His Dark Materials:Audience and Industries

 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.

The target audience is His Dark Materials is aimed at young teenagers on TV-14 and up this is because some scenes can make kids feel terrified, have lots of blood, and violence and may make younger kids feel more scared so that may give them nightmares at night. For psychographic groups, His Dark Materials has a variety of different ages as there are teenagers, adults, elderly. Gender as there are both female and male so not focused on that 1 specific gender group only.Race/ethnicity is more diverse as they do not have just white race but different races/ethnicities from different countries for the audience to enjoy and relate to.

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: Lyra is seen as this independent, brave girl who is with her Daemon and then she meets a boy named Will but is surprised to see that he is in the normal world, and has no Daemon with him.

Personal Relationships: Lyra and Will`s friendship continues to grow.

Diversion (Escapism): The different dimensions of travelling to different places that do not seem normal offer an escape from reality. Cool effects provide entertainment.

Is that there are talking animals,magic, different worlds-dimensions, Supernatural

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. 

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.
The fans reacted to Season 2 of His Dark Materials as a good thing because they were shocked by the production quality, trailer, editing, and tension, especially by the main cast and the plot of the story. Some critic reviews mentioned issues with the pacing and felt that the show could be confusing for those who have not read the books to understand. Overall, The reviews were pretty decent telling us that the show was good but has room for improvement too.
5) What might be some of the preferred and oppositional readings for His Dark Materials? Why did some fans love it? Why have other people criticised it? 

Preferred Readings

• Vivid setting: Fans love how the show creates an entertaining, believable fantasy world.
• Reliable to the source: The audience appreciates how the show sticks similar to the storyline of the book.
• Similar to the Original: Fans like how the show stays consistent.
• Strong characters: The characters are developed well and portrayed in their own ways.

Oppositional Readings

• Slow Pace: Some people think that the show moves too slowly and include parts that are not required.
• Confusing Plot: It can be hard to follow the show if you do not know anything about books.
• Character Issues: Some characters are not portrayed well as fans wanted.
• Too Serious: There is no sense of entertainment it is all too dark and serious.

  Industries

1) Which companies produced this His Dark Materials series?

The company that produced His Dark Materials is Bad Wolf and New Line Productions for BBC One and HBO.

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 are watched by audiences of 7.2 million in the UK and 423,000 on HBO. This compares to season 1 of His Dark Materials as The launch episode of the second season, titled The City of Magpies, was watched by an average of 4.4 million viewers on Sunday evening.

3) What was the 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 got international distribution on what is essentially a BBC One production. This is from Philip Pullman's website. This is important because   HBO has over 40 million subscribers and brings in around $7 BILLION in subscription revenue each year. 

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 discussing the show.

The famous stars in His Dark Materials are Dafne Keen and James McAvoy. They were selected so that the audience could watch it from a mainstream view.

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

Bad Wolf Is a TV drama Production based in Wales and they produce imaginative and relevant drama 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 sound is different between 1963 and 2010 in 1963 it was more of basic sounds, unable to hear it clearly not much technology involved. But in 2010 it has significantly improved due to technology with high-quality sounds, and sound effects. The Mise en Scene in 1963 had a limited amount of props, very less due to budget costs, as in 2010 they had more props, more money, and high-quality costumes to make them stand out more.

2) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of genre and narrative?
Similarities- Genre Both are science fiction/fantasy series. Adventure and exploring are the main themes. They both involve different worlds and dimensions. Narrative-They all have characters who go on journeys like The doctor, Lyra. Mystery and discovery make the plot interesting. They all have companions. Differences-Genre Doctor Who: Science fiction with tie travel and aliens. His Dark Materials- Focuses more on fantasy such as talking animals and parallel universes. Narrative- Doctor Who: Structure episodes that have adventures and plots. His Dark Materials-More storytelling with the plot keeps on going. Lyra is also a human child with hope. Doctor Who-Often includes historical and scientific content.

3) How are representations of people, places and groups similar or different in the two shows?
The representations of both Susan and Lyra are similar because they both are females,both want to rebel and be the one in charge by being smarter than everyone else by telling them what to do. In Doctor Who, the doctors want to help Susan but she suggests that she does not need their assistance and is fine on her own with no help. Similar to His Dark Materials Lyra is also independent as she wants to do everything by herself but Will wants to help her to make sure she is protected.