what makes "good television" ... ?
.
Television is inherently boring.
Have you ever watched a televised conversation between two people sitting talking with each other ?
The camera does not move, you see both faces - could you stay awake ?
Even with good speakers, you have to somehow dampen or block out other sounds - another person talking beside you, street noise, a dog barking, etc.
Otherwise, you miss part of the conversation, and the *meaning* of the conversation can get lost - unless you can "rewind"
In real life, in real time, you can ask a person to repeat what they said, but with television, either you get it or you miss it.
Imagine watching a waterfall on a television screen for an hour - could you stay awake ?
What if, while you are watching the water falling, suddenly a boat appears and glides over the edge into the air and down ...
Now your attention is focused and you are wide awake - the *unexpected* has happened !
That is what gets our (human) attention ... and that is what makes *good television*
Yet even what happens to the boat, and to the people in it, does not hold our attention for long - not "on television"
Soon, you are right back to watching water fall, or watching two people talking ... and soon you are asleep.
Your body was already inactive - only vision and hearing at work, and your conscious mind "shut off" having given up trying to process a constant series of tiny bursts of light which enter the eye three times as fast as the conscious mind can process them.
Boring, so you either sleep, or turn off the set and do something *real*
How often have you heard someone say, "Let's relax and watch TV" ... ?
What is considered by television producers as *good television* is a stream of technical effects which keep our attention.
Camera focuses on a face, switches to another face, pulls back so both faces are seen, then the image shifts to another room, printed words are imposed over the image, then you are "outside" followed by a scene of people who are on their way to see the people in the previous scenes ... and there is a pause for a "word from the sponsor"
Images with no aura, removed from context of time and space, events and persons reduced to the same "essence" as commodities, "action" we can do nothing about because it is not real, not here, not now.
Maddening, stressful, never sure what is coming next - the "unusual" and unexpected teasing us to "stay tuned" - illusion necessary to overcome what is boring by itself, technical tricks are used 10 or 12 times each minute to keep our attention focused on what is presented on the set, and we wonder why our children are hyperactive and have short attention spans ... and why we do not feel "relaxed" and why we are short-tempered when we have to be around other people.
Or do we already know, somewhere deep in our subconscious ... ?
.
Television is inherently boring.
Have you ever watched a televised conversation between two people sitting talking with each other ?
The camera does not move, you see both faces - could you stay awake ?
Even with good speakers, you have to somehow dampen or block out other sounds - another person talking beside you, street noise, a dog barking, etc.
Otherwise, you miss part of the conversation, and the *meaning* of the conversation can get lost - unless you can "rewind"
In real life, in real time, you can ask a person to repeat what they said, but with television, either you get it or you miss it.
Imagine watching a waterfall on a television screen for an hour - could you stay awake ?
What if, while you are watching the water falling, suddenly a boat appears and glides over the edge into the air and down ...
Now your attention is focused and you are wide awake - the *unexpected* has happened !
That is what gets our (human) attention ... and that is what makes *good television*
Yet even what happens to the boat, and to the people in it, does not hold our attention for long - not "on television"
Soon, you are right back to watching water fall, or watching two people talking ... and soon you are asleep.
Your body was already inactive - only vision and hearing at work, and your conscious mind "shut off" having given up trying to process a constant series of tiny bursts of light which enter the eye three times as fast as the conscious mind can process them.
Boring, so you either sleep, or turn off the set and do something *real*
How often have you heard someone say, "Let's relax and watch TV" ... ?
What is considered by television producers as *good television* is a stream of technical effects which keep our attention.
Camera focuses on a face, switches to another face, pulls back so both faces are seen, then the image shifts to another room, printed words are imposed over the image, then you are "outside" followed by a scene of people who are on their way to see the people in the previous scenes ... and there is a pause for a "word from the sponsor"
Images with no aura, removed from context of time and space, events and persons reduced to the same "essence" as commodities, "action" we can do nothing about because it is not real, not here, not now.
Maddening, stressful, never sure what is coming next - the "unusual" and unexpected teasing us to "stay tuned" - illusion necessary to overcome what is boring by itself, technical tricks are used 10 or 12 times each minute to keep our attention focused on what is presented on the set, and we wonder why our children are hyperactive and have short attention spans ... and why we do not feel "relaxed" and why we are short-tempered when we have to be around other people.
Or do we already know, somewhere deep in our subconscious ... ?
.
Labels: camera, relax, speakers, television, waterfall
posted by JamesB at 11:11 PM
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