Discuss the audience appeal of our 3 main texts

The three texts which I have studied are Lost, Mad Men and Peaky Blinders. Each show attracts different types of audiences. Sky ones Lost is an American serial drama which follows the lives of survivors of a plane crash. Losts director is called JJ Abrams. Mad Men is a period drama produced by Matthew Weiner. The drama is shown on AMC and focuses on an advertising business in the 1960s. Finally the BBC2 drama Peaky Blinders, produced by Steven Knight is a drama set in Post-war Birmingham and follows a criminal organisation of former soldiers.

Lost mainly attracts a mainstream and passive audience type. One convention which is used in Lost to appeal to a mainstream and passive audience is the use of stereotypical character roles.

Uses and gratifications of my chosen texts.

Peaky Blinders-

• Finding out about relevant events in society and the world - Peaky Blinders informs us about a lot of events which were occurring in 1919, this is evident when tommy is confronting CI Chester Campbell and mentions 'The IRA' who were a terrorist group which was well known at the time. This enables the audience to learn about how society use to be and informs them about events which were occurring then.
• Gaining insight to circumstances of others - Peaky Blinders follows Tommy Shelby who lives in Post-World war Birmingham. The audience therefore sees how life was for people in Birmingham at that time. In one scene Tommy is shown taking heroin on his own in a dark room, this allows the audience to see the dark and deprived state society was after the war. This also helps the audience see how life as a soldier coming back from war was as Tommy was taking heroin so that he could forget his miserable and gruesome past of the war.
• Finding reinforcement for personal values - Peaky Blinders 

Peaky Blinders- Audience Targeting

Peaky Blinders - Episode 2

Peaky Blinders is a BBC two crime drama set in post-world war 1 Birmingham. The programme follows a group of former soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. BBC two screening targets arts, culture, drama and some comedies. The channel aims to appeal to those who are not already served by the more popular BBC one. Over the first 30 or so years, the channel developed a reputation of screening highly praised and prestigious 'High Brow' drama series. As Peaky Blinders was shown on this channel it helped attract its intended 'High Brow' audience.

As Peaky Blinders has very complex character roles and a high quality script, The show is able to attract well known actors and actresses. This is because their reputation can be increased by critical acclaim. Cillian Murphy is very well known actor who had appeared in films such as Batman, he plays the role of the main character Tom Shelby. Another popular actor who appears in Peaky Blinders is Sam Neil who played a role in the well known film Jurassic Park. By the show having well known film stars playing roles with in the text,

Explore the different ways in which audiences and/or users respond to your chosen text

"Explore the different ways in which audiences and/or users respond to your chosen text"

The AMC niche drama Mad Men has had many different audience responses since it has been released. The different responses include been nominated for awards,  good reviews from critics and discussions on social media blogs.

Mad Men has been nominated for 206 awards in total and has won 62 of them (15 of them being EMMYs). Showing the positive reaction to the television show from both famous critics and general viewers.

With the increasing popularity of using social media to interact with people around the world, A lot of blogs were formed to discuss Mad Men. An example of a blog that was set up because of the AMC drama was The Guardians Mad Men blog. This popular blog involved episodes of the show, recaps and discussions on different characters and so on.

Mad Mens reviews also showed the positive audience reaction, achieveing a 4 and a half star rating on IMBD

Lost
Identify who is the intended audience of your chosen text.

Lost is a popular sky 1 drama directed by J.J Abrams. The dramas target audience is passive and mainstream audiences. The director of the show uses many conventions to appeal to the intended target audience.

The first example of a convention used which justifies that Lost is a mainstream text is the use of a non-linear narrative. This is when the narrative is not shown in chronalogical order. This is present in the text when we see Charly in the jungle after the crash has taken place, we then see him have a flashback of when he was on the plane. This is a popular convention used in drama, as lots of other texts from with in the genre use non-linear narratives.

How typical is your chosen text to its genre?

How typical is your chosen text to its genre?

The British film "Fishtank" is a social realist film, directed by Andrea Arnold.  The film focuses on Mia, an aggressive fifteen-year-old girl, who lives on an Essex estate with her mother, Joanne, and little sister Tyler. She spends most of her days aimlessly. She begins an uneasy friendship with her mothers boyfriend, Connor, who encourages her one interest, dancing. The film is full of many conventions which are typical to the social realist genre.

In the scene where Mia is about to leave her family to go to Wales, her mother is dancing to music while having a cigarette. This scene is very typical to its genre as the music being played is coming from a stereo present in the scene which means the director is using diegetic sound. Diegetic sound is commonly used in social realist films because they want the audience to feel part of the text and create a feel of realism. The song which is being played repeats the lyrics of "life's a bitch and then you die", this reflects the situation which Mia has found herself in as her life has been troubled and hard. This theme is common in most social realist films as they focus on the under represented - the underclass, who find themselves in a very difficult and troubled life. Also Joanne, Mias mum is shown smoking, this is typical iconography of its genre. Alcohol, drugs and cigarettes are very common within the social realist genre as most characters tend to turn their frustration of being trapped in an underclass society to such things.