How important are high production values to your three main texts? TV

Casualty
1. BBC One - Public broadcast - public funded
  1. approx 20-30million/season (season of 20+ episodes)
    1. Low production value
  2. High production values unimportant because audiences expect a low budget program from public funded TV
    1. Budget does not stop Casualty from having 5million+ viewers per episode - good ratings
    2. High production values not key because its a hyper real tv drama - hyper realistic mise en scene (ordinary/hospital costumes, hospital iconography, posessions of lower/middle class people ie Connie's iPhone), simple shot-to-shot editing, basic cinematography shots used ie facial closeups, straight on angle, closeup of wine glass breaking
    3. However some viewers may have an oppositional or negotiated reading because of low production values- ie episode 16 season 29 when woman is seeing witches- women in cheesy green masks
Made in Chelsea
1. E4 - Freeview - adverts, not public funded - Audiences expect mid-range production values
  1. Lower ratings - 1-2milion viewers per episode
2. Stars are wealthy socialites - while budget is not officially released, the approx value of a star's wardrobe alone is over £100,000 - this funding may be from their own accounts as it is a reality show
  1. Royally connected starlets such as diamond dealer Francis, sons of wealthy businessmen ie Jaime (son of McVities owner)
  2. Expensive, hyper real mise en scene ie Aston Martin cars, diamonds, expensive holidays abroad (like s1 ep 2, gabriella and ollie go skiing), finely decorated homes, trendy brunch locations
  3. Show centers around aspirational culture - starlets, aspirational iconography - therefore high production values are likely quite important
    1. However its very likely that as a scripted reality show with simple editing and cinematography, it is not high budget to produce and much of the aspirational iconography may come from starlets themselves (wardrobe)
      1. Cinematography hack- highly simple cinematography - edited with colour correction to up blues and yellows, give hazy/muted look - appears expensive
True Detective
1. HBO - high production drama network - pay to watch - viewers expect high production values to be visible. Target audience also consume programs such as Game of Thrones and Mad Men
  1. 11 million viewers per episode
2. HBO has not released budget officially, however, paid over $4million to acquire each episode of True Detective and paid creator Nick Pizzolato millions as well
3. High budget cinematography - long shots, sweeping birds eye shots, and muted palette only attainable with high end cameras and expensive external equipment such as helicopter
  1. High budget editing visible in complex, visually stunning intro with many layers, green screen used
  2. High budget mise en scene - filmed in modern day USA south, mise en scene used throughout to make it appear as if its in the 90s - find computers, fashion, cars, gas pumps, everything 90s - hyper real 1990s mise en scene
  3. Star theory - main men are celebrities Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaghey, also features stars such as Vince Vaughn and Rachael McCadams
  4. High production values made for the key elements of the tv show which attract audiences - HBO's reputation, star theory, visually stunning, convincing
Conclusion: Casualty, a public funded TV drama does not at all need high production values. MIC, a public broadcast scripted reality show, needs it somewhat. True Detective, a pay-to-watch drama, needs it a lot.

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How important are high production values to your three main texts? TV

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	Created by livchester67 over 9 years ago