Audience Theory

The audience is the people that watch the film.

Mainstream or Niche? 

Some Science Fiction films are Mainstream- they appeal to a very wide range of people.
[For example Hollywood films are often mainstream.]
Some Sci-Fi films are more Niche- they appeal to a small specific group of people.
[independent and low budget films are more niche.]

Audience segmentaion 

Producers segment the audience into different groups.

Demographics

Demographics is one way of dividing up the audience into certain groups. each group is assumed to have similar ideas and interests. This is Factual information.

- Gender 

- Age 

- Occupation

- region

- Class

- Ethnicity 

Star Wars 

-Male 

-12 to 40 

- Any 

- English speaking countries

- White Caucasian  

- Middleclass 

- Educated 

Psychographics 

Psychographics is less about facts such as age and more about attitudes and values.

 -Survivors

 - Social Climbers

 - Care Givers 

 - Explorers

Sci-fi Film Fan 

My person would be age 16 and be male. This boy would live somewhere in Britain. He would be in Secondary School and go to see all the new sci-fi releases. Apart from School he may have a Saturday job. He may also be white caucasian and middle class. In terms of Psychographics he will be a Survivor because he always goes to see new releases so it would be a sort of tradition.

Uses and Gratifications
[u&g]

This is a media studies theory that tries to explain why people choose and uses certain media needs.

Entertainment and diversion.- stops you from being bored
surveillance and information- finding out about new things.
Personal identity - Comparing yourself to someone on screen.
Personal Companionship

Science Fiction & Media language

Genre conventions.

What does convention mean?

Convention is a key ingredient in a specific genre of media text. They are the things that we expect to see in particular types of films.

Sci-fi Conventions.

Narrative

-New world

- Different planets

- Space

- Aliens

-Time travel

- Possibilities

- Alien invasions

- Battles

 Storyline

-       End of the world

-       War

-       Rise of a interegalitic space war

-       Man vs alien or robot

-       Save something

-       Fighting alien race

-       Inventions

-       Time travel

-       Discovering new world

-       Aliens

-       Robots

-       wise older character

-       Protagonist tends to be human (male)

-       Audience = male

-       Antagonist = alien

-       Hero team

-         

       Theme

-       Robots

-       Computers

–      Space ships

–       Aliens

–      Humanity

–      Protagonist

–      Antagonist

–      Ideology

–      Good vs evil

–      End of the world

–      Victory over human ideas

–      Saving or creating a potential future

–      Safeguarding human race

–      Loyalty and teamwork

–      Negative impacts of technological invancements

–       

Mise En Scene

-       Computers

-       Futuristic costume

-       Aliens

-       Cars

-       Space ships

-       Future

-       Dystopian city’s

-       Space

-       High tech weapons

-       Amazing inventions

-       High tech cars

-       Future technology

-       Uniform

-        Futuristic make up

-       Human characters maintain normal hair & makeup

-       Silver – black – green – neon – metallic

-       Guns

-       Robots

-       Different foods

Other

- Special effects- cgi

- Graphics/ fonts / metallic

- Sound- intense music

- Futuristic sfx

- Famous actors/ directors e.g. JJ Abram’s

Genre Appeal

 How does sci-fi films relate to target audience?

They use certain star vehicles. For example Benedict Cumberbatch. Sci-fi films also get certain directors, which are known, for the genre. They have a certain way of directing that takes the audience into space, for example, J.J.Abrams. They may also relate to a few characters for example Katniss Everdeen is a female protagonist. This is unusual for a sci-fi film because the protagonist is usually a male, this is a good reason why females may go and see hunger games.

Simerlily in star trek, they have good graphics and special effects this may attract male audiences because they may be interested in such things. Male audiences may go to see Sci-Fi films because they feel they can relate to the protagonist, which is normally male.

                                                                               
                                   What is science fiction? 

Science Fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology; often in a futuristic setting. it is a realistic speculation of what the future may or may not be like. Science Fiction has entertained audiences for many years. Often set in the future, possibilities are at their core. it is often difficult to define a science fiction.

A few examples of a science fiction film would be...

- The Matrix
- Alien
- Avatar
- Star Wars
- Star Trek

The sub genres 

Alien invasion
  -Alien
  - Cloverfeild

Nuclear threat
  - 2012

Mutations of creatures
  - X-Men

Space invasions
  - Star Wars
  - Star Trek

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