Audience Decodes meaning/message

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings of the text. These are

1. Dominant
2. Negotiated
3. Oppositional

• Dominant

The audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it. An example of this is watching a political speech and agreeing with it. 

• Negotiated   

The audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views. E.g. Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested. 

• Oppositional

The dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons. E.g. Total rejection of the political speech and active opposition. 

Reception Theory

Since the Effects model and the Uses and Gratification's have their problems and limitations, a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s.

This consider how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded by audiences. 

The theory suggests that:

• When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience. 
• In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to stay. 
• In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message. 

More filming

Today we had to film the bits where a female was singing. This meant we had to find a female very quickly who wasn't shy and was available. However we were able to find a female and we got those scenes done. We also decided to take pictures of the filming process and the two main singers together.

The Uses and Gratification Model

• The uses and gratification model is the opposite of the effects model. 
• The audience is active
• The audience uses the text and is not used by it. 
• The audience uses the text for its ow gratification or pleasure.

Here, power lies with the audience not the producers. This theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts- how and why they use them. Far from being duped by the media, the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meaning as they see fit.

• Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:- 

1. Diversion 
2. Escapism
3. Information
4. Pleasure
5. Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own.
6. Sexual stimulation 

• The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps with issues such as:

1. Learning
2. Emotional satisfaction
3. Relaxation
4. Help with issues of personal identity
5. Help with issues of social identify
6. Help with issues of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence. The audiences inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.    

Survey Monkey results

Below are some of the responses i got from my Survey Monkey to see what people wanted from our music video?
These are the questions i asked them and these were the results;

What's your favourite music video?

What's your favourite type of music?

What do you look for in a music video?

Experience from editing

Today was the first time that i used Final Cut Express for our Music Video. I have previously used it when we were editing our Thriller Videos, but this is the first time i used it. Since my partners were not available i decided to go into the editing room and edit by myself and i must say i enjoyed it. Now that i am use to the tools in Final Cut Express i will be helping out more in the editing process.

The Uses and Gratification Model

It is still unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour. It is also clear the theory is flawed in that many people do watch violent texts and appear not to be influenced. Therefore a new theory is necessary. This is called the USES AND GRATIFICATION MODEL.

The Effects Model

In the experiment:

• Children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo Doll.
• The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that were not permitted to touch.
• The children were led to anohter a room with Bobo Dolls.
• 88% of children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour.

The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content.

• There are many problems with the experiment.
• The effect model is still the dominant theory used by politicians, (some parts of the media and some religious organisations) in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts.  
• Key examples cited as causing or being contributory factors are:-

1. The film child's play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993.

     2.The game manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc.

     3.The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks.

     4.The film Severance (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt.

 In each case there was a media and political outeryfor the texts to be banned. In some cases laws were cheanged, films were banned and newspapers demanded the burning of films. Subsequently, in each case it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and the violent acts. The effects model contributes to Moral panics whereby:

• The media produce inactivity, make us into students who won't pass their exams or 'couch potatoes' who make no effort to get a job.
• The media produces violent 'copycat' behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisements.

Photoshop - Digi Pak

Today we decided to focus on our Digi-Pak as we didn't have much time left. The first thing we did was the disc design, we decided to try and get the picture of us in front of the london eye so the wheel would go around the disc and the axis was the centre point of the disk, above is the rough copy of what I accomplished

Another Decision

As we looked back at our video, we saw that we had to film abit more because it is a fast pace song and we did not have enough footage for the whole video. So we decided to go and film some more. Our location for this filming was at the O2 arena. Since we weren't able to film inside the arena or outside we decided to use it as a background for our filming. One of our members couldn't make the journey so we decided that the rest of us should just go because it was vital that we got more footage for our video.