Task 7: My own use of television.

Uses and gratifications theory

According to this theory, we all have different uses of the media and we make our own choices over what we want to watch. When we encounter a media text, it is not just some kind of mindless entertainment, we are expecting to get something from it: some kind of gratification.

Here are the four gratifications researchers have found:

Information - We want to find out what is happening in society and the rest of the world. We want to satisfy our curiosity. Programmes like the news and documentaries give us information and give us a sense of knowledge about the world.
Personal Identity - We may identify and compare ourselves to a character in a television programme or film.We connect with a character we like, we feel as if we know them.
Integration and Social Interaction - We can use the media to find out more about the circumstances of other people. We sympathise and empathise with the lives of others - we know the characters, they are our 'friends'.
Entertainment - We can use the media for enjoyment, relaxation, kill time and to separate ourselves from the rest of the world.

I filled out this table showing how much i watch specific programmes and why i watch them:

Linking back to my target audience

As my target audience is 16-25 year olds, male and female, so i don't think they would be likely to watch my film noir OTS for the information, as it is not informative. I think before somebody watches a film, they do not watch it to find a personal identity but they may discover one while watching it. This is probably the circumstance for my target audience. When my target audience watch my OTS, they will not know enough about each character as there is not much dialogue and we do not know how they live except from knowing that they are wealthy. So my target audience watching my OTS to find out about other peoples circumstances is only half true. I know that if i was making a series of film noirs all linked to each other with the same characters, i believe my target audience would watch it to learn about the characters' situations, for entertainment and to find a personal identity.