Applying Uses and Gratification to My Film

When thinking about uses and gratification I know that my audience are looking for because of the five basic assumptions Blumler and Katz came up with - to identify, educate, entertain, social interaction and gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

My audience want something to entertain and inform themselves with, so when thinking of my film I should make it interesting, something that will mean the audience will not get bored, a bored audience will not be entertained. Entertainment is another gratification that they will most likely want to get from my documentary. However I believe that all members of the audience will be consuming my documentary for different uses and gratifications because we are all individuals.  

I can entertain the audience in many different way, the main way of attracting an audience is having intriguing content, then editing it together in a fast pace interactive way. I also plan to include subtitles and animations to excite them.

Blumler and Katz talk about an active audience who empathise with what they are watching, they will relate to what is being said. In this sense it means that my audience will relate to what is being said because those who I am interviewing are the in the same group as my target audience, so in some ways it can be seen as social interaction and security through knowledge.

In my film, there is one man who addresses the fact that he believes our government does not know what they are doing. For some people they will agree or disagree with his statement because that is human nature to have different opinions. Correlation with  what the man says can spark more interest in the audience and lead them to go on and consume more media related to what he said. Similarly, dissagreeing with the mans opinion will grab the audience to continue watching, for a different reason. 

The audience could be looking for transmission in my film, seeking the norms that we all have, as society will all relate to certain things, and some of these may be found within my film, such as some of the ideas that the interviewees have about what they want to be. 

Whether my audience wants entertainment is dependant on circumstances, they choose to consume based on their needs. 

In relation to my film I do not think that the Hypodermic Needle theory is relevant because it is only short in length so they cannot simply sit down and 'zone out' . My audience are not passive. 

This audience theory is useful for 'Speaking Out' becuase considering why my audience is consuming the documentary will influence how I produce and develop my main and ancillary texts, because I am producing them for my target audience I will make them relate to the demands of my target audience.