Weeks 11 and 12: Reality TV
1)How have the documentary genres ‘Direct Cinema’ or ‘cinéma vérité influenced reality TV and the presentation of the ‘real’? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
3)What has the early docudrama (e.g. Cathy Come Home) contributed to the development of Reality TV? Discuss in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
2) How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteHill described Reality TV as a TV with “non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand-held cameras, seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera.” In the contemporary stage, Reality TV has changed the genres. It has “no-scene footage of law and order or emergency services.” This means Reality TV won’t only be the documentary; it could also be entertainment, information, drama. The Reality TV usually includes many differences such as opera, sport, games, pets, etc. Reality TV could be “anything and everything” now.
There's no absolute and agreed answer to what Reality TV is and how to define it. Because nowadays, we see too much Reality TV with different categories. Reality TV that we commonly watch on TV now is “The Bachelor,” it has been filmed throughout New Zealand, Korea, England, Vietnam, and U.S.” The Bachelor is a dating game show and debuted on March 25, 2002. The TV show is to design for the bachelor to find a match to be his potential partner, finally to propose for the marriage. The participants travel to romantic and exotic locations for the adventures. This TV show matched Hill’s description of “non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand-held cameras, seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera.” When I’m asked to describe the TV show as to define them, I don’t know how. I think this is just like how Hill claims that “it is the capacity to let viewers see for themselves.” If you ask me to define The Bachelor, I’ll just say it’s a drama, and it’s all on acts. Because I never believed TV show to be real, especially the dating show. I noticed that those people who went to the Reality TV such as The Bachelor, they usually are famous on the internet. When you google their name, their name will show up along with the description of them. Not to mention the good looking or wealthy or talented people, they even have many fans on Instagram or other social apps. So that’s why I don’t consider some TV show as Reality TV and consider them as like a drama with the actors. But some might consider it as a life dating TV show.
References:
Hill, A (2005). Reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp.14-40). Oxon: Routledge.
Hi Yves sorry, I entered the comment in the wrong place. Please see below for my comment on your response of your chosen question.
DeleteHi Yves, your idea on reality TV stars is interesting, I didn't know that they are often already famous in some way. I agree that they are often wealthy and beautiful/handsome with big personalities. I don't consider it all to be a scripted act like a drama, I believe there could be some genuine footage, however they most likely do get told a topic they should discuss or a type of reaction they should exhibit at some point making it a lot less realistic. I would recommend adding in text citations and possibly an example from Cathy come home, the documentary displayed in class. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteBianca
2. How does Hill define reality TV? Describe her definitions in the context of a contemporary reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteToday, reality TV is scarcely recognisable compared to its origins. It’s a forever changing model that is commercialised for viewer ratings, hardly lying within the boundaries of reality and now lies closer to fiction.
Reality TV began with a genuine foundation, Hill describes it as “non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand held cameras seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera” (2005, p.41). Real people being filmed doing real things such as “on-scene footage of law and order, or emergency services” (Hill, 2005, p.41). This raw model of reality TV has slowly become more ‘cooked ‘over the years as creating reality TV that is more scripted, blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction (Hill, 2005, p.44). Today we have a broad range of commercialised reality TV categories such as game shows (survivor), dating shows (Married at first sight), cooking shows (My kitchen rules), emergency shows (Trauma: Life in the E.R.) and much more to entertain the population during peak broadcasting times. Hill (2005, p.44) observing that the term “reality TV is so flexible that it can be applied to any type of popular factual programming the industry wants to sell”, ‘factual’ programming that Kilborn suggests can be many things including a “fictional drama rooted in real life situations” and is “attractively packaged” for viewers (Hill, 2005, p.47).
We are presented with these attractively packaged reality shows that include an element of realism through the use of camera work and film angles, so that the audience can relate to the scene being presented. With shows such as the Real house wives, there is always a dramatic outburst around every corner as we watch the lives of these wealthy women from a fly-on-the-wall camera angle to simulate authentic experiences. We view these “authentic” encounters in many ways, such as in season 2 episode 10 of Tabatha takes over (Gaha, E., Hurwitz, P., Franklin, P., Feinberg, R. & Coffey, T., 2009), we become part of an unexpected phone call to Tabatha from a salon manage. This ‘unexpected’ phone call has the fly-on-the-wall camera technique at both ends of the conversation. We are led to believe these shows are not scripted allowing the TV industry to continue pushing “the boundaries of popular factual television” (Hill, 2005, p.49).
This leaves us with reality TV shows such as Trauma: Life in the E.R. being categorised in the same field as the Real house wives due to the broad spectrum of possibilities that constitutes reality TV, even though some shows are clearly more of a scripted representation of real-world events.
References:
Gaha, E., Hurwitz, P., Franklin, P., Feinberg, R. & Coffey, T. (Executive producers). (2009). Tabatha takes over [Television series]. United States: Reveille Productions.
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Question 2) How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Hill (2005), in terms of Reality TV there are numerous aspects, numerous meanings and numerous analytical uses of the genre. Ten years ago, Reality TV could be condensed down to law and order or emergency service shows but in this modern age Reality TV is associated in everything.
The popularity of Reality TV is taken note of by television networks and in more recent year’s popularity is based on audience participation. With mainstream reality TV talent shows such as X-Factor and American Idol, they rely on audience participation. The promise of participation only enhances the anticipation and hype of the show therefore skyrocketing the popularity. This is definitely proven with the world-wide success of both talent shows. As mentioned previously, Hill (2005) stated that there are numerous aspects and uses of the Reality TV genre and that is evident with the many shows available for viewers today. Hill (2005) also goes onto say that TV often cannibalises itself, feeding off successful genres and creating hybrid programmes. Again, this is evident with Reality shows today with gameshows such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to Family Feud - Trivia and knowledge based shows still popular yet based off the same concept.
Though popularity of Reality TV is thriving, the term “reality TV” is being stretched too far with many modern-day shows. Hill (2005) includes that modern-day Reality TV shows are fictional drama rooted in real life. Shows such as The Bachelor, Keeping up with the Kardashians and even the long standing Survivor are examples of such shows. Where shows ten years ago where based on factual entertainment, modern-day shows are mere fabrications of ‘reality’ (Ritchie, 2015). The early years of Reality TV contained non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, hand held cameras and unedited footage (Hill, 2005) but in this day and age with advanced technology and less factual content on Reality shows, the term “Reality TV” is more so identified as popular entertainment (Ritchie, 2015).
With technology advancing and expectations rising it’s only fair to surmise that the definition of Reality TV will become less attainable. Though, one common factor in this broad range genre would be audience entertainment.
References:
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.
Ritchie, K. (2015). Summit ’15: Reality TV enters a fast-paced but uncertain future. Retrieved 26 October 2017 from http://realscreen.com/2015/01/30/summit-15-reality-tv-enters-a-fast-paced-but-uncertain-future/
How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteReality television has been defined by Hill (2005) as a "range of popular factual programming". There are several techniques that are used in reality TV according to Hill, including “non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand-held cameras [and] seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera.” Examples of popular shows that use these techniques are 'The Amazing Race' or 'America's Next Top Model'. However, the reality TV genre did not always include such a wide variety of categories like cooking shows or competition-based shows.
Reality TV had consisted in mostly law and order or emergency services. "More recently, reality TV is associated with anything and everything, from people to pets, from birth to death." (Hill, 2005). Reality TV now focuses more on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment. This allowed for overly dramatised shows to take over the reality TV genre such as 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' (KUWTK for short) or 'Jersey Shore' as it was, and still is, popular with the modern day audience. Viewers are entertained by watching people in their everyday lives but it is the conflict and the drama that keeps them interested.
According to Hills (2005), it is also difficult to distinguish a documentary from reality TV. "Television thrives off new formats and, television often cannibalizes itself, feeding off successful genres and formats in order to create new hybrid programs". For example, docu-dramas like 'Cathy Come Home' which dramatised real life events. 'Cathy Come Home' had a huge impact on viewers as it discussed social issues that were not widely discussed in the media, such as homelessness and unemployment, and it employed a realistic documentary technique. It was focused on educating viewers and capturing real, important moments rather than drama and entertainment unlike the shows we see today.
This clearly shows how reality TV has changed over the years as we are less concerned about portraying real life events or informing people and more about viewer satisfaction. Contemporary reality TV is obsessed with drama and tension to create an engaging story. These shows are loosely scripted such as in 'Judge Judy' where "The decision of who "wins and loses" is made up before you even walk into the courtroom set." (Hooton, 2016). They also sometimes use paid actors or even hire people who are already famous (like in KUWTK). Reality TV is becoming more and more unrealistic and will continue to change as long as the life of a show depends on how many people watch it.
References:
Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge
Hooton, C. (2016). Reality TV guests reveal how ‘real’ the shows actually were. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/reality-tv-contestants-reveal-how-real-the-shows-actually-were-a6834246.html
2)How does Hill define reality TV? Describe his definitions in the context of a contemporary Reality TV show.
ReplyDeleteThere are numbers of definitions of Reality TV from different perspectives in terms of the television industry, television scholars and television audiences. According to Hill (2005), the most traditional television industry terms for reality TV are factual entertainment and popular factual which are umbrella categories for a range of formatted and non-formatted programmes and series. The genre of popular factual television is associated with "celebrity profiles, biographies, archives and formats and sports factual" (Hill, 2005,p.42). Hill (2005, p.42) notes that in order to reflect the changing nature of factual television and create a more flexible and fast-moving system, the BBC in 2003 changed the structure of factual genres including six categories: "documentaries and contemporary factual; specialist factual; current affairs and investigations; arts and culture; life skills; and new media". Similarly, in the USA, contemporary reality game shows and talent shows like Pop Idol, Jamie's Kitchen and Big Brother are classified as reality TV (Hill, 2005).
Hill (2005) points out that since the early 1990s television scholars have defined reality TV in various ways. Steve Neale defines reality TV as "a generic aspect to all instances of cultural production" and Richard Kilborn suggests reality TV can contain "slice-of-life observational modes of documentary filmmaking", "fictional drama rooted in real life situations" as well as the recording of events in the lives of individuals or groups of people (Hill, 2005,p.47). For Bill Nichols, reality TV is related to all shows presenting "dangerous events", "unusual situations" or "police cases" then Bondebjerg highlights reality TV is a genre incorporate true-life-stories, "including infotainment and human interest documentaries" (Hill, 2005,p.47).
In terms of television audiences' opinions about the definition of reality TV, Hill (2005, p.50) claims that there are a variety of definitions of reality programmes, such as "documentaries of the real life", "fly-on-the-wall stuff" and "public, real life sort of thing". A 26-year-old estate agent comments that reality programmes like real life documentaries, like things which have already happened to people, people getting evicted and cameras always follow people around (Hill, 2005).
In conclusion, there are various definitions of reality TV pointed out by television industry, television scholars and television audiences. Hill (2005) concludes reality TV programmes could be defined as real-life entertainment programmes about real people. Take cooking competition "Hell's Kitchen" as an example, two teams of chefs compete for a job as head chef at a restaurant. A typical episode begins with a challenge between the teams and there will be a reward for the winning team but punishment will also be given to the losers (Wikipedia, 2017). The second part is a dinner service where each team works in their own kitchen, attempting to complete the service without getting kicked out by Chef Ramsay before finishing for too many errors (Wikipedia, 2017). There are many possible variations and unexpected issues appearing during the competition, which makes the reality TV show seems very real and convinced. It is worth noting that cameras always follow each candidate and attempt to shoot everything that they have done in the competition, even recording their reactions, body language and facial expression.
References:
Hill, A. (2005). The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14-40). Oxon: Routledge.
Wikipedia. (2017). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Kitchen_(U.S._TV_series)