Week One Reading: Live Television is still alive: on TV as an unfulfilled promise (Jerome Bourdon)
As an introduction to the course, the reading goes straight to the basics of live television and the ongoing operations that happen behind on and off-camera. One of the main contents of the reading are the characteristics of live television and they are the following;
- The liveness
- Screen size
- Domestic reception
There is an ongoing discourse about the evolution of live television and its continuing growth – notions such as the ‘authenticity’ and the ‘truth’ were discussed and how major television networks have started emphasising on the stylistic choices that occur within live TV. A notable example is the Barcelona Olympics. It included refined digital effects that the images (reprocessed and manipulated) being projected on TV, are in fact, LIVE!
Finally, the reading highlighted that live television comes in different styles and is not limited to one category of “live” – this can range from the live connection of different locations within a programme, using amateur videos (or what is known as ‘live footage’ on newscasts) and major events that get projected live such as the Eurovision, the Oscar’s, the Grammy’s, etc.
To conclude the reading, it has given me a good sense of live television and the procedure of how TV operates, both live and behind the scenes.
My take on Week One’s class:
Despite running late to class, I managed to catch up with the discussion and grasp the concept of “liveness” and the class’ perception of it. It’s shown as its happening, scheduled chaos, broadcast in real-time. These descriptions both covered the experiences of the audience to the people who were operating on set.
Ruth had shown us a few video examples in order for us to be prompted more about what to expect when working on live television. Of course, this came with the notions that we had about live TV and what we should also prepare for when stepping into the realm of live broadcast television.
What I found the most interesting during Week One’s class was the video from the Pyeongchang Olympics’ Opening Ceremony – I discovered that some of the footage displayed on live TV was already pre-recorded, whilst incorporating the elements of liveness to it. Therefore, it was both a mixture of preparation and spontaneity.
My first impression of this class is that this course will dive deeper into the practice of live television and get to know the insider information of live TV, rather than just using my knowledge as an audience. I will now be one of the many people who operate behind the scenes on live television!