This week, we were provided with two readings – one covering the ongoings of a live television show, whilst the other discusses the concept of liveness and control for a broadcast interview. Let’s break these two readings down in order to fully understand the intentions of the authors!

Reading #1: Doing it Live! (The MacDonell Reading) 

Macdonell breaks down the procedure of what it was like going into a live television show – she broke it down to twelve sections, explaining each and every step of how they accomplished to broadcast The Bill TV show live. Since it was a live television show (no, not a game show, not an interview but a SOAP OPERA), pre-production was heavily required in order for the production crew to successfully film it live. Therefore, planning began six months in advance and this was, therefore, considered as a long pre-production for a single-camera show with two episodes. I do believe this was necessary because it gave enough time for the producers to carefully pre-plan everything and layout the possibilities that occur whilst filming LIVE. MacDonell further discusses the techniques they have used in order to adapt to the live situation – for example, she found herself using more theatrical techniques. This meant that she had taken extensive notes during rehearsals and from the blocking of each scene. As for the actors and actresses, it became a one-hour play for them rather following the method of recording it non-sequentially and one at a time.

Skipping ahead to the final part of filming The Bill television show, MacDonell discusses the few setbacks involved such as the car scene – because it was not able to be flipped over, the Director, Camera Ops, Vision Mixers and Actor/Actresses had to quickly think on their feet and improvise. The message that I have gained from this reading is that no matter how much preparation is involved for live TV, there is always going to be that one tiny detail that changes the whole dynamic of the show but in order to counter that, the best you can do as a production crew is to accept that change and have a “the show must go on” mentality.

Reading #2: The Design and Scripting of ‘Unscripted Talk’. Liveness VS Control in a TV broadcast Interview (The Lundell Reading) 

In this reading, Lundell discusses the struggle between professional standards versus the need to attract audiences. This is made visible in the communicative choices that media professionals use in order to format, script and perform for a broadcast interview. There are two concepts that Lundell has introduced for us in the reading:

• Orientation to liveness in the sense that they desire to please the audience by engaging with them in a spontaneous, informal and unscripted manner.
• OR the choices are equally oriented to scripted, institutional control to meet demands of objectivity and balance

As my own personal opinion, it is important to have both of these aspects in order to achieve the perfect balance for live television. As it is proven for most situations, too much of one thing can be disastrous and leave unwanted results. Therefore, if these two elements were to be achieved, not only will the production team be successful in the creation of the show but also in the attempt of entertaining the audience.

In this day and age, it is important to be updated with the times, especially if it means changing the format of a live television show. Despite losing the conventionality of a live show, the elements of entertainment will oversee the other aspects. Despite it being a traditional or a spontaneous show, the liveness still remains to be the overarching component of a live show, no matter the type of technique media professionals aim to go for.