The Relationship between Audiences and Films

The Relationship between Audiences and Films

   In this blog post I will be talking about the film 'Gravity' and the relationship it has with its audience, discussing my views and opinions as part of the audiene, and the views and opinions of other people that may have seen this film.
     
   First of all I would like to talk about the pre-post vewing experience that I personaly had with this film. I had seen the trailer and it hadnt given out too much information, and I also just personaly thought that it wasnt going to be very good because I thought about the limits that there were going to be setting this film in space. After I watched the film my opinion had changed completely, I  really enjoyed this film and I found myself trying to encourage other people to watch it because it was just so good! Other people who went to see this film may have had higher expectations due to the main stars. Sarndra Bullock is known to be an amazing actress and the films she stars in are always great, so the audience may have gone in assuming it was going to be really good. This could go two ways though, they may be satisfied with the film and have it meet their expectations, or the audience has too higher expectations and the film isnt as good as they hope it to be.
 
   This film won so many awards, including: Best visual effects, Best sound editing, best sound mixing, best cinematography and best film editing. If you have seen the film you will know why, they really were outstanding. This means the audience is more likely to be happy and impressed with the film and want to share it with more people. People always want to watch a film that not only has a great narrative, but visually looks pleasing. After watching this film one of the main things I was impressed with was how great it looked! It really stood out and made me enjoy it a lot more, compared to another film where the effects/CGI looks unrealistic as it ruins the feel you get when watching a film.
 
   As a TV & Film student I was constantly using Media Literacy when watching this film. Using my knlowledge and understanding of film meant I was able to analyse the film, paying a lot of attention to the differnt shot types, cinematography etc. Because of this, I was slightly distracted away from the narrative, where as other people in the audience who dont study film would be purely enjoying the content they are seeing, and looking more for the narrative, instead of how they created different shots or how they used certain techniques to make the film look a certain way.
   
   I tried to watch this film multiple times, the first was in the cinema, which I enjoyed the most as all of my attention was on the film. Also the atmosphere was a lot better as there was a huge screen, the room was dark and the sound levels were high. The second time I watched it the conditions of reception had changed, I was watching it on a screen much smaller than one that was in the cinema, it was during the day time so my room was light, and I couldnt concrate as I had the internet and my friends distracting me from the film, making it harder to follow. Due to the change in the conditions or reception, I found it difficult to enjoy the film. If this was how someone had first seen the film they may have not enjoyed it as much, but if they were to go see it in the cinema, or they didnt have distractions they may enjoy it a lot more.

   This film was an emotional roller coaster, a lot of people get pleasure out of feeling scared or happy, but many people find pleasure in being made to feel sad, and this is how the audience felt while watching parts of this film. One of the scenes that really got to me emotionally was when I really didnt know if the main character was going to get back down to Earth, and another part was when the audience find out that her daughter had died. This is a big deal for people as its something so tragic and people get emotional, which gives them pleasure.

   I didnt enjoy the film enough to say i was a fan of it, as other people may have enjoyed it so much they would join fandoms. These people would buy any merchandise they can get hold of, and they would also create blogs websites etc, about this film. People who are also fans of the director or the main stars may talk highly of this film on websites/blogs as they feel like they are also now fans of the film aswell.

   People who have dealt with death in their life or who have lost a daughter can even more relate to this film, creating a framework of interpretation. Although I havent lost anyone close to me, it still upset me that the main character had lost her daughter, but member of the audience who relate to this may feel a lot more involved with the film or the narrative due to their similar experience and past/present emotions that the character has been going through.

   While watching this film I found myself using active spectatorship. I was constantly trying to figure out what was going to happen to the characters next and how the main character was going to get back safe, and if she was going to get back safe. As the narrative moved on the theorys in my head had changed. I found the film to be a little unpradicatable, although the main character had to get back to earth, its what she went though to get there what was unpradictable. Many people in the audience prefer this in a film because they find pleasure in trying to work things out for themselves and films that are too pradictable bore them.

The relationship between producers and audiences

The relationship between producers and audiences

     In this blog post I will be discussing how the producers target their audience and how the film 'Despicable me 2' was advertised to the public to draw in the target audience, families. The

     Posters are just one way that the movie was advertised, and these posters were placed over different places where a lot of people will be able to see them. They were placed on billboards, busses, on walls near cinemas and around the city's underground and train stations as well as many other public places.

  This is one of the posters that were used. At the bottom of the poster there is a Facebook icon with "Despicableme' next to it. This is to target the pre-teens and teens in the family. This part of the family as well as the adults will be likely too like the page on Facebook and then possibly go follow it on other social networking sites from links and share the movie around with more people. You can also see the minions are placed out in such a way that many people might think resembles a huge ball pit. It also looks like Gru is standing on a diving board about to dive in. This targets the younger children, as they would enjoy an activity like that. It also targets the parents as it may remind them of when they were younger, giving the nostalgia; this is something that makes them happy. This is a way that the producer can suggest to the audience that the film is enjoyable and will make them happy.





   At the premier for this film there wasn’t anything that was really spectacular, but it was very family friendly. The red carpet was yellow to match the minion theme and there were minion mascot suits for the younger children to have their photos taken with. There were also huge posters that people could have their photos taken. People of all ages could buy a despicable me, which means the producer could have more people see that people went to see the film as the audience would have worn the shirts outside of the premier, showing it to other people. There was also a despicable me blimp. This may have been at the premiere because its something that you don’t see everyday, and younger family members would have enjoyed seeing it. The signature song in the film is 'Happy', and there were television screens playing the song with the lyric video playing. The producer would have had this playing as it’s a song that is enjoyed by people of all ages and its what some people may be waiting to see in the film. Younger youtubers were invited to the premier, they were given despicable me themed gift baskets. The producer would have invited these youtubers as they would vlog or make a video about the premier, sharing despicable me 2 to a larger audience. The Despicable Me 2 premier was based in universal Orlando, this is because its a family friendly place where everyone can enjoy themselves, and the producer would have had this in mind when choosing a place to hold the event.

    The producer created a teaser trailer that relates to the audience, as the minions on screen are similar to a typical family. You have the two parents on the far left and the far life, then the two children in the middle, one of them enjoying themselves and the other getting irritated with them. This would be noticed by the older members of the family, but would entertain the younger members. There is also social media used in the teaser to get the teens of the family to share the teaser and introduce it to other people.

    The producer uses the advert to show the target audience 'families'. The way it does this is that it shows clips that children will enjoy but also scenes with subtle remarks that adults will understand and find funny, but children wont take any notice of. There is also an Eminem song that was released in 2002, and many parents will recognize this from when they were younger. And teens would recognize that its Eminem as he is very popular and well known. The producer would have had these as parts of the trailer because it shows the audience that this is a family friendly film that they can all enjoy.