media at the movies: analyzing the movie-viewing audience

164 Pages·2003·0.38 MB·English

MEDIA AT THE MOVIES: ANALYZING THE MOVIE-VIEWING AUDIENCE

By

SEAN MICHAEL MAXFIELD

A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS IN MASS COMMUNICATION

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2003
This thesis is dedicated to my family, all the survey/questionnaire people who have the
courage and patience to ask strangers for help in getting a job done, and to all people who
in some way contributed to this thesis, great or small. It is finally done!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the following people for their help and encouragement, as
well as giving of their time and talent, throughout this thesis process. First, I would like
to thank my parents and other family members for their time, support, love, and monetary
aid, without which I would not even be writing this thesis. I would especially like to
thank my parents for their assistance in getting the Orlando theater to help me with the
surveys. In the same way, I would like to thank the theaters that allowed me the time and
opportunity to get people’s ideas on paper about the movies. Special thanks go to
Cinemark Theater in Orlando and Gator Cinemas in Gainesville. They both get ten stars!
A special thank-you goes to fellow graduate student Todd Holmes, who got me through
the first leg of this thesis when we originally proposed its beginning for our research
class. He was there to give this baby life.
I would also like to thank my chair, James Babanikos, for taking time to listen to
this thesis idea and running with it. He also gave me more confidence in trying to explain
myself to others, especially when talking with my other committee members. My other
committee members, Dr. Michael Weigold and Dr. John Wright, should also be
congratulated. They taught me how to research my ideas and to make things more
concrete. Dr. Wright gave me the initial idea to try this thesis, and Dr. Weigold gave me
a refresher course on SPSS and statistical tests. Without their help, I would not be this
far. I will remember them most of all because they made it fun to answer questions in
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classes and taught a sometimes-shy guy to talk in class. All my committee members gave
me their best and helped me to become a better researcher and student.
Before my committee guided my studies, there was one person who helped me
develop as a grad student and that was Dr. Kim Walsh-Childers. Kim had been my
advisor for a year and a half and started me on the path of writing a thesis. She made it
sound less scary. I would also like to thank her for helping in my first contacts with UF.
This last thank you is for all who aided me in my thesis and who may remain
nameless, from the patrons at the movie theaters who answered my survey to the people
at the UF computer lab. They provided some of the essential ingredients of this thesis
and should also be congratulated for their help.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................iii
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................vii
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................ix
CHAPTER

1 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY.......................................................1
2 LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................9
Introductory History...................................................................................................9
Foundation Study.....................................................................................................12
Other Related Studies...............................................................................................16
Uses and Gratifications Theory................................................................................40

3 SURVEY AND METHODOLOGY........................................................................44
Research Questions and Survey...............................................................................45
Sampling Technique.................................................................................................46
Collecting Surveys...................................................................................................48
Analysis of Research Questions...............................................................................53
Analyzing the Remaining Questions (Researchers’ Reasons for Adding the
Remaining Questions):...................................................................................54

4 DATA AND RESULTS...........................................................................................56
Data Cleaning...........................................................................................................56
Data Analysis...........................................................................................................59
Analysis of Written-Response Answers...................................................................64

5 CONCLUSION AND CLOSING THOUGHTS......................................................91
Looking at Likert Scales..........................................................................................94
Closing Thoughts...................................................................................................102

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APPENDIX
A QUESTIONNAIRE................................................................................................109
B TABLE OF RESPONSES......................................................................................115
LIST OF REFERENCES.................................................................................................151
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH...........................................................................................154

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LIST OF TABLES
Table page

1: Times............................................................................................................................69
2: Miss the Theater.............................................................................................................70
3: Feelings about Critiques................................................................................................71
4: Feelings about Trailers..................................................................................................72
5: Ad Effect........................................................................................................................72
6: Movie Stars....................................................................................................................73
7: Subject Matter................................................................................................................74
8: Word of Mouth..............................................................................................................75
9: Director..........................................................................................................................76
10: Seeing a Movie with Someone?...................................................................................77
11: Rating TV as a Medium...............................................................................................78
12: Rating Radio as a Medium...........................................................................................78
13: Rating Internet as a Medium........................................................................................79
14: Rating Magazines as a Medium...................................................................................80
15: Rating Newspapers as a Medium.................................................................................80
16: Rating Theaters as a Medium......................................................................................81
17: Rating Word-of-Mouth as a Medium..........................................................................82
18: $5 Increase-Yes or No.................................................................................................82
19: How Much Do Movies Make Up Your Entertainment?..............................................83
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20: Age Ranges..................................................................................................................84
21: Sex( m, f, or no)...........................................................................................................84
22: Counts for Feelings about Critiques............................................................................85
23: Counts for Feelings about Trailers...............................................................................86
24: Counts for Ad Effect....................................................................................................86
25: Counts for Movie Stars................................................................................................87
26: Counts for Subject Matter............................................................................................87
27: Counts for Word-of-Mouth.........................................................................................88
28: Counts for Director......................................................................................................88
29: General Linear Model: Within-Subjects Factors.........................................................89
30: Correlations..................................................................................................................90
31: Respondent Answers..................................................................................................115

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Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School
of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Mass Communication
MEDIA AT THE MOVIES: ANALYZING THE MOVIE-VIEWING AUDIENCE
By
Sean Maxfield
December 2003
Chair: James Babanikos
Major Department: Mass Communication
This study attempted to determine why people go to the movies to see the film they
see. The following variables were examined to answer that question: movie stars,
directors, trailers, general advertising, word of mouth, subject matter/genre, and reviews.
Data were collected via an intercept sample of 400 respondents at several theater
locations in central and north central Florida. Data analysis indicated that each criterion
was related to movie-viewing choice. The subject matter of a film and featured movie
stars were reasons most often cited for going to a theater to see a motion picture.
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CHAPTER 1
PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
Movies have become a big part of everyday life, starting small at their origins and
growing as of 1910. In the 1910s, the motion picture industry evolved from “an industry
dominated by mom-and-pop businesses to a mature, complex industry” (Fuller 1996).
The movie audience served as the catalyst for this change in the industry.
The purpose of the current study is to analyze the movie-viewing audience and to
see what motivates them to go see a particular movie in a theater. It is important to get
inside the mind of the spectator, or moviegoer, to understand the nature of this selection-
why one chooses to see a certain film of the many offered. Previous studies examined
the socio-economic aspects of moviegoers such as looking at income levels and leisure
activities in order to see the impact of movie watching on society in general. This new
study is more specific, investigating how a person is initially enticed to go see a movie,
whether this is through word of mouth, exposure to various media outlets ranging from
movie previews to movie critiques in a newspaper or on TV, the drawing power of the
cast or director, and so on. Movies continue to be big business. In fact, their popularity
seems to grow with time, despite the competition for people’s leisure time and money.
To give an indication of just how big movies have become over time, “WorldWide Box
Office.Com” was consulted. This Web site, which records current and past box-office
trends, tracks the total box office receipts for movies that suggest the popularity of film in
general. For example, 1989 featured such hits as Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade and had total receipts of $5,987.5 million for that year alone. 2002, on the other
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