant message. Whereas the aspect of the film where we are left wondering whats going to happen next and why,  would be the Negotiated hegomonic reading  as our own positions and expectations would influence how we read the text.  The mode of address is initually indirect but an intimate one, we feel close to characters through closeups.

'Whore' is quite like 'Tender' they both are about social situations which are prominent of the time.  This is also Negotiated Reading due to the fact that some people may see the girl as victim whereas others may see her as the person to blame for her being in this situation. People could say that moral panic could effect young people watching this it may cause them to become permisous but the way the film is set out, the fact the girl is sad and stuck with a abusive and nasty boy will so i don't think moral panic would have an effect.' Whore' didnt do aswell with the awards this could be as it is quite controversuial.

'Pop Art' would also have a Negotiated Reading, this film would have more of an element of Preferred Reading as the postion of the viewer is a more familar one, we are presented with a boy being bullied and this is a normal problem that we view through the media the most. The Negotiated Reading is the use of a blow up boy some people may intreprtate the meaning of the use of the blow up boy as different things resulting in the short film having a negotiated reading, this cou;ld also be considered as aberrant decoding. 'Pop Art' has recieved 4 awards from different film festivals, london viewer: 'The storyline is innovative, so I won't give it away, but it is both challenging and light at the same time !'

 
'Jade' once again has a Negotiated Reading, all arty films will have this reading because they arn't clear cut, Hollywood films are nice boy- bad boy its obvious what postion as the viewer we should take. Through-out 'Jade' we are confused to what relationship she has with the other characters, and how she's going to resolve being pregnant, some people may feel differently about her situation and whether they feel sorry for her or not. This film one the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin internactional film festival.

Daniel Elliott holding his award

From what we have looked at in class and from my analysis up above I have concluded that, our shot film script needs to make people think and leave them wondering whats going to happen to our characters or why they are in that position, as this seems to be a conventional pattern within short films. Our script also needs to have a good narrative and to be ground-breaking to keep the audience interested whilst the film being an easy watch.