Content Regulations: an influencing role in the production of Big Brother

Big Brother aired in Australia mainly because of the co-operation of four different companies, Network Ten, Southern Star Endemol, Dreamworld and Global Television. Global television provided equipment, camera crew and the construction of the studio control room (that we see in the opening credits of the show). There are 25 in house cameras, seven of those have ‘hot head’ remote control along with three with infrared capabilities. Audio sound comes from 20 fixed microphones, along with the microphones each housemate carries. The filming runs as follows: the footage is collected, digitalised ready, edited once before being reviewed by producers and the supervising editor and finally the classification officer views the episode. There is a 30 second delay in transmission in case editors missed anything not allowed to be presented within the elected time slot classification. All of the filming is directed from the control room, here the cameras are told to focus on particular individuals, maximising the best image. Each new scene is introduced with subtitles and a voice over from host Gretel Killeen. From reading TV land : Australia's obsession with reality television, The Australian Broadcasting Authority, ABA, as a federal body, determined times that the Big Brother programs, daily show, eviction night, Monday nominations and up-late can be aired. Along with the televised broadcasting, Big Brother is also live streamed on the internet. Dreamworld has now transformed the Big Brother house and compound into an attraction. With a gift shop and photo opportunity on the diary chair, Dreamworld has made a lot of revenue from ticket sales in particular.

Reality Television: Where does Big Brother fit in??

Reality television is an opportunity to show a new way in which people can learn to look at life, by seeing the real life of others interpreted by cameras. While reality television has taken over the commercial networks, the internet, especially the webcam, is reality’s sibling. The thing about reality television is that it isn’t reality at all. In the book, Big brother : reality TV in the twenty-first century, Bignell quoted Gary Carter, producer of the Big Brother franchise arguing “That to qualify as reality television, a program needs to have audience interaction (audience elimination). The unpredictable nature of the viewers makes reality television ‘real’”. Call it unscripted drama or a documentary, reality television is centred on capturing reactions of ‘real’ people in a set situation. The host of the Australian program, Gretel Killeen constantly reminded viewers to vote for the housemates that you love to watch not the house that you wanted to live in. As a post-modern approach to television these styles of programs extend the continuum between fantasy and reality. Programs along these lines always have positive ratings. Big Brother’s perceived authenticity plays an important role in the structure of the show. I know that I always look for moments of truth within the improvised ‘performance’ of Big Brother contestants. Within the compound of Big Brother the social codes of the real are blurred. By blurring the codes of the real Big Brother producers push the concept of two realities. What constitutes the real? Can it be ordinary society entering the mediscape?? I think that it is difficult to differentiate between the blurred concepts of the real due to the sheer magnitude of influence that the media has within society. While reality television is a genre within the television market it is also branded into subcategories within the genre. In reality formats the narrative is hijacked to present situations that would otherwise go by unnoticed. Reality television may influence social changes, or at least public cultural awareness, reality television formats may be produced to subvert and disrupt commercial television. This question is raised through the multimedia corporate production of Big Brother.

Advertising influence in Big Brother

Big Brother, by having the target demographic of 16-25 year olds, is a gold mine for marketing products. In the first season of Big Brother Australia, episodes were structured in a manner so that the maximum number of potential consumers could be achieved. The use of Advertisements and the structure of the first season is documented in the book, Big bother : why did that reality-TV show become such a phenomenon? Advertisements aired during the screening of the first season include, the X-Files (another Network Ten program), Joe Dirt (an upcoming film), McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Small Soldiers (upcoming film), ING with Billy Connolly, Dreamworld (location of the Big Brother compound) and Dawsons Creek (another Network Ten program). Advertisements, especially the cross promotion within the network, are associated youth products and or programs. It is obvious that if you place an advertisement for a youth orientated product within the screening of a popular television show, product sales will increase as the popularity of the program increases. Other than advertising in Big Brother the show also acts as social discussion. From this Big Brother works in two ways, people socially using the same catch phrases to join social groups and conversations or Big Brother can influence the wider public to revaluate themselves. Big Brother became a ready made conversational topic creating a sense of intimacy between the viewer and contestants.

Network Ten: Clever marketing or a cheap alternative??

Big Brother Australia was created by Network Ten. The program’s content and target demographic make the decision to exhibit the show on channel Ten the perfect choice. Big Brother, the program itself, is aimed at younger people. It is the characters that producers cast that appeal so much to audiences. Bad language, overt sexual behaviour and rebellious nature of characters shown in the program appeal to the target demographic. While some of the antics that housemates get up to may be interpreted as a conflict to social norms, the reality is that it is instead promoting not bad behaviour but stereotyping. The success of the reality format has a potential for global success, as the program’s structure is easily marketable. The Australian adaptation of the program was produced by Southern Star Endemol for Network Ten. After the introduction of Big Brother to the programming of the Network, Southern Star then moved into producing light entertainment programs instead of the traditional in house produced dramas. The production office and the location of Big Brother is on the Gold Coast, at Dreamworld a theme park. Dreamworld not only gains revenue from the live evictions and up-late programs but also through the increased amount of patrons entering the park. The program is structured for money making. The format of audience participation, through voting for eviction, sms updates and live streaming on the internet has converged multiple forms of media. Big Brother places ordinary people on the centre stage in a ‘popularity contest’. Each network now has a ‘personality’. Before the 1990s Network Ten did not gear programs to younger viewers. This changed mostly due to financial reasons and lost ratings. A new tactic used by network Ten CEO Peter Viner was to target a younger audience. The sitcom and light entertainment now consistently hold the largest commercial share of the 16-24 year old demographic, making channel Ten the ideal network for the reality show Big Brother. Within the Network itself, the show’s producers aired the programs straight after Neighbours, to gather the same style of fans. Generally reality programming is cheap to create because there are no script writers as such (although producers formulate situations for specific responses from housemates, characters), no actors fees or costumes. While the Australian version cost 20 million dollars to create, produce and exhibit, the rights for the show itself cost 13 million dollars.

Technology: A refreshing approach to programming??

The significant changes in technology has made possible the creation of new styles of recording and editing material. This technology has transformed our communication technology. Digitalisation and fibre optic technology are paving the way to a convergence between television, telecommunications and computer industries, creating new media industries. Big Brother presents footage like that from a web camera continuing the voyeuristic theme of Big Brother while giving an authentic approach to the episodes. Big Brother is a tailored experience, hosting the digital revolution. The creation of programs, such as Big Brother, are examples of a changing television community, adapting to the new broadcasting media.

Television in the twentieth century has led producers to sophisticate programming styles through the aid of technology. The global context in which reality programs are produced has constructed large media conglomerates becoming international identities. While the creation of this media genre was created in response to economic hardships faced by networks, production techniques are of a non traditional nature. Labour for the storyline is created through scripted situations by the production team, cameras work and production inputs, sets, props and costumes all set the narrative. Production budgets meant that programs are advertiser driven, making new markets open to consumers, such as merchandise. In the 1990s the economic environment affected both free to air and pay television networks. This environment led to a situation where distribution affected production. The rapidly changing costs in network television started independent productions. Network standards and practices departments implemented self censorship as a cost cutting device. Big Brother embraces low production costs and instead of paying for celebrities to be involved with the show they create instant celebrities from the characters on the show.

Whose reality is this??

“Reality television is not the end of civilisation as we know it; it is civilisation as we know it. It is popular culture at its most popular, soap opera came to life.” Germaine Greer.

The commercial success of Big Brother demonstrates significant changes that occurred within commercial entertainment industry. The recognition of those working in the media industry acknowledged that audiences are becoming increasingly knowledgeable (and cynical) about the strategies used in the construction and delivery of various forms of factual entertainment.

The structure of the program itself, runs like a drama. Narration is provided to divide the multiple storyline, usually three per episode. Big Brother’s open narrative and storyline is determined by the housemates, making the construction of reality in the program vital to the flow within the episodes.

The physical separation between the ‘worlds’, Big Brother house and the outside world, makes for a spectacular realisation of the fundamental aspect of the show, it’s a game. There is no reality like it, specifically created situations and characters for ratings and appeal. Within reality television there are three formats programming can take. Programs may include real footage instead of studio based programming, have a structured narrative like a documentary, or function as a game show.

Big Brother is classified as a docu-soap. Within this format, a series, cliff hanging, segmented narrative with multiple narratives, viewers are introduced to character and are pushed to develop relationships to the characters and the program is filmed from one location and this location becomes increasingly familiar to viewers. The docu-soap is created to define reality itself. Drama at any cost approach to programming.

I think the biggest impact that reality television and Big Brother in particular have on society is that it forces audiences to define their own notion of the ‘real’.

The key to reality programming: Big Brother

Big Brother was originally created at the end of the 1990s in Holland. Big Brother used the combined technology of the new digital production system, radio microphones, and cameras with high speed editing features. These production elements are now considered an industry standard.

Big Brother and the development of new technologies, such as broadband internet meant that images can be live streamed and are easily broadcasted over the internet. It is this quickly accessible broadcast market that gives producers an opportunity to meet market demands and create higher amounts of revenue.

The structure of Big Brother filming itself promotes confrontation between housemates. Camera and lights are positioned within the house for creating an ultimate recording location. Although being internationally traded, Big Brother Australia adapted to local culture and showed national stereotypes. It is the inclusion of these styles of characters that evokes the ‘scripted’ cynicism surrounding reality television. Big Brother in effect is a studio based production. Original marketing for the program surrounded the concept of a social experiment that aimed to explore the patterns of interaction and the development of interpersonal relationships between people from different social backgrounds.

The Big Brother house is in a sense a set, created for filming the program. With the placement of both surveillance cameras and microphones, every movement and conversation between housemates is captured. I think that the use of this technology is staging ‘reality’, so the question is then what is reality??

Bignell described Big Brother as a tailored experience has not only helped emerging technology but also relieved the economic pressure on broadcasters, offering a cheap alternative to programming.