Abigail Mbaki Bazola
Audience theory
The hypodermic needle is a theory about audiences , the theory implies that the media has
a powerful effect on its audience, so it influences how it's audience think and
feel by simply following instructions
and doing as they are told. The hypodermic theory believe that their audience
are passive. Quinten Tarantino directed , produced and edited Django unchained the way he wanted
it to be told ,so that the audience
received the film the way he intended for it, also the way he manipulated it by
the script , locations he used , the western theme , the shots that way the
audience receive the film how he intended it to. The audience learnt about
slavery , plantations and history about the slave trade in the way he made the
set. So actively the viewers picked to watch Django unchained but passively
the audience didn’t know what was going to happen or how the story was going to
be told. So they've passively viewed it. The hypodermic needle theory is like a
big syringe that Quinten Tarantino has packed with everything he has put in
there for the audience to receive and has injected the right amount of what he
wants us to see. Quinten Tarantino was very smart when planning the film and it
was very successful.
In terms of Rush Hour the audience was
active because they intended to watch the film because the audience knew that
it was going to be a comedy.
The uses and gratification theory
explain why people consume different types of media and what they gain from the
information given. From our survey statistic's and focus group it is shown that
41.7% our audience watched Django
unchained by choice and 58.3% did not watch the film by choice but they ended
up enjoying the film. In terms of our audience who watched the film Django
unchained by choice , they watched the film for their own entertainment ,. The
other 58% that did not watch the film by choice had no choice because it was
for educational purposes so they had to. Which relates to the Harrold Lasswell
theory. Harrold believes that people use the media for their own entertainment
just as our audience did. Harrold Lasswell also believes that people use the
media for correlation , so for example if they have watched a particular drama soaps
which liked ,they will begin to watch different drama soaps because of the
experience they gained .In this case most of our audience also watched Django
Unchained because of who directed the
film. The director was Quintin Tarantino. Many of our audience are
Tarantino fans and they enjoy his movies so they put their trust in him to
watch this film because they know that they would enjoy it. Another reason why
our target audience watched Django Unchained was because of the main character
Jamie Foxx , who played Django.
As for Rush hour the audience also liked
the film , they really enjoyed it and found it funny. Thed decided to watch the
film by choice because they like the actors such as Jackie Chan and Chris
Tucker. The audience said if Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were not the main
stars in Rush hour they would have not watched or have enjoyed the film as
much.
The reception theory is a theory
that studies how audiences receive and interpret the media that they have
consumed. Stuart Hall has created this idea for media and communication
studies. This theory has two parts encoding and decoding. Our consumers are a
encoding audience , because they have consumed the message that the film makers
want to get to people. By doing this the film makers have made the film about
slavery knowing that most of their target audience would be black. They have also included many historical facts into the film
that the audience did not know about before watching the film. The film was
also created for educational purposes , to teach the audience more about the
slave trade and how slaves were treated. For example the hot box our
audience from our focus group mentioned that they did not know what a
hot box was before watching the film. Many slaves were kept in the hot box as a
form of punishment. The film makers used emotional scenes so they can encode
their message to their target audience. The audience were also preferred , they
understood the messages within the film and agreed with it. The audience gave a great reception to the
film because the film was targeted at people who like western films and people
who like historical films. And because the film was based on slavery it gave a
great reception to the black community. Everyone's opinions were about the
same, because that is the reaction Quinten Tarantino was looking for and he
made sure to produce a product like that.
For Rush hour the audience received the
film really well , they learnt about the history of china and Kung Fu.
Daisy Abeka
Audience profiling
Effects of exposure to explicit sexual or violent content.
For our primary research, our focus group shows us that none of the explicit content that we listed such as, racial comments, sexual scenes, blood violence and others effected those in the class who watched the film because that it what made the film interesting. And it’s known because it was directed by Quentin Tarantino, and that is his style of movies. With the responses for Rush hour, there was not a lot of explicit content shown through the film. This did not affect our audience. As the movie was more comedy based and classified at a suitable age.
Effects of advertising
Through our primary research, our audience answered the questions by saying they watched the trailer which made them interested to watch it. The feedback we received also revealed the use of through online and posters which influenced them to watch the film. Another reason why the advertising affected our focus group to watch the movie was also because of the use, of the popular actors such as Jamie Fox, being a known actor, attracted them to also be interested to watch. Rush hour had an effective advertisement due to the use of online trailers, and billboards. As well as the exposure of two famous actors involved which our feedback showed drawn them to watch the movie.
Health concerns
The responses also indicate even though the film there was no health concerns that affected our audience. Rush hour also didn’t have any effect on health or negative effects towards the audience.
Censorship debates
As Django contained a lot of explicit content and violent scenes, it has been classified by the government with an age range. As our focus group learned that the use of exposure t the scenes can cause a negative effective. Django being rated an 18 film was debated due to the negative effects it could have on a younger viewer.
With Rush hour, the censorship debate classified it as a 15 film. Our audience preferred Rush hour more due to it having less explicit content viewed. And being more family friendly if younger viewers were able to watch.
Responses
Overall the response we received from Django showed that 100% enjoyed watching Django, as 50% of our group liked action films. This indicates a positive response towards the film. Our feedback also shows that Quentin Tarantino films are also enjoyable for the audience, as the use western and action was emerged to create the movie. The responses we received from rush hour were also positive as, the actors in the film engaged our focus group to be interested to watch it. Another reason for this was also because the genre action comedy was a popular response we received.
Negotiated
In django due to the story behind it, showcasing the story of slavery, the audience negotiated by also saying the negative impact towards the film was the use f violence and the plot twist involved. Bringing a western genre in the film as well which makes the film entertaining to watch, rather than educational. With rush hour being a comedy there were no negotiation through our response , as although it was a crime action, the use of funny and mild adult humour involved made it suitable for the type of movie.
