Essay on Factuality, Fiction, and Verisimilitude in Television as Factors of Format and Production

The popularity and effectiveness of television programs in the communication of their themes are hinged extensively on their production approach. There are important production methods that give rise to what Moran describes as "formats" of television production (258). As a matter of principle, television producers must approach the making of a television with a particular output format in mind to best suit the program to its key audiences. More importantly, however, formats are selected depending on the level of factuality, fiction, and verisimilitude accorded for a program (Ellis 275). It is in line with this idea that Moran describes formats as "crusts"; they are set frameworks of production, although their nature depends on the rest of the "pie," that is, the thematic content of the television production program. For the most part, the articles The Pie and the Crust by Moran and Television Production by Ellis complement each other in the argument that the general content and nature of the production is the basis on which the proportions of factuality and fiction are decided upon as a way of factoring the concept of the active audience' in production.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

In "Television Production," Ellis emphasizes the importance of allowing the audience to understand the proportions of fiction and fact in the television program (Ellis 275). He goes on to justify this need in the claim that depending on the ratio of these two components of production, the audience, will come to a judgement about whether an interviewee is telling the truth or whether they have been 'exploited' (Ellis 275). Moving on, Ellis defends the audiences need to understand the dynamics of the production process by noting that, Popular understanding of how TV is produced is necessary if viewers are to know the status of what they are being shown, not so that they can go out and make TV themselves They need to make correct generic identifications and to measure a particular program against generic models. (Ellis 275). Through these statements, all of which are in the first paragraph, Television Production may be identified as an attempt by Ellis to explain the manner in which the need for a fact-fiction balance defines and controls the nature of production for television programs.

A look at the scripting and general plot line of the 2009 - 2014 television series Drop Dead Diva justifies much, if not everything, claimed by Ellis. It is based on the fictitious concept of the main character, Deb Dobkins, returning from heaven after hitting a return button (Berman n.p.). However, the program communicates the themes of physical standards of beauty and their impact on self-esteem, the subjugation of intellectual superiority and virtue to physical attributes and so on. It achieves this by using a fictitious concept again, whereby the Dobkins, a model and symbol of the traditional ideal of feminine beautyreturn in the body of a plus-size woman. Markedly, there is an alternation between extraordinary fiction and very glaring facts in this series. In the end, the result is a television production that drives real-life discourse and addresses questions on factual issues using fictitious constructions. Perhaps, this is the reason why Ellis points out that.

Elsewhere, Ellis concept of standardization of television programs and programming underscores Morans argument that the exchange of ideas between television producers and the remission of these ideas to the audience must be conducted along definite and formal lines. Ellis speaks thus of standardization:

A crucial part of the skill of a producer is to know those standards, and a skilled producer can 'read' the probable level of the production budget just by looking at a TV programme produced in their own market. This informal standardisation is often reflected in the 'guide prices' that are issued by broadcasters when they put a slot or format out to tender in the production community (Ellis 280).

This aspect of standardization of production practice in the above note is a natural means of ensuring homogeneity of the practice among producers in a given landscape of television programs. This homogeneity also alludes to a necessity to standardize every other feature of television programming. For this reason, Moran speaks similarly of the formalization of television programming through the establishment of a format:

Similarly, the concept of a television format is meaningful in the television industry because it helps to organize and regulate the exchange of program ideas between program producers. In particular, program producers from European countries such as Netherlands, from Australia and from South America regularly adapted programs from US radio and later television (Moran 262).

Clearly, therefore, the essence of format is to establish guidelines, principles, and rules that outline the content and nature of any television programs aired. A good example is a similarity in two television shows: Being Human airing in the United Kingdom on BBC and the USA and Canadian series of the same name airing on Syfy and Space respectively. There is a striking similarity, even identicality in the two programs, with the American series being an adaptation of the UK format.

Further on Being Human, the series explores the concept of the supernatural beings trying to blend into human society (Carver & Fricke n.p.; Whithouse n.p.). The characters George, John, and Annie are a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost respectively. The fictitious nature of these beings and the idea that they live in human society is offset by the realism of their struggles, which are equated to real human challenges. For instance, John's desire to feed on human blood, which is a challenge for his vampire form, manifests as a struggle with drug addiction in his human form. This scenario ultimately juxtaposes his superhuman side against his supernatural side. Needless to say, the central theme in John's context is drug addiction and the challenges it presents against one's struggle to fit in society. Concerning the format and production standardization, the adaptation of Being Human from the UK into the North American market speaks tons on the idea of the exchange of ideas communicated by Moran. It is proof that indeed, the diffusion of ideas in television reflects the format and informs the production of television programs.

In connection with the issue of standardization, Ellis touches on the idea of routinization of television, an idea which may be seen in the most television series and which may be found again in "The Pie and the Crust." Ellis says:

Television production has become routinised because television watching has become such a central part of everyday life. Television can mount special events, but the overwhelming quantity of television consists of series and established formats, and indeed that is what all but the most old-fashioned of commentators expect of it. The routines provide security, both for the industry and for its audiences (Ellis 278).

This allusion to television as an integral part of peoples lives in Ellis sentiment above very clearly speaks of the familiarity of themes in television programs. Specifically, if television is to be routinized, it means that even when the ideas being communicated and the format being applied are focused on fiction, the content will still be very relatable to the target audiences for whom the productions are made.

Furthermore, television, as a fundamental member of the traditional media group, is defined by the universality of theme, which is why a number of television programs air across multiple channels, nations, and regions and go on to gain popularity across continents and a slew of cultures. The television series Game of Thrones which first aired on HBO in 2011 is the best case in point for this argument. Markedly, the action in the series is captured within a pseudo-medieval setting in cities across two fictitious continents: Essos and Westeros (Bernioff & Weiss n.p.). In addition, the series contains a lot of fiction: an exiled queen who can stand unscathed by fire as a building burns down, a trio of dragons loyal only to their human mother the fire queen, an army of undead, and an invulnerable wall of ice a hundred meters thick and over 300 miles long (Bernioff & Weiss n.p.). Nonetheless, the themes in this highly fictitious world center around the human condition, with war, power, betrayal, sex, and love making the five key concerns.

More importantly, however, Game of Thrones is routinized in the way it communicates the same themes with many series that have different shooting, costumes, location, and script features. For instance, love is common in Drop Dead Diva (between Deb and Grayson); Game of Thrones (between Jon and Ygritte, Jaime and Cersei, Grey Worm and Missandei); Being Human (between Annie and Owen); Faking it (Between Karma & Liam). This routinization (and apparent standardization) of the content exists despite the fact that the four series belong in four different genres, that is, legal comedy-drama, fantasy drama, supernatural drama, and romantic comedy respectively. At the end of the day, therefore, the idea that television content is standardized and routinized comes out every clearly.

Concerning the findings in the preceding paragraph, Moran notes that despite the confluence of themes across formats and audience, parties within national television regions may prefer some formats over others, which also goes on to influence programming and production (Mora 262). One of the biggest explanations for this is the increasing mobility of the forces that avail television to the masses including, among other salient factors, the increase in deregulation, privatization, and advancements in technologies for distributing television programs and the growth in the number of channels to air the television shows (Moran 262). Moran posits that:

The increase in channel choice, in turn, has the potential to fragment television audiences and, as a consequence, the ever-present industry imperative audience popularity for new programs is exacerbated. Obviously, the import of low-cost, foreign programs is one way to fill the expanded number of time-slots in the new television environment. In surveying the particular significance of formats from the point of view of national television producers and broadcasters, we can note constraints relating to program imports on the one hand national program productions on the other (Moran 262).

Morans main argument in the above quote is that differences in the audiences is a key reference factor for routinization and standardization at a local level. Depending on the congruence between the tastes of the local audience and the other audience for which a given program has been made, the program will either be directly imported for a local audience or modified to suit the needs of the audience in question. With respect to this, Being Human is an ideal example. Although the cause for adaptation remains largely unexplained by the production companies, a quick analysis of the United Kingdom and North America reveals that the audience in the latter region is more liberal. Perhaps, this is why the American adaptation of Being Human is relatively more explicit (Carver & Fricke n.p.). Hence, it may be understood why some programs like Game of Thrones receive unanimous appraisal across audiences, while others like Being Human have to be adapted.

Consequent to the factors of production above, the stages of television program production vary immensely. By design, the television production process proceeds in five stages: finance, pre-production, the shoot, post-production, and marketing (Ellis 290). Depending...