Audience Theories

Culmination/ Cultivation Theories 

There are two categories in the Cultivation theory; "heavy viewers" and "light viewers". "Heavy viewers" are people that watch television for 4 hours or more per day and "light viewers" are people who watch television for 4 hours or less per day. "Heavy viewers" can be affected by the Mean World Syndrome, this means that because they've watched so much television they are led to believe that the world is nastier than it actually is. For example, if a person watches too much violence on TV, they can be influenced by it and believe that that amount of violence is acceptable in the real world. 


The Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Hypodermic Needle theory (also known as the Hypodermic Syringe Theory) suggests that viewers absorb information from the media without attempting to process or give the information context and it has a immediate and powerful impact on them, without their consent or knowing it.




Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory states that each individual viewer will use media texts for different reasons. Here are some example reasons:

• Personal Identity- A person who uses the media as a way to identify with someone else or a character.
• Surveillance - Documentaries and News programmes are most common in this type of usage. Surveillance relates to the idea of using the media to receive information. 
• Diversion- This is the idea that a person will regularly use a media text to escape reality, most commonly through the use of soap operas as an audience can momentarily forget about their own issues and lose themselves in the characters' stresses. 
• Entertainment - This is the most widely used connection with media. Many people use media texts as a way of entertaining themselves whilst relaxing. This is the reason behind why shows such as: The X Factor, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here and The Chase have such large viewing rates. 
• Personal Relationships - Using media texts for social interaction and to enjoy a specific area of the media with others. Many people enjoy to watch programs with others so they can discuss them with others. This is common with programs like Big Brother or The X Factor.

For our thriller opener we want most people to view it for Entertainment. We don not want people to be able to identify with the characters as we plan for the film to be very dark and the main protagonist has had a very traumatic life.