Audience Homework

Audience Homework

Section 1

1A) ' Identify the main targeted audience of Mad Men' 
Mad Men’s targeted audience is a niche, more active audience with specific interests.  It is not constructed to appeal to a wide audience. 

1B) 'Identify one way the text has been encoded to appeal to that type of audience'. 
Mad men has been encoded to appeal to a niche active audience, one convention is through the use of high level cinematography throughout the episode.

1C) 'Justify how that point/technique/convention would gratify your previously identified type of audience'.
The high level of cinematography used in Mad Men would gratify an active audience as it allows the audience members to question how the text has been constructed and allows them to analyse the way in which the text has been encoded. 

1D) 'Describe a narrative sequence where this point/technique/convention is present'. 
The use of high level cinematography is present throughout the whole episode of ‘The Other Woman’ especially in the jaguar pitch that Don Draper makes. This is shown through the office layout that is typical of the time period and other elements of the mise en scene that we would associate with the 1960’s such as the costumes and buildings etc. The lighting could also be considered as ‘retro’ as the audience would expect a specific lighting technique to be used in order to match with the 1960’s theme. 

Section 2

2) 'Does Lost target a passive audience?'. 
Lost targets a passive audience through various conventions used throughout the text. Lost was made to appeal to a wide mainstream audience, through a major American production company therefore audience members are more likely to be passive.

3) 'Identify how Lost is encoded to gratify a passive audience'.
Lost is encoded to gratify a passive audience through the use of the mainstream narrative devices. As Lost targets a mainstream audience, audience members are more likely to be passive, therefore want to see typical mainstream narrative devices included in texts in order to gratify their needs, which may be escapism, entertainment etc. 

4) 'Justify one point/technique/convention that would force Mad Men's audience to decode the text actively in order to gain gratifications'.
One convention that would force Mad Men's audience to decode is the lack of the score. The use of score is used in order to gratify passive audiences as it tells them how they should feel at certain points in the narrative, as Mad Men does not use this, the audience are left to decode the text and are not told how to feel during certain scenes, therefore are more active as they are constantly challenging and questioning the text.

5) 'Explain and justify how Peaky Blinders has been encoded to gratify both passive and active audiences'.
Peaky Blinders is an intellectually and culturally rich text and is considered as high brow. It also has elements of various mainstream conventions that appeals to a passive audience such as the use of known already published soundtracks to encourage them to empathize with the characters and feel the same emotions. The use of known soundtracks over fight scenes also allows a passive audience to enjoy the action. As Peaky Blinders is a high brow text, it has historical and cultural information encoded into the narrative from the period in which it was set, in this case the 1920's. Many active members of the audience will watch Peaky Blinders in order to gain gratification and education from the use of historical information being portrayed. 

6) 'Justify the statement 'Lost is encoded to be inclusive'.
Lost is encoded to be inclusive as it appeals to a wide mainstream audience. The use of an ensemble cast is one convention that makes the text inclusive, as the producers of Lost want to target as many audience members as possible, they have chosen to use characters that represents each audience member watching and a character that they can relate too. This is used in order to allow the audience to identify with certain characters in order to attract a wide audience whether this be through nationality, race, gender etc.

7) 'Why does the use of a score appeal to a more passive audience'?. 
The use of a score within a text appeals to a more passive audience as it tells the audience exactly what to feel at an exact point in the narrative, or feel the same emotion as a certain character at a certain time, it is argued that this encourages an audience to be more passive. Passive audiences do not challenge or question the narrative, therefore gain more enjoyment out of being told or helped how to feel, where as active audience members enjoy decoding texts themselves, therefore would not appreciate the use of score telling them how to feel.