Blumler and Katz (1970) Uses and Gratification Theory

What is the theory?

Blumler and Katz's uses and gratification theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience centred approach to understanding mass communication.

Users and gratifications theory was an important shift in the study of how audiences interacted with texts and was developed by Blumler and Katz is 1974. Through a series of interviews with viewers, they identified four broad needs that were fulfilled by the viewers of television. 

• Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures.
• Personal relationships - Companionship through identification with television characters and sociability through discussion about television with other people.
• Personal identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and explore individual problems and perspectives. 
• Surveillance - Information about "what's going on in the world".

Other uses and gratifications research developed models about how viewers use quiz shows for four main gratifications:

• Self rating - See how well I do.
• Social interaction - Watching/sharing/competing with others.
• Excitement - To see who wins and what they win.
• Education - As a source of knowledge.

Second practice film

James' Second film from Bishop Walsh on Vimeo.

Creating our practice film

As a practice for our final film, we made a practice film whilst in school with basic scripts we were given, overall we created two films:

Film 1 - Film 1 was a simple storyline with one character handing an object to the second character, however when creating the film we was given a range of shots to use. We was also told that zooms were not allowed, we was only able to use one camera movement.



Finished Film from Bishop Walsh on Vimeo.

I started off my short film with a low shot of character one walking down the stairs, this highlights how character one has the power as they are holding the object which needs to be passed on. However, the fact character one started off high but comes down to the level of the camera shows how the object is soon to be passed on, thus leading to them not having the power anymore.

With the continuous narrative, the next key shot within the practice film was the birds eye view shot of the object, the fact that both characters are out of the shot with only the object in shot highlights how the object is they key part of the short film. The use of a birds eye view shot is very effective as it enables us to get a good idea of the key aspect of the narrative, it also allows us to see a lot of the surroundings.

To end the film, I used a long shot to show character two walking off with the object, the long shot ensures that the audience are able to see the surroundings of the character, which can play a key role within the film. The use of a long shot may also signify that the film is coming to an end, as in this case the key part of the narrative has already happened, and the fact character two is walking off shows it is soon to end.

Genres ideas from James Johnson