Audience Theories – Music Video

The target audience for the music video (Frankenstein Says) that we have created has quite a wide range as we are predominantly aiming it at men from the age of 15 to 45. We feel, having done some research that this is the sort of audience that are interested in the old style Frankenstein films and this includes the genre of a thriller film. The social demographic that we have aimed the film opening at is C2-E as we feel that it will have a greater appeal to people from a lower class background; this, however does not mean that that people from a higher class won’t enjoy and engage with the music video. As this music video is aimed at quite a wide audience we feel that it appeals to every ethnic background and doesn’t discriminate against any group within society. This means that the music video that we have created will appeal to people from any religious or ethnic background.

Audience Grouping

Media Grouping

Graham Burton’s Grouping Theory says that audiences can be grouped by their common interest in the media for example the media type they prefer (e.g. Magazines, Newspapers) or in this case they can be grouped through the genre of media that they most enjoy. This can be genre of film or television for example, or in this case the genre of music video.

Burton’s Media Grouping says that an audience can be grouped by their common interests in the media. When aiming a music video at a certain audience this way we decided to group the audience by the genre of film which they enjoy the most. This was an easy way to research as the music video that we created could be interlinked appropriately with the Frankenstein films as well as other films of the same genre and the same time. This is a great way to group as anybody that enjoys the thriller genre when watching films will be able to relate to this using audience reference when watching this music video.

The target audience for the music video that we have created can be identified as having the same interest in the media. The common interest in terms of this music video is the fact that the target audience enjoys the thriller genre that relates well to the music video that we have created based on the old Frankenstein films.

This however shows a very wide audience as many people enjoy this genre, which is why it is also important to use social grouping to refine the audience that we are aiming the music video at even further.

Social Grouping

John Hartley developed the media grouping theory saying that an audience could be refined into a more niche audience by grouping different audiences through their social background. This involved splitting this theory into five categories which are Self, Gender, Age Group, Class/Social Demographic and Ethnicity/Race. This means that a target audience can be targeted appropriately by applying these social groups; this would then refine the audience that a media product such as a music video was aimed at.

Self

As an individual watching the music video that we have created they would have to be quite adaptable to change as the music video has many changing elements such as a quite cold and spooky opening to then being a warm love story at the end. They would also have to use ‘Schneidenfraud’ which is when you take pleasure from someone else’s pain; in this case applying it to both Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s Monster in parts (this is used in the media a lot, an example in magazine articles about celebrities).

Gender

Our music video is predominantly aimed at the male gender after we researched what gender watch more Frankenstein films and listened to the music that accompanies the video. This research showed that Men watch this type of genre more than women do. This means that the film would appeal to a wider audience by targeting men and we believe therefore would become more of a success than if it was aimed at women.

Age Group

We have decided to target a wide age range as we believe that the film would appeal to people from the age of 15 to 45. This creates a wide audience but we believe that the music video will appeal to the majority of people that are within this age range.

Class/Social Demographic

The social demographic that we have aimed the music video at is C2-E as we feel that it will have a greater appeal to people from a lower class background. This again is quite a wide range as we believe that it will appeal to people with good jobs such as tradesmen and will also appeal to the unemployed and everyone in between. This is because the music video, although slightly different or weird should be entertaining for the social demographic that we have targeted.

Ethnicity

As this music video is aimed at quite a wide audience we feel that it is aimed at everyone in terms of ethnicity as this will be appropriate for anyone to watch and will not offend anybody in relation to their race, religion or background.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

In the 1970’s Blumier and Katz suggested that the media audiences make choices about what to consume in order to meet certain needs. Their Uses and Gratifications Theory shows some of the different reasons that audiences have for consuming certain media texts.

Entertainment

The music video that we have created will entertain the target audience as it is it has many differing elements. This means that although, the dominant genre is the thriller genre the video also has elements of horror, comedy and romance which will keep the audience engage throughout.

Escapism

We believe that the audience are going to become very engaged with what they are watching as the characters that the music video is based upon will make the audience feel many different emotions, this includes the audience feeling scared, feeling empathy for the rejection that has happened at one point in the music video. This would involve the audience in the music video so much that they could escape from what is going on in their own lives. We believe that this would allow the audience to escape from their own lives for a short time whist watching this fictional story unfold.

Social Interaction

The way that the target audience would interact with the music video is through the emotions that they feel for the character of Frankenstein’s Monster which we believed are often mixed as he is seen as a monster, however is also shown to be a caring and loveable character in this music video which we felt when creating it challenged the stereotype. The audience could also interact with the character because although they may not understand what it feels like to be a monster, they may have experienced rejection in the past from someone that they themselves cared about.

Information

We believe that the basic storyline of this music video gives the target audience information and an idea of how horror and love/romance can be interlinked whether in a fictional video or in the real world in which they live in.

Identification

We don’t believe that the audience can identify with what is happening to the character in some aspects of this music video. However we believed that they can identify with others such as the emotions that the character is feeling. This is what we wanted to show to make the audience take notice of the fact that everyone is the same inside which obviously challenges the stereotype of the old Frankenstein films that this music video in based on.

Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions Theory

Richard Dyer states that people will respond to a media text if it offers them compensation for the inadequacies in their own lives. Through the media audiences can vicariously live their lives and fulfil their wants and needs, leading them to strive to a utopian life.

The reason that most people watched the old Frankenstein films was to become engaged with a fictional world that offered them a range of different emotions including the main one which was pleasure and excitement. This includes becoming sad, happy and emotional to feel a sense of life so that they are not bored.

We believe that Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions Theory relates to the music video that we have created as it engages the audience and make them feel a sense of unease and excitement. This therefore feels the boredom within the members of the audiences’ lives meaning that a utopia is created as they are no longer bored due to the fact that the music video has filled some of the inadequacies within their own lives.