Angel Bird

Uses and Gratification Theory

The people who came up with this theory are Blumler and Katz. They theorize that people who use media have an active role in choosing the types of media they use to meet their needs. The theory relies on the fact that people know which media they consume and deliberately do so for a specific purpose. There are four main reasons that people use media:

Knowledge/information: People seek knowledge from the media they use (this could be in a social context or just general information).

Relaxation/entertainment: People may want to relax, take a break from their lives and be entertained by magazines or television.

Social Interactions: People seek information about their friends and social interactions that will take place. For example social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook may provide essential information for social gatherings.

Escapism: Another reason people may use media is to escape from their own lives. This can take the form of many different types of media from reading a magazine to sitting watching a television program.

Personal Identity: People may also want to relate to the desirable characteristics of people in the media. They will then apply this to their real life to become a better person.

Angel Bird

Uses and Gratification for our Short Film

Information: When watching our short film, viewers will want to know whether Alexa is able to return to the present day and whether she finds a way to solve her problem with the two female antagonists. This is resolved by the end of our short film, giving audience members security through knowledge that the disequilibrium is resolved. In society, bullying is often a topic not well represented in the media and we wanted to address this topic subtly within our short film. This will inform audience members what it may feel like for the person is being bullied. In our short film, this character is Alexa. Additionally, people may be curious as to the plot of our production from when they have seen posters and adverts for it, therefore watching it will satisfy that curiosity.

Personal Identity: During our short film, our main protagonist, Alexa, is in a situation of confusion and at the beginning, possible danger. During these times, characters generally show characteristic such as bravery and intelligence to help themselves find a way out of their situation. Audience members may want to copy these characteristic (such as bravery) in their own lives to become better people. They may also judge whether the actions of the characters are foolish and whether they would do the same if they were placed in a similar situation.

Entertainment/Escapism: In our short film people may put themselves in the position of the different characters to escape from their own lives for a little while. For example, they may put themselves in the position of Alexa to speculate how differently the audience members would act in her situation. Also, they may want to put themselves in Alexa’s position as this isn’t a situation the audience members would ever find themselves in. This acts as escapism as they could imagine what it would be like to live in a different time period. In addition, it is entertaining for the audience as it fills their spare time and may give them an emotional release. Just by watching our short film, the audience is passing time, escaping from their everyday lives and perhaps forgetting their problems, which is escapism.

Social Interactions/Integration: As the age of our target audience is wide enough to incorporate families, it is likely people would see our production with other people. This may help to stimulate conversations about the production afterwards, such as if they liked it and what it may be like to travel back in time, like Alexa did. Additionally, the characters in our production are teenagers so are relatable to a wide range of our target audience. This may help them connect to the characters more and therefore recommend our short film to their friends and family. As our production subtly addresses the topic of bullying, viewers will be likely to empathise with Alexa and find out what it would be like to be in her situation.