Week 1- Introduction
Basic Definitions & Information:
o Hedonic = pleasure seeking is the highest aim in life
o Entertainment-> Any market offering whose main goal is to give pleasure to consumers
versus a primarily function utility
o Media Entertainment -> Any mediated product created for the purpose of entertaining
its users
o Entertainment products are information goods because they are valued because of the
information they carry but also called experience goods because of the attributes of
experience dominate the costumers (expensive to produce but cheap to distribute and
reproduce so it makes up)
o Enjoyment-> used to describe and explain positive reactions towards the media and its
contents (enjoyment is phrased as a way of experience)
o Media related content -> complex construct related to physiological, affective and
cognitive aspects
o Entertainment industry-> group of sub-industries devoted to entertainment with the
intention of profiting
o Motivational basis of activities relies on:
o Approach system -> results in pleasure
o Avoidance system -> results in pain
o Enjoyment is the basis of media entertainment (conceptualized as the experience)
o Increase of demand for entertainment opportunities has increased:
o Increase of economic situation -> people invest more in media products
o Mass media has a bigger role in daily life
o Labels to identify entertainment products:
o Medium ->
means of communication
Combo of technology and medium
o Title ->
name of the product
4 aspects that help consumers figure it out:
Phonetics:
Orthography:
Morphology
Semantics
, o Genre/Category ->
describes the category of entertainment
Helps make judgements of what to expect
o Brand ->
semantic network of impressions in the consumer's mind
Have 2 key functions:
Awareness = immediate attention
Image
o Design-> combination of structural, technological and narrative elements that provide a
coherent experience to the audience (like 3 act structure, Hero Journey, etc)
Lasswell's Linear Model of Communication:
Differential Suceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSME)
o Proposed by Valkenburg & Peter
o States that 3 factors predict media use:
o Preference
o Developmental level
o Social environment
o Media effects are transactional-> effects of media use also affect media use
The complexity of the Entertainment Experience:
o Media users show a wide variety of experimental responses and experiences
, o E.G.: Watching TV-> self-reflection or escape feeling or both
o Entertainment experiences offer complex and multifaceted experiences
o Theories that explain the process of Selecting entertainment products:
Mood Management Theory (Zillmann, 1988):
Selection of entertainment visa-a-vis the users' constant desire for regulation of
mood
Media users try to maintain positive moods or negative moods
Limitations:
Only depict one specific response without considering the complexity of several
manifestations
Affective Disposition Theory (Raney,2003; Zillmann 1994):
Explains the overall experiential response of viewers throughout the time of
exposure to a media product
Differentiates between the steps users go through
In a movie, ADT is about the audience's observation of characters
leading to an assessment of morality.
Limitations:
Only depict one specific response without considering the complexity of several
manifestations
Escapism:
Explains how media and narratives provide a mental retreat for audiences who
feel unhappy or uncomfortable with their real lives and social worlds
Momentary distraction or a compensating experience
Presence:
Sense of being there, absorbed by the content or transported to the setting of
place and feel interaction with characters that do not really exist outside the
mind
There is effects of presence on learning but there is not a lot of research on the
entertainment experience itself or the connection between presence and
entertainment
The Entertainment Experience:
, Preferences of media entertainment:
o Pop culture
is the domain of entertainment products that are created in mass quantities for
the mass audience
it evolves constantly because it is in touch with the set of beliefs and values that
are dominant at that point of time
o Cultural Congruence:
States culture influence the type of entertainment you like due to cultural
values
o Zeitgeist:
Entertainment products are more attractive in darker economic times, despite
consumers having less money to spend
The Core of Entertainment Experience:
o Zillmann proposed media users are hedonistically oriented agents, however, evidence
suggests that the enjoyment produced can be based on negative emotions.
o Those negative emotions responses are also defined as enjoyment -> explained by
meta-emotions (situations in which individuals experience unpleasant emotions on
object level, however they also experience appreciation and enjoyment on a meta-
emotional level)
o This experimental state is felt as pleasant
Manifestations of the Entertainment Experience:
o Comedy -> serenity, exhilaration, laughter as a manifestation of enjoyment
Basic Definitions & Information:
o Hedonic = pleasure seeking is the highest aim in life
o Entertainment-> Any market offering whose main goal is to give pleasure to consumers
versus a primarily function utility
o Media Entertainment -> Any mediated product created for the purpose of entertaining
its users
o Entertainment products are information goods because they are valued because of the
information they carry but also called experience goods because of the attributes of
experience dominate the costumers (expensive to produce but cheap to distribute and
reproduce so it makes up)
o Enjoyment-> used to describe and explain positive reactions towards the media and its
contents (enjoyment is phrased as a way of experience)
o Media related content -> complex construct related to physiological, affective and
cognitive aspects
o Entertainment industry-> group of sub-industries devoted to entertainment with the
intention of profiting
o Motivational basis of activities relies on:
o Approach system -> results in pleasure
o Avoidance system -> results in pain
o Enjoyment is the basis of media entertainment (conceptualized as the experience)
o Increase of demand for entertainment opportunities has increased:
o Increase of economic situation -> people invest more in media products
o Mass media has a bigger role in daily life
o Labels to identify entertainment products:
o Medium ->
means of communication
Combo of technology and medium
o Title ->
name of the product
4 aspects that help consumers figure it out:
Phonetics:
Orthography:
Morphology
Semantics
, o Genre/Category ->
describes the category of entertainment
Helps make judgements of what to expect
o Brand ->
semantic network of impressions in the consumer's mind
Have 2 key functions:
Awareness = immediate attention
Image
o Design-> combination of structural, technological and narrative elements that provide a
coherent experience to the audience (like 3 act structure, Hero Journey, etc)
Lasswell's Linear Model of Communication:
Differential Suceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSME)
o Proposed by Valkenburg & Peter
o States that 3 factors predict media use:
o Preference
o Developmental level
o Social environment
o Media effects are transactional-> effects of media use also affect media use
The complexity of the Entertainment Experience:
o Media users show a wide variety of experimental responses and experiences
, o E.G.: Watching TV-> self-reflection or escape feeling or both
o Entertainment experiences offer complex and multifaceted experiences
o Theories that explain the process of Selecting entertainment products:
Mood Management Theory (Zillmann, 1988):
Selection of entertainment visa-a-vis the users' constant desire for regulation of
mood
Media users try to maintain positive moods or negative moods
Limitations:
Only depict one specific response without considering the complexity of several
manifestations
Affective Disposition Theory (Raney,2003; Zillmann 1994):
Explains the overall experiential response of viewers throughout the time of
exposure to a media product
Differentiates between the steps users go through
In a movie, ADT is about the audience's observation of characters
leading to an assessment of morality.
Limitations:
Only depict one specific response without considering the complexity of several
manifestations
Escapism:
Explains how media and narratives provide a mental retreat for audiences who
feel unhappy or uncomfortable with their real lives and social worlds
Momentary distraction or a compensating experience
Presence:
Sense of being there, absorbed by the content or transported to the setting of
place and feel interaction with characters that do not really exist outside the
mind
There is effects of presence on learning but there is not a lot of research on the
entertainment experience itself or the connection between presence and
entertainment
The Entertainment Experience:
, Preferences of media entertainment:
o Pop culture
is the domain of entertainment products that are created in mass quantities for
the mass audience
it evolves constantly because it is in touch with the set of beliefs and values that
are dominant at that point of time
o Cultural Congruence:
States culture influence the type of entertainment you like due to cultural
values
o Zeitgeist:
Entertainment products are more attractive in darker economic times, despite
consumers having less money to spend
The Core of Entertainment Experience:
o Zillmann proposed media users are hedonistically oriented agents, however, evidence
suggests that the enjoyment produced can be based on negative emotions.
o Those negative emotions responses are also defined as enjoyment -> explained by
meta-emotions (situations in which individuals experience unpleasant emotions on
object level, however they also experience appreciation and enjoyment on a meta-
emotional level)
o This experimental state is felt as pleasant
Manifestations of the Entertainment Experience:
o Comedy -> serenity, exhilaration, laughter as a manifestation of enjoyment
