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).