Exam Practice

Question 4b
Compare the audience pleasures offered by two comedy programmes. Give examples from the programmes.

In the comedy programmes The Inbetweeners and QI, different audience pleasures are portrayed including entertainment, escapism and informing. Each programme has a different target audience to suit the context and language used.

The Inbetweeners is aimed at teenage and young adult males as they are likely to relate to the situations. Each of the four main characters have different personalities which make them individual and a male who is watching would be able to compare himself or a friend to either Neil, Simon, Will or Jay. Females would also watch this programme to see what the male gender thinks and acts like. In one episode Simon says 'He's 40, his life is practically over.' Which shows how the teenagers think that the older generation are so different and cannot relate to their situations. The audience feel superior to most of the characters as they all have flaws which is used for entertainment. The character Will is portrayed as the guy who tries hard but fails with socialising which is shown when he brings a game of monopoly on a camping trip. Neil is the generally stupid character who is unaware of what is happening around him. Simon is portrayed as the hopeless romantic, for a girl named Carly who shows little interest in him and Jay portrays braggadocio with his constant lies about his sexual relations with a number of girls. The audience can relate to their failures at socialising with the rest of the characters.

The programme QI is a quiz show hosted by Stephen Fry which is targeted at an older audience. QI is able to inform the audience as well as entertain. The purpose of the show is for the panel to answer with a common myth which in fact is proven wrong. The audience may feel inferior to Stephen Fry as he is portrayed as very intelligent. However he is accepting to any answers and does not make the panel members feel small. Although Stephen Fry make the audience feel inferior, Alan Davies who is the permenant panel member is always getting the questions incorrect. His wrong answers may make the audience feel superior when they know the correct answers. As the programme is a quiz show the audience are always thinking of what the answer may be and this makes them an active audience rather then the passive audience watching Inbetweeners. The people who watch QI would want to discover new facts and information to educate themselves.

Blood Ivory

Slide Share final evaluation:
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Blood Ivory final:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAiEFHTv4k

Gladiator

It is clear in the opening of Gladiator that the main character is a hero. He is portrayed as honourable and respected as the other men bow down or salute him as he passes. As he leads his man into war he is brave which makes him a strong leader. Although he has a strong warrior side, he also has a peaceful side which is shown through the use of nature. At the beginning he is shown looking at a robin which may show hope, and he is also shown along side a dog. This portrays him as gentle and trustworthy. The audience sees him running his hand through the harverst in a field which is only in his imagination. There are voices in the background which suggest he has children at home, and as he is wearing a ring it would suggest he is married with this family. By showing this man as peaceful but also ready to fight creates an image of a good leader and a strong hero.


The opening of Gladiator clearly portrays the typical action adventure genre. The audience becomes aware that a battle is about to commence as men in armour are shown preparing spears and shields.They are shown in a battle against barbarians. As soon as the battle begins, everthing appears to happen at a fast speed which creates tension for the audience watching. The barbarians are much less organised than the Romans and they are not as well presented. The Romans are in nice armour appearing prepared, whereas the barbarians are presented unshaved and unorganised. Many deaths are shown as soon as the battle begins which is typical in an action adventure film. Also there are arrows lit with flames being fired, which cause great explosions. This is also very typical in an action and adventure film.

Mission Impossible Opening

The opening of Mission Impossible makes it clear to the audience that it is an action and adventure film. The opening shot is of Tom Cruise climbing a rock with no harness, he is very high up which shows the dangerous situation he is in. This setting is typical in the action adventure genre as it creates suspense for the audience as they wait to find out if Tom Cruise makes it alive. His strength and skill is clear which are typical traits for a hero. Whilst climbing he slips and it appears that he is going to fall off, however his experience is shown as he is able to pull himself back up fairly easily. As he reaches the top of the rocks, a helicopter appears and a small rocket shaped device is shot towards Tom Cruise. As he opens up the device there are a pair of sunglasses which are special spy glasses. By the use of words such as 'mission' it is made clear to the audience that the film is specifically a spy action adventure theme. The audience feel frightened as he is climbing as it is dangerous, after he falls and manages to go on the audience feel relieved and trust him. After he has been informed of the mission he smiles which creates trust between him and the audience. It is made fairly clear that he is the hero as he is given the mission however not enough is revealed in this extract to know much about him.

The IT Crowd

The IT crowd is a comedy television series which is shown on channel four. It is an award winning comedy written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherin Parkinson and Matt Berry. The show is filmed before a live studio audience. It is set inthe London offices of the fictional Reynholm Industries, the show revolves around the three staff members of its IT department: a geeky genius named Maurice Moss, the workshy Roy Trenneman, and Jen Barber, the department head who knows nothing about IT. The characters Moss and Roy are portrayed as socially inept geeks or, in Denholm Reynholm's words, "standard nerds". Despite the company's dependence on their services, they are despised, ignored, and considered losers by the rest of the staff.

QI

QI is a comedy panel quiz with host Stephen Fry.  QI has the intention of entertaining the audience as well as informing them of random pointless information. The idea of the show, is that when a question is asked the most interesting answer wins rather than the most correct. The humour of the show comes from the entertaining answers produced by the panel. QI tries to rid the world of the nonsense and old wives' tales that can build up in your mind. The programme not only makes us look at things more closely, but it encourages us to question all the received wisdom we have carried with us since childhood.

The host Stephen Fry has the job of asking questions. He is aware of the correct answer and encourages the other panelists to give any kind of answer. He is not intimidating and does not make fun of the contestants when their answer is incorrect. Stephen Fry portrays himself on the side of the panelists and is comforting when they give their answers.

The man always on the panel is Alan Davies. He is what makes the show so entertaining. When a question is asked, he is likely to be first to say an incorrect answer. By doing this it makes the audience laugh but also makes them feel smarter. Each contestant is given a different buzzer, and Alan Davies' always has the  most humorous. This causes the audience to laugh at him and makes the show more entertaining.