Importance of Audience Expectation in Relation to Genre - Essay Example

Running Head: Film and Media Studies Importance of Audience Expectation in Relation to Genre Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Subject Code and Name: Date Submitted: Audience Expectation and Its Importance in a Genre Introduction Genre is a Latin word that defines a specific class or kind as explained by Stam (2000, p. 14). The term is used to classify linguistics, rhetoric, literary theory or media theories. Classification of genres is based on the artistic status (the art film), location of production (western films) or color of actors (black cinema). It can also be borrowed from literature work (melodrama and comedy) or classified according to the contents of a particular existing story (historical or war films) (Robert Stam 2000, p. 14). Modern society today categorizes films as an action, thriller or a western film. Robert (2000, p. 124) stated that the different categories of grouping genres depends on the personal definition by the audience. This is because it’s hard to differentiate the genres as most of them are combined in text and flow (e.g. comedy-thriller). He noted that this difference is what attracted audiences to a particular genre of film and use of television were highly proposed. Grouping or creating categories of genres is problematic because of variance in personal preferences of the audiences who preferred to categorize films according to the way they understood best. Most films theorists decided to mix texts of different genres in order to create diversity in the dimension in which specific films were viewed and this gave the audience a variety of viewing options based on their own preference and expectations. The film theorists therefore classified its audience according to their social status, age, location, income and race (color identity). Audience is defined as the group of persons or viewers who are ready to receive and integrate information obtained from any available media text. They are the main reason as to why we have producers of a certain film because the producers know that they will make some money out them (audience). Before any kind of production takes place, the film makers considers the type of audience they are expecting so as to produce a genre that will meet their needs. Stam (2000, p.14) observed that the producers used whatever criteria available to ascertain the needs of the audience and what they expected. They also tried to predict how the audience would receive the content of their texts by analyzing how they reacted to different media texts. Audience foreknowledge (information contained by the audience about a particular media text) about a certain text was determined in order to create a variation in what they already knew to avoid repetition which lead to boredom (Amy, 2004, 17) .An audience expectation by definition referred specifically to what the audience expected to get or see on viewing a certain film or text through any media source. Other factors put into consideration includes determining how the audience identifies themselves with ascertain media (audience identification),using texts that portrayed the lifestyle and attitude of the audience making them feel connected and finally using market strategies to reach their target audience. In addition, (Stam, 2000, p.14) noted that before a movie was released, a preview was first released and necessary changes made to suit the need and expectation of the audience. Audience consideration is important to the producers in that they can be able to calculate the profit margin expected from a sale of a film or a certain genre. Some films e.g. four weddings and funerals –have a high marketing and production costs than the sales made and this lowers the profit margin enjoyed by the producers. A film like the Blair witch project can be considered a success because of the low costs involved in its production and high sales leading to a high profit margin. Andron Tolson argues that the performance of a genre in the modern society is determined by a triangular relationship between the audience, the film makers and the translators (Stam, 2000, p.17). Knowledge on the target market enabled the producers to predict the type and number of expected audience so as they could calculate the expected production capacity. In conducting a presentation, Amy, (2004, p.26) is of view that audience expectations are to be considered. The value obtained by the audience in attendance should outweigh the costs that they incur including traveling and time costs. An example of how audiences are involved in the script making is when printed media are used. This allows them (audience) to have their own conclusions pertaining to a certain narrated script and a chance to interpret it according to their own level of understanding. However, when the same script is viewed on a large screen (cinemas) it gives the audience one direction of perception by agreeing to terms of the translator of that same script. This leads to a conflicting feeling to the audience when the interpretation of the translators projects a totally different perspective than what was read from the original scripts. Amy, (2004, p. 27) observed and concluded that this kind of translation by the script makers and producers gave them control over the way they wanted their message to be portrayed. Such measures make the audience feels cheated and even develop a negative perception about a certain kind of a genre. The choice of preference on the type of media to be used to get information will depend entirely on the audience as some of them will prefer to read the printed form first before watching or watch first and then read. According to Sullivan (2007, p. 642), use of web media is preferred by some audiences as they get a chance to view what they want at any time. They also get a chance to air out their views about the books read or films watched and participate in the discussion groups that exist in the internet where ideas are exchanged. They get a chance to share their own views with other fans and a chance to meet the producers and directors of the script through there, thereby enriching their knowledge and ideas (Sullivan, 2007, p. 643). Favorable Medias are used by large companies to reach their target audience In today’s world the audience has different choices to use when they want to obtain text of a certain specific genre. Unlike in the older days where the audiences used to attend to cinemas organized by producers, now days information can be obtained through u-tubes and recording phones (Sullivan, 2007 p. 646) . The media has lost track in capturing the audience attention as most of the youths today opt to get the first information from the sites of origin rather than waiting for translators to interpret a story or script to be viewed in the cinemas. Most audience preferred to watch a live show than watch it from a cinema because they felt they were more involved and catered for. Conclusion Genres are of different types depending on the way they are perceived by an audience. This gives the film makers a hard time to group the genres in a specific standard way. In observing the likes and dislikes of the audience and taking into account their interests the film makers are in a position to predict the expected results by an audience .this will drive them into making decisions that will favors them in terms of profit margin (Stam,2000, p.19). Modern technology has changed the perceptions used by audiences when choosing the media through which to get the information they need. The high expectation of the audience has made it hard for the producers to take control in their own projects. The interests of the audience is now determined by the intellectual capability of the viewers .Most prefer watching a film instead of obtaining the material directly from the script or book. Audience expectations can be obtained by reading internet articles where most viewers share ideas and conclude on what they think about a certain film or script. Involment of the audience has proved to have more value to the producers and they make every effort they can to meet the needs of their audience. It can be concluded that without an audience it’s hard for the producers to advance in their work. This factor motivates them to work hard to understand their audiences before producing any type of a genre (Bleich, 2001, p. 120) Bibliographies Bawarshi, Anis 2001. "The Ecology of Genre." Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches. Eds. Christian R. Weisser and Sydney I. Dobrin. Albany: SUNY Press, pp69-80. Bleich, David 2001. The Materiality of Language and the Pedagogy of Exchange.Pedagogy 1.1 pp117-141. Devitt, Amy J. 2004 .A Theory of Genre. Writing Genres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, pp1-32. Gauntlett, David 2007, Creative Explorations: New approaches to identities and audiences, London: Routledge. Robert stam 2000. Film Theory:An Anthology (Blackwell anthologies). Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press Sullivan, Ceri, 2007. Disposable elements? Indications of genre in early modern titles, Modern Language Review 102.3, pp. 641–53 Read More