Analysis of the concept and content of a studio production relevant to the commissioned production

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After we were very fortunately commissioned with our idea of Trending, it was time to watch some more magazine shows to help shape and develop our idea. A difference to note between This Morning and Trending, is that This Morning is two hours in length, compared to Trending which is only thirty minutes. Despite this they both follow the same construct and pattern of magazine show by covering a variety of different items. (Brown et al, 2016:183) As well as this I will be looking at the content in this analysis and the difference in running length does not hold a difference with the content. In any show "the content needs to matter" (Yang, 2016:15) however especially in a magazine show as it needs to be captivating.

The show begins with displaying a full frame Tiktok of a current dance Trend, and this captivated me instantly. Magazine shows serve a purpose to "cover the latest trends and topics (Brown et al, 2016:185) which perfectly sums up our aim for Trending. Hence This Morning opening the show with a Tiktok was a great inspiration as it has given us the idea to plant Tiktok videos through out show as effectively they are short visuals the capture the audiences attention. It was also great that within the first minute of the programme there was a trending video displayed, as straight away the show was snappy and energetic.


Fig. 1 Tiktok Trend

Another aspect of This Morning that I found enjoyable was the way the the set can be used and how much movement from the presenters there is available. Sets should be multifunctional especially with magazine shows as they are already broken into chunks (Brown et al, 2016:185) hence using movement can help them to seamlessly link the segments together (Brown et al, 2016:182). This concept gave us a great inspiration for Trending as we already had the different areas of set marked out so that it could be multifunctional, however we did not have any movement planned to be shown on camera, the hosts were just going to move during the VT slots. Nonetheless after watching This Morning and how they tie the segments together with walking to different places on the set, I knew that we had to do something similar in our show. Thus from this we were able to plan moments in which the presenters walk across and around the set. 


Fig. 2 The set


Fig. 3 Another area of the set


Fig. 4 Another set area


A part of This Morning that I was really fond of was the relationship between the two presenters; they clearly get on very well and this makes the viewer almost feel part of the friendship as the due share jokes and laughter together. In television it is important to "have hosts that spark off each other" (Thompson, 2016:189) as they help the programme to move forwards and add a friendly and entertaining tone to the show. This is an affect that we would like to create with Trending thus when finding hosts we wanted to find a due that were able to get along and even answer each others questions and sentences (Thompson, 2016:189). After making this decision we knew that we needed to do as much as possible to not only choose fun and upbeat presenters, but they also needed to work well on screen. To help with this, after selecting our hosts, myself and George held multiple Zoom meetings in which we would let the presenters get to know each other and luckily they become good friends. This meant that when we were doing virtual script reads they were able to adlib together and have an on screen spark (Thompson, 2016:189) which is exactly what we wanted after seeing Holly and Phill interacting on This Morning.

A part of This Morning that I did not enjoy was that some of the segments did go on for quite a while. With magazine shows it is important to keep each chunk to around five minutes maximum (Brown et al, 2016:185) otherwise the viewer will loose interest. Some online video calls lasted for around twelve minutes and they did feel a little dragged out at times. Admittedly they do have two hours to fill everyday hence they may have the time to have longer calls and segments, yet it became a little dull and this should definitely be avoided as otherwise the show will just become something on in the background for the viewer.  (Thompson, 2016:189)


Fig. 5 Video call segment


This Morning featured a performance from 90's girl group 'B*witched' and this added a really exciting tone to the whole show. It was fun and uplifting and for those that are watching This Morning whilst being in a rush getting ready for the day ahead (Thompson, 2016:189) it was a segment that you could even just listen to and still be thoroughly entertained. Additionally this lead to us extending the finale segment at the end and adding music to it as this way it really adds the entertainment factor that we are very focussed on including.


Fig. 6 B*Witched performance

Finally I really enjoyed the Spin the Wheel segment of the show as it is similar to our game segment in Trending as it is a fun and simple game that creates some tension. Conversely an aspect of the Spin the Wheel segment that I do not like is that it is very short lived.Of course with magazine shows you have to split them into chunks and make them snappy, I believe with this part it is almost too concise and could be a little longer. Hence with Trending and the game section it has impacted me to monitor the timing of it. Originally we did not want it to be too long, however this has made me realise that I also do not want it to be too short. 


Fig. 7 Spin the Wheel segment


In conclusion, watching This Morning was very useful when developing Trending and I was also able to expand my research skills further with picking up on what particular elements will influence Trending as a whole. 

List of Illustrations: 

Fig. 1 Emmerson, S. (2021) Tiktok Trend

Fig. 2 Emmerson, S. (2021) The set

Fig. 3 Emmerson, S. (2021) Another area of the set

Fig. 4 Emmerson, S. (2021) Another set area

Fig. 5 Emmerson, S. (2021) Video call segment

Fig. 6 Emmerson, S. (2021) B*Witched performance

Fig. 7 Emmerson, S. (2021) Spin the Wheel segment


Bibliography: 

Brown, L., Duthie, L. (2016) The TV Studio Production Handbook. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Thompson, N. (2016) The TV Studio Production Handbook. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Yang, R. (2016) The TV Studio Production Handbook. London: Bloomsbury Academic.







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