The reality behind reality shows

In another communications class of mine, we watched the pilot of MTV's reality series Jersey
Shore. I am not the biggest fan of reality shows in general; the characters are always very outlandish, unreal (despite it being a reality show) and overall seemingly obnoxious people.While I felt that watching the show was a waste of my time because it is so terrible, it sparked me into doing some digging about "behind-the-scenes" of reality shows. I noticed while watching Jersey Shore that there were a lot of fast cuts, repeated shots, and many voiceovers, which indicates that from piecing together various footage make a particular story, even if its not the story that was told originally.

According to the Writer's Guild of America West, reality TV producers create formats, cast people based on character traits, and then edit scenes to create a story arc. Teams will shoot several days of footage and then hand it off to the editor to create a story based on the guidelines that producers gave them. Because no one's life is constantly that dramatic, crews must film for days at a time before piecing together an episode. That's why there's so much voiceover and b-roll; it is up to the editor to create the story that the producer wants, as opposed to how events actually occurred.

David Rupel states that one of the secrets to creating the arc to a reality show is to "find a scene that has many of the same emotional beats as another, and use interview bites to shape it to be about the other topic" because if you remove all references to some other subject, it still makes sense. That way if some major even occurs off-camera, it can still be shown somehow. This method is used a lot in Jersey Shore, especially utilizing the "interviews" as making sense of the dramatic situations that occur by getting each person's reaction.

Snooki: "i'm too pretty for jail"

MTV networks President Van Toffler said that in the Jersey Shore casting process they looked for "candor, honesty, boldness, and a very combustible, chaotic mess. You could honestly say none of these people were traditionally beautiful."...combustible, chaotic mess is a very good way to put it indeed. And while all the characters are just generally unpleasant human beings, the show is wildly entertaining because they are all so outlandish. The casting directors choose them because they know that viewers will want to watch them do ridiculous things (that they are paid to do).

Reality TV is a form of entertainment that is constantly on the rise because the creators know how to draw people in with the fast editing and outlandish characters. Jersey Shore is just one example; other shows such as Dance Moms, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, and Survivor also follow the reality-tv-editing formula. (only difference is that those characters are slightly more tolerable!)

Here's a taste of what Jersey Shore is like. Watch if you dare.

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I wanted to do something Halloweeny but I don't really like "scary" movies, so I ended up with this. Sorry I couldn't be more festive, haha.

Either you have seen this or you are staring at this post thinking "what the hell is this?". For those of you in the later group I will elaborate.

Back in 2008, there was the famous Writer's Guild of America Strike in Hollywood. The strike was because writers wanted to get better pay in comparison to what the studios were getting for their work. The strike lasted 14 weeks and almost nothing came out during that period. Except for Doctor Horrible.

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was written by Joss Whedon (Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Zack Whedon (Fringe), spouses Jed Whedon and Maurissa Thancharoen (Dollhouse, Marvel's Agents of Shield). The family wanted to create something "small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike." The project, funded by Joss Whedon, only cost about $200,000. It premiered online as a web miniseries in three acts. It was a big success and has made more than it's small budget back in DVD/Blu-ray and iTunes sales. It was also well received by critics and has won serveal awards including an Emmy, Hugo Award, People's Choice Award, and several Streamys. Time magazine slotted it at #15 of their top 50 Innovations of 2008.

The entire run time of all three acts together is only 42 minutes. The story follows Dr. Horrible, (Neil Patrick Harris) a super villain who desperate to join a club of other super villains called "The Evil League of Evil" so he can impresses Penny (Felica Day) whom he's in love with. His plans are thwarted when Penny becomes romantically involved with superhero Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), Horrible's arch nemeses.

As one might guess from the title, it's a musical! The short film features 14 songs. Here's one of my favorites:

The film is not only interesting because of the historical events in Hollywood at the time of it's release, but it is also extremely well done and just plan a lots of fun. I would highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen it should check it out!