Hypodermic Needle Model and Gratification Theory

Hypodermic Model

The hypodermic needle is an early explanation to how audiences react to things they are told by the media. If the media were to still consider this model it means they would think that everyone that watches the same thing will react in exactly the same way. This is called passive consumption. For example, if the news were to say, teenagers are all thugs, this model would explain that everyone would accept the fact that all teenagers are thug and not question it.
The theory was used a lot during the second world war in Nazi propaganda films such as Education for Death in order to make the people agree with the reasons for going to war. The media almost controls people into thinking what they want them to think. Although, the only reason these types of programmes work was because there was already a mass dislike of how Germany was ran within society, so the hatred only grew when the audience saw them.
This relates to the Frankfurt School, who were a group of social scientists that were anxious about impact the media was starting to have in society. They believed that audiences were passive therefore they were very easily manipulated by the media.

Today, even though this theory is not really acknowledged as being correct it still influences people with modern media. Recently media classification  has become a lot more relaxed with sex and violence being shown. GTA is an extremely violent game and theorists have claimed that it influence young children into attacking or killing other people. For example last year an article was written about a 10 year old child who killed his Grandmother after playing GTA. It has not been proved that GTA was the reason but because the media explained it in a certain it created a big moral panic into whether the game should be sold.
The effects that this type of violence has, has been debated a lot within society, the effects debate is an argument that audiences should be protected from explicit content. It explains that audiences, especially children are passive so they don't know the difference between right and wrong, therefore they could recreate what they see. Now even though this did affect quite a few people, there were still a lot of people that completely disagree with this claim, myself being one of them. This is probably due to themselves playing the game and knowing that they didn't become violent, so why should any one else. This is a perfect example of how everyone can react in their own way towards media products.
Due to people believing audiences should be protected, the BBFC view all media products and censor certain things for certain ages, for example I Spit On Your Grave is classed as an eighteen because there are rape scenes and a lot of gory violence. Although people under eighteen cannot buy the DVD, the classification rating is only a suggestion for people, so it is their own choice if they want to watch it if they are given it.The argument against this is that some people think that anyone should be able to watch anything of their choice because if they are raised right they will know not to copy violent or explicit things.

This theory is no longer accepted because it was created at the time when we only had printed media. It does not take into account the amount of ways audiences can now actively consume information. Now a days the technology we have allows us to post on social media, comment on articles, ring into shows etc. Granting people opportunity to show their own opinions, you can go onto any YouTube
video, look at the comments and realise how different every person is. http://www.theory.org.uk/david/effects.html

It is very hard to determine what effects a media product will have on their audience, but the cultivation theory explains that a single viewing of a text may not have a big effect, but repeated viewing of the same text will desensitise the audience. For example, even though there were a lot of gory films in the 70's and 80's and there aren't as many today, the level of gore has increased. Saw, and the Human Centipede are both very graphic films but due to the exposure of gory films throughout the years people do not mind watching them. If these films were to be created 30 years ago they would have definitely been banned.


The gratification theory is used a lot more accepted because it considers everyone as being self reliant thinkers in the way that they respond to media products. This being because they have all had, different experiences, have different values and have different understanding of what they are being shown. For example if people are told that Muslims are terrorists, some people may agree with it because they do not know anything about their culture. Whereas someone that may have travelled and found out about their culture and had a good experience would  have a completely different view. This is Active Consumption.
Another way of explaining this would be the fact that a lot of people do things to get different reactions for them selves. For example, people visiting a certain website, such as YouTube. A football fan would watch a match for pure entertainment but a football player could watch it to learn new techniques.

I believe, along with a lot of other people that this theory is relevant, not just now but has always been relevant. There is not way that everyone that watches a programme has the same reaction

Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Quantitative

Quantitative research is all based on fact and statistics. In order to get this type of information from someone you will have to ask them a Closed Question. A closed question is a way of getting a really short answer and instant result. For example I could ask, Do you prefer Mac or PC? The answers that I would get out of this would be I prefer Mac or vice versa. If I asked a range of people, I could use this information to create a statistic, from that I can make graphs.
Another way to get this information is to do questionnaires and use a scale of 1-4. You should not use a scale from 1-5 because if someone is not sure about their answer they can easily choose 3 to make it easy which means you do not get a definitive answer. Using 1-4 forces them to make the decision between high and low.
An example of when I used this was for my Video Installation. I asked, in a questionnaire, how much people liked using their mobile phones and they had to choose between 1-4.

Qualitative

Qualitative research is based on opinion. To get this information you will use Open Questions. An open question is a way to get a more opinion based response. For example when asking about Macs and PCs' you should ask why they prefer their choice. From this you are not able to create graphs but you can dissect their selections as to why they made their choices, such as things they dislike and Macs or PCs'. This gives you more of an overview about the whole subject and can allow you to make a decision yourself.
An example that I used is for my FMP research when I interviewed some one about living with an alcoholic. My question was, Can you explain what is was like living with an alcoholic? Using this question allowed me to get a massive amount of information, which gave me more of an understanding towards the subject.


You are able to use both these types of research techniques in a video production. Quantitative would be used in the form of Vox Pops and Qualitative would be used in interviews.

Target Audiences

The reason we need to know our target audience before we make our shows is because knowing gives us the ability to make it more appealing to them. If you didn't know your TA then it could go completely wrong. For example, two different quiz shows, Pointless and Celebrity Juice. The producers know that Pointless, because it is broadcast at about 6 in the evening, is a family programme. So they have to choose their content appropriately, this is why they have no bad language, no sexual references, so it is suitable for any age to watch.
On the other hand, Celebrity Juice has to be put on after the water shed because the presenter can be unpredictable, there is bad language and a lot of sexual references. The target audience for this show would be 16-30 year olds, it would be very inappropriate for children.
Other reasons to know your target audience would be for advertising. During a programme like Top Gear, when repeated on Dave, as the show is more directed at men the products that will be advertised would be mens deodorant and other appropriate products.

BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) is a company owned by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB, and the IPA (Institute of practitioners in Advertising). They monitor all TV channels to see how many views they get daily. They are able to see what sort of ratings each programme gets, this means, if a programme that is on later during the day doesn't get many views they can replace it with something else.
This is also the way that they determine whether a show is good enough to carry on after a pilot episode.
If a company really wanted to advertise a product on TV they would consult with BARB to see what time they could do it. Lets say a company wanted to sell female watches. If they had quite a big budget they would be able to put it on during prime time around one of the soaps like Coronation Street. This means the  product would go out to a lot more people but would cost more. If the company had a tight budget they could decide to advertise it during a show that has less views, this means that less people will see it, but they could choose a show that is more focused towards their target audience, such as Loose Women.

Socio- Economic Groupings

Class Structure assists programme makers/ schedulers relating to target audience-

A-     Upper Middle Class	Higher management, Principals, Doctors
B-      Middle Class	Middle management, Professionals
C1- Lower Middle Class	Supervisors, Teachers
C2- Skilled Working Class	Electricians, Plumbers
D-Working Class	Semi- Unskilled,  Manual workers
E- Lowest Level Of                Subsistence	Casual workers, State pension

This table of the demographic structure shows the "classification and measurement of people in different social grades and income". This table is created by the NRS (national readership survey) who analyse and provide estimates of the type of people who read the different types of magazines and Newspapers in Britain. Statistics have shown that in recent years the amount of people in the A-C categories has risen, this may be because of the economic conditions or a raise in educational opportunities.


Even though this table is still used it is a bit dated which is why new groupings have been created-

Elite- Top 6% of the British society, they will earn large salaries and have high savings. E.g. CEO's Dentists, Sales Directors

Established Middle Class-  25% Of society, they are on a high wage. They move in high circles of business. E.g. Police officers, Electrical engineers.

Technical Middle Class- 6% of society, High amount of money. E.g. Air craft pilot, pharmacist

New Affluent Workers- 15% of society. Nice amount of money. E.g. Retail assistant, electricians.

Traditional Working Class-  14% of society. High mortgage with not much savings. E.g. Van drivers, care workers

Emergent Service Sector- 19% of society. They probably rent a house with very little savings. E.g.Bar staff, Chefs.

Precriat- 15% of society. Vey low savings. Low scores on most things. E.g. Cleaners, Labourers.


According to this I would be classed as a New Affluent Worker because I work as a sales assistant at a garden centre. I find this a bit strange considering I would already be classed higher than a chef. Also because I am planning to change my job to potentially bar staff this means that I would decrease in class even though I'm the same person.


How it Affects the Media

TV
These grouping are very useful for programme producers because they know what sort of audience they are aiming for. The amount of people that view a show is discovered by BARB. A panel of people of different class, age, sex, religion etc. are used to determine what kind of people watch different shows. They are split to represent the population of the UK, for example if the UK is 60% females the panel would have 60% females also.
So in order find out who watches what, the panel are asked what they watch.
For a long time Snooker has been considered a male dominated sport but due to the market research carried out this same way, it has been discovered that 60% of the viewers are actually women. This means that the producers may change the way that the sport is shown, perhaps by interviewing or getting close ups of the younger, more attractive players. They can also introduce female presenters and commentators.
Lets say the producers of a  programme like Outnumbered find out that 60% of their viewers are in the C1 group, they would have to work around their viewers wants and needs. Be this from the timing that the show is broadcast, to the types of humour and topics they produce.
Taking this into consideration I would aim the show at around seven o'clock because they would be home from work and possibly already had their dinner so wanting to relax in front of the TV.


Magazines and Papers
Different magazines and papers are aimed at different groups. Broadsheets such as The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times is aimed at people in the A-B group, this is because it is full of news about business and stocks. This is the stuff that they may be interested in since they may own shares of companies so they want to find out whether they are doing well or not. The types of magazines that these people would read are Hello! because the type of celebrities that they cover are within high circles, such as Kate Middleton.
The type of magazines that C1-D groups would be OK! magazine because it covers less high up celebrities like the cast of TOWIE. This is because these are the type of people watch their show and look up to them, which means that they would want to know what they are doing, even outside their show.
The type of papers that would be aimed at the E group, Builders etc, would be The Sun. This is because the stories that they cover are usually not necessarily important, something to quickly read while on the way to work. The Sun is filled with sports news, mostly football results. Also on page three there is usually a topless woman to please the men.


Advertising
During the break of a TV show the adverts will also be aimed at the intended audience, such as, down the lower end of the table, adverts for cheap supermarkets such as Asda (promoting a deal) will appear a lot more than on shows that are aimed at people with more money. This is because that the schedulers know that their audience will be looking to save money when they can.
In contrast adverts during a high end TV show would be for more expensive products like cars and more expensive supermarkets such as Waitrose.
The type of adverts that you would see in papers like The Sun are free coupons to get money off at super markets and free tickets to go to amusement parks. This is because they know that the people that they are aiming for do not have a lot of money so they offer them freebies.
The type of adverts that you would see in papers higher up the table would be for banks and websites to help starting your own business. This is because they know that their readers would have a lot of money so they like to provide adverts to help them deal with their money or expand it.

Installation artist

The first video installation artist that I have chosen is Sam Taylor-Wood. Born in 1967, Taylor-wood is well known for being an actor, photographer and director. She graduated from Goldsmiths College in 1990.

An example of her work would be Beckham Sleeping, a short video of the celebrity David Beckham while he sleeps. This video is meant to show people a different look to what they usually see. Beckham is a massive star and is always shown in the magazines as glamorous and having an amazing, lively life style, but in this video it shows that even though he has an amazing life he still does what everyone else has to do, which is sleep.  Furthermore it shows that because he has an active life style he may need sleep a lot more than other people.

Also Beckham is presented as being a manly character; this video shows his at his most vulnerable time. The only type of people that others usually watch sleep is babies, it kind of contradict his character, presenting his as a baby like person.

Although, in the video Beckham looks like he has been positioned to still look, good in a sense. His tattoo is showing, his hair looks like it has been styled and his arms are in a position to puff out his chest. This may be showing the fact that even though he’s like us; he’s treated like an object, he’s probably told what to do by his advisors a lot of the time so he is used to doing what other people tell him to do.

This certain piece reminds me of an installation first performed by Tilda Swinton in 1995, where she slept in a glass box at the serpentine gallery for random tourists to gaze at her.

It also reminded me of the long film made by Andy Warhol of his friend sleeping for five hours twenty minutes. It showed people what strange things we may get up to while we are sleeping.

Another example of her work would be Prelude. This video is of a man playing a song on the cello, in an empty room, but the cello is missing.  This video shows a man with a sense of loss, even though he has nothing with him, he continues to play his cello because maybe it’s what he loves or all he had. The music that the man is playing adds to the effect of the amount of sadness that the man may be suffering.

This video also gave me a sense of determination; I can relate it to someone who has lost everything, the fact that there is no one else with him could show that no one stood by him but still fights for what they believe in.

This video reminds me of another piece of work that she created called sigh, this included a vast amount of people playing imaginary instruments, directed by a conductor without his baton.

This artist did give me some inspiration for my own work; I like the fact that a lot of her work is very simple but it still created an impact. I’d like to take this aspect and put it into my work somehow.

 

The second artist that I chose was Mark McGowan. He is described in a guardian article as a very odd character, although his pieces are very controversial and have a massive impact.

Most of his art work has to have some sort of reaction by someone in order for it to have an effect. For example he created a piece called The Running Tap, in 2005. He had the idea to leave a tap in the back of a photography studio running for a whole year. The only reason that this “got big” so to speak is because Thames water had threatened to turn off his water supply.  This piece of art was created in order to create consciousness for the environment and to raise awareness of wastage of water. His idea was to ask people why it was okay to waste 100 litres of water to clean their dishes under a running tap. He was comparing the amount of water he was using to the amount that the country was wasting.

This did actually have an effect on some people, a woman that had left her tap running for her cat when she left for work every day had heard about McGowan’s piece of work. It made her realise the amount of water she was wasting and made her change her ways.

Another piece of art that he created was Full English breakfast, where he showcased the UKs eating habits; he sat in a bath of baked beans with chips up his nose and sausages attached to his head for a fortnight.

He created this piece because one of his foreign friends criticized the national fare. This piece showed me that he is so proud of our national dish that he is willing to bathe in it for two weeks. Sarah McIntyre said in an article that because the beans were so cold his body system went funny and he found himself urinating in the water.

This piece also showed me the fact that the English love their food so much that they would even be willing to go and see a man bathing in a dirty bath tub full of filthy baked beans.

This certain piece reminded me of another piece of his work called Dead Soldier, this was where he laid in a foetal position in the middle of Birmingham city centre, dressed in combat gear and a red beret. This installation was raised to questions about the horrifying facts about conflict.

Most of MCGowans work is created to raise questions about subjects that are affecting our country and he wants to make people realise that they are able to do something about it.

Even though I really liked all of Mark McGowans work and the points that he is trying to put forward his work didn’t really inspire me.