Liveness, also known as immediacy plays a vital role in today’s television, while being very prominent in pre 1950’s television where it television was mostly broadcast live. The updates in recording devices now means that more and more television shows are being pre-recorded then broadcast using VHS or Dvd. This will discuss the effect of liveness on the chosen clip (ONE News at 6 - January 17, 2011) and the television genre horror and also more generally how genre conventions affect the liveness in television broadcasts.
Liveness, or Immediacy, is defined by Gripsrud as “A key aesthetic value” (90) in television. Television used to be screened live, but from the late 1950’s onwards the advances in recording devices and playback devices have made it easier to pre-record television and broadcast it Via Video or DVD (Gripsrud) , however most news broadcasts are screened live and streamed via satellite. For example, the news broadcast show in the clip is highlighting ‘immediacy’ by being recorded live, and which in turn is working on the genre convention that news is deemed more factual when it is directly reported from a reporter who is live from the scene. This is a genre convention of the news, with it being deemed more accurate when the watcher can see the events taking place.
While other Television shows hide the cables and microphones to try to convince the viewer that what they are seeing is happening right there as you watch it, and the actors and actresses very rarely address the audience directly (Also known as the fourth wall). The ‘news anchors’ will always look directly and speak directly at the camera, as if directly speaking to each individual viewer this is also another genre convention of the news.
The main event portrayed in the clip (ONE News at 6 - January 17, 2011) is the reporting of the effect of flooding in Australia, the areas affected are shown to us on a map of Australia. What this helps the viewer do is to locate the effected area’s which may not be so widely known, but also help the viewer determine how far they are from the affected areas. The news is mostly reported by the ‘Australian correspondents’ who are reporting from the scene of the ‘worst floods in decades’. The ‘news’ utilizes having New Zealanders acting as correspondents in several countries who are experts at reporting on that countries news and current affairs. This allows the viewers in New Zealand to get the news from different countries around the world from New Zealanders. Another story only mentioned in the headlines is how these floods may affect your groceries prices which indicates that the ‘news’ is created for the people, and watching it will in turn help them.
What this news broadcast utilizes is the love New Zealander’s have for each other, even though it is a Australian based problem, the New Zealand based news company has found an Australian based New Zealander to interview. This allows viewers in New Zealand to find a way to relate to the problems that Australia is having, by doing this the ‘news’ is showing how this problem, the floods, effects more than just Australians.
The clip displays the effects of liveness from the beginning, the weather reporter using the words ‘It is about to get wild and windy’ what this line of speech indicates to the viewer is that it is happening soon. The same reporter also states that ‘right now, it is 6 o’clock’ by indicating the time to the viewer, the reporter is indicating that the broadcast is live. During announcing of the headline news by the anchors, it is indicated to us that later on in the broadcast they will be ‘reporting live’ from the scene. The reporter also uses a microphone with the one news logo on the side, to indicate that they are watching a reporter who is reporting in the best interests of the viewer.
Genre is defined by “the way texts are put together and read” (Schirato, Buettner and Jutel) , as well as a way of categorizing texts (193). A way that helps the viewer to determine what genre they are watching is defined by Chion as “Audio-visual illusion” (Chion) . Meaning that certain sounds and images in the text gives away the genre. Horror is also genre of television with separate conventions. It is these conventions that allow the viewers to determine what sort of program they are watching. For example, sounds that give away the genre of ‘horror’ could be; screaming, thuds and shrieks while images that give away the ‘horror’ genre could be; blood streaks on walls, dimly lit rooms. The horror genre also focuses less on the ‘liveness’ aspect of television or film, and more on the shock and awe factor at the extremes, although, horror does want you to feel as though it could be in your position. This is achieved by using story lines that people could easily find themselves in, road trip gone wrong, holiday to Europe turns into a massacre. This plays on the viewer’s belief that they could be in that position not just viewing from “a distance” (Gripsrud) as they actually are.
The clip displays the effects of liveness from the beginning, the weather reporter using the words ‘It is about to get wild and windy’ what this line of speech indicates to the viewer is that it is happening soon. The same reporter also states that ‘right now, it is 6 o’clock’ by indicating the time to the viewer, the reporter is indicating that the broadcast is live. During announcing of the headline news by the anchors, it is indicated to us that later on in the broadcast they will be ‘reporting live’ from the scene.
The news genre in general and especially in this clip uses images and sounds to tell you it’s the news. From the very beginning of the clip the tag “one news” is displayed in the bottom right hand corner. This is followed by a male voice over telling the viewer who the ‘anchors’ are and that they are watching “one news”. The ‘anchors’ then introduce us to the headlines which are each tagged as ‘one news headlines’. During the reporting of the Australian floods, the ‘live’ reporting is denoted by a sign in the bottom left of the screen saying ‘live’ and where it is live from. This is extended further when the news anchor is conversing live with the correspondent, with each location donated by ‘Studio’ or ‘Brisbane’. At the conclusion of the clip, at the conclusion of the broadcast, the news anchors conclude the broadcast with ‘that’s all for Monday’ and departing words of ‘good night’ both of these lines help the viewer conclude that the broadcast of the ‘news’ that they just watched was screened live.
If the ‘news’ strays from these genre conventions for example, reporting from the scene, looking directly at the camera, providing news for the people and remaining ‘live’. It could ruin the viewer’s perception of the news that is being delivered to them. The news is broadcast at the same times every day, 12 noon, 4.30 pm, 6 pm and 10.25 pm with exceptions for breaking news stories, and stories of great importance (TVNZ) . Other forms of television do not always have to stick to these conventions to be successful, with most utilizing the advances in recording equipment and being pre-recorded. However, as Grisprud states, failures in this equipment, for instance, technical problems or atmospheric interference have often caused the viewers to question the ‘liveness’ of the pre-recorded broadcast as it disrupts the ‘illusion’.
While over the years television has evolved with the improvements to recording and broadcasting equipment allowing more and more programs to be pre-recorded. Certain genres, in the case of this clip, the news have tried keep the ‘liveness’ aesthetic. Employing many strategies to come across as live, the news has stuck to these genre conventions to remain ‘factual’ and accurate. While other genres such as horror use ‘liveness’ in other ways to try to put the viewer into the perspective of them being in the place of the protagonist.
Works Cited
Chion, Micheal. Audio-Vision. New York: Columbia Universtiy Press, 1994.
Gripsrud, Jostein. "Television, Broadcasting, Flow,: Key Metaphors in TV Theory." Geraghty, Christine and David Lusted. The Television Studies Book. London: Arnold, 1998. 17-32.
ONE News at 6 - January 17, 2011. YouTube. Web Video. Jan 19, 2011. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djWZcgKLniE&feature=player_embedded>
Schirato, Tony, et al. Understanding Media Studies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2010.
TVNZ. One News Coverage Times - Christchurch Earthquake. 22 Febuary 2011. 9 May 2011 <http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1102/S00774/one-news-coverage-times-christchurch-earthquake.htm>.
Word Count -1361
