Show Proposal
For my show, I plan to create a technology centred show thats similar to that of the Gadget Show with a couple of elements of Top Gear to help target towards my intended audience and to keep astray from the already renown Gadget Show (as its potential competition).
Top Gear was/is one of BBC's most successful series, which appeals mainly to men but because of the BBC Charter its also appealing to everyone (its a family show with subtle adult humour). Within the last year, Top Gear saw its 3 presenters leave and go to Amazon Prime TV with a very similar format to that of Top Gear and now Top Gear has presenters. For the sake of this assignment, I will be referring to the older cast of Top Gear (that of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond) as its a better example.
The Gadget show is the same type of show as Top Gear, but with a very different format. Top Gear is a very fun but sides towards higher viewers then younger where as The Gadget Show is a bigger all rounder appealing to all ages equally. Both shows focus on new models of technology, though Top Gear only focuses on cars (hence the name) and The Gadget Show is focuses on gadgets that are trending and regarded as cool, popular or genuinely useful for everyday goers. They also do comparison videos, for example between different brands of phones (i.e. iPhone vs Galaxy vs Lumia) to see what which is the best value for money and the overall best phones (which is judged with a Star system.)
The idea to integrate and make a format that is mixed of Top Gear and Gadget Show that will appeal to the maturer male by using banter, mature humour, guest interviews, reviews, with a mixed cast of presenters with each who specialise in a certain sector of technology.
When reviewing different types of technology it will be completely honest. Their will be no paid bribes to make their product look good, the reviews will be a serious matter (with of course a mixture of humour). This is to ensure the audience can trust our show, so if they are watching and we recommend a phone they know its a good phone and not an advert. This will also help control that of ethical problems. Though, the plan would better work if there is a mixed cast as a mentioned before of both gender, race and age to ensure that no ethical group is ignorantly targeted by a cast member. This is because we want our show to appeal to as many people as possible, and want it to be honest, trust worthy and these aren't achievable goals if a presenter verbally harms a woman or someone of a different age or race.
A great example of a VT is:
This VT is actually from The Gadget Show, and shows their format of how they review products. Though this is a shorter review, they have compacted all key information into a short 4 minute segment. This is the sort of VT that I will be using for my video as I won't have the time to review a product for 30 minutes. The mode of documentary that this VT (and the VT I will make) applies to is the Expository mode. This is because is has a narrator speak over the video telling the audience what the specifications of the product they are reviewing are. This is the main purpose to why I want my VT to be truthful and unbiased because people watching the video will trust it and believe anything the narrator says - which can be a powerful tool. They use this in the above VT and directly address the viewer by simulating a one-sided conversation, stating facts whilst the audience is on the receiving end, acting like a sponge.
Of course, before releasing we would have ensured that its a binds by the contract with our viewer. Seeing as this show is purposed to be a factual show about technology and not aimed towards family entertainment. By contract with viewer, I mean being unbiased by giving facts and statistics that are compared to the technologies rivals, whilst giving an honest opinion to whether it does its purpose to a sufficient level - and if it does, whether its pricing is reasonable for value. This goes with both sound (for example, dialogue) and visuals. At no time in the show, will we misrepresent any gender, race, age, religion, etc.. The show is about technology, and the jokes will stay between the presenters, unlike Top Gear where the jokes have, in many cases, caused controversy. In this respect we are like BBC produced shows. We aren't represented and will not represent anything towards any bias. When elections are on for the next government, we will not in any live show have any indirect remarks towards any party (left or right) that is intended to convert the audience to believe our believes. That market is already saturated to the point people think unbiased shows do not exist, especially with News shows and they way they present their stories. For example, Sky News is seen as a right winged
When planning and eventually making the show, I will abide by certain conventions that each factual show has, including news shows. Though, there is a lot of conventions, there are definitely conventions that are more common then others and can not be ignored. What I mean by this, is if you don't include one of these conventions (one being a presenter) then you would normally have a very specific reason not too (to whether its a creative decision, a better way to do it, or whether it just doesn't fit.) For example, as stated before a Presenter is a very common conventions, they pop up in almost everything to do with TV that isn't a cinematic TV series (i.e. Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Supernatural, etc) and they also pop up in a lot of documentaries (such as Once Upon a Forect (2013)). Though, not every show does this, neither documentaries, its just a very common element thats easily replaced. A narrator is its common replacement, as stated before presenters sometimes don't suit certain documentaries (especially those that are visually driven to be cinematic) so a narrator (someone who does the voice over) is put in instead of a presenter (the difference is you see the presenter, but the narrator you only hear their voice.) For my show, I will be using a Presenter, with narration on the VT (because its going to be visually driven to intrigue viewers) along with other conventions such as motion graphics (i.e. name plates), an introduction to the show (an animation driven introduction containing connotations of the genre) and other things such as calm music for the VT to keep the viewers engaged and give it a professional but serious feel to the VT (which is going to be a contrast to the rest of the show.)
Target Audience:
Age:The age group for my show is young adults around 18-35.
Gender:
With the conventions used, the gender I intend to target is more of a male audience, though taking into account that there is serious aspects with the show
Interests:
Science fiction, Action
Class:
Middle-class
Geographical:
First world, english speaking, middle-upper class (without being snobbish)
Hobbies:
Anything that is related to technology - so a vast appeal from electrical sport accessories to musical speakers
