His Dark Materials:Audience and Industry

 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.

From the age rating for His Dark Materials I think the target audience is teenagers and adults.This is because i feel like the teenage audience will feel a personal relationship towards the characters such as Lyra and will.I think that the psychograpic groups for His Dark Materials is individuals who are interested in fantasy and science fiction.

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:The teenagers because the target audience will predominately be teenagers,Lyra seen as tomboy will relate to some of the audience.

Personal Relationships:The children who have no parents can relate to some of the audience because they may have also experienced life without their parents too.

Diversion (Escapism):Different worlds,talking animals,witches

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. 

Visceral-Tourture of the witch 

Vicarious-finding out about the different worlds

Voyeuristic-multiple narrative strands,worlds

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.

There were many fan fictions made after the reaction of season 2 of His Dark Materials.The critic reviews of His Dark Materials was that most people thought that it was weaker than the first season and that it was not as inspiring.

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? 

I feel that the preferred reading for His Dark Materials will be for people who are more into fantasy.This is because the whole show is linked to fantasy with the different worlds.The creators of His Dark Materials made the preferred reading to be about fantasy,adventure,and the use of tourtue to engage the audience.However I think that the oppositional reading for His Dark Materials is the different worlds and the use of demons and spectors.This is because i think that some people will find confusing and complicated because it is not ordinary.

Industries

1) Which companies produced this His Dark Materials series?

It is produced by Bad wolf and New Line Productions

2) What were the UK viewing figures for A City of Magpies? How did this compare to season 1 of His Dark Materials?

season 1 had an average consolidated audience of 7.2 million viewers per episode in the UK.City of Magpies had 4.4 million views.

3) What was American network HBO's role in making His Dark Materials and why is this important? Look at the notes above for more on this.

Their role was to put out His Dark Materials on many different platforms so that it could reach a wider audience.This is important because it was co-commisioned for an international audience 

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 talking about the show.

James McAvoy-Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began.

Lin-Manuel Miranda-an American songwriter, actor, singer, filmmaker, rapper and librettist. He created the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, and the soundtracks for the animated films Moana, Vivo, and Encanto.

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

Bad Wolf Ltd. is a television production company founded by Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter in 2015 based in Cardiff,W\les,United Kingdom.The company is responsible for the television series The Night Of, Beddgelert, A Discovery of Witches, His Dark Materials and – starting with the 2023 Specials – Doctor Who.

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)?

In His Dark Materials,There are  many different shots and the camera is not handheld unlike doctor who which only has a few different shots and the camera is hand held.Also the setting in His Dark Materials is a real life place and looks like there was a lot of money spent to use that setting.However in Doctor who we can tell the setting is any ordinary place such as a normal school and an abandoned place which can be found anywhere for cheap or for free.

2) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of genre and narrative?

Both His Dark Materials and Doctor who is based on the use of science fiction.For example in His Dark Materials we have the different worlds and in doctor who we have time-traveling.The difference is in His dark materials there is a diverse range of characters and they are all not predominately white.However in Doctor who the whole cast is predominately white.

3) How are representations of people, places and groups similar or different in the two shows?

In doctor who we can easily tell that women are seen as less valuable towards men.Whereas in His dark materials everyone is treated equally.The place of His dark materials has a range.This is because there are many different settings.Whereas Doctor who has not that much