Audience Theory Evaluation

Betrayal is set in the middle of the woods, this makes the scene look very deserted and creepy. The group of friends are going camping. This could make a passive audience think that if they were to go camping or for a walk in the woods that something like this is likely to happen to them. Also this is why our film links into George Gerbner's 'mean world syndrome'. The masks that feature in our film could also link into George Gerbners mean world syndrome as the audience will begin to relate the masks that we have used with people that are violent, evil and murderers.



Our trailer promotes to the audience that the world that we live isn't safe and you can not trust anyone. The main reason for this is because the group of friends end up getting chased and murdered by their friends. As they are in a place that you usually wouldn't expect murders to happen as well as the beginning of the trailer juxtaposed the ending of the trailer. This links into the hypodermic needle theory as the audience are believing what they see in the the trailer and linking it into real life.



The audience would choose to watch our film in order to gratify the need for entertainment.The reason for this is because they would be able to escape their everyday lives and focus on the creepy jumpy scenes that they're being shown. This is Bulmber and Katz (1970) - uses and gratifications theory. Another need that our trailer will link to is the social need. For example. people will want to watch our film so that it is something to talk about with their group of friends so they feel involved with the conversation and part of the group.



Laura Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze' argues that women in the media industry are used to make the male audience happy and more likely to come and watch the film. For example, if a sexulised female is shown starring in a film, the male audience are said to me more likely to want to watch the film. If the women was seen as a damsel distress it is also likely that a male would like to go and watch it as the male character is usually seen as a hero meaning he would want to go and watch someone that he can relate to being seen as a hero. Women are seen as vulnerable in our film which link into stereotypes of women being weak and needing a man for survival.

Claude Steeles theory of the stereotype threat is shown in our film as people will begin to associate the murderers in our film as the people who they can relate to in real life and begin to think that the stereotypes are true. As the group of antagonists are supposedly friends, it could make a passive audience start to think that their group of friends might actin the same way. This could be a bad effect on the audience as it could hugely effect their lives.

Stuart Hall had a reception theory, he states that there are three reading that the audience can adopt when watching a film, these are; Preferred reading - this is when the audience respond to the product the way the producers expect and want them to. Negotiated reading is when the audience partly agree with the message or product but may disagree with other parts. Oppositional reading is when the audience is in complete disagreement with the product/message.