Analysis of the structure, branding, graphics and presentation

When thinking about a television show that is relevant with structure, branding, graphics and presentation methods the first one that came to my mind was Saturday Night Takeaway. This is due to how entertaining and current to the time it always is, which is exactly what a magazine show should be (Brown et al, 2016:185).

From the very beginning the show is packed full of vibrant colours and graphics that captivate the viewer and this mixed with the recognisable audio sting as the show opens reinforces a very strong brand identity for Saturday Night Takeaway. Reinforcing the brand enables the viewer to establish a well rounded connection to the show (Boyd, 2008:138) and allows them to easily recognise it on different media platforms. The token blue, red, and white are colours that can be linked to Saturday Night Takeaway are not only in the programme but also across their social medias. This impacted us to establish a clear brand identity (Kellison, 2008:107) with Trending and to decided on a set of colours bright colours and audio stings that fit with the tone of our show. (Brown et al, 2016:121) Also after watching Saturday Night Takeaway it made me want to get our graphics into motion as they also add to the feel of the show.

Saturday Night Takeaway use a multitude of graphics, from banners at the bottom of the frame, to full frame visual stings that all help with strengthening the brand. The first graphic that is used in Saturday Night Takeaway that I am fond of is the full frame logo that is used when going in and out of the ad breaks. It is colourful, fits with the tone of the show (Brown et al, 2016:121) and with the audio sting that is played with it, it really adds to building a brand (Brown et al, 2016:183), which is what we want to do with Trending. Thus when planning our graphics we thought it would be a good idea to also create a graphic for entering and exiting the advert break as it will establish Trendings Branding through using the bright gradient and the logo.

Fig. 1 Full frame graphic

Another graphic that impacted Trending from watching Saturday Night Takeaway was countdown in the bottom right of the frame whilst they are playing the game. Having a visible countdown on the screen was something that I had not even thought of, but watching the clock go down whilst they are still answering questions really does build a large amount of tension  (Brown et al, 2016:120), hence we wanted to do the same with Trending. After watching this I created a brief for a countdown graphic for Trending to display when they play Trendsetters, and I feel really happy with how it turned out as it matches the branding and tone of the show (Brown et al, 2016:121), and as well as this is can be used to build tension. 

Fig. 2 Banner at the bottom of the frame

Fig. 3 Countdown graphic

A particular feature regarding the structure of Saturday Night Takeaway that really stands out to me is the relationship that the hosts have with guests and contestants and how they make it feel like a journey. Following the typical structure of a show we meet a contestant or an audience member who then is later involved with a segment of the show. This almost links the segments together (Brown et al, 2016:182) as  we may meet a contestant in the beginning of the show sitting in the audience,  and they may later be playing a game in a different segment, yet the use of the same audience member allows there to be a seamless connection between the chunks that the programme is split in to. (Brown et al, 2016:185). This influenced us to make a decision with Trending, as originally we were going to have a set of contestants to play the game 'Trendsetters' as well as a different set of contestants to perform a trend in the finale at the end of the show. However after seeing how using contestants and guests can help the show flow together, it influenced us to use the same contestants, but to visit them multiple times throughout the show. This will it will not only allow the programme to move forward and prepare the audience for what is to come (Graham- Holm, 2012:4) , but it will also establish a stronger structure as we will meet them at different points throughout the programme. 

Fig. 4 Meeting the audience

In Saturday Night Takeaway, the show is structured into chunks that are no longer than five minutes which is a very typical convention of a magazine show. (Brown et al, 2016:185) This means that not only is there a high level of content, but there is lots to play around with in terms of structure. The programme seems to follow a structure of having separate chunks that flow together (Brown et al, 2016:185) through the use of audio and visual stings in between each one, for example there is the audio sting 'Ant VS Dec' that would be recognisable to anyone that watches the show, as well as the overlay 'Singalong live' graphic. By using these very short recognisable introductions to each segment it keeps the pace of the show going and establishes a clear structure of what the audience are going to see next (Graham- Holm, 2012:4), additionally they build excitement for the segment to begin. This influenced us to have very short introductions to each segment in Trending; for shorter segments such as when Tracking the Trends or meeting the contestants, we decided to have a short audio sting that is a small piece of audio taken from the title music hence it is linked to Trending. For a larger segments of the show such as the News we chose to have a full frame graphic intro with an audio sting that still fits with the tone of the show, as not only does it reinforce and help us to create an establish brand (Boyd, 2008:138) by yet again using the recognisable Trending colours and audio, but it also introduces what the viewer is about to see, and this creates more of a structure just as it does in Saturday Night Takeaway.

Fig. 5 Intro graphic

Another way that Saturday Night Takeaway uses structure to build excitement for the viewer is through small repetitions throughout the show. For example there are ongoing moments throughout each episode which lead up to the big End of the Show Show segment which closes the programme. This segment is normally really large and spectacular hence throughout the programme Ant and Dec have small links in which they discuss what is going to happen and there are always moments of jeopardy where the audience are under the belief that something is going to go wrong, but then it always turns out being very entertaining and amusing. By building a tension around the End of the Show Show for the whole programme and being teased with little snippets of what is going to happen (Brown et al, 2016:120), it helps the Saturday Night Takeaway to flow seamlessly (Brown et al, 2016:182), as well as building up the viewers excitement. At the End of Trending, we planned to have a finale, which is where two contestants perform a Trend together, this could be a dance, a song, a performance, or even play a trending game. After seeing how Saturday Night Takeaway manages to build excitement and jeopardy, it influenced Trending to try and follow a similar pattern. Hence after watching this we looked at our running order and decided to add moments where the presenters discuss the finale throughout the show, as well as short VT's where we can see their progress. Adding in these small links to the ending not only allows us to capture the viewers attention (Brown et al, 2016:121) as they will want to see how it goes, but it also allows us to build a running tension and excitement throughout Trending. It also allows us to reinforce more of a structure as there will be small moments where the ending is repeatedly discussed and tense, hence it gives the programme a point to lead up to.

Fig. 6 End of the Show Show

The final part of Saturday Night Takeaway that I am going to be looking at is the presentation and the style. Through the whole programme the style is very over the top and theatrical with all of the screens where visual backgrounds are displayed, as well as the bright coloured lights and the loud narration at the beginning of the show discussing what s coming up. Admittedly this style does work well with Saturday Night Takeaway as it matches the pace show, sometimes I do feel that it can be a little over the top when they use unnecessary props and extravagant sets. Therefore with Trending I would really like to avoid this, we have decided to create quite a minimalist set by using a black cyclorama and then just a few bright props with led lights around them. I feel this will work well as it will make elements of the set really pop and stand out, but it will avoid distracting the viewer from the content, as the style sometimes does in Saturday Night Takeaway.

Fig. 7 Elaborate lighting

Fig. 8 Unnecessary Props

Fig. 9 Style of the show

In conclusion there are multiple ways in which Saturday Night Takeaway has impacted Trending, thus I am very glad that I chose to watch it during the pre production stage, yet there are also elements that I would do differently but that has all been part of the learning experience on knowing what moments would and would not work on our show, as well as how to be critical when viewing a programme.

List of Illustrations:

Fig. 1 Emmerson, S. (2021) Full frame graphic

Fig. 2 Emmerson, S. (2021) Banner at the bottom of the frame

Fig. 3 Emmerson, S. (2021) Countdown graphic

Fig. 4 Emmerson, S. (2021) Meeting the audience

Fig. 5 Emmerson, S. (2021) Intro graphic

Fig. 6 Emmerson, S. (2021) End of the Show Show

Fig. 7 Emmerson, S. (2021) Elaborate lighting

Fig. 8 Emmerson, S. (2021) Unnecessary Props

Fig. 9 Emmerson, S. (2021) Style of the show

Bibliography:

Boyd, A (2008) Broadcast Journalism: Techniques of Radio and Television News. [online] At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1074583 (Accessed on 24.11.2020)

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

Kellison, C. (2008) Producing for TV and a New Media: a Real World Approach Oxford: Focal. At: https://myuca.uca.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/contentWrapper.jsp?course_id=_70230_1&displayName=Reading%20List&href=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Fblti%2FlaunchPlacement%3Fblti_placement_id%3D_300_1%26course_id%3D_70230_1%26mode%3Dview%26wrapped%3Dtrue (Accessed 15/04/2021)

Graham-Holm, N (2012) Fascination: Viewer Friendly TV Journalism. [online] At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/reader.action?docID=858735 (Accessed on 24.11.2020)