Reception Study

Reception Theory

Reception theory is a way of understanding media by how audiences see it and how their interpretation is affected by the media. Also the way you view the media product affects it as well. So example, the people you are watching the film with may affect the way you enjoy the film. A good example of this is, pretend you're in the cinema, you're enjoying the film, but then you might hear some chatter behind you or kicking on you're chair. You're going to get distracted, miss some of the film, therefore your interpretation of that scene of the film might be different to other people as you may have missed something. 

Other things that may affect the viewer is personal experiences. For example, you're watching a romantic film, and you've recently broke up with your spouse, in you're mind you might be relating to it and may be affected by the film more than others. Other things may include, historical knowledge, political views and even social status. 

You may start to watch a film with expectations, if these are staying in your mind, these might change the way you watch the film. For example, if a review you read told you there was a really good scene 45 minutes through, you are waiting for this scene, and if it is not good when you get to it, your reception to the rest of the film would be even worse than your starting opinion. 

Vantage Point (film)

To look into this theory, I watched Vantage Point with my class at college. The film was projected onto a whiteboard and the room was lit. Occasionally there was chat behind me, but that was easily ignorable.  I think the experience would of been better with many factors including; better sound, better lighting (dark), silence in the room, bigger screen and better definition of the film. 

The experience would of been best in a cinema, it's dark, full surround sound and the best quality film footage on the screen size. Most of the time in a cinema you don't have people talking so there wouldn't be anyone to distract you. The only sound problem in the cinema is the minor 'popcorn eating' and rustling but that never seems to affect me at all as it is only a slight sound.