Page 209 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media
P. 209
CHAPTER 7
enhance the look, sound, and mood. In many genres, the production ele-
ments are used to help the audience in its willing suspension of disbelief.
In reality shows, the absence of scriptwriters, actors, and directors leaves
the job of moving the narrative along to the production elements. The
lighting, color, and music set the mood and heighten the reality. The
framing and editing help the audience focus attention to the place that
will help tell the story. In many reality programs, the story is told by
using and repeating three distinctive sections within each show: voyeur,
narration/diary, and establishing transitions. Each of these sections can
be defined both by its purpose and by its production elements. While
each subgenre of reality show uses these elements differently, they are
present in some form in all of them and therefore they become defining
elements of the genre.
Beverly Hacker is an adjunct faculty member at Webster University.
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