Uses And Gratification Within My Project

Uses and gratification within my project

The uses and gratification theory focuses more to do with what the audience does with media rather than what media does to the audience (Katz 1959.) It assumes that the audience is not passive and instead attempts to take in what media is given to them and actively integrate it into their own lives to gratify a certain need. In this sense my short film must have a pull factor that makes the audience want to watch it. It is theorized that there are five different reasons why an audience uses media texts to gratify their needs:

  1.    Escapism-

This is where the audience chooses to use media texts to distract them from everyday life usually through enjoyment.

  2.    Information-

The audience actively looks at media texts as to ascertain new information.

  3.    Identify-

The audience recognises similarities between the media text and their own lives, or perhaps notices the role model of which they aspire to be like.

  4.    Sexual stimulation-

Where the audience finds sexual arousal through the chosen media text.

  5.    Social interaction-

The ability for the media text to spark debates and to produce a topic of conversation.

I believe that within my short film the main influence that will hopefully cause people to watch it is that the audience will identify with the text. This is mainly due to the text being focused towards the younger generation (ages 13-18) which is coupled with the fact that the protagonist himself is currently in a secondary school which will also apply to the younger generation as it may mimic their experiences with everyday life.

Due of the only recent development of social media the younger generation will have grown up in a atmosphere where using social media would be the 'norm.' Therefore most of the younger generation will use social media to view media texts much like my short film. This also means that ‘uses and gratification’ of media texts is changing due to the release of new social media based software such as ‘YouTube’, ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook.’ Through these social networking sites it is now possible to ‘share’ a picture, video, news article etc. with friends and family at a moment’s notice. This has dramatically changed the way in which short films are viewed as before the only people who would really watch them were those who actively went to short film festivals or specific movie screenings.

As well as this I believe that my audience will find some form of escapism through the use of my short film. This will mainly be due to the comedic nature of the short film as well as the, hopefully, interesting plot line. However it is also possible that my short film will also invoke 'social interaction' through the medium of the character of Jack. The topics that arise concerning the character of Jack may be how he is treated, how parenting has changed or even how the media today is influencing this generation (for example Jack wants to be just like Bear Grylls and attempts to mimic these actions from watching his shows.) However in reference to the 'reception theory of media texts it can be argued that my short film can be interpreted in many different ways depending on how the text is received by the viewer.

However I would also like to portray a message to the audience  through the medium of 'Jack' the protagonist. I will hopefully accomplish this by giving a sense of inspiration through the determination of Jacks character and the way in which, although not knowing anything about it, he still attempts what he loves doing.