Film Audiences: Personal Journeys with Film, by Bridgette Wessels, Peter Merrington, Matthew Hanchard and David Forrest with the Beyond the Multiplex Team. Manchester University Press, 2022, 304 pp.

Abstract

The question of audience formation has, at times, been neglected in film studies, in favour of auteur-centric interests, sociopolitical commentary, and textual analysis. Though we each have personalised film journeys resulting from our engagement with different types of film throughout our lives, these journeys also indicate larger, collective trends. In response to a growing need to qualitatively assess regional audience studies, Film Audiences: Personal Journeys with Film sets out to sharpen the debate “about how to conceptualise film audiences and the ways in which they form” (1). In doing so, these researchers establish an important UK-based audience study that provides a useful framework for further audience studies in more diverse locales.

Keywords

• film provision
• audience studies
• process
• film policy