From Broadcast to Post-Broadcast (Week 3)
The post-broadcast era can largely be credited to changes in television institutions, technologies related to production, distribution and consumption, audience practices and aesthetic sensibilities. Many television shows extend beyond the television screens to other platforms under what’s called “transmedia storytelling”.
Using the example of the Uninspired webisode, I will discuss the several characteristics of a post-broadcast era.
Multi-platform television is a mode of storytelling which plays out across a number of different entertainment channels. Uninspired takes the form of a television series, but instead of being broadcasted on TV, it is on the internet (hence the term webisode). It works well for online viewing as it is short, cute and witty. Audiences are able to customise their screening experience by choosing their playback quality, subtitles and whether they want to watch in full screen or not. This makes the Uninspired series more accessible and portable.
Bringing me to the next characteristic of a post-broacast era. Viewers do not need to be tuning into a particular station at a certain time in order to see the Uninspired webisodes. They do not even need to be at a television. The videos can be accessed online through their phones, tablets or computers, thanks to the internet and Web 2.0. The audience demand for accessibility is granted by allowing the episodes to be accessed on a range of different technologies at a range of different times.
The script of Uninspired is laced with dry humour. It is a certain type of humour that would appeal largely to a younger audience. This target audience coincides conveniently with the fact that the episodes are only accessible online, as it is believed that younger generations are naturally more comfortable with using technology and seeking out material online. Furthmore, a number of different readings could be generated from the viewing of Uninspired. Some could definitely find it offensive. When the customer service assistant at the liquor store compliments the main character on her age and proceeds to say his friend is ‘into karate’, that would appear to be an offensive stereotype. But the series itself is targeted towards a more tolerant audience who are comfortable with blurring the lines of political correctness. And so, Uninspired demonstrates how in a post-broadcast era, there is definitely a shift from an educational focus to more entertainment driven material.
Stylistically, the way Uninspired is filmed is quite cinematic and professional. Whilst it may appear to be quite low budget (mainly found distributed through their website, YouTube and IndieWire), it still manages to deliver a polished piece of work. If this series had to be broadcasted on television, it would have to be altered in extreme ways to suit the profile of a television program.
Whilst the episode is short and seems to flow well, it is still slightly segmented. By watching it, as a viewer, you feel like you have watched several stages of Sarah’s day: she progresses from losing her job, seeing her boyfriend, seeing her best friend and then meeting a new friend. Just like a television series where each segment before the advertisements has a minor cliffhanger or turning point which brings back the viewer after the advertisement break, so too does Uninspired follow a similar narrative structure. Whilst the long term narrative will continue on beyond the first episode, there is still some sort of resolution at the end of the episode so that viewers feel satisfied that they have watched a narrative that has been resolved. In the case of Uninspired, Sarah meets a new friend. Temporarily, the compromising situation of unemployment is relieved.
Which brings me back to a discussion of the post-broadcast era. Shows like Uninspired are specific to a niche audience – an audience which can be reached and inspired in other ways than just through a television screen. Instead of television choosing the programs and shows they want to broadcast, audiences are able to find the material that they actually want to see. No longer is it standard for families to watch television shows together in the family room. Instead, televisions have migrated out of the domestic living room and can now be found in bedrooms, offices, cafes, gyms etc. There is a different viewing experience related to the consumption of television just as there are different modes for its production. Instead of working around television, television works around us.
In his discourse, Remediation: understanding new media, David Bolter adopts the word ‘remediation’ in order to express the way in which the remediation of one medium is seen in contemporary culture as improving on another medium. A movie based on a novel, a written description of a photograph, a painting reproduced in a gallery in cyberspace: this is remediation (Farrell). Each new medium is justified because it fills a lack or repairs a fault in its predecessor. With television, our desire for immediacy had us witnessing the development of digital technologies as a shift from the use of analogue practises. Television shows can be viewed by DVD or can even be downloaded illegally through a torrent. We can now tweet our opinions about things happening on screen and can also vote by SMS to directly effect an outcome of a television show e.g. Big Brother (voting), The Block (tweeting). These interactions heighten the involvement of audiences and brings individuals together through mutual involvement in a television series.
Furthermore, if episodes have been missed, the online website will most likely have an online collection of all episodes related to the television show, including exclusive behind the scenes material or interviews. In the post-broadcast era, Television shows have transcended their limitations of being just on screen and have infiltrated a number of different mediums hence the term transmedia.
Sources:
Bolter, J. David, 1999, Remediation: understanding new media, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Farrell, N, ZoneZero.com. n.d. The Self-Perpetuating Vicious Circle of Media Chasing Reality Chasing Media. [online] Available at: http://zonezero.com/magazine/articles/nell/remediation.html [Accessed: 23 Aug 2014].