Film Audience and Spectator Experience: Exploring Film’s Impact
Explore how film audiences and spectators interact with films, shaping and interpreting cinematic experiences.
Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
4 hours100% online
How it works
Film Audience and Spectator Experience: Exploring Film’s Impact
Understand the role of film audiences and spectators
The world of film and entertainment is ever-evolving. Understanding its impact on audiences is crucial to staying up-to-date with the latest trends in film and audience engagement.
On this three week-long course, you’ll discover how the film industry targets specific audiences, influencing both the films shown in cinemas and the expectations built around a film.
You’ll explore how the industry shapes our understanding of films and our role as viewers.
Dive into the psychology of film spectatorship
Uncover how individual viewers engage with films on a personal level. From emotional responses to personal reflections, explore how psychological and societal factors shape the way people interpret narratives, as well as visual and technical aspects.
With this knowledge, you’ll understand how films position viewers to engage with deeper themes, characters, and ideologies.
Explore the influence of cinema vs home viewing
Throughout your learning, you’ll investigate how different viewing contexts—cinema versus home viewing—alter the way we experience films.
You’ll consider how these settings influence interpretation and emotional response.
Compare the collective and personal experience of film viewing
Analysing the physical and emotional environments of watching films in various settings, you’ll compare the communal experience of cinema with the more personal, private nature of home viewing.
By the end of the course, you’ll have a deeper understanding of film and the role of the audience and spectator experience.
Syllabus
Week 1
FILM
Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the course. Over the coming weeks we will be looking at the ways in which we watch, understand and react to films - as part of an audience and as individuals
Defining terms
What do we understand by the words “audience” and “spectator”? How are they similar but also different ?
Understanding film
How do we understand what we see on the screen – be it in a cinema or on a device? How does a film create meaning?
Aspects of film
We focus on a variety of additional ways in which films create meaning for us as viewers and what expectations we might have before watching a film.
Conclusion
Congratulations on getting to the end of Week 1. We hope you’ve enjoyed the course so far.
Week 2
AUDIENCE
Welcome to Week two
This week we will be looking at the idea of the film audience or rather audiences and examining the ways in which audiences have changed over the years and how audiences now consume films.
The Audience
What do we mean by the term “audience” and how has this changed in the last hundred odd years?
Different audiences
We all have different tastes in films and experience them in different way. How does the film industry target different sections of the “audience”?
What, where and who
Finally, we examine the different types of films, where we watch them and how cinemas differ not only in the types of film they offer but also what types of audience each try to attract.
Conclusion
Congratulations on getting to the end of Week 2.
Week 3
SPECTATOR
Welcome to Week three
This week we focus on the spectator and explore ideas about how we, as film viewers, understand, engage and react to films.
Ourselves as spectators
How do we relate to the films that we watch? Do we simply sit there and let the images float over us or are we more actively involved in watching a film?
What we bring to films
Each of us differ not only in our tastes in films but also in what we bring to a film viewing and how we understand what is happening on screen.
Key issues
Who we are – our race, our gender and our class – can affect how we understand and react to a film.
Difference
We do not all understand and react to a film in the same way. And so, what type of film viewer are we?
That’s all folks
We hope that you have enjoyed the course. If you have you might want to take another of our courses which develop some of the themes and ideas of this course.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Compare the concepts of audience and spectatorship and how they relate to us as film viewers.
- Explain the various roles and behaviours of film audiences across different eras of cinema.
- Explore theories of film spectatorship, including psychoanalytic, cognitive, and phenomenological approaches.
- Describe how cinematic techniques such as framing, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène influence audience interpretation and emotional responses.
- Discuss the factors that shape how different audiences (based on gender, race, culture, class) engage with and interpret films.
- Reflect on how digital platforms and social media contribute to new modes of viewing, sharing, and critiquing films.
- Investigate how films address or exploit the audience’s emotional responses.
- Engage in discussions on how filmmakers manipulate spectatorship to create ideological messages or challenge societal norms.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone interested in how films communicate with audiences.
It’s particularly suited for beginners new to film theory, A Level Film Studies students, or those keen to expand their understanding of film culture.
Who will you learn with?
Ian is a teacher, author, producer, screenwriter and director and has worked on a number of European projects, including the Framework for Film Education. He has won 2 BAFTA's.
Who developed the course?
Film Distributors' Association
Film Distributors’ Association Ltd. (FDA) is the trade body for theatrical film distributors in the UK - the companies that release films for UK cinema audiences.
Ways to learn | Subscribe & save | Buy this course | Start learning today |
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| Choose the best way to learn for you! | $349.99 for one year Automatically renews | $54/one-off payment | Free |
| Develop skills to further your career | Fulfill your current learning need | Try this course - with limits | |
| Access to this course | tick | tick | Limited to 3 weeks |
| Access to 1,000+ courses | tick | cross | cross |
| Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
| Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
| Certificate when you're eligible | Digital only | Printed and digital | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Buy this course
$54/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Subscribe & save
$349.99 for one year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Start learning today
Free
Try this course - with limits
- Limited to 3 weeks
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
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