Live Television (Week 4)

When I would get up to go to school every morning, a morning show of some sort would always be playing in the family room whilst I ate breakfast. Dad would wake us up to get ready for school at 7am, and after doing so, would nap on the couch whilst the morning show would play (I believe the early starts hit him harder than it hit us). The clock in the graphics on the screen would work as a highly reliable countdown, and when it hit 8:05am, we would wake dad up to leave and go to school. We had it down to an art, and we knew we would be late if we could still hear the talk show banter at 8:10am.

This episode of the morning Sunrise show on Channel 7 is a great example of ‘live’ television. In this particular segment, Mel is discussing the somewhat important issue of the weight of women’s handbags with a ‘professional’ who suggests the remedy for women is to “invest in downsizing”, all whilst Koshi goes through Mel’s personal handbag. An awkward encounter ensues.

Firstly, why is this issue important? Why is it featuring on the Sunrise show? What is the purpose of having Koshi act in a way which so obviously detracts from the interview? And how do we as viewers know this is a live television show?

Firstly, the importance of this issue is a matter of perspective. Women will find this segment more relatable than men, leading on to why this subject features in the show at all. If we refer to the time (conveniently located in the lower right hand corner to mark the shows place in the daily world), the interview is taking place at about 8:50am, long after kids have left for school and husbands for work. The target audience of this show is families and the stay at home mums: the homemakers and the busy women with their errands to run and dangerously large hand bags. There is a sense of community as the words “our bags” are used to describe the pandemonium that is oversized handbags. But how can such an issue be entertaining? Cue Koshi (the cheeky character-type) and his nosey investigation into Mel’s handbag… which he consequentially regrets after finding her tampons. Koshi provides the entertainment.

And this is how we know the segment is live. Had this unscripted, awkward event occurred on pre-recorded television, it would have surely been removed and cut down before being broadcasted. Furthermore, there is a casual air about the studio setting: when Koshi finds Mel’s personal hygiene items, there is a laughter from the crew which consequentially makes their presence known (and adds to the transparency of the show). The clunky, ad-lib nature of Sunrise gives it an unpolished and unrefined feel, a standard which audiences have come to accept from a show which goes out to audiences live. The presenters mimic this candid nature of the show by dressing and talking like ordinary people. Furthermore, the presenters mark the time – Mel cuts the banter short (and deters from the awkwardness of the revelation) by announcing that the show is going to a commercial break. Whilst this works to enforce the liveness of the show, so too does the consistent news updates on the rolling banner at the bottom of the screen. The audience also gets a sense of a new, different show due to the changing weather forecast which corresponds to the present day weather.

Shows such as Sunrise and Today appear repetitive as they are broadcasted 5 times a week. They create a collective experience amongst morning viewers who may be sharing similar routines to start their day. It could be said that they are ordinary, live broadcasting events. They do not create the same collective experience as an extraordinary live broadcasting event does, but they do connect ‘Aussies’ together through mutual interests, values and humour on a personal, involving level.

There are live television events, however, which have more of a pull over audiences than the Today show. Nobody sets their alarm to watch the morning show in its entirety because they believe it is an unmissable media event. Morning breakfasts shows are viewing convenience. Larger, more exclusive live events carry with them the connotation of being unmissable. Examples of these include the annual Carols by Candlelight, the AFL grand final and the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Olympic games.

According to Gary Levin, we are drawn to live television because of 5 different factors: unpredictability, social activity, urgency, curiosity and community. When watching the Olympic opening ceremony we can immediately tell that it is live television due to a range of different elements.

Firstly, the types of shots used are generally quite wide and aim to capture as much of the stadium as possible. They are mobile shots which can be easily changed and manipulated to suit the flow of the action on screen. We can see the camera crew during several different sections of the opening, which eliminates the feeling of a cinematic and pre-recorded event. There is no attempt at avoiding the filming of other camera operators and crew, which makes a commentary on the scale of the event itself: it is so grand, unplanned and important that every moment has to be captured, regardless of the crew being in or out of shot. People seated in the stadium would not be able to see the immense detail in the performances happening in the stadium nor can they hear the British voice over.  They also cannot see the range of pre-filmed segments employed to help create flow during the ceremony. These pre-filmed segments and close up shots of the actions happening in the stadium are clearly more tailored for a television audience.

The 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony marked an important event for Britain and its people. It was a representation of their national identity and was able to create a sense of time and space throughout its broadcast. Hence, this event would have been very important to the people of Britain, but also had a significant pull on audiences around the world. It was a media event – one which occurs only once every four years, and so had a sense of urgency. Its rapid movement and large scale acts created the feeling of unpredictability, that anything could go wrong and it could potentially be a disaster. As an opening ceremony is such a unique event, it has an air of superiority and exclusivity around it, and so audiences impulses is to be curious and to be a voyeur. And lastly, it is communal and social. If you don’t watch the olympic ceremony, how can you participate in the conversations around it? Audiences have serious FOMO (fear of missing out) syndrome. If something is being aired live, we don’t want to miss out on being a part of the group who witnessed it. We want to be able to discuss it and it is comforting to be there when it happens.

Whilst ‘ordinary’ and ‘extraordinary’ media events have their differences, they both employ similar characteristics. We can tell they are live and performative, and they both serve their own purpose.