task 3 - audience report

Task 3 – audience report

Both the Lift and Bowling for Columbine use different techniques and conventions to target their audiences. In this report, I will be exploring those techniques, as well as explaining who the audience are and the similarities and differences in relation to the way the audience has been targeted between both documentaries.

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary focusing on the high school massacre that occurred in 1999 in Columbine, as well as exploring violence and gun crime in the USA. The target audience for this documentary is segmented as it has aspects that appeal to more than one target audience through the content being shown. Because of this, the target audience would be mainstream as many people of different ages and who have different interest would be open to watching the documentary. Bowling for Columbine is a documentary that is more aimed towards citizens in the USA who are concerned about violence and gun crime. I also feel that it is aimed towards young adults e.g. people in high school who can relate to some of the issues shown through the documentary. The ideal audience for the documentary would be young adults e.g. 18 +, also I feel the documentary if more targeted towards a male audience. As well as this, the documentary would relate to other audiences, although the overall effect of the documentary would differ to those who maybe own a gun for protective and do not use it otherwise.

Reasons as to why I feel it targeted these groups of people is because, it is more enlightening than serious, which is why it would relate to a younger audience. Also it makes the audience think about the subjects he is exploring and puts the younger audience in a position as to where they think about themselves being put in life threatening positions and whether having a gun is the safest option. It explores different qualities of having gun as well as showing the audience how easy it is to be in possession of a gun and the local shops/supermarkets you can buy one from. He had done interviews with some students that were injured from the massacre that occurred in Columbine High School that had spoken about the experience and the students that caused it. I feel that parents may have been able to relate to this more as they think about their own children in this type of situation, which would naturally make them want to do anything to prevent it from happening to a member of their family, which may also make them think twice about having a gun in their household.

Bowling for Columbine uses many different techniques and conventions that relate and engage the audience. For example, they use interviews, CCTV footage and public opinions to convey a certain meaning through the documentary. Interviews are used the give the audience a further understanding of the topics being discussed and to hear different peoples personal opinions. An example of this would be towards the start of the documentary, when Michael wen to visit a man who was arrested on attempt to build mass destruction weapons e.g. nuclear bombs. Just by hearing this title the audience would automatically jump to conclusions, which is why a personal statement from the man allowed the audience to get a better understanding of the situation. This is similar to the lift in the sense that they both use interviews, although it differentiates because of the meaning behind the interviews. In bowling for Columbine, the purpose for the interviews was to allow people to have their say on the subject matter or to confirmed/set straight allegations made against them. Whereas, the lift used the interviews to allow the audience to get to know the characters.  The documentary used CCTV footage, when showing exactly what happened at Columbine High School in 1999, following from the massacre already mentioned. Doing this, contributed to the awareness the audience had on the subject matter and allowed them to think about whether having the right to own a gun is the best thing for their country. Another convention that was used throughout the documentary would be images and facts on the U.S government, which gave an insight to how the U.S government funded Osama Bin Laden’s training, sent weapons to Iraq etc. This also differentiates from the lift as; it didn’t use CCTV footage, as it was more simple and straight forward. Another technique Moore used in the documentary was using past students from Columbine high who were affected by the massacre to try and put a stop towards the careless selling of guns in the U.S. This was shown when Moore took 2 of the students to the Kmart headquarters and explained what happened to them. This resulted in Kmart decreasing the amount of bullets and weaponry they sell in store.

The lift is a documentary focusing on the lifestyle of residents from a block of flats in east London. The target audience for this documentary would be niche, as it targets a smaller group of people that may have similar interests, although this documentary may appeal to more than one audience. I feel as if the target audience would be people who live in areas like east London, although not necessarily in a council flat. Also, I imagine that the audience would be a mixture of male and female, of any ethnicity and above the age 0f 30. It makes the audience feel engaged to what is going on by content of what is in the documentary as it allows them to emotionally connect with the characters shown to them. The audience would be able to relate to some of the things shown through some of the documentary as it shows how different people act towards situation and it also shows that everyone has their own story and to judge someone before getting to know them is unfair. This is shown especially through the man who had schizophrenia, as the audience may have felt confused when first introduced to him as he acted in an off-manner. However, once the documentary progressed it allowed the audience to hear more from him, which resulted in feeling sympathetic for the man.

The lift uses many different techniques and conventions to engage the audience and make them feel involved in what is happening throughout the documentary. This includes the narrative, interviews, editing techniques etc. The narrative from the beginning to end was to get information on the lifestyle of residents in London, however the documentary started by showing a bee, that was flying around in the elevator, trying to escape, and throughout the whole documentary, they used cut away shots to show the bee. Each time the bee was shown, it was less lively each time until it eventually died in the elevator, confirming that the end of the documentary was close. Both documentaries had their own narrative, although they were explained in different ways. The narrative of bowling for columbine would be about gun crime and violence which is why they use a lot of supporting evidence, whereas the lift was not as serious and did not need a lot of detail. The use of interviews engaged the audience to the characters in the in documentary as they were introduced to a number of interesting people, that by the end of the documentary the audience got to know a lot about. The editing techniques used would be cut away shots; this was used so that the content did not get too boring for audience, as well as it being used to show different parts of conversations at different points. The cut away shots also helped to tell the storyline of the bee. Bowling for columbine also used cut away shots, although they used them to switch from one story to a next. They also used a wide range of shot size e.g. mid shot (for interviews, to ensure the audience is concentrated on the person), close up (to show the different expressions of the meaning in the characters face) and establishing shot to add context to the different scenes.

In conclusion, Bowling for columbine used a lot more conventions and different ways they could target the audience, due to the subject matter and length of the documentary in comparison to the lift.