AS LIVE PRODUCTION; COMISSIONING RESEARCH

As part of the pitch and presentation we have to prepare, we have to decide which channel the show we create would fit on, so I thought i would research what the main channels (BBC One, ITV and Channel 5) look for when commissioning new programmes.
When looking at the BBC, we found that they were mainly looking for peak Saturday night shows, particularly ones that would be able to reach a huge audience. What the BBC looks for;
1) Humour - audience needs to laugh, and the broadcaster wants to laugh along with the people on-screen.
2) Scale - they want shows that will keep the audience coming back year after year, series after series, their biggest example of this on their current schedule is Strictly Come Dancing.
3) Talent - central to their shows they want a show that demonstrates talent.

ITV - Every year ITV invests around 1 billion pounds in commissioning new television programmes. ITV is the home of high quality, popular television from the biggest entertainment events, to original drama, soaps, sport, factual series and independent news.
Mainly ITV looks for shows with good, relatable characters as well as good stories. It has to be ambitious, and in a way simple, ITV likes to reach a big audience so they do not like ideas that are 'too cynical' that could put some audience off. They welcome ideas with 'popular and familiar hosts'.


What we chose - For 'Challenging Times' we have decided to move forward with BBC One as our target channel. We think that what our show brings is exactly what the BBC are looking for, it targets a huge array of ages whilst creating some fun interactivity for all to partake in. Looking at the BBC Schedule we think it fits in perfectly early Saturday evenings, where as you can see, they normally show game shows at this time.

AS LIVE PRODUCTIONS; AS LIVE AND LIVE FORMATS

What is 'As Live'?
-As lives are recorded programmes with a live feel
-Usually recorded


Why choose As Live? Advantages
-Less left to chance, more controllable, more polished
-The opportunity to re-record elements of the programme and to make improvements to the intro and closing shots
-Importantly they do not require a satellite which means less likely for technical things to go wrong
-Therefore cost reduced
-Recording to near duration time ensure the programme can air quickly after recording and also retains the 'excitement' and 'reality' of live TV

Disadvantages
-Trying to manufacture a feeling of a true live programme
-Truly live programmes are less polished and thus feel less maufactued
-Tension of a live programme hard to recreate
-Post-production may compound this problem - 'feel manufactured and clinical'm

As Live formats
-Panel Shows i.e. pollination e.g. question time
-Quiz Shows e.g. weakest link
-Chat Shows e.g. the graham norton show
-Music e.g. top of the pops

Common themes in As Live
-Audience
-Usually recorded in studio, requiring a full studio floor crew
-Often involve on screen guests/talent and main presenter
-Often Topical/drive

Impact of Genre
-Genre conventions may dictate the sort of content, style and location you choose for an As Live, consider differences in approaches of Question Time and Graham Norton

Audiences
-Why have an audience? What do they add? Why do we need them?
-The audience can take a number of roles
1) Passive - simply quietly viewing
2) Participatory/Active - actually taking part in some way
3) Appreciative - responding through laughter, clapping etc
4) Supportive - there to offer support to a particular contributor

As Live Content
-Theoryically anything can be presented in an as-live format
-It is only limited by considerations such as time, location, budget and logistics
-It is essential that as lives consider timings - when discussing potential content this is a huge factor, just like a live programme as lives are carefully times so that each segment fits a prescribes duration
-A simple discussion round the viability of an idea in terms of timing could determine whether it will be included in the programme or not

Points for analysis
-Content   -Style   -Location   -Presentation   -Contributors    -Format

GENRE OF LIVE
Technological advances in satellite technology have led to the advent of outside broadcasts such as sporting events e.g. olympic

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; RESEARCH

For the pitch that we have to create i have been looking at different game shows to see what they do that works and what they do that don't. The first show i looked at was ITVs the chase. Something i noted first of all that works really well in this show, is the comedic effect between the host/contestants and the 'chasers'. Obviously this is all down to the castings because the chasers are not only very

Chaser cast 'The Chasers

smart people who play the game against the contestants, but they have good personalities that really resonates with the audience, and they have a lot of jokes with the host which makes the show so engaging. This is something seen in many other game shows too, for example another ITV gameshow 'Pointless' works so well because of the relationship between hosts Alexander Armstrong and Richard Armstrong, the friendly but funny exterior of the two's relationship is what keeps the format fresh and the audience engaging. Relating this idea to mine and Aimee's is very similar, our format relies solely on the casting, but thats the casting of the host as well as the contestant. We need a host who is confident and adaptable, and can strike up good conversation and relationships with our contestants.

Something else that makes the Chase so engaging and part of the reason it became the most 'successful daytime TV show on ITV ever' is the risk thats involved within it. As the rounds go on, the contestants can in essence gamble money, they can choose to take a lower amount (sometimes even minus the teams total) to take back to play the final chase as a team (and split the money won accordingly). However with this theres the risk that a team member takes the higher amount and ends up loosing entirely and not making it back for the final chase. This creates a very intense atmosphere, especially if someone takes the lower amount in a game playing move just to get back to the final chase. Whilst the format is very friendly and funny, it's still very intense because of how the game is physically played. Relating this again to our idea, within our tutorial Helen noted how we needed some risk in our own games, so we have introduced the idea that within round one, the team not playing has an opportunity to 'steal' points from the other team, we think this makes the game more interesting and obviously just evokes some more competition within the show. 

Something we were not sure about with our show and something Helen picked up on too, was how the audience can be involved, if at all, within our game. Looking at some game shows through research i found that there are normally three different stances that the audiences take within a show.  For example some shows such as, 'Whose Line is it Anyway' use the audience as a pivotal part, within this the audience suggests scenarios for the comedians to do some improvisational comedy on. Therefore they play a very important part to the show being possible. However other shows like 'The Chase' do not really use the audience, the audience are there to just react to what is happening, IE they just laugh at certain points etc. Lastly in some shows the audience add absolutely nothing and are just there to be an audience. For example shows like 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' and 'Weakest Link' do not show the audience at all and the audience have to stay completely quiet whilst filming, they rely solely on the intensity of the game and the contestant to host relationships. For our show i think our audience should just be there to laugh and react at certain points, i don't think there are any rounds that we need audience participation because we would like to focus on the relationships between the contestants (grandchild vs grandparent).

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; FINAL PITCH IDEA

After discussions and tutorial with Helen, myself and Aimee have decided to go forward with the idea of grandparent vs grandchild gameshow, currently under the working title 'What's That...?'

Working Title- What’s That…?

Target Channel- BBC One - According to their website the BBC are looking for shows that ‘engage a young and old audience that can feel like they join in’. As this is a family game this will definitely appeal to those groups of people and the rounds mean that the audience at home can play along too, providing an interactive experience.  

Target Audience- Family

The Idea

• Challenging two generations of their knowledge of the old vs the new through means of talking, thinking and acting.

Format

• Four contestants from two families (grandparent and grandchild on one team) go head to head to gain points by answering questions through many rounds about the old and new.

The Objectives

• To test the knowledge of the older and younger generation
• The audience at home can interact with the show by guessing the answers

The Rounds

Round 1: “What’s that sayin’”  

• Acronyms and Phrases (see below) test the knowledge of two generations.
• Old phrases/ acronyms test the younger generation and vice versa.
• Within a 2 minute time limit, the teams are to guess as many answers as possible, and if they get an answer incorrect then the question gets passed to the other team. If the other team answer correctly, they get the point. If they answer incorrectly, no one gets the point and the game continues with the initial contestants to complete the 2 minutes.

  Examples of slang words/acronyms that would be used;

Team One Questions;

          ‘IDK’ - I don’t know                       ‘take the egg’’ - means to win

          ‘Ttyl’ - talk to you later                  ‘slacks’ - underwear

          ‘Wym’ - what do you mean           ‘Skipper’ - captain of a boat

Team Two Questions;

          ‘LOL’ - laughing out loud              ‘Once in a blue moon’ - unlikely

          ‘ROFL’ - rolling on the floor          ‘don’t sell me a dog’ - don’t lie to me

          

Round 2:

• “What’s that do” -
• Item appears on screen which has to be described by the older person to a blindfolded younger person who then has to guess the item (Young person answers) a point is given for each correct guess given.

   Examples of items to be used:

Round 3:

• “What’s that”- quick fire round where the presenter asks multiple questions to both teams where they have to answer within a time limit.

VT x4

1. VT of Contestants to introduce them
2. See above

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; IDEAS LAB

After our initial briefing and ideas session myself and Aimee began to brainstorm and share our ideas, we needed to have 2 or 3 developed ideas to show Helen on our tutorial on Thursday. We shared some of the brief ideas we had initially and helped each other identified why these wouldn't work for the purpose of this unit.

1)  I suggested the idea of a male or mixed younger version of a discussion/topical show. Why this wouldn't work; in order for this idea to work properly, the people would need to be very engaging people who the audience would like and be interested in. This would be very hard to cast which makes the idea a struggle to effectively pull off. This would involve a group of opinionated panelists discussing some popular topics among teens.

2) Virtual Board Games - One of Aimee's idea that she shared with me was the idea of taking traditional board games such as Monopoly, Cluedo etc and creating a show around them. Bringing them to reality and having contestants physically play them. Why this wouldn't work; the main issue with this is copyright, in order to bring these games to life the creators would need to give permission for the name and format of the games to be used which would be a struggle to assatain.

After further discussion we decided on two different ideas that we would be developing and going forward with.

1) Firstly we would be going forward with the idea of a gameshow involving someone from an older generation and someone from a newer generation. This would involve the two contestants going head to head in rounds that will test each others knowledge of the others generational ways of thinking, talking and acting.

2) The other idea we are going forward with developing is the idea of an advice show that would bring guests on and help them solve their problems. This could be marital and relationship issues or workplace issues etc.

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; INITIAL IDEAS

After the mini briefing we had in December as well as the full one, i began to start thinking about some of my own ideas before i came together with Aimee to brainstorm. At first i was looking into an idea of a younger, mixed version of ITVs Loose Women; a format that really works in some ways is restrictive in terms of its audience, it mainly targets women who are housewives or retired due to the fact it is daytime TV. Therefore i thought about perhaps creating a similar, topical magazine/discussion show that features either younger people or just a mixed gender panel. However i think that i would struggle with this idea because part of the reason Loose Women is so successful is because the panellists are known people who the audience connect with, without this it perhaps wouldn't be as successful. Obviously within the realms of a student tv production it would be unlikely that we would be able to get contributors who have the same effect with this audience and therefore i am not sure that this idea would work. 

Another idea i had was a chat show based upon locally based stories and talent. This would involve having a main host who would bring a guest onto the show who what have an interesting and engaging story to tell (whether this be light hearted stories or extraordinary heart warming ones is to be determined), this would be someone local to where we are. Furthermore another section of the show would be local talent, this would include any talent we could find either dancing groups, singing or less traditional and more unique talents. I think this could work because it is real stories, there isn't anything that would need to be created, the challenge would be finding these contributors, if they have a good story/talent to show then it would work. Perhaps the premise of the show could be that it moves town to town each week to find 'local stories and talent' 

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; BRIEFING

Post Mortem Term 1; 3 lessons from first term

 1) Be more prepared with research for essays 

 2) Back up plans - be prepared to do something else should other things fall through

 3) Do more blog work BEFORE the work

As Live Production