Purpose of this assignment brief
In this unit you will develop your understanding of how media producers create their products for targeted audiences. You will also develop your critical and personal understanding of these products which, from these perspectives will give you a more focused approach to your own production work.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this unit you should:
- Understand how media producers define audiences for their products (audience profiling)
- Understand how media producers create products for specific audiences (audience targeting)
- Be able to develop responses to media products (audience positioning)
- Understand how media audiences respond to media products (audience response)
Assignments
Task 1 - Defining Media Audiences
(Timescale: 3 weeks)
In order to increase your understanding of audience research, you must apply the following three research methods to a popular TV programme in order to identify the audience:
Learner will prepare and produce a presentation explaining:
Evidence: Comprehensive research collated on a suitably edited blog, a recording of your presentation, feedback on your presentation from your tutor
- Quantitative audience research (Audience ratings and measurement panels)
- Qualitative Audience research (Focus groups, questionnaires, face-to-face interviews)
- Audience classification (Socio-economic, psychographic, mainstream, alternative, niche)
Learner will prepare and produce a presentation explaining:
- How methods have been used to research audiences for the product
- Conclusions of research (defining audiences in terms of given classifications)
- Correlation between quantitative and qualitative information
Evidence: Comprehensive research collated on a suitably edited blog, a recording of your presentation, feedback on your presentation from your tutor
Task 2 - Media Products and their Audiences
(Timescale: 3 weeks)
Now that you have conducted your research for a TV Programme, it is time to consider how audience theory can be linked to that research. You must create a blog page which analyses your chosen programme in terms of:
Evidence: A comprehensively detailed blog page linking your chosen film with a range of theories discussed using elucidated examples throughout.
- Audience theory (Passive/active consumption, hypodermic needle model, uses and gratifications model
- Response theory (negotiated, preferred, oppositional, participatory)
- Effects theory (effects of exposure to explicit sexual or violent content, effects of advertising/promotion)
Evidence: A comprehensively detailed blog page linking your chosen film with a range of theories discussed using elucidated examples throughout.
Task 3 - Audience Response and Behaviour
(Timescale: 3 weeks)
Using the platform of music videos, you must choose a controversial contemporary music video and critically analyse the effects of its content on a young audience. You must consider:
Evidence: A magazine article which comprehensively analyses the music video content in relation to the above point, using elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly
- Explicit sexual or violent content
- How the content challenges moral, legal and ethical viewpoints
- Whether the production values have a bearing on how the video is presented
- Stereotyping of young people, social groups, ethnicity and/or gender
- How different audiences have responded on social media to the content of the video
Evidence: A magazine article which comprehensively analyses the music video content in relation to the above point, using elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly
Task 4 - Analysis of a Television programme
(Timescale: 3 weeks)
Choose a contemporary reality television programme which has a competitive element and has received a varied critical response.
You must:
Evidence: Write a comprehensive critical review of the programme for a newspaper website using elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly
You must:
- Analyse the content of the show (Format, cast, presenters, location, narrative)
- Discuss the producers intended outcomes (Positive and/or negative representations, rewards/ and sanctions)
- Consider the moral, legal and ethical issues associated with the show
- Research audience response using methods from Task 1
Evidence: Write a comprehensive critical review of the programme for a newspaper website using elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly
(Total timescale: 12 weeks)