Study the Uses and Gratifictions theory and question, which gratifications audiences would gain from each of your studied texts.

According to Blumler and Katz, people watch texts to gain something from them, whether that be a use or a gratification, Peaky Blinders fits in to this theory. Within Peaky Blinders is retrophilia, you are constantly given historical content from the time in which it was set, in this case, 1919, in terms of the Uses and Gratifications theory, Peaky Blinders informs it's audience, for example, during the scene where the horse has a broken leg, Tom Shelby and two other men that work in the barn are under the impression the horse has been given a curse by gypsies, this informs the audience of the ideologies of people in Birmingham at that time and gives them a little background information, a passive audience may merely ignore this, however an active audience would take in this information and appreciate that it's there. Peaky Blinders gratifies it's audience with entrainment and escapism, they do this with their usage of highly concentrated cinematography, a number of scenes within Peaky Blinders have been so highly edited and so thought out that they don't seem real, an example of this is the scene where there is a confrontation and fight with the Lea Family, there are a number of different shots and camera angles used within the scene however it's not as face paced as it may seen, it's completely slowed down and there is no diegetic sound whatsoever, only music, this lacks a sense of realism and enables the audience to escape within the text.

How does Peaky Blinders attract it's audience?

Peaky Blinders is a crime drama set in Birmingham in 1919 which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang. It is placed on BBC 2, which has a reputation for producing 'High Brow' drama series, intellectually and culturally rich texts.
Peaky Blinders has a very specific audience, in which most are active, one way in which it attracts it's audience is with it's usage of good quality cinematography. Within the first two minutes of Episode 2 there is a fight scene between The Lea Family and the Peaky Blinders, the whole scene consists of no dietetic sound whatsoever, and it was all in slow motion with numerous clips used, this was all done to emphasise the scene and get the audience to look at it more, a passive audience would've merely read the text and enjoyed, however a more active audience really would've appreciated the amount of work that went into that editing and camera work, which is what the director Steven Knights would've hoped to achieve.
Another way in which Peaky Blinders attracted it's audience is by breaking the stereotypical representation of regional identity, in this case the Brummie. Typical representations of the Brummie is that they aren't very smart, and the accent makes them seem very stupid, you see things in magazines such as the Daily Mail that have headlines like 'Brummie Dummie', Peaky Blinders completely goes against this sterotype and represents Brummies as much more smart and formal..

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

AMC's and Matthew Weiners critically acclaimed Mad Men is a niche text targeting an active audience, which is not encoded to gratify a mainstream audience. As Mad Men goes against typical mainstream conventions, the audience has responded in a numerous ways.
The audience of Mad Men have responded via social networking sites, Charlie Collier, the president of AMC mentioned how they brought out a game in which you could go make an avatar based on Mad Men and then share it on a social networking site where others could see their avatars, and of course, the name of the show. There are also other games such as 'the personality test', this enables the audience to connect more with the show and compare themselves with other Mad Men.

How does Lost attract it's audience

JJ. Abrams Lost attracts a wide, mainstream audience. Lost has been encoded to be inclusive, both active and passive audience can be gratified by it.
The texts usage of mainstream narrative conventions are what bring in such a large audience. First off, Lost is a hybrid, it uses conventions of Action, Fantasy & Adventure. During Kates flashback of the plane crash, there is a usage of fast editing when the plane first starts going down and also the usage of special effects when the back of the plane is ripped off taking some of the passengers with it, these two techniques are very typical of the action drama. Lost also links in with the Adventure and Fantasy genre, as 20 minutes in to the episode, Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boon, Sawyer and Said go on a 'quest' through the jungle to reach high ground to get signal for the radio, a quest for the characters to complete is often set in the Adventure and Fantasy genre. Abrams decided to make Lost a hybrid text to make sure those who have an oppositional reading of individual genres, aren't unable to watch the show, making the text able to be watched by more people, making it a mainstream text.

Lost

The television series Lost is a mainstream text, in which the majority of the audience are passive, they simply watch the show and enjoy. We know this from it's usage of technical conventions and narrative.

The first convention that makes me believe this is a mainstream text is in the first minute of the second episode, a non-linear narrative. We start off by seeing 3 characters walking in the forest, we assume this is where the entire show will be set, however, we then suddenly get a close up of a male character and then a cut to this same character sat on a plane, this is a flashback, which is a very mainstream technical convention.

Another convention that makes me believe this is a mainstream text is the usage of lots of enigma codes. Enigma codes are usually shown just before an advert break to make sure the audience come back for more, this is very commonly used. One or two examples of this are when John Lock and Walt are on the beach, they are both having a friendly chat on the beach discussing an old game, when all of a sudden there is a change in the music score, it becomes much darker, a close up and zoom is then used on John to whom then says 'wanna know a secret?', the clip then changes. Another example of an enigma code is right at the end of the episode, when a group of our characters have gone on a hike, to then find out a loop of 'help me, please save me, it killed them all' being played through a radio transmission for 16 years, the score then once again reflects the mood and Charly says 'Guys, where are we?', it then cuts to the end of the episode.

Another convention which adheres to the mainstream is 

The Hunger Games (Sci-Fi Conventions)

     The Hunger Games is a clear adventure film, but has clear conventions of the Sci-Fi genre. The narrative theme of anti-establishment is present within the film. This is seen in a particular scene when the children of District 12 are being forced to sign up for The Hunger Games, with guards surrounding the outskirts to ensure no-one escapes. A film is then shown discussing how the 'minors' fought back against the higher living and the government, and The Hunger Games are more or less their punishment for going against them. A low angle shot is often used to show the children looking up to Effie up on stage, and then a high angle shot to show Effie looking down on the children, this is done to show that Effie and the government have the power, emphasising the ideology and theme of anti-establishment. The guards surrounding the children of District 12 all had weapons, ensuring they would do as they told them, a similar usage iconography is used in the film District 9, where the humans are forcing the aliens to leave their homes by threatening them with weapons. The usage of this shows us that this is a polysemic narrative, a passive audience can simply watch the film and enjoy, and an active audience can decode the film and see that it is about corruption of the government and them abusing their power and treating 'minors' badly.
    

Drive (Film Noir Conventions)

     The film Drive is a Crime/Drama film, however, certain conventions within the film could make people argue that it has elements of film noir. Throughout the film, the majority of the time, especially with close ups of the characters faces, the lighting is dominant, and the majority of the time, it is low key. Straight away with the first clip we are shown with Driver sitting around a dinner table with Irene and her family, the scene cuts to a close up/mid low angle shot of Driver with a shadow across one side of his face. We are shown this for a reason, it shows that there are two sides to this character, one side is that he is the protagonist, the good guy, who does good things, however, the dark side shows that to achieve these good things, he must do bad things. This is often seen in film noir, like the opening scene of Sin City, where half of the assassins face is shown lit up, and the other half in darkness.
     Then we get our Femme Fatale, Blanche. Blanche is first introduced with a mid shot, sat down, smoking a cigarette, a very typical shot to show a Femme Fatale in noir films, Cook also introduces her with 'she is very beautiful'. During the robbery scene, as the robbery is about to take place, the character Standard walks up to the Pawn Shop, the usage of the tracking shot enables us to see the neon signs, which is another noir convention.
     After the robbery scene and car chase, Driver and Blanche are then shown in a slightly lit motel room. As Driver and Blanche watch the news, Driver starts implying that Blanche is working for someone else, and accuses her of this and threatens her, the narrative theme then leads to mis-trust and paranoia, a common theme within the film noir genre. As Driver stands up, the camera stays level with Blanche, as we see his fists tighten, he then slaps Blanche and holds her down by her throat, us as an audience could almost fore-see this, as earlier in the scene where everyone was eating dinner, half of Drivers face was in darkness, and this scene now is the dark side of Driver. The use of non-diegtic music in the dinner eating scene also helped us fore-see this, as it was very dark and sinister. Blanche then stands up and goes into the bathroom, we see Blanche in the toilets with lighting from the blinds shining on her, another film noir convention. Then a slow motion effect is added as a police man with a shotgun appears outside the bathroom window, pointing the shotgun towards Blanche. The police officer then kills Blanche, this once again shows the theme of mis-trust and paranoia, as the double crosser Blanche, has been double crossed by the police.
    Later on in the clip, Driver goes to see Cook. The scene is introduced with Driver walking from the darkness into the light, as he comes closer, we see he is holding a hammer, at this point, the sinister music we heard earlier is played once again. Driver confronts Cook and breaks his hand by bashing it with the hammer multiple times, Cook drops to the floor and Driver gets a nail out and places it on Cooks forehead, the camera focuses on Cooks face, scared and hurt, and then cuts to Drivers, showing his anger, this once again refers back to the lighting in the earlier scene, where half his face is in darkness, we are once again seeing Driver commit a dark action.
     The Protagonist (Driver) gives off typical noir character conventions, for example, after both his partners were dead, he was left with the money, Cook said he should just keep the money, and run away, he told him no, and he would stay and help Irene, this is typical of noir, as in noir films the protagonist doesn't care about himself, and only cares for his Femme Fatale and does things for her, unfortunately, this often leads to their death.