Investigating a Reality Production Company

Investigating a Reality Production Company

• Reality TV shows are increasingly the zone of specialist production companies with a wide range of variations on the genre. While it is tempting to investigate the biggest and best-known players such as Endemol (Big Brother) or RDF (Wife Swap; Faking It), these companies can be very complex to navigate. It’s often both easier and more productive to focus on their smaller subsidiaries, or 'younger' independent companies.

Investigating a Reality Production Company

• In groups you will have to research a reality production company. Each student must take responsibility for researching the reality production company’s website in order to:

• get a sense of their reach and expertise

• investigate the past performance of reality programmes the company produces

• track the company's developing brands and formats of show

• identify programmes with similar formats or themes

• track their connections with larger companies, broadcasters, and favoured presenters

• Groups should be ready to report back to the class on the following aspects of the production company

• company information - name, logo, and their connotations; any other companies to which they are affiliated, and what can you find out about their ownership and structure, including international partnerships.

• the look of the home page - layout and design, colour coding, use of images, fonts and graphics; interactive elements, and the shows featured within them (you maybe asked to design a website for the exam so pay close attention!)

• the full range of content produced by the company, and the proportion of reality or popular factual programming within it

• the range of reality shows produced by the company with an overview of their typical content, formats and potential audiences

• PRESENT RESEARCH FINDINGS IN A POWERPOINT SHOW

Investigating a Reality Production Company

Production company options

Monkey Kingdom Productions

Dragonfly Film and TelevisionProductions

Betty TV

Remarkable TelevisionAn Endemol subsidiary

Twenty Twenty Television

You can use IMDB and other websites

to help with research

Due in 2 weeks

Mrs Raji: April 1st

All Others: March 31st

Researching a a Reality Show

• To learn more about the reality genre you need to complete a focused exploration of a single show. Its important that the choice of shows vary across the class. It may be a good idea to investigate a show linked to one of the companies you’ve researched or choose another from the sheet you were given in the first lesson

Researching a a Reality Show

• Your research should be presented in a PowerPoint and loaded to your blogs. Remember you can post YouTube clips to your blogs!

• The following aspects of your chosen show should be researched:

• the production company, its other programmes etc• key personnel, including presenters, associated celebs

or experts• any sponsorship tie-ins and/or revenue-generating

processes• the reception of the show by audiences.

Researching a a Reality Show

• It’s important that all work is presented the same and investigated to the best of your ability. As these case studies will be shared with the class to provide a range of examples of reality shows that you can use in your exam

Researching a a Reality Show

• The presentation should be organised around the following questions:

• What is the format of the show, and where has it developed from?

• What is the target audience for the show, and how does it interact with that audience? (i.e. throughonline extras and clips, voting processes, forums etc?)

• Who produced the show, and what can you find out about its production and marketing?

• How is the show financed?• What sorts of ideas, lifestyle, and messages are

represented in the show?

Researching a a Reality Show

• Some websites to start you off:

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/reality-tv

• Reality TV articles

• Annette Hill defining Reality TV

• Annette Hill on Reality Formats

• Big Brother

• Voting

How does your reality TV show invite audiences to participate? Think about these questions, and fill in

the grid.Name

List the ways in which audiences are able to participate.

Describe what audiences are voting for on the show and how often.

Write down the cost of each method of participating.

Try to find out where the revenue from voting goes, e.g. charity.

What do you think makes people want to vote?