Blumler and Katz (Uses and Gratifications)

Blumler and Katz' theory concerns what the audience does with the media as opposed to what it does to the audience and the influences it has on them. They present the use of media in terms of the gratification of social and psychological needs of the individual themselves.
They argue people's needs influence how they use and respond to a medium, such as the mood of someone influencing their choice of media for example someone with stress choosing more relaxing content and those with boredom choosing exciting content. The same TV programme can also gratify different needs for different people. Different needs can be associated with different personalities, backgrounds, stage of maturation and social roles. There are four different reasons for media use:

Information - Finding out about relevant events and learning, gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

Personal Identity - Finding reinforcement for personal values, finding models of behaviour

Integration and Social Interaction - Identifying with others, empathy, fnding a basis for social interaction and conversation, enabling one to connect with family/friends

Entertainment - Escapism, emotional release, relaxing, sexual arousal

Effects Debate

The effects debate concerns what effect media has itself on the audience. It is highly likely that some texts can have a largely negative effect on it's audience, particularly younger minds which is why regulations have been brought in to prevent this. There have been three sides of the debate, which are:

- Those who articulate their concerns about the effects of the media without any actual evidence.
- Those who have conducted research into media effects and whether the effects are positive and negative.
- Those who are subject to the debate, usually children or teenagers consuming new forms of media which the 'adult culture' are worrying about.

The most notable form of regulation for this is age ratings which are applied to media products such as video games and films in the UK by the BBFC.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The hypodermic needle theory is based on the idea that us as the audience are passive, and we are 'injected' by the media with content. The meanings and signals behind each text are delivered to us all as equals, but the level of effect they have on us differs as we all respond differently. We (the audience) have no choice in how we interpret text and the media is always correct, which can lead to disbelief when faced with opposing information.

This theory mostly concerns negative effects having media injected into us, despite seeing it as good. This can be applied to the video we watched in class, Madonna's 'What It Feels Like For a Girl'. She is portrayed as a 'criminal' as she mugs someone at a cash machine as well as running over men. The passive audience, particularly young people, will be influenced by the media to interpret this as positive and even attempt to imitate the actions.

Reception Theory

The reception theory is based on how the audience interprets a media text for themselves.
The audience don't passively accept a media text like other theories may say, instead they interpret themselves based on their experiences in life and their cultural background. The text isn't what creates the meaning for itself, but instead the relationship between the audience and text.

We applied this in class to Madonna's 'What It Feels Like For A Girl'.



The audience would each interpret this in different ways. Females who see this video may interpret this as empowering and an example of modern feminism, showing women as not just sex objects but as people who exhibit power and can hold their own against men. Men however may see this video as offensive and an example of misandry, noting the double standards if it was instead a man in a car showing this aggressive behaviour towards women.

Reflections on 1st shoot

Over the weekend we got our first bit of filming down, and went to the Chinatown area of Liverpool which is a bit run down and fits into our dark natured narrative scenes well. There was also not many people around here, so we had better chances to film without unwanted extras or having to stop and resume filming constantly. One negative aspect of the shoot was it was raining throughout the day, so we couldn't keep the camera out too long risking it getting wet and not working properly.

In conclusion I think this was a successful day, and first step into getting all our footage and completing our music video over the next few weeks.