'Most media texts target a range of different audiences.' How true is this for your chosen text?

One of my chosen texts for television is 'Lost', series 1 episode 2; "Pilot, part 2". This text aims to target a mass audience, and strives to reduce alienation for audience members by using particular conventions, such as; a hybrid genre, using an ensemble cast and the use of enigma codes.

This particular text uses a hybrid genre in order to attract a wider audience, and by creating 'Lost' in this post modern form, it mixes typical genre conventions to create a new identity and therefore broadens its audience by not using particular individual genre conventions that, as a result, would exclude viewers who take an oppositional reading to them. For example, 'Lost' is classified as a hybrid of Action, Adventure and Fantasy. In particular reference to the Action genre, the text was able to incorporate a chase scene into the plot with the use of the polar bear scene. The fast pace cut duration during this scene allows the text to create suspense and with the addition of the score, they combine to help the audience feel apprehension and tension. A further example of mixed genre convention, in reference to the Fantasy genre, is the undertaking of a quest in which some of the characters hike to the top of a mountain in order to obtain signal for the radio transmitter they plan to use to make a distress call. 

One of the major advantages to using ensemble casts in television is that it allows the writers to create episodes which are centred around individual characters, using these episodes to develop the characters while also driving the plot forward. 'Lost' uses this technique in combination with flash-forwards and flash-backs to provide more context for the incredibly complex Lost mythology, allowing viewers to get close to a wide assortment of characters. In television, ensemble casts can save shows from becoming boring or repetitive. When a show focuses on a single star, viewers can start to get restless, and it can be hard to break out of a formulaic episode pattern. The large cast also enables the audience to relate to at least one member of the cast, linking with personal identity.

Enigma codes allow the audience to gain a sense of suspense, and in order to target the entirety of the programme's audience they mostly base these conventions at the end of sections just before adverts, to guarantee that the audience will then watch the next section.  For example, the handcuffs found at the beginning of the episode causes the viewers to question who's they are, and in order for this to be resolved they need to watch the entire episode, where they then find out they are Kate's. Which then cleverly begins a second enigma, as the viewers then begin to question Kate's first initial impressions. The text then cleverly places the most important cliffhanger at the end of the programme in order to leave the viewers wanting to watch the next episode to see what happens.  In episode two's case, we are left with the distress call from the French woman, which again, causes the audience to raise many questions which will only be answered if they continue to watch the series.