The Study Of Audience Consumption Of The High Box-office Commercial Films In China Since 1995

By applying the audience psychology and receptive aesthetics, and making use of the latest achievements in marketing and consumer studies, the dissertation expounds the development and status quo of film audience consumption in the film market in China through sorting and analyzing the film marketing revenue and audience consumption surveys in China since 1995.Chapter One and Chapter Two deal with the research approach and object of the dissertation, and provide an analysis of the macro-background of the object. The film consumption in this thesis is restricted to cinema consumption only, which is characterized by audiovisual consumption, recreational consumption, social consumption, and vogue consumption. With the immense changes in China political and economical environment since 1995, the film consumption related sociocultural psychology, film policy, film market, and film industry have changed as well, which in turn has effected the consumption of cinemagoers.In Chapter Three, after packing up and analyzing the top 10 box-office films and the No.1 best seller since 1995, the author finds that the genre that has sold best is visual-impacting action films as well as various genres of the blockbusters, in which action is the major audiovisual element.In Chapter Four the author analyzed data from surveys on film consumers in the film market in China since 1995. The main body of the film audience in China is the white color, and college undergraduates. These people are aged between 18 and 35 with medium income, and higher educational background. They go to the cinema mainly for recreational purpose, often together with their lovers and/or friends. Although admission charge is generally deemed expensive, studies also show that people are adjusting their price expectation as the market develops.Chapter Five expatiates the interactive relationship between the film and the audience. The dissertation affirms that there is a process of cyclic effect and cross-remodification between the film and the audience. Provided that the audience ken is viewed as the starting point, the process can be described like this. In order to own the market by better satisfying the audience expectation ken, the film appeals to the audience aesthetic tastes and spectating psychology. While catering to the audience, the film also has an effect of aesthetic guidance and remodification upon the audience. In the process of seeing films, the audience gradually learns and accommodate themselves to various audiovisual creations, and forms their cinema experiences, which in time guide the audience in subsequent film selection. Meanwhile, a new expectation ken comes into being.Chapter Six treats the hierarchy of audience's psychological needs. The author conceives that the satisfaction of the audience psychological needs has a multilayer structure, one level above another. From bottom to top, they are satisfaction of the need of audiovisual spectacle, the need of story attraction, the need of emotional experiences, and the need of reflection.Chapter Seven starts from the discussion of marketing concepts. An Analysis is made of the gains and losses of adopting the strategy of high-concept films in marketing. The strategy of high box-office commercial films is also discussed in the chapter.