Film Audiences: Theories, Methods and Contexts

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Deliver work to a given length, format, brief and deadline
• Present your findings in the appropriate format
• Analyse your research findings
• Collect data using appropriate methods and sources
• Design a research proposal

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Methods and sources used to study audiences
• The cultural and economic significance of audiences within film industries and cultures
• Contexts in which audiences engage with film
• Theories and debates about film audiences

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• How to design a proposal for a short piece of audience research
• How to consider the ethical implications of research involving human participants
• How to collect data on audiences using appropriate methods and sources
• How to analyse your research findings with reference to relevant theories and debates about how audiences engage with film in particular contexts

This module aims to examine the cultural and economic significance of audiences within film industries and cultures. We will explore various theories and debates surrounding audience engagement (e.g. uses and gratifications theory, reception theory, media effects theories), along with the different contexts in which audiences consume film (e.g. cinemas, the home). We will also explore different methods of audience research (e.g. questionnaires, focus groups, ethnography), with a view to students designing and carrying out their own short piece of audience research.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• Lectures, used to introduce key theories and issues
• Workshops, focusing on specific methods of audience research
• Individual consultations with tutor in office hours

Learning activities include:

• Independent study/research
• Designing a short research project
• Collecting and analysing research data
• Writing up the findings of a short research project
• Contributing to discussions in lectures and workshops

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Karen Ross and Virginia Nightingale (2003). Media and Audiences: New Perspectives. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Máire Messenger Davies and Nick Mosdell (2006). Practical Research Methods for Media and Cultural Studies: Making People Count. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Virginia Nightingale (1996). Studying Audiences: The Shock of The Real. London and New York: Routledge.

Roy Stafford (2007). Understanding Audiences and the Film Industry. London: BFI.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External