Reading #2: Live Television: Time, Space and the Broadcast Event (Stephanie Marriott)
Despite all the glitz and the glamour that we see on live television, there are also the downsides that come with it. Marriott discusses the anxieties and the stresses that occur when working on live television – she describes it as a matter of gambling.
There’s a good reason why these feelings occur when one is working on live television, especially if it were to involve large-scale events such as weddings, funerals, national/international sports matches, election nights, etc. A central motivation for people to work in live television (despite the downsides) is that these events going on live give the audience the opportunity to experience it first-hand (or second-hand in this case), giving the public a sense of inclusion.
The uncertainty of the moment is what makes live television important, mainly because of the benefits it gives for people who are unable to be there in the moment. Instead, live TV offers the accessibility to the audience who aren’t able to be there.
The excitement of Week 2:
More theories were discussed in class, especially the Marriott reading that introduces further information about what happens in and out of live TV. As a class, we explored deeper into the realm of live television and what it entails both in the whole discourse itself and the aspects of it.
Yet again, it also highlighted the programs that go under the category of live television; Instagram live (social media), Reality TV shows, Oscars’, etc. This week, there was a large emphasis on the power of social media and how it has the ability to manipulate the following and the viewership of a live program. These were the main topics of Week Two’s lesson in order to prompt us for Assignment #1.
Going into the second session of the lesson, we were all assigned to groups and I was fortunate enough to be paired with my friends, Jasmine and Alex! We had no idea what kind of location we were going to record but we decided that each of us was going to pick at least one location. These were the following places and ongoings that we live-streamed;
- A chess match in front of State Library
- A busker in Bourke St
- The window from the inside of the tram
- The tram stop in front of Melbourne University
Essentially, this assignment gave us the general idea of what to expect when getting into the elements of “liveness” – there will be a lot of unexpected moments that are unscripted and unplanned. I had a lot of fun exploring how to use the Periscope app whilst also getting to know more about the concept of live.