3P18 - Audience Blog #2
Hello again, audience member. The last few weeks in Canada have been wrought with emotional and groundbreaking events, which yielded some of the most passionate audiences in recent memory.
Week of Sept. 23, 2015
This was an interesting week for me, as I travelled (for the second weekend in a row) to Toronto to be the Assistant Director on the set of a short film that I also wrote ("DYSPARE").
The Assistant Director is not a role that tends to be warmly welcomed by the cast and crew, being that its very nature is to 'corral' people and keep them from getting too distracted by irrelevant stimuli. Regardless, it is an indispensable role and it allowed me to take on an authoritative role to a certain degree, which at times made the cast and crew my 'audience'. This was a small unmediated (save for any mediated cellular, walkie-talkie, or internet-based communication) audience that generally remained very active in their response to my requests/demands.
My role as Assistant Director undoubtedly frustrated some, but the shoot remained on schedule for the most part and thus people were more or less happy. But when it came time for me to leave early for my journey back to Brock U, my departure left some disheveled. I needed to bring my equipment back with me - equipment that they were currently about to use (and had been 'on the brink' of using for about 2 hours...) My demands changed the nature of this audience momentarily, for they transformed from being calm and goal-oriented to annoyed and slightly confused as they began considering replacement equipment.
My departure may have stirred this audience, but they quickly resumed and were back on track achieving their necessarily pedantic goals.
Behind the scenes, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
In terms of the equipment used on set, it was interesting to note that we were creating something specifically for audiences, yet the creation itself demanded exploration of a strand of 'Uses and Gratifications'. By this I mean that, just as an audience member choose certain types of media for certain types of consumption, we had to do the same in the production of the material so that each stratum was achieved with maximum effect. Each department took part in this - each of my 'audience' members. It's all very meta...
I wrote "DYSPARE" in the Thriller / Drama genre due to an extension of Cultivation Theory. Just as viewers who watch violent news, for example, will begin to perceive the world as more violent, I (as an audience member) anticipated that people enjoy Thrillers and Dramas, so I designed the script around this elaboration of Cultivation Theory. The reading by Bartsch et al. provides and overview of the NFA (emotional stimulation) of certain viewers. I made "DYSPARE" for those with a high NFA, because those are the best kind of people.
Week of Sept. 30, 2015
In class we discussed the '4th Wall', and how it originally didn't exist since the audience would regularly participate. Later, norms and technology like dimmed lighting created a barrier between audience and presenter. Once again, however, performers will occasionally break the '4th Wall'. Some, like John Oliver, constantly, almost exclusively, break the '4th Wall':
John Oliver addresses the significant Migrant Crisis, and as usual his strong doses of satire ('comedy news' as referred to by Kowalewski) make for a very entertaining and convincing argument. Kowalewski confirms that 'hard news' is more effective for those who already agree with the topic, whereas 'comedy news' is better at changing opinion. In essence, it is more persuasive.
The 'audience' for John Oliver is never seen, and may in reality only be a laugh track. In that sense they are very complacent and attentive. But the real audience here emerges in the comment section on YouTube (even though the show airs on HBO). People debate and form/propagate opinions here, reflect on Oliver's rhetoric, and monitor each other's actions. It is very much interactive. The show is extremely popular; the audience has the power to keep these important segments rolling. Their consumption has determined not only what Oliver addresses, but how long he will last.
Modern communications technology is responsible for this immediate and detailed feedback; which is far superior to simple broadcast television. YouTube is undoubtedly 'the place' to watch programmes like John Oliver.
Week of Oct. 7, 2015
Tying-in the above is the assertion from Neilson that "Twitter lets you see the future of TV". This is based on the same principle of mediated audiences converging over social media sites. Twitter, like any other major player, is a place for people to share their opinions - and form public opinions, which is even more important for content producers. Whether this is a result of Agenda Setting Theory (that news outlets control what events are covered, thereby they control what is known/believed), or actual influences Agenda Setting in itself is debatable. Most likely the two work in unison.
Imdb ranks "The Walking Dead" as the most popular TV show at the moment. Whether this subconsciously has anything to do with the current migrant crisis, or multicultural fears, is anyone's guess, but both the show and migrant news coverage are often in the spotlight... Food for thought.
The 'Spiral of Silence' theory pertains to this, in that a great majority of Canadian people wish to help the Syrian refugees because it seems like the right thing to do. But save for the 'Hardcores', most who believe that the crisis is not our problem and should not be acted upon by Canada will keep this opinion to themselves out of fear of public shaming and persecution.
On another note, there was a 'Super Moon' lunar eclipse recently, which had social media and news outlets buzzing. It was a spectacular event that drew a massive crowd, and fostered many images.
However, many comments on certain sites were complaints regarding advertisements obscuring the primary material of interest. These ads had a high degree of 'viewability' - they were very noticeable. This was covered in the article by Sebastian, M. Many companies who pay for digital advertisements are concerned with the amount of 'viewability' their ad receives. Common problems include showcasing of the ad without attentive viewership (thereby going unnoticed), or 'flash' ads which appear for less than 1 second at times and therefore communicate no valuable message and hardly create awareness of the product/service.
Finally, I would like to briefly talk about my Thanksgiving dinner. It was a record-breaking turnout, about 15 people, I believe. There was the usual mingling and recounting recent events that may or may not be interesting to whomever is listening at any given moment, and there were alcoholic beverages to calm the nerves and dull the senses for the inevitable roundtable verbal giving of thanks. This was the highlight of the night from an audience perspective. Each person sitting at the table was given undivided attention as they expounded on what they were thankful for this year. It was a great, occasionally insightful, short-lived bit of tradition. But it was very important. Maybe it didn't seem so at the time, but rarely do so many blood-relatives and in-laws with entirely different life experiences get a chance to share something 'genuine' that pertains entirely to themselves in a non-selfish way.
Thank you, and take care.
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