Uses and gratifications theory

So what is the uses and gratification theory?
It is an active audience theory that focuses on 'what people do with the media' rather than what the media does to people.

The uses and gratification theory is split into four main groups called;
1- surveillance
2- personal relationship
3- diversion
4- personal identity
There is several needs and gratification for people these are:

Cognitive needs:
People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc. Different people have different media needs these could be knowledge so they will watch quiz programmes on tv, or search engines to find out information. Particularly for the internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the sun with no time restriction.

Affective needs:
It included all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of people. People use media like television to satisfy their emotional needs.

Personal intergrative needs:
'This is the self-esteem need. People use media to reassure there status, gain credibility and stabilise. So people watch Tv and assure themselves that they have a status in society for example people get to improve their status bywatching media advertisements which can make people buy these products, so people are changing their lifestyle and the media helps them do so.  

Social integrative needs:
It encompasses the need to socialise with family, friends and relations in the soiety. People now use social networking sites to satisfy their needs. Another example is if your friends is watching a programme then you watch it so you have topics to discuss. 

Tension free needs:
People sometime use the media as a means of escapism and to relive from tension. For example people tend to relax watching Tv, listening to radio and for satisfy their need for entertainment there by relaxing from all the tension, people watch films. 

One criticism of uses and gratification theory is that it does not consider the power of the media. One positive thing is that it explains how the media can play within our day to day lives. 

So how does this tie into my short film and how will I fulfil the audiences certain needs and desires they have. Andrew Tudor notes that 'a genre defines a moral and social world' John Fiske also notes that genres 'embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular.' In the different types of film genres there are both emotional and physical values that the producer has to think of that will full fill these two needs

As my short film has not got a specific genre and falls into probably more than one it is hard to try and decide what specific gratifications I can offer my target audience. 

EMOTIONAL
Identification with the character- some of the audience may be feeling the same as the character and can relate to them
There will not be escapism because my character is very boring and her life is not ordinary so they will not think that their everyday life is boring.
Catharsis- Release of emotions

PHYSICAL
Tension and release of tension. Todrov stated that ' narratives are about transformation.'
Feeling for the character 

Once I have finished my short film I can ask whilst researching about what the viewers felt in terms of physical and emotional.