July 2015: B1. Explore the different audience appeals of your three main texts. 30 marks.
Media texts need to appeal to an audience in order for them to be validated, especially in regards to generating the income to continue to producing the said media texts, and there are various approaches used to both target audiences and methods used to measure the appeal of a media text on an audience. An example of how media texts appeal to audiences is through the use of star power.
Star power refers to the concept of using people who already have fame in relation to the product. For example, this could refer to the use of already famous actors in a film. This concept has been used in many successful films, including - but not limited to - films such as Skyfall, a film directed in 2012 by Sam Mendes in the James Bond franchise. Skyfall contains famous actors - or, "stars" - such as Dame Judi Dench and Daniel Craig, who are both famous in their own right. The use of using such actors could potentially appeal to an audience who are already aware or fans of Daniel Craig's, for example. The same concept is true for the directors and other key contributors of such films. For example, the director of Skyfall, Sam Mendes, previously directed the film American Beauty (1999) and therefore the film may appeal to fans of his previous work. Star power is also used widely throughout the film industry, such as in films that contain considerable high profile cast members, such as Pride (2014), directed by Matthew Warchus, which features actors such as Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott and Imelda Staunton as well as the film Kingsman: The Secret Service which features actors such as Colin Firth, Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson.
The popularity of these films is also likely to increase the audience appeal, as per the uses and gratifications theory which outlines the concept of audiences desire to consume a media text based on a number of different reasons, one of which is for social interaction; if a film is popular and therefore an item within public discourse, audiences are likely to want to consume the said film in order to involve themselves in the conversation. The film's popularity is often expressed through mediums such as social media, which the company's associated with the film's can run and therefore control the information presented to audiences. Likewise, in the modern day, social media is used as a form of validation. If a film has more followers on social media than another, it is likely more popular and therefore considered "better" than the other which will ultimately lead to broadening the audience of the film.
Whilst the films Kingsman: The Secret Service and Skyfall do not have Twitter accounts, for example, focusing just on the individual films, they do have Twitter accounts for the franchises that they belong to, Kingsman and James Bond, respectively, yet the followers each account have are relative to their box office figures. For example, 57.8k followers that Kingsman (@KingsmanMovie) have on Twitter is, whilst a lot, considerably less than the 369k followers that James Bond (@007) has on Twitter and this is also shown in the comparison between the 414.4 million USD Box Office figure for Kingsman: The Secret Service compared to the 1.109 billion USD Box Office figure for Skyfall. The difference in Twitter followers and the difference in the Box Office figures presents an obvious pattern of Skyfall, or at least the James Bond franchise, being more successful than Kingsman and by presenting such information it is likely to convince audiences that the more popular, in regards to statistics, film is synonymously the better film.
The concept of franchises, which is particularly shown with Skyfall in being one of the James Bond films, also creates audience appeal as audiences are best able to immerse themselves in the experience of the film's as they have created franchises and utilise across platform synergy meaning that audiences are likely to become better acquainted with the franchise, and therefore the film, and their interest will be peaked, leading to their ultimate consumption of the film. Likewise, the concept of creating a franchise to promote a film also allows it more of a chance to penetrate public discourse and therefore, linking back to the uses and gratifications theory, increase the popularity and therefore the number of people wanting to consume the film.
Films also appeal to audience's through manipulating what the audience already know and like. For example, this is incredibly apparent in the topic matter of films. In Pride, the film focuses on the struggles of both homosexual people and miners and those who campaign for and alongside both groups. The film's plot and the issues that it focuses around is likely to appeal to a demographic that are interested or can relate to the themes and issues discussed within the media text. In regards to the uses and gratifications theory, this relates to audience's being able to identify with the media text (or, rather, the content of) and therefore wanting to consume it. Similarly, the representations within a film are also used to ensure that audiences are able to identify to the characters and situations explored within the film, leading to them wanting to watch it. For example, in Pride, the film represents a number of homosexual characters and consequently it plausible that an audience of homosexual people would want to watch the film as they may be able to relate to some of the issues and circumstances concerning the homosexual characters in the film. The same can be said for the Welsh people and the miners represented in the film, as two more examples.
This similar concept is used in regards to genre, also. For example, films such as Kingsman: The Secret Service and Skyfall are likely to appeal to a similar audience due to the similarities in their genre. Fans of action films could choose to consume the film for no other reason other than the fact that both films fall within the action genre and therefore there is a likeliness that they will like those films as they have other action films. The same goes for films such as Pride, in regards to the comedy genre, for example.
The producers and marketers of films use different approaches to ensure that their films appeal to audiences and, often, specific audience demographics. From using star power, especially in regards to appealing to mass audiences, to utilising social media and the concept of word-of-mouth to effectively dominate public and media discourse, film makers employ different tactics throughout both the content of the film and also within the way that the film is promoted post-production to appeal to audiences.
