Terms Weeks 1-7 Flashcards
(61 cards)
1
Q
Reality TV vs Documentary ?\
A
- RTV: enterainment, commercial, lowbrow/trashy, situations created for purposes of series, viewers approach with skepticism
- Docu: education, unconcerned with profit, high brow, situations pre-exist the decision to film, viewers approach with belief, representation of actual events/people, want to persuade the viewer, creative treatment of actuality, historical world rather than an imaginary one
2
Q
Raw Footage
A
- record of an event that has been minimally influenced by the process of editing/filming
- brings the viewer as close to the primary experience recorded by the filmmaker as possible
- it is still not “reality” it is a representation
3
Q
Mediation
A
- Documentarian is the mediator between the viewer and the event represented by the footage
- The degree and type of mediation vary and affects how we perceive raw footage
4
Q
Fiction vs Nonfiction ?
A
5
Q
“Discourse of the Real”
A
- the reality displayed in reality TV is presented for entertainment, voyeurism, and pleasure; not to present news
6
Q
Genres of Reality TV
A
- legal (cops)
- gamedoc (suvivor)
- talent competitions (top chef)
- dating show
- lifestyle/home improvement
- self improvement
- social experiment
- serialized docusoap
- talk show
7
Q
Broadcast Media
A
Audio/visual content distributed to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium “live TV”
8
Q
Network
A
- Central operation that provides programming to multiple television stations
- Free tv
- ABC, NBC, CBS
- Up to the 1980s, programming was dominated by a small number of Networks
- Fox came in became big, changing this
- Dominant from 50s-80s
- Sponsored model
- We are being sold; advertisers want to sell us products
- More beholden to cultural norms and expectations
9
Q
Basic Cable
A
- TV you pay for
- Often bundled
- CNN, MTV, TNT
- Pay extra to get more channels
- commercials
10
Q
Premium Cable
A
- Pay cable networks
- Scramble or encrypt their signals so only those who pay for their cable can use it
- Commercial free
- More racey content
- Dont have to adhere to the FCC’s rules
- Showed more recent movies
- Cinemax, HBO (1975), & Showtimes
11
Q
Streaming
A
- Not- broadcast (not live)
- Deliver of video and audio content to a device through internet connection
- First streaming event was a baseball game in 1995
- Youtube (early 2005) allowed people to share illegally recorded TV shows
- Normal by mid 2010s
12
Q
Syndication
A
Licensing the right to broadcast tv, radio, etc. without going through a network
13
Q
First-Run
A
- When a tv show is first available for viewing by the public
- season premieres, new episodes, etc.
14
Q
Above-the-line talent
A
- Guide, influence, and add to the creative direction and process of the series
- Showrunners, Writers, producers, directors, and actors
- tend to earn more money
15
Q
Below-the-line talent
A
- The rest of the cast and crew
- Probably don’t know their names
- Sound, lighting, cinematographer, editor, makeup/costuming
- integral to the show
- earn less
16
Q
Network programmers
A
- Put a TV Network schedule together
- Decide when which shows air
17
Q
Showrunners
A
- Writer, executive producers, producers
- Mold the creative vision for what the show will be
- outranks the director
- responsible for creative input
18
Q
Anthology vs Episodic vs Serialized
A
- Anthology: Different stories with different characters
- Episodic: takes place in the same setting all the time, you can miss an episode and pop in, episodes can stand on their own, default format
- Serialized: Episodes build off previous episodes and prepare for future ones, interlinked
19
Q
Sitcom
A
- 30min
- situational comedy
- originated on radio
- live studio audience or laugh track
20
Q
Drama ?
A
21
Q
Scripted vs Unscripted
A
Pre-written lines versus improv
22
Q
“The Golden Age of Television”
A
- 1952-1980s
- NBC, ABC, CBS
- creation of efficient mechanism to fill out schedules with minimum financial risk and maximum profit
- central operating structure was oligopoly
- thrives by restricting competition and avoiding risk
23
Q
“The unthinkable” ?
A
24
Q
“operational aesthetic”
A
a text which can both entertain and teach at the same time
25
Neoliberalism
- the rule of the market
- cutting public expenditure for social services
- deregulation
- privatization
- replacing 'the public good' with individual responsibility
- reality TV era of helping people achieve their dreams
26
John Grierson and the British Documentary Film Movement ?
27
Allen Funt and Candid Camera
- compared to the work of sociologists
- what do we learn about human nature
28
Stanley Milgram and the Yale experiments
- obedience experiments
- have a Teacher administer electric shocks to the Learner at the researchers orders despite hearing the protests form the Learner
29
Philip Zimbardo and the Stanford experiments
- Study on the psychological effects of prison
- some participants were guards, other prisoners
- ended after 6 days
- guards got drunk with power
- prisoners were depressed
- ended after Zimbardo's girlfriend came to do interviews and said it needed to be stopped
30
Documentary
31
Cinema Verite
- Filmmaker provokes the subject
- filmmaker is participant
- French Film movement
- can engineer scenarios that generate truth
- filmmakers acknowledge their own medium in the filmmaking process
32
Direct Cinema
- Passive camera
- "fly on the wall" filmmaking
- impose minimal structure on the raw footage
- emphasizes pure description over analysis
- philosophy of non interference
- 1) integrity of the event must be maintained; dont impact what you film
- 2) there is inherent meaning; everything is interesting
- 3) camera can record and reveal meaning without mediation from the filmmaker; the viewer makes their own sense of what they're seeing
33
Postdocumentary
- Idea that we have reached a stage where documentaries look more like scripted content and vice versa
- our ability to recognize the difference between the two has gotten blurier
34
“television genres as discursive practices”
35
soap opera
36
“discourse of sobriety”
37
"celebreality"
- Early 2000s
- Reality TV about the lives of celebrities
- Idea of showing that extraordinary people were "just like us"
- Beneficial/interlinked relationship with celebrity tabloid magazines
38
high brow vs low brow
39
ignominious bodies
people with excessive bodily behavior, actions, or structure
40
Craig Gilbert
41
Frederick Wiseman
42
Margaret Mead
- Anthropologist
- Used to advertise the prestige of reality TV
43
PBS
- 1970- Present
- Originally NET: National Education Television
- Wanted to be different from commercial broadcast networks
- Not advertiser-supported/created
- Educational, enlightening programming
- American Family had 10 million viewers per episode
44
Cultural capital
45
ordinary/expert/celebrity
46
organic experts
47
“money shot”
48
emotional labor
49
“tabloid”
50
“masculine” knowledge vs “feminine knowledge”
51
Structural convergence
52
Vertical Integration
53
Horizontal Integration
54
National People Meter
55
Glocalization
56
Union Labor vs Freelance Labor
56
Postnetwork Era
57
Above the Line vs Below the Line talent
58
Formatting vs Licensing
59
First run syndication
60
Timeline of Significant Events in Rise of Reality TV
1975: VCR is commercially viable
1987: Nielsen introduces the National People Meter
1988: Writer’s Strike
1989: Premiere of Cops and America’s Funniest Home Videos
1995: Fin syn rules abolished (Financial Interest and Syndication Rules)
1999: Premiere of Who Wants to be a Millionaire
2000: Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire airs
2000: Survivor premieres
2007: Writer’s Strike
