Reality TV shoot – caption competition #5
The Public Relations Guru
Being in a Reality TV programme can be psychologically damaging. To make sure you can financially benefit from your exploitation it is a good idea to have a public relations agent. He will look over product endorsement contracts for you and make sure when your private life is exposed in the press it is on the front page.
The PR consultant will oversee your career
What do you think he is advising the contestant??
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Follow the link if you would like to know more about our Poverty and Participation in the Media project
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #1
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #2
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #3
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #4
The Victim Contestant
In this picture the contestant is trying hard to win and keep his dignity. He is thinking about the fame and fortune that will follow. How the woman at the check out is going to say something like “‘Ere weren’t you on telly last night?”
How am I doing?
What else is he thinking? Any ideas?
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Follow the link if you would like to know more about our Poverty and Participation in the Media project
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #1
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #2
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #3
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #3
Studio Audience
The nice people at the Television company invite their friends and family to be in the studio audience. Being in a TV audience is very easy but these days you need to know how to Whoop! like an American, which some English people find hard to do. You can practice this at home before you go “on set”.
Two reality TV fans in the audience
Can you think what they are saying?
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Follow the link if you would like to know more about our Poverty and Participation in the Media project
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #1
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #2
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #3
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #2
The Director
In this scene the director is very animated and holds his hands up to form a frame so he can see what the image will look like on television.
Give me victim- Thats good-ACTION!
Before he shouts “Action!” he gives words of encouragement to the contestants. Can you think of what he is saying?
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Follow the link if you would like to know more about our Poverty and Participation in the Media project
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #1
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #2
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #3
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #1
Reality TV- Poverty and the Media
People in the early twenty first century thought nothing of watching the insane for entertainment. It was seen as quite normal. People used to joke that it was often hard to decide who was the madder, the actors, the crew or the viewers. There are stories of the celebs leaving the asylum and the wrong people being kept inside.
Have a look at this “behind the scenes” image of a reality TV studio shoot and if you have any idea for a caption add it below.
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Follow the link if you would like to know more about our Poverty and Participation in the Media project
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #1
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #2
Reality TV shoot – caption competition #3
Cultural differences on TV
The Unteachables, Channel 4 – A programme format is a license to produce and to broadcast a
national version of a copyrighted foreign television programme and to use its name
Programme formats are a major part of the international television market and they keep growing in popularity. With 11.6 million viewers previous Saturday X- Factor is a great example of the public’s desire for these type of programmes. The broadcasters love them too because of the large cost savings associated with avoiding the risk of inventing something original.
The most common type of formats are those in the genre of game shows, which quite often are remade in multiple markets with local contestants. Other key examples than X-Factor are Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Survivor and Big Brother. However, there are also examples of documentaries as formats such as The Unteachables which Spectacle has been involved with.
On paper, formats don’t leave much room for creativity, nevertheless these programmes still seem to be executed differently in different countries. Does this mean that a TV format is a complex cultural product that cannot simply be reduced to a mere mechanical reproduction of a purchased TV programme? This might be a reasonable hypothesis when comparing The Unteachables with the Danish version of the programme titled Plan B.
Plan B, TV2 – the Danish version of The Unteachables
On the surface, the two versions of the programme seem quite similar. In both countries school children take part in a ground-breaking educational experiment investigating whether the school system is at fault, or the children are simply unteachable. In both cases the outcome of the experiment is positive: With the right teacher and learning methods by their side, even the worst behaved children can overcome their attendance problems.
However, when taking a closer look at the two versions, differences still occur – the two titles demonstrate this to great extent. Whereas the English version focuses on suspended school children the Danish one focuses on those children lacking confidence in school. Furthermore, in the English version the editing speed is faster and there is more focus on the children heavily using swear words.
How come these differences occur in the same programme format? Surely, a program will be executed differently by different producers, but is this a sign of the English media’s wish or need to be sensational and tabloid in order to attract greater audiences? It might also be worth taking into account the type of channels the programmes were broadcast on. The Danish channel TV2 prides itself on being an inclusive channel with the aim of unifying the public. On TV2 there are only winners – not losers.
Does this explain the differences or are the two school systems just too different to compare? Did Channel 4 portray a neutral picture of the English school system? Or do you think it is driven by sensational stories?
What about the Danish version? Is that a great example of how the school system operates in this country? Or is it too glorifying?
Have you experienced other versions of The Unteachables in other countries and how was the school system portrayed there?
You can find out more about Spectacle’s Class X project commissioned by Channel 4 to accompany the Unteachables series or order the DVD from distribution@spectacle.co.uk
Oxfam blog: Anti poor prejudice in the press leads to bad public policy
This Oxfam blog discusses unbalanced and atypical representations of poverty in media reports which lead to discourse that suggests poor people are lazy or greedy, ultimately leading to bad government policy.
Poverty and the Media DVD clips online
There are now clips of the ‘Poverty and Participation in the Media‘ DVD available to view online. Please click here to view clips of our interview with Zac Beattie, maker of ‘Rich Kid Poor Kid‘.
There is also a discussion of ‘The Tower’ with residents of the Pepys Estate.
Other topics include:
The Media’s Potential For Change
Please let us know what you think by leaving a comment on this blog.
When do the media get it really wrong?
Do you have any really bad examples of representations of poverty in the media?
When does the media get it wrong?
Please post examples of really bad representations of poverty and tell us why its so wrong?
Workshop feedback
The Pepys estate and Marsh Farm workshops took place in early August. We hoped to discover what people from the estates felt about poverty in the media and how people (such as themselves) are represented in the media and TV. The people from each estate vary in culture and background (some are born into poverty and others have had it imposed upon them by circumstance).
At the Pepys estate, we had 4 participants. One of the most prevalent topics was on an article that emphasised postcode prejudice. Another popular subject of debate was the TV documentary “The Towers”. All of the participants were horrified at the inherent implications of both the article and programme.
At Marsh Farm, we had more people attend (8). This time, with a larger group, we discussed general poverty issues as well as some interesting specifics. One such topic regarded the different types of poverty (financial poverty, spiritual poverty or emotional poverty).
At the start of each workshop, the participants were given a tutorial on how to set up and use the camera/film equipment. After this they considered relevant questions (for example: “what does it mean to be poor in the UK?” and “how does the media represent it?”). Then they took it in turn to interview each other.
Below are some comments from the participants regarding the workshops:
‘It gave me a chance to voice my opinion which I wanted to do for a long time’
‘It was an opportunity to hear what people from Marsh Farm had to say about the state of the area’
‘I found the technical side filming interesting’
‘Learning how to use the basic of the camera was good, so if I ever wanted to learn how to use the camera in the future. I have the basic knowledge’
‘It was good because we were able to put our views across that don’t always get across’.
‘The interviews reinforced my existing opinion’
