Subject Librarian
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Internet resource(s)
- Audiences from the British Film Institute (BFI)
Their research covers gender, age, ethnicity, social group and region, both for the UK audience as a whole and for particular popular titles. - European Cinema Audiences ResearchEuropean Cinema Audiences is a comparative research project that explores European film cultures in the 1950s. ...
- Understanding audiences from Independent Cinema OfficeThe key to making a cinema successful is having a strong feel for the range of audiences that it might attract: who are they, what do they want to see and how do you communicate with them?
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
A short definition for "audience"
A body of individuals watching and/or listening to a show, concert, film, or speech. The cinema audience comprises people who assemble to watch films in cinemas and other venues, both public and private, as well as those who consume films via alternative platforms such as video, DVD, home cinema, and television. Quantitative data on attendances at cinemas and on cinema box-office takings are routinely gathered by the film industry, and in some countries by government bodies as well: data are normally published in the trade press and in government statistics. In film studies, the sociological or cultural notion of the cinema audience is commonly distinguished from the idea of the spectator, where spectatorship is understood as a relationship or engagement with the film text. Since the study of film spectatorship and the study of cinema audiences derive from distinct disciplinary approaches and methodologies, it is helpful to hold to a conceptual distinction between the two terms, spectator and audience. ...
Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2020). Audience. In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 Apr. 2023
In the Library's collections
You can use the subject heading below to find resources for film audiences. There is also a keyword search for "film audiences" which will find different items.
- film audiencesThis is a keyword search in the online catalog.
Introductory reading(s)
The audience effect: on the collective cinema experience by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A8 H36 2018ISBN: 9781474414951Is the experience of watching a film with others in a cinema crucially different from watching a film alone? Does laughing together amplify our enjoyment, and when watching a film in communal rapt attention, does this intensify the whole experience? Attending a film in a cinema implies being influenced by other people, an "audience effect" that is particularly noticeable once affective responses like laughter, weeping, embarrassment, guilt, or anger play a role. In this innovative book, Julian Hanich explores the subjectively lived experience of watching films together, to discover a fuller understanding of cinema as an art form and a social institution that matters to millions of people worldwide. ...
Audiences: defining and researching screen entertainment reception by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9789048515059Moving away from the recent prevalence of text-based analysis in the field of film studies, Audience tackles one of the most important issues in cinema--how the audience engages with film. Ian Christie has assembled contributions from many of the major figures in media studies, including Gregory Waller, John Sedgwick, and Martin Baker, in order to provide a wide-ranging survey of viewers' relationships with the screen. ...
In broad daylight: movies and spectators after the cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A8 P4813 2012ISBN: 9781844678532From plasma screens to smartphones, today moving images are everywhere. How have films adapted to this new environment? And how has the experience of the spectator changed because of this proliferation? In Broad Daylight investigates one of the decisive shifts in the history of Western aesthetics, exploring the metamorphosis of films in the age of individual media, when the public is increasingly free but also increasingly resistant to the emotive force of the pictures flashing around us. ...
The SAGE handbook of film studies by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1994 .S325 2008ISBN: 9780761943266Film Studies has emerged as one of the most distinctive and exciting areas of study and research to be established in the second half of the twentieth century. Written by a team of veteran scholars and emerging talents, The SAGE Handbook of Film Studies maps the international traditions of the field, drawing out regional differences in the way that intellectual reflection on cinema and film has been transformed into a field of systematic inquiry. It reflects on the field's conceptual infrastructure, the dominant paradigms and debates, and evaluates their continuing salience. ...
Screen stories: emotion and the ethics of engagement by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.5 .P52 2018ISBN: 9780190867140The way we communicate with each other is vital to preserving the cultural ecology, or wellbeing, of a place and time. Do we listen to each other? Do we ask the right questions? Do we speak about each other with respect or disdain? The stories that we convey on screens, or what author Carl Plantinga calls "screen stories," are one powerful and pervasive means by which we communicate with each other. Screen Stories: Emotion and the Ethics of Engagement argues that film and media studies needs to move toward an approach to ethics that is more appropriate for mass consumer culture and the lives of its citizens. Primarily concerned with the relationship between media and viewers, this book considers ethical criticism and the emotional power of screen stories that makes such criticism necessary....
Selected book title(s)
Cinema audiences and modernity: new perspectives on European cinema history by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .A8 C57 2012ISBN: 9780415672788This book sheds new light on the cinema and modernity debate by confronting established theories on the role of the modern cinematic experience with new empirical work on the history of the social experience of cinema-going, film audiences and film exhibition. ...
From Sweetback to Super Fly: race and film audiences in Chicago's Loop by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780826273291Racial politics and capitalism found a way to blend together in 1970s Chicago in the form of movie theaters targeted specifically toward African Americans. In From Sweetback to Super Fly, Gerald Butters examines the movie theaters in Chicago's Loop that became, as he describes them, "black spaces" during the early 1970s with theater managers making an effort to gear their showings toward the African American community by using black-themed and blaxploitation films. Butters covers the wide range of issues that influenced the theaters, from changing racial patterns to the increasingly decrepit state of Chicago's inner city and the pressure on businesses and politicians alike to breathe life into the dying area. ...
House full: Indian cinema and the active audience by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1993.5 .I8 S674 2016ISBN: 9780226361567India is the largest producer and consumer of feature films in the world, far outstripping Hollywood in the number of movies released and tickets sold every year. Cinema quite simply dominates Indian popular culture, and has for many decades exerted an influence that extends from clothing trends to music tastes to everyday conversations, which are peppered with dialogue quotes. ...
Live cinema: cultures, economies, aesthetics by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D57 A85 2018ISBN: 9781501324833Live Cinema is a term used to capture a diverse range of experiences that incorporate a 'live' element in relation to a film's exhibition. The live augmentation of cinema screenings is not a new phenomenon, indeed this tendency is present throughout the entire history of cinema in the form of live musical accompaniments to silent screenings, showmanship practices, and cult film audience behaviours. ...
Other library resource(s)
Audience studies from Oxford Bibliographies Online - Communication by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199756841Audience studies is a broad and multifaceted area of communication research. It encompasses a wide range of theoretical perspectives, as well as a diversity of methodological approaches, that all share a concern with understanding how and why audiences engage with media, and the broader political, cultural, and economic implications of the media––audience relationship. These areas of focus distinguish audience studies from the related area of media effects, which is more explicitly focused on the impact that media content has on audiences. ...
The film audience: an international bibliography of research with annotations and an essay by Call Number: Baker-Berry Z 5784 .M9 A87 1983ISBN: 9780810816220An annotated bibliography of more than 1,200 film audience research studies. Includes an essay entitled 'The Motion Picture Audience: A Neglected Aspect of Film Research' that introduces the reader to the subject of film audience research.
Finding articles & journal titles
You can find articles about film audiences in a variety of publications. To make your searching easier, you can start your search in an index dedicated to the literature of film and television or use the search box at the top of the page.
Film & television literature indexCall Number: Electronic resourceThis index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television. About half the journals and magazines are film periodicals and the other half cover film and television with some regularity. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.