How real is Reality TV?
Real-tv show is a kind of TV program that conforms to the actual situation. It uses real-time shooting and video recording to record the actual situation to achieve the effect of authenticity to the audience. As according to Smith(2020), there are many definitions, but generally it is the genre that represents everyday conditions, personality or individual activities, unscripted moments, human interests and the fusion with entertainment to reveal the unmediated reality. Although, reality-tv has many perspectives to focus, but the common thing is to get real people to do real things.
The development of Reality TV can be said to be a combination of the ideas of creators of the past decades. For instance, conception and inspiration of Reality TV Show mainly come from the early documentary, direct cinema, Cinéma Vérité, free cinema and documentary on television. Then with the combinations of creation of actuality from the documentary, the realism and fly on wall filming technique from direct television, the daily life activitism from the free cinema, and the meticulously produced documentary television, which is what is called Reality TV today (Smith, 2020)
Although Reality TV shows do not have scripts, so everyone will feel the show is real compare to films or dramas. However, Reality TV shows are not as real as we thought, as Fox (2018) argues in many cases, there is nothing remotely real about it, which implies Reality TV shows have many modulation methods. There are many kinds of modulation behind the scene, but the most common is the editing behind the scenes production and the arrangement of contestants.
First, the contestants are often asked for emotional experiences such as enthusiasm and sadness to achieve the effect of the show. Second, the ending is not in line with reality, which means that many Reality TV shows choose an ending that meets the audience’s expectations or preferences. Third, enthusiasm from live audiences is required, for example, when the winner walks out of the stage, the cheering volume of the audiences must reach the satisfaction of the producer. Fourth, the interaction between the participants is also arranged, including dialogue content, friendliness and conflicts. Fifth, lying About personal marital status is acceptable, the producer of the show helped them customize their own story, which is completely fictional to make the story and character more interesting. Sixth, the contestants have received expression training before the shooting of the show, such as anger, fear and frustrations when under certain difficult conditions (Gavilanes, 2018).
Other than common techniques behind the scene, the most prominent is the Shooting Script, which is a shooting procedure that describes the details of the entire show, for example; the photographer will follow the instructions of the producer to move the direction and location to be shot. Usually, before the shooting, the producer will likely to make some arrangements by pairing specific people as roommates and partners and then create conflicts in between (Metz, 2019). Furthermore, in extreme cases, a shooting script might include a storyboard which is a visual representation of words or texts that physically illustrates what will occur in a scene (Author). In other words, the show has already told the audiences what will happen next.
In addition, “frankenbiting” is an editing instrument of the production unit behind the scene. Producers have a lot of control over what happens in the show, and they only unite people under certain circumstances. And the producer behind the scenes can choose which recorded clips to broadcast and which clips are not. With the frankenbiting device, the producer can essentially build alliances, secret crushes, battles and relationships, even some of the shots taken several days apart may appear as one scene or situation (Metz, 2019).
Lastly, from an ordinary person to an actor, although the contestants of the Reality TV shows are all from the real world or non-actors. However, it is quickly apparent that some of the contestants would become like actors and with more screen times if they successfully passed through the competitions of initial seasons. For example, the shows like; “Survivor”, “The Bachelor and “Idol shows”, participants have the opportunity to get more treatment like actors or singers, and gradually change from an ordinary person to an actor to participate in more performances such as spokespersons, advertisement and other activities (Gater & MacDonald, 2015). Nevertheless, as long as entertaining, no one will complain, the audience will come back and the ratings continue to increase.
In general, Reality TV Shows are not so real, because the production unit utilised many arrangements and editing techniques. The only real thing is contestants are real people from the real world.
Smith, P. (2020). ENGL602 Popular Genres: Reality television part one [PowerPoint slides]. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/bbcswebdav/pid-5350845-dt-content-rid-13171084_4/xid-13171084_4
Fox, M. (2018). Reality TV: Is it for real. UC Magazine. https://magazine.uc.edu/issues/1210/reality-tv.html
Gavilanes, G. (2018). They Beg You for Sob Stories: 10 People Reveal What Actually Goes Into Filming a Reality TV Show. People. https://people.com/tv/judge-judy-sheindlin-new-court-show-headed-to-imdb-tv/
Metz, W. (2019) How Reality TV Works. Howstuffworks. https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/reality-tv.htm
Gater, B., & MacDonald, J. B. (2015). Are actors really real in reality TV? The changing face of performativity in reality television. Fusion Journal, (7), 1-13. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jasmine_Macdonald2/publication/294881583_Are_Actors_Really_Real_in_Reality_TV_The_changing_face_of_performativity_in_Reality_Television/links/56c559f808aeeeffa9e5e730/Are-Actors-Really-Real-in-Reality-TV-The-changing-face-of-performativity-in-Reality-Television.pdf
Pop Genres 2020 