Manchester University Press

Reception studies have made film audiences increasingly visible, while surveys track trends and policymakers gather information about audience preferences and demographics. But little attention has been paid to the specific contextual relationships and interactions between films and individuals that generate and sustain audiences. This monograph develops the idea of audiences as interactive and relational, introducing three innovative concepts: 'personal film journeys', five types of audience formations and five geographies of film provision. A major challenge of audience research is how to capture the richness of people's social and cultural engagement with film. To achieve this, the book uses an innovative mixed-methods research and computational ontology. It develops ground-breaking theory and concepts and an innovative methodology based on an extensive data-set derived from the under-researched area of British regional film audiences.

Reviews

'...this monograph proves to be pragmatic, pithy, and confident in its analysis and development of film audience studies. Its contributors intelligently detail patterns and logical assessments of the nature of film audiences through a synthesis of qualitative and quantitative data.'
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media

1 Introduction: understanding contemporary film audiences
2 Understanding audiences: conceptualising and analysing film audiences
3 Film audiences in English regions: research context and methodology
4 Film provision: film policy and film distribution
5 Geographies of film provision: places, venues and screens
6 Personal film journeys: engaging with film during the lifecourse
7 Finding and sharing meaning in specialised films
8 Five types of audience experiences: relations and interactions amongst audiences, films and screens
9 The audience as a process: concepts, relations and interactions
10 Conclusion: audience as a process - personal film journeys, regional film provision and lived film experience
Index

Authors

Bridgette Wessels is Professor of Social Inequality at the University of Glasgow
Peter Merrington is Lecturer in the Business of the Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of York
Matthew Hanchard is Research Associate in Sociology at the University of Sheffield
David Forrest is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Sheffield