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Audience theory relates to how the audience respond to and interpret any given text. The media audiences can be defined in terms of location, consumption, size and subjectivity. Depending on the audience, they may interpret our A2 teaser trailer, a psychological horror on 4 protagonists who are psychologically damaged in different ways. Our teaser trailer is aimed towards people over 15 years as a US-style blockbuster film. Halloran, suggested that researchers should shy away from thinking “what media do to people”, and instead replace it with “what people do to media”, which links in with the idea that there are two types of audiences, active and passive. If the audience is passive, they receive unmediated messages from the media that heavily influences them, whilst an active audience is aware of the media and they are in control of what they consume from it.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory by Adorno & Horkheimer is a passive audience theory, which suggests that information from a text passes into the mass consciousness unmediated. It is also used to explain why certain groups in society shouldn’t be exposed to certain media texts; for fear that they will watch that behaviour and replicate it.

In our trailer, we chose to explore this through the perceived glorification of violence by the main protagonists. To do this, we decided to have two costumes, both of which have signifiers of urban youth. One costume, features light coloured, urban-style tops and jackets, whilst the other, features dark coloured, torn, ripped t-shirts, jeans and masks.

In an establishing shot, we see two of our protagonists breaking the 4th wall by staring into the camera in an extreme close-up shot, as if to intimidate the audience, adhering to the stereotypes propagated by the media about reckless youth. Additionally, our choice to have two costumes emphasises that, to the protagonists, violence and murder is almost like a game, and that it’s almost ‘trendy’ to be this unruly in society.

We highlight this again by having a close-up shot in high key lighting of blood running upwards of a hand, then several handheld mid-shots of the protagonists spinning mindlessly in the forest, dancing near the waterfront, their outlines illuminated by the city lights and extreme close-up handheld shots of the protagonists laughing into the camera. Moreover, we used a VHS style glitch over the shots to suggest that they are being watched, and that they enjoy displaying their unruly behaviour, stressing that this type of behaviour may be replicated in youths of that age.

Poster Deconstruction

JACOB'S LADDER

The text at the top documents that the director of Jacob's Ladder has produced another famous movie, Fatal Attraction, which should attract the same target audience. This is all in white capitals against a plain black background so that it can be visible.
Most psychological thriller movies have posters which focus very closely on the face, with very sharp precision to see every bit of emotion portrayed by the actor. This, however subverts that, as the sole focus of the poster is a blurred/smudged picture of the main protagonist appearing to scream. This is layered with soft colours like pale grey with elements of blue/purple to appear ghostly or other worldly. The fact that this face is the only object within the poster should draw interest from an audience who like psychological thrillers.
The accompanying tag line gives the audience some clue as to what the movie is about, but without giving too much of the plot away, which is important in drawing interest.
The title and the 'Coming soon to a theatre near you' line at the bottom is blood red, which conveys a sense of danger, death, warning and hazard, implying that there might be some form of violence in the film, which is again emphasised by the face.
The black background may be simple, but when it surrounds the face, it aids the tag line in the assumption that Jacob's 'nightmare' is all consuming, ominous.
In pale grey typography, the cast, crew and production companies are written, to tell the audience which production company is distributing it, and what time the movie is to be released.

The Skeleton Key

The Unique Selling Point in 'The Skeleton Key' is the actress Kate Hudson, whose name is in light beige capitals, across approximately 80% of the top of the poster.
This poster is an extreme close-up of an eye, which ha an incredible amount of detail, from hair to eyelashes, which should make the target audience unnerved.
the colour pallette of this poster is skin colours, and pale green in the centre of the eye.
The eye itself is a mirror of a man in a wheelchair facing a house, which gives little hints for what the narrative is about.
The typography for the poster is shaped like a key for the e letter, which gives a
The eye takes up the entirety of the poster, which dwarfs everything in comparison, including the title, suggesting that an antagonist is omnipresent, or always watching the protagonists.
The production companies lines are very small, and positioned at the bottom, which brings more emphasis to the centre of the poster. However, the date of release is in a larger font because this is a good marketing technique for telling the consumer the date of release.