Media Studies Assignment #2 "liveness"

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

MDIA 103 Assignment #1 - "Popular media culture"

The Big Bang theory is an American based “Sitcom” (Situation comedy) with its first episode screening in late 2007 (IMDB). It has since gone on to be shown worldwide. This is one of the reasons The Big Bang Theory qualifies as “Popular Media Culture”. It has picked up numerous awards for both the actors involved and the show itself and it has been renewed many times by the company that produces the show. The of the definitions of popular media culture given by Williams are something that is “Well-liked by many people”, “Inferior kinds of work” and “Work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people” (Storey, 5) using these definitions we can place The Big Bang Theory under the label of popular media culture.

This text fits into the definition “Well-liked by many people” (5) because of the awards the show and actors have been awarded, with many of them having been a people’s choice award, meaning that the public has had a say in the result of the outcome. Something that is normally reserved for the best of popular media. To reach this point a text has to be first accepted by the public, in this case it has spread worldwide being screened in many different countries.

The Big Bang Theory also fits the Williams definition of popular media culture  “inferior kinds of work” by not being what is classed as “high culture” (Storey) as in that it is not something considered by the masses to be out of reach. An example of this would be the opera or going to the theatre. It is because of this the text is classed as popular media culture by Storey. As it is what is left over after we have decided what is high culture (6) meaning that it is not a live performance as the way many view the text if from their own home.

The Big Bang Theory is made by the people for the people. We can tell this because it is filmed in front of a studio audience and created with comedy as its main priority (CBS). Its main source of comedy is the interlinking between the characters, and their struggles as scientists to come to terms with their social lives when different scenarios begin to arise when they start to socialise with different social groups, something they are not usually very good at (CBS), helping many people to feel a connection between their own lives and the show’s characters, especially the viewers who may not be very good in social situations or at disrupting/changing a daily routine.

The cultural citizenship qualities that The Big Bang theory exhibits are similar to the ones that qualify it for popular media culture, for example the nomination and public voting of The Big Bang Theory to win awards. The definition we are given of cultural citizenship by Hermes is: “Cultural citizenship can be defined as the process of bonding and community building, and reflection on that bonding” (Hermes, 21). The public voting and its subsequent winning of awards help to create a sense of belonging between the show and the public. However how popular culture makes bonding easier has been left out of the definition given to us by Hermes (10) one of the main reasons it has become easier is the access to popular culture, with the internet allowing almost instant access to anything. According to Hermes popular culture is blurring the differences between the public and private lives of the stars and the show. This is also being achieved through the internet, with social networking sites and fan pages allowing access where it normally would not be allowed. The actors have also made appearances at comic con in America, allowing more public access to the actors (Blast Magazine).

The Big Bang Theory shows us that it is “popular media culture” and has signs of cultural citizenship. We can see this by either by viewing the text or by looking on the homepage for the show. When compared to the definitions given to us we can come to the conclusion that it has been deemed popular through the winning of awards and the community/ public discussion boards it has spawned by the producers to renew it for another season each time the previous one concludes.

Word Count – 685

Reference List

Blast Magazine. Comic-Con 2009: The Big Bang Theory. 25 July 2009. 10 April 2011 <http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/comic-con-2009-the-big-bang-theory/>.

CBS. The Big Bang Theory: Community. 1 January 2011. 10 April 2011 <http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/community/>.

Hermes, Joke. “Introduction: popular culture/cultural citizenship.” Hermes, Joke. Re-reading Popular Culture: Rethinking Gender, Television and Popular Media Audiences. Malden: Blackwell, 2005. 1-17.

IMDB. The Big Bang Theory. 1 January 2011. 10 April 2011 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898266/>.

Storey, John. “What is popular culture?” Storey, John. Clutural Theory and Popular culture: An Introduction. 5th Ed. Portland: Book News, Inc, 2009. 1-15.