#broadcastwriting

[beaupoehlman]

Broadcast Writing Post 12

The New York Times has launched a new, Web-only documentary video series that looks at history in the context of the present.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2418622,00.asp

It's difficult for an up-to-date news outlet like The New York Times to deliver content based on past moments in history. However, the paper might serve fresh audiences with its new online-only documentary series. 

The New York Times proves that timeliness for features isn't as important when on the internet. Physical newspapers and live radio and television newscasts don't often allow for coverage of past events, as news outlets must stay as current as possible to remain financially competitive.

These new documentaries not only shed light on history, but are also written to show certain historical moments within the context of today. The New York Times is presenting history in a new way that seems relatable to our current lives in an approach that will appeal to historians as well as news buffs. 

[beaupoehlman]

Nearly half of viewers say that social editions of episodes that show tweets on-air added to their enjoyment of the show

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/493345-Study_Bravo_Social_Media_Efforts_Expand_Fan_Engagement.php

The type of social media engagement employed by the Bravo network is something we haven't seen too often. On re-runs of particular programs, tweets of viewers created during the episode's original run are displayed for all viewers of the re-run to see.

I'm guessing the organizers of these "social editions" communicate with the producers of the respective shows. If I were a Bravo producer, I would want to figure out how displaying viewers' tweets would not interfere with the show's presentation value. If displayed at an inappropriate time, a tweet could cause a distraction from the focus of a scene. 

I understand the joy in tweeting about a fresh Top Chef episode and hoping it's shown to hundreds of thousands of viewers on a subsequent re-run; on the whole, however, unlike most of the Bravo viewers surveyed, I would not enjoy being distracted by tweets on television programs.

[beaupoehlman]

Broadcast Writing Post 10

CNN is planning an unscripted series about Chicago that will be executive-produced by Robert Redford.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/08/3386925/robert-redford-to-produce-unscripted.html

CNN's upcoming "Chicagoland" series looks to create an interesting documentary by providing storytelling about American big-city life while showing how politics affect citizens' day-to-day lives. To me, its unscripted nature sounds challenging, but this gives the producers plenty of opportunity for changing things on the spot as they set out to create this series. Documentaries playing out in a series rather than a single feature allow for more in-depth exploration on a topic, and because I have a personal love for the city of Chicago, I will seek this show in 2014.

[beaupoehlman]

Broadcast Writing Post 9

In broadcasting classes we've learned that scripts can be incomplete or semi-scripts, where the full vision for a production is fleshed out but not everything is represented on the page. Here, interviews with the actors from Paranormal Activity reveal that scenes from the film were all improvised. Micah, the boyfriend, genuinely held the movie's handheld camera and was responsible for getting a lot of the shaky cam shots himself. I have an appreciation for the actors in this movie because of their ability to adapt these free-form methods.

[beaupoehlman]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/breaking-bad-boss-writing-series-419092

As a fan of AMC's Breaking Bad, I am always curious as to how far in advance the show's writers know what they're going to write. This interview with the show's creator, Vince Gilligan, gives some insight into how much the writers have things planned versus what has actually been written.

"Today we started shooting our fifth episode out of our final eight," Gilligan said on February 6th. He continued, "The finishing touches are being put on the sixth episode," and further with "the seventh episode is being written as I speak."

As 16 episodes, Breaking Bad's final season is its largest ever. The writers made a tactical decision to have a gap in between the first half of the season and the second half, something that was excruciatingly hard to bear for the show's hardcore fans.

Despite the gap, however, it's interesting to note that the scripts for the episodes are still written so closely to when they're actually recorded. The writers had months and months to write the final eight scripts but have only chosen to do so very recently. Is this to keep the script fresh in the heads of the producers and directors? Is there a lot of mental planning that goes into writing the show's scripts before all the ideas are put onto paper? Whatever the case may be, it looks as though productions of Breaking Bad run on a tight schedule that requires lots of creativity in a short amount of time.

[beaupoehlman]

Broadcast Writing Post 7

While our class is on the subject of interviews, I will point out the interviewer Nardwuar. He conducts a lot of interviews with musicians, but his David Cross interview is quite humorous in my opinion.

Nardwuar sets himself apart by doing a lot of digging to find obscure points about his subjects. David Cross picks up on this quickly, saying Nardwuar does "thorough, in-depth, unnecessary research." I've never seen someone do their homework to this level before conducting an interview.

[beaupoehlman]

Broadcast Writing Post 6

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/business/fast-furious-6-focuses-on-its-online-following-for-promotion.html?ref=onlineadvertising&_r=0

The Fast & Furious series isn't the biggest thing to hit the film industry, but online fans on Facebook might fool you into thinking the contrary. Vin Diesel, a lead castmember of the films, has the second largest Facebook fanbase of all actors. And the Fast & Furious fanbase is just as staggering.

The series gained a lot of "likes" after the Superbowl ad for its newest entry. This shows how crossover can occur between different mediums like television and the internet. 

I think the Fast & Furious team are adapting well to their strong online presence by conducting online polls and posting pictures to an official Instagram profile. They know their audience well and specifically cater to them. It's a generous brand of fan service.

[beaupoehlman]

Broadcast Writing Post 5

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/61/fiasco

This segment of This American Life focuses on the topic of fiascos, and opens with a very humorous story about a community play gone from bad to horrible to worse. I love the seamlessness of the story; the storyteller describes a trainwreck to which the listener can't help but paint a vivid mental picture. The piece is accentuated with subtle background music that puts a stylistic cherry on top.