As Live Production: Factual programme

Popcorn with Peter Travers - ABC News

Popcorn is a talk show featuring interviews about the latest films and TV shows, presented by film critic Peter Travers. However, it is a segment shown on ABC news, since:

"the news genre does not just cover serious issues of the day but can include celebrity gossip and movie reviews, providing valuable content for breakfast and magazine shows"

(Brown & Duthie, 2016:132).

Thus, Popcorn can be considered both a news show and a magazine show, since celebrities are interviewed about their work and personal lives, as on talk shows, (Brown & Duthie, 2016:182), and the presenter, as a film critic, can be considered an expert in the field, and has been presenting the show since it began, thus building trust with the audience in a similar way to a news reporter (Brown & Duthie, 2016:136).

Nonetheless, it could be regarded as more of a magazine show, since the subject is set to a smaller area than general news, and 'stories' are interviews which can be planned far in advance, unlike breaking news, which has to be reported on quickly, so has less planning time (Cury, 2013:205).

Interviews are shot with five cameras, giving five different stationary shots of the studio which can be cut to. Thus, the show uses the more traditional style with cameras mounted on pedestals, which do not move throughout the programme (Singleton-Turner, 2011:226).

Because of this, the cameras are able to get a variety of shots giving coverage of the host, the guest, and "geography shots" - shots which show the subjects in relation to their surroundings (Singleton-Turner, 2011:227).

 Fig. 1 YouTube: Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019)

At the beginning of the show, the host is shown and introduced to the audience, since as the 'expert' on the topic, he is able to set up the interview's premise (Singleton-Turner, 2011:227) - (see fig. 1).

Fig. 2 YouTube: Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019)

However, to introduce the guest, a single is not used, but a long shot shown instead (see fig. 2). This is not only able to show the guest's relation to the position of the presenter and the rest of the studio, but also show the actor in comparison to the poster for their film/TV show, and thus give the audience a better idea of who they are. Nonetheless, it can be argued that this works as a single shot of the guest, since no one else is present in the shot which the audience could misidentify as the guest (Singleton-Turner, 2011:227).

Yet, a long shot similar to this is common at the beginning of a news programme, since these often show the cameras and lights in the studio - more similar to the long shot below (see fig. 3); although a tripod can just be seen at the edge of fig. 2 - therefore causing the show to be "reflexive".

Fig. 3 YouTube: Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019)

If a show is "reflexive", it means it seems aware of its own construction, and thus, in this case, how the interview is being filmed can be seen by the audience (Chandler & Munday, 2016).

Nonetheless, because of the topic of the interview - an actor talking about the production of their latest film - it can be argued that the show is reflexive in order to fit its topic, which is also reflexive, since the actor makes the audience conscious of the construction of their film (Chandler & Munday, 2016).

Fig. 4 YouTube: Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019)

Although, viewers are only able to connect to the guest if their shot is framed so that both eyes can be seen (see fig. 4). It has been argued that this "will give the viewer the best chance of 'reading'" the guest, which is how the audience are able to better understand what they are saying (Singleton-Turner, 2011:226).

 Fig. 5 YouTube: Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019)

Fig. 6 YouTube: Marvel's 'The Avengers' Movie Tom Hiddleston Interview: Yoda Impression and Bob Dylan Song (2012)

Due to Popcorn being part of a news channel, the studio set and branding are regularly updated to fit with new technology and keep it fresh and relevant (Brown & Duthie, 2016:137). For example, in earlier episodes of Popcorn, there was no TV screen (see fig. 6), and VTs would just be mixed onto the screen. Yet, in more recent episodes, the presenter and guest can be seen looking at the screen and watching the VT before it is mixed full screen, providing a smoother transition, and also fitting with the self-reflexive style by showing people on TV watching TV (see fig. 5).

Fig. 7 YouTube: Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019)

The presenter and guest looking at the TV as the VT begins to play motivates the cut of the VT filling the screen. However, cuts like this can therefore be predicted by a director, since there are cues which motivate them (Singleton-Turner, 2011:227).
For example, in the wide shot above (see fig. 7), it can be seen that as the presenter asks a question, he points to the guest. Thus, the next cut is of the single shot of the guest, since after the presenter points at her when asking the question, it can be predicted that she will answer. This is especially important when there are multiple guests, since some questions could be answered by any of them; thus the director then has to look for other cues, such as someone preparing to speak by breathing in (Singleton-Turner, 2011:227).
Overall, Popcorn uses several cameras to achieve coverage and convey its reflexive filming style which fits to the interview topic of discussing film and TV. To predict cuts, the director is able to look for cues on where to cut next, helped by some elements of the set, such as the TV screen, as well as the presenter, so that the audience can better understand what is being said, achieved sometimes by showing both a subject's eyes in a shot.

Influence on my sitcom

The reflexive style of Popcorn inspired my sitcom idea by influencing me to write a scene where the characters break the fourth wall.
Breaking the fourth wall is a theatrical term since three walls form the set where the play takes place, with the fourth open so the audience can watch - this is the screen in TV and film, thus characters talk directly to camera in film and TV to break the fourth wall; breaking the fourth wall is therefore how a story becomes conscious of its own construction (Studio Binder, 2019). Thus, breaking the fourth wall is reflexive in the same way as showing the production crew and/or equipment.
However, in this scene from Jackie & Adelaide I decided to break the fourth wall in a way more traditional to that in theatre, by having them acknowledge the studio audience, rather than the audience at home.
Although this still breaks the fourth wall, this is closer to the Verfremdungeffeckt - or alienation effect - from theatre by Brecht, where he aimed to distance the audience by making them aware of the construction of his plays, thus controlling how much they could relate to the characters, and making the reality reflected in the play easier to distinguish (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).
Therefore, the audience are prompted to think about what is presented within the story by not being too emotionally attached, and are thus more likely to devise solutions to the problems they see presented within the play (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).
This is why I decided to include a scene like this since sitcoms can often deal with serious problems, in this case, debt, in a light-hearted way, and I thought this would be a way to connect with the audience and make them think about the construction, and thus this problem more.
However, I also used this to help add comedy by making the audience involved with the characters in a way which showed how the characters react to an audience. For example, Jackie doesn't see anything, since she doesn't believe in the imaginary, whereas Adelaide lives in her imagination, so would pretend to see an audience, even if there wasn't really one there.
Nonetheless, I decided to remove this scene from later drafts, since it was only really bridging a gap where Jackie left the scene, and it was strange to suddenly break the fourth wall like this only one time.
To effectively break the fourth wall, it needs to happen either regularly or not too often, create a moment, and therefore be warranted by being able to add something to the scene (Studio Binder, 2019). For this reason, I didn't think it was right for Jackie & Adelaide, since calling attention to the show's construction like this limits its realism (Studio Binder, 2019), and in order to relate to the characters and their world I wanted the audience to believe they were real, or at least related to the real world, which needs a certain suspension of disbelief.

Influence on our game show

Despite our game show involving more action than a sit-down interview, the filming style of Popcorn  was still able to influence how I directed Mission Control, since there were parts of the show which involved conversation between the presenter and contestants, as well as transitions to VTs.

I found that the most important thing during these conversations was showing the eyes of the subjects, in the same way as the cameras allow for this on Popcorn. Yet, this was most vital during the opening stats as this was the introduction to the contestants for the audience, therefore I decided to focus on getting a single shot of each contestant as their stats were explained. This was because the contestants needed to be understood by the audience here, so that viewers could better connect with them later when they played the games, and thus be more likely to root for them and get involved in the show.

Popcorn also helped influence the cuts to the VTs where I held on the contestants watching the screen  in the studio before taking the VT full screen. I found that this was less jarring and also gave the opportunity to cut back to the studio while they were playing to see reactions, even though this wasn't necessary during transmission as the audiences' reaction could be heard instead.

Nonetheless, the audiences' reaction also needed to be shown when they were mentioned by the presenter, thus the vision mixer and I began anticipating cues like this which could motivate cuts, as can be seen in sit-down interviews like those shown in Popcorn. This helped us begin taking shots straight to air since they needed to be quick, rather than always previewing everything before putting it on air. Other cues we looked/listened for were the presenter mentioning the contestants, getting the contestants or audience to boo or cheer, and the contestants getting ready to answer a question from the presenter. This helped us use the shots to tell the story of the show, and thus reduced the risk of the audience missing any of the action or narrative.

List of illustrations

Figure 1 to 5. Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019) [YouTube webpage] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkm1bxzGB9c (Accessed on 28 March 2019).

Figure 6. Marvel's 'The Avengers' Movie Tom Hiddleston Interview: Yoda Impression and Bob Dylan Song (2012) [YouTube webpage] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad24d13ZZI4 (Accessed on 28 March 2019).

Figure 7. Brie Larson: 5 Things to know about 'Captain Marvel' (2019) [YouTube webpage] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkm1bxzGB9c (Accessed on 28 March 2019).

References

Brown, L. & Duthie, L. (2016) The TV Studio Production Handbook. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd.

Chandler, D. & Munday, R. (2016) 'Reflexivity' In: A Dictionary of Media and Communication (2nd ed.) [online] At: http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191800986.001.0001/acref-9780191800986-e-2289?rskey=VAH85f&result=2 (Accessed on 28 March 2019).

Cury, I. (2013) Producing and Directing for Television: A Format Approach (4th ed.) Oxon: Focal Press.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2018) Alienation effect. At: https://www.britannica.com/art/alienation-effect (Accessed on 29 March 2019).

Singleton-Turner, R. (2011) Cue & Cut: A Practical Approach to Working in Multi-Camera Studios. Manchester University Press: Manchester.

Studio Binder (2019) Breaking the Fourth Wall: How to Break it with Impact. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/breaking-the-fourth-wall/ (Accessed on 29 March 2019).