Theoretical Study into Audience: Uses and Grafitications

Blumler and Katz argued that audiences are ACTIVE not PASSIVE and approached and use media products for the following reasons:

Diversion (a form of escaping from the pressures of life of every day)

Personal Relationships (where the viewer gains companionship, either with the television characters or through conversations with others about television)

Personal Identity (where the viewer is able to compare their life with the lives of characters and situations on television, to explore, re-affirm or question their personal identity)

Surveillance (where the media are looked upon for a supply of information about what is happening in the world).

Using this criteria - for what reasons would an audience appraoach/use your media product?

1). Are they going to be entertained? 
Editing of footage will work with the music, with cuts been made on the beats of the music to make sure the video flows with the song. We are also thinking of including many effects to make the visual elements of the video engaging. We are also looking for strong performance/acting from the cast we have picked to lip sync the music we have picked. We will include direct address with the artist to make the audience feel involved in the video, and make the emotions expressed by the audience more believable.

2). Personal Relationships
The song 'Love and War' by Rita Ora is about the fights within relationships, which will spark a debate between the audience on whether the artist is actually having any problems with their partner. A lot of artist's express their feelings and their experiences in songs to release the thoughts they have locked in their minds. They share their problems with the audience, and therefore we feel closer to them as they are basically sharing their problems with us like they would to a friend.

3). Personal Identity 
The song's subject matter raises questions on the artist and the issues they are raising. In our video, we will raise awareness of fighting in relationships, which will question the audience on their own relationships and the importance of them. Anyone else who is also facing hardships within their relationship will watch our music video and relate to it. They will feel every word of the lyrics and take it on board to express their own feelings. The video will help to emphasis the meanings of relationships in the song by using different micro elements to create symbolism, mood and representations, such as low angle shots to make a person look vulnerable. The video is also used to show the artist is also in the 'same situation,' which makes people look up to them as they believe that they are facing the same problems they are.

4). Surveillance
The media is hot on many artist's heals to get juicy stories and gossip, but also to find out more about them: whether it would be their musical career or personal life. When the media get news on their personal life, the audience feel closer to them because from this, they can see that they do not have perfect lives either like everyone stereotypes them to be. When it comes to their musical career, the artist has their own unique image that the audience can recognise them by and take inspiration from to influence their own style (therefore, advertising the artist's image). In our music video, the artist's image will be casual, but fashionable to attract a teenage audience: the fact that the artist is female will attract males. The issue of relationships is also similar to those faced by teens, so they will listen to our music video as the subject can relate to them.