RESEARCH & NOTES - 28th November 2018

Isabelle Osorio
Nov 28, 2018
4 min read

Updated: May 3, 2019

A nightmare before Christmas – Group Research

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change.

These audiences are seen as passive with no individual differences. They just believe what the television tells them, as it ‘must be true’.

Uses and Gratification

Uses and Gratifications theory as developed by Bulmer and Katz suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Bulmer and Katz believed that the user seeks out the media source that best fulfils their needs.

This theory assumes that the audience chooses what they want to watch for five different reasons:

Personal relationships
Personal identity
Surveillance
Escapism
Diversion

The Nightmare Before Christmas is rated a PG by the BBFC. One of the reasons for the rating is because it ‘includes scary scenes’. The ‘threats’ to younger audiences that may require parental guardians to view this film are: occasional scenes of mild horror in which skeletons, vampires, witches and various other Gothic and fantasy creatures attempt to scare characters, including children. In one sequences Santa Claus is kidnapped and later mocked by a ghost-like being. However, these scenes of horror and threat often contain comic elements and are relatively brief.

Nightmare before Christmas is a PG rated film, which means that it will fit perfectly with our main demographic. Our predicted demographic is 16-20 years. This age means that the film will be center of attention however extra activities need to age specific to capture the attention of our demographic. This film may also hold an element of nostalgia for some of our audience, as this film is a Halloween and Christmas classic in many young people’s lives; people may want to come because they remember enjoying this film as a child which will encourage them to come to this screening. This 16-20 age range means that most will be students meaning budgets will be short. Therefore a free or low cost solution to the screening may be the best option to boost number and turnout.

YouGov:

The Nightmare Before Christmas wasn't on this specific site, therefore i researched into the director, Tim Burton, instead.

As a director, Tim Burton was ranked the 11th most popular and the 10th most famous.

Demographics in Great Britain:

83% of people have heard of him

27% of people have a neutral opinion

8 % of people have a negative opinion

485 of people have a positive opinion

As you can see from the graph above, Time Burton is more popular to millennials. This is because most of the films he has directed are from the 21st century, such as; Alice in Wonderland (2010), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Plant of the Apes (2001). All of which are major motion pictures and have gone on to win many awards. This also explains why he has a higher popularity ranking in this specific group, because he has directed some of the biggest movies in the 21st century. However Generation X has a higher positive opinion ranking because society who have grew up from the 1960’s-1970’s, wouldn’t have seen such great or unusual effects used in films, which would have been something amazing for them to visually watch and this is due to advancement in technology. However, he was ranked lower in this group because he hadn't brought out as many movies pre millennial, which means he wouldn’t have been as well known as he is in this day and age. Finally, the baby boomers has the lowest rating in positive opinion. This is because he had not brought out any films during this time, therefore they may have not watched many of his films. This also explains why his popularity ranking is the lowest in this group.

This demographic shows how women and men equally have the same positive opinion. They are both 48%, which could be because every one of the movies he ha directed is different from the other. Therefore someone may like one of his films but not another because he directs a range of genres, all suiting to every gender and age range. However, it is more popular among women, ranking in at 6th. This could be because most of the movies he has produced/directed have a more misfits/romance story line, which is an aspect women love more than men. Tim Burton is ranked 18th in popularity. Again, this is because of the romance aspect he includes in his movies. However he has directed movies such as Batman and Planet of the Apes, which has a lot of action, which is an aspect/genre that men usually lean towards more.