His Dark Materials: Audience and Industries blog tasks

 Audience

1) Read this audience rating guide for His Dark Materials. Based on the screening and this article, who do you think the target audience is for His Dark Materials and why? What about psychographic groups? You can revise Pyschographics here.

I think the targeted audience for His Dark Materials are families as they show each episode at 8pm on a Sunday. I think that their Pyschographics group is The Explorer and the Aspirer as in the show where is a lot of exploration and discovery.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: Teenagers could relate to Will and Lyra as teenagers have a similar age to them. Teenagers could also relate to the relationship they have as they might have the same relationship with people that they have never seen. 

Personal Relationships: People who have watched the show previously might've built a relationship with Lyra and could be able to relate with her.

Diversion (Escapism): The different worlds in the show allows the audience to escape reality and enter the fantasy world.

3) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to His Dark Materials? Refer to specific scenes or moments in the episode to explain your answer. 

Vicarious pleasure - The audience could experience the different worlds through the POV of Lyra and Will.

Voyeuristic pleasure - The audience has never experienced different worlds and HDM allows them to travel into different dimensions. 

Visceral pleasure - The audience might feel thrilled when the characters travel through worlds as they are discovering a new world. 

4) How did fans react to Season 2 of His Dark Materials? What about critic reviews? You can find some possible answers for this in this BBC website article on the critical reception for His Dark Materials and watch the fan reaction video above.

Fans reacted in a detrimental way as they said it is weaker than the first season. The critic reviews were that there isn't enough magic and that the show doesn't replicate the books.

5) What might be some of the preferred and oppositional readings for His Dar k Materials? Why did some fans love it? Why have other people criticised it? 

The preferred reading of His Dark Materials is to enjoy the new plot and actors of the show. Furthermore, the preferred reading of HDM is to discover the new worlds with Lyra and Will and enjoy the show.

The oppositional reading of HDM is that the audience don't enjoy the plot or show as there isn't enough magic to entertain the audience. Moreover the oppositional reading of HDM is that they don't like the new actors.

Industries

1) Which companies produced this His Dark Materials series?

Bad wolf ands new line productions. They made it for HBO and BBC

2) What were the UK viewing figures for A City of Magpies? How did this compare to season 1 of His Dark Materials?

The UK viewing figures for A city of Magpies was 4.4 million people on BBC1. While the first episode of the first series of His Dark Materials was watched by 7.2 million people on BBC1. This is almost a difference of 3 million.

3) What was American network HBO's role in making His Dark Materials and why is this important? Look at the notes above for more on this.

HBO's role in making His Dark Materials was to fund the show as they were making 7 billion in subscription revenue. This is important as HBO was able to fund the show and pay the actors.

4) What famous stars are in His Dark Materials and why do you think they were selected for the show? Watch the Comic Con panel video in the notes above to see the stars talking about the show.

Famous actors such as Dafne Keen were selected for the show because the audience remember her from season 1 and may wonder what will happen to her in season 2.

5) Who are Bad Wolf and what do they produce?

Bad wolf was founded in 2015 to create amazing and intense TV dramas for the global TV marketplace.

Comparison: Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child and His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies

1) How are the technical conventions different between 1963 Doctor Who and 2020 His Dark Materials (e.g. camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene)?

The different techincal conventions from 1963 Doctor Who and 2020 His Dark Materials is that there are better settings in His Dark Materials, there are different worlds. There is also an improvement in editing as before the directors had to find the perfect setting for a shot while nowadays the setting can be changed with editing. In addition to that there is a improvement in sound, there is more non-digestic sound which can create a more intense atmosphere. There is also an improvement in mise-en-scene as the actors have more costumes and have settings to work with.

2) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of genre and narrative?

One similarity between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials is that they are both a fantasy genre. They both have a similar narrative as both shows try to find a missing child and both use Todorov's equilibrium theory and end their first episode in a disequilibrium. However one difference is that HDM's narrative is more intense which will intrigue a modern day audience.

3) How are representations of people, places and groups similar or different in the two shows?

The representations of woman are similar and different as in Doctor Who Barbara follows Ian everywhere and expects him to protect her. However in His Dark Materials Lyra explores a forest by herself and protects herself.