TV exam question feedbackHow do your chosen texts appeal to their audience?

TV exam question feedbackHow do your chosen texts appeal to their audience?

Answers should include• How some texts are constructed deliberately to appeal to

different audiences• A recognition that not all texts appeal to different audiences• How texts can sometimes appeal to a range of audiences• Sophisticated level 4 students will be able to discuss

confidently the degree to which their texts are constructed to appeal to different audiences and are likely to recognise the commercial significance.

Possible discussion points (not prescriptive)• Narrative themes• Genre• Scheduling and Placement• Actors• Technical conventions• Advertising

TV exam question feedbackMarking criteria

Mainly C grades.

A lot of students did not fully discuss the complicated nature between construction and audience appeal.

The relationship texts and audiences have is extremely complex. C/D grade responses will simplify this process.

How do we move our

exam response

from a C to an A grade?

How do we move our response from C to A grade?

1. Ensure you discuss the complex relationship media texts have with audiences

2. By using Stuart Hall’s theory on Encoding/Decoding theory

3. Ensure you link each point to a specific type of audience.

4. By comparing and contrasting texts.

5. Applying the 4 stage formula.

Introducing Lost’s audience appeal

Lost appeals to a passive audience through its use of various conventions. C grade Lost appeals to a wide, mainstream audience and includes various conventions to enable a passive audience to decode the text without difficulty. However it could be argued some of its narrative devices provide gratifications for more active audiences. A grade

How do we move our response from C to A grade?Ensure you discuss the complex relationship media texts have with audiences

Introducing Lost’s audience appeal

 Lost targets both passive and active audience members as it has been encoded to be inclusive. However it could be argued its construction mainly targets a more wide, mainstream and perhaps passive audience.

How do we move our response from C to A grade?Ensure you discuss the complex relationship media texts have with audiences

Lost uses a score to appeal to a passive audience. This is present in the scene when….C grade (no justification or explanation)

Lost uses a score to appeal to a passive audience as it allows the audience to decode the text and take on the preferred audience reading without difficulty. A grade

 

How do we move our response from C to A grade?Using Stuart Hall’s theory on Encoding/Decoding

One way Steven Knights attracted an audience to Peaky Blinders is with the use of Film stars.

One convention encoded into Steven Knight’s Peaky Blinders, which attracted a more mainstream audience to the text is the use of mainstream and recognisable Film stars.

How do we move our response from C to A grade?Ensure you link each point to a specific type of audience.

How do we move our response from C to A grade?Compare and contrast texts.

Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men is not as inclusive as my other two studied texts. Mad Men’s mode of address is not constructed to appeal to a wide audience. It could be said that its mode of address will only gratify a more active audience with more niche and specific interests.

By Peaky Blinders including historical and cultural information in the narrative, it is able to appeal to its audience. (D)- Identify a point/convention-Link to a specific audience type-Justify the appeal/gratification-Give an examplePeaky Blinders has encoded historical and cultural information into the narrative from the period in which it is set. This narrative device is able to gratify a more active audience with further gratifications than simply entertainment and escapism. This gratification would be identified by Bloomer and Katz’s model as learning and self educating. An example in the narrative where an active audience would learn historical social information is when……

How do we move our response from C to A grade?Ensure you apply this 4 stage formula.

Common errors or difficulties. We seem to struggle to justify cinematography to answer this question. What type of audience would high level cinematography appeal to? Mad Men targets a more active audience through its use of high quality cinematography. High level cinematography would gratify its active audience members as they will question and analyse how the text is encoded and constructed.

Common errors or difficulties. There is clear confusion around the Mad Men points, complex characters and a complex and varied representation of gender. They are two different points.

Common errors or difficulties. Mad Men targets its audience through complex characters.One way Mad Men targets a more active audience is through complex characters who are more difficult to understand and decode.

Homework