Reality TV unit

AQA GCSE Media Studies (4810)

Guidance for Teachers on the 2010 AQA GCSE Media Studies External Assessment Topic

Reality Television

General Guidance on Unit 1 The following guidance is intended to support the first External Assessment of this new specification. It includes general information and advice about approaching Unit 1 as well as specific guidelines on Reality Television. It is not designed to cover all aspects of teaching but to offer suggestions on how to approach the 2010 topic and to prepare students for the External Assessment.

Unit 1 External Assessment The External Assessment carries 40% of the total marks available for GCSE Media Studies (Single Award) and 20% for GCSE Media Studies (Double Award). It takes the form of a 1hr 30 minutes supervised formal examination and will be timetabled. The date and time of the External Assessment on Reality Television is as follows: Friday June 25th 2010 (am) This assessment will take the form of a brief detailing a contextualised scenario and candidates will need to respond to a number of tasks in role. In 2010 this brief will be released 6 weeks prior to the external assessment date and will be made available from Monday 10th May 2010. During this time candidates are expected to develop their knowledge and understanding of Reality Television by completing independent research and preparation in response to the given brief.

Please note that: •

sufficient time must be given to the teaching of the External Assessment topic before the release of the preliminary materials

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no teaching of the topic may take place after this date

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no work for Unit 2 may cover the same topic area of the External Assessment. In the case of Reality Television this does not prohibit submission of work on other television genres.

Teachers who have worked with the 3571 legacy specification will already be familiar with this type of assessment.

However, it is important to note the following significant developments: •

the external assessment now takes the form of unseen tasks

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there has been a reduction of time from 3hrs to 1hour 30 minutes

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tiering has been removed and the one External Assessment is aimed at the full ability range.

Teachers are advised to refer to the new specification along with specimen papers, mark schemes and the Teacher Resource Bank for further guidance on the content and administration of the External Assessment.

Working with a brief

The brief is pivotal to the external assessment and it is expected that candidates will work closely with it to inform their preparation for the unseen tasks. This is a skill which needs to be developed during the two year course and has implications for assignment design when responding to the Unit 2 Assignment Banks. It is expected that teachers will read the brief with their candidates once it is issued. However after that the formal teaching should cease and it is crucial that teachers follow this instruction.

Assessment Objectives and Weightings Teaching of the External Assessment should be guided by the assessment objectives. These are given below together with the approximate weightings applied to the External Assessment: •

A01: recall, select and communicate their knowledge and understanding of media products and the contexts in which they are produced and consumed (10%)

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AO3: demonstrate research, planning and presentation skills (5%)

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AO4: construct and evaluate their own products using creative and technical skills (5%).

It is important to note that knowledge of non-contemporary texts is not required for the External Assessment which is a significant departure from the legacy Controlled Test. However, in the context of Reality Television an understanding of the beginnings of popular factual programming would inform the development of the genre. It has been argued that television has always provided ‘a window on the world’ and by exploring the emergence of hybrid genres such as docusoap or fly-on-the-wall documentaries, conclusions can be reached concerning our curiosity about how others live and the nature of mediation.

The External Assessment will examine Reality Television through a combination of written and production tasks. The reduction in time from the legacy 3 hour Controlled Test to 1 hour 30 minutes will naturally have an impact on question style, demanding succinct, focused responses. Teachers are directed to the specimen External Assessment paper on Situation Comedy, in the Teacher Resource Bank, which exemplifies this. Skills in production work should have been developed through the Unit 2 Assignment Banks which exemplify the scope and range of the types of responses required.

However, a key performance indicator remains the ability of candidates to demonstrate their knowledge of a range of examples from the topic examined. In the case of Reality Television, it is important to guard against over preparation of a limited number of texts along with rehearsed teacher led arguments which frequently stifle creativity and the ability of candidates to demonstrate personal engagement.

The specification makes it clear that for the External Assessment, candidates will need to complete 4 tasks in the time given. As with Unit 2, candidates do not have to write in continuous prose and it is important to provide opportunity to develop confidence in the use of a variety of formats which can include annotations, bullet points, charts and mind maps.

Key Concepts A useful place to start when preparing for the External Assessment is with the key concepts: •

Media Language: forms and conventions

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Institution

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Audience

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Representation

Reality Television Media Language: forms and conventions A difficulty in the study of Reality Television is in arriving at a precise definition of this genre which has changed over time. Originally used to describe programmes that showed how the emergency services worked, the term has now expanded to include a number of different formats. Arguably it is now one of the most popular television genres, inhabiting a borderline territory between information and entertainment. The genre has attracted a lot of criticism and is often used to illustrate arguments about the alleged ‘dumbing down’ of television.

However, a starting point in defining Reality Television is that it presents us with real people who are followed in a particular real life situation. Furthermore, that situation is unscripted and unrehearsed, providing the viewing audience with an opportunity to follow events as they happen, which is undoubtedly an important contributory factor to its appeal. As the genre has evolved a variety of formats and techniques have been deployed which essentially have been borrowed from existing genres. It is important to provide opportunities to explore this range which can largely be broken down into the following categories: •

Observation/Surveillance types of programmes which involve putting together a group of strangers in a house or another type of environment and letting the viewing audience watch how they interact as they live together for a period of a couple of months. Most popular examples of this include Big Brother and Survivor.

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Documentary style ‘fly-on-the-wall’ programming in which cameras are set up and follow unscripted situations as they happen. It is argued that this type of format provides the most realistic programming. Examples include Airport; The Cruise, Hotel, Driving School; Children’s Hospital.

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Programmes based around a particular career or occupation. These often include information-type programmes which use true stories to tell us something about the day to day experiences of staff working in them. Examples include Vets in Practice, Children’s Hospital and Air Force Afghanistan.

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Created for TV programmes involving putting real people in manufactured situations and filming what happens.

Sometimes this involves an element of competition and uses popularity voting to eliminate contestants either internally by judges or externally by the viewing public. Examples include: Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, The Apprentice.

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‘Lifestyle’ self improvement/makeover programmes involving real people in real situations undergoing some sort of trauma in their life with regard to their appearance, their house, their garden, which is then transformed and made better by experts. Examples include What Not to Wear, Changing Rooms, House Doctor, How to Look Good Naked.

A useful activity is to consider the extent to which these different formats share the use of similar codes and conventions such as the following: •

Filmic codes and use of voice-over to manipulate the narrative. How does this impact on the nature of realism?

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The type of settings deployed and their effect

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‘Caught on camera’ footage

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Narrative structure often comprising of short self contained segments and/or serialised stories

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Participants. How are they selected and why? To what extent are they strong and recognisable characters?

How do they create narrative conflict?

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Choice of and role of presenter/narrator.

Suggested activities 1. Identify the filmic codes and conventions of two contrasting Reality TV programmes.

2. Examine the use of the voiceover. How does it manipulate the narrative?

Institution Reality programming is continuing to dominate broadcasting schedules and it is important to consider why it is so popular with producers and television networks. A successful format will be relatively cheap in proportion to the number of hours of broadcasting it can fill. The rise of digital TV in the 1990s meant that there was an increased need to fill the airwaves so it is not surprising that this was accompanied by the growth in a variety of Reality formats. Students need to have an understanding of such financial and commercial pressures and it is useful to contrast the public service and commercial models of broadcasting here. The effect of the 1990 Broadcasting Act opened up competition and the BBC became under pressure to deliver cheaper programming. As a result popular Reality TV programmes became an important feature in the prime time ratings war between the BBC and its commercial rivals.

The revenue brought to television companies through premium rate telephone voting is another important area of study. With programmes such as The X Factor, Big Brother and Strictly Come Dancing proving to be very popular with young audiences, concern has been raised of exploitation as children run up big mobile phone bills. Audience participation has also been dogged by recent controversies with accusations of vote rigging.

One of the features of Reality TV is its ability to generate coverage across the media, particularly the tabloid press. It is also worth exploring the spin off programmes that are generated, such as the Strictly Come Dancing fanzine, ‘It Takes Two’.

Suggested activities 1. Research and analyse viewing figures for different Reality programmes. Describe the demographic profile of the target audience.

2. Compare the Reality programmes that are broadcast on the BBC and commercial channels. Is the audience offered a genuine choice or is it more of the same?

Audience For some people Reality Television is very addictive, it has proven to be particular successful with young audiences, so useful work can be completed in researching why this is the case. Students should be familiar with audience effects theories such as the Uses and Gratifications model in exploring how audiences use and respond to the media. It is argued that the variety of Reality TV formats means that there is something for everyone and this provides another fertile area of study into audience preferences.

It is further argued that a reason why audiences enjoy some Reality TV formats is because of the feeling of empowerment it gives them when they can influence the outcome and sometimes, as has been the case with Big Brother for example, even the activities of the participants on the show. The nature and types of audience interactivity should be explored along with earlier points made about the revenue that this brings.

An enjoyable area to explore is the appeal and nature of celebrity. Reality TV has clearly made some people famous and their rise and fall in the media can provide some interesting case study work. In contrast to this it seems that some programmes have been used as a vehicle to resurrect a flagging media career. Recent events with Jade Goody and Susan Boyle demonstrate two contrasting examples of controversy in the relationship between the wider media and Reality Show stars.

Suggested activities 1. Conduct a class survey into the most popular Reality TV shows. What types of viewing pleasures do they provide?

2. Complete a Case Study of a person who became famous after appearing on a Reality TV show. How short lived was their fame?

Representation One of the key pleasures of Reality Television is that it purportedly shows us real life events involving real people unscripted and unplanned situations. A key area of study is in the consideration of how real is real? All Reality Show formats are constructed and audience viewpoint manipulated. It is important to examine how this is achieved. A useful exercise would be to contrast different shows and to consider how real they seem and why.

The nature of providing this real life viewing experience has given rise to moral and ethical issues that surround it.

Exposing participants on Reality Shows as they are humiliated or upset in front of large audiences who seemingly enjoy the spectacle, has led to accusations of bad taste. It is important to explore the nature of voyeurism and the concerns that give rise to this type of viewing experience. By way of contrast, some participants are extremely adept at “manipulating the situation” as they become more experienced readers of the genre.

The selection of types of participants is also a useful avenue to explore and how this leads to certain types of interactions. Furthermore the content of some Reality Shows such as Wife Swap and Ibiza Uncovered has also given cause for concern in that they seem to test the limits of taste and decency, questioning the values they present to a viewing audience.

Suggested activities Discussion points 1.

Many Reality TV programmes exploit people to make money. Give an example of an episode from a programme you have watched which you think should not have been shown.

2. Reality TV has attracted a lot of criticism. Can we learn anything useful or valuable from these shows?

AQA Further Support and Guidance During Autumn 2009, AQA will be holding a series of Teacher Support meetings on Reality Television at venues across the country. In addition, teachers are encouraged to use the Teacher Resource Bank and join the Forum, both located on the AQA website.

Resources Further reading: Reality TV - Annette Hill – Routledge ISBN: 978-0-415-26152-4 Understanding Reality TV – Su Holmes and Deborah Jermyn – Routledge ISBN: 0-415-31795-9

Classroom texts: AQA GCSE Media Studies – Nelson Thornes ISBN: 978-1-4085-04-11 Media Studies for AQA GCSE – Pete Wall – Collins ISBN: 978-0-00-723496-7 AQA GCSE Media Studies – Heinnemann ISBN: 978-0435-4040-62 Websites: www.realitytv.co.uk www.realitytvworld.com www.guardian.co.uk/media/reality-tv www.channel4.com/bigbrother www.whatsontv.co.uk/reality www.reality-shows-index.com www.videojug.com/interview/reality www.realitycube.com