to tv or not to tv
Posted on | October 6, 2006
Had a great chat with my friend Chris today. He is a talented storyteller using film and video, and seems to be on his way to the top – with a bonafide Agent and a few TV Production companies on his belt. He’s guessing he’ll have to create 10 shows in order to have 1 get picked up. One of the interesting things that came up in our chat is the new frontier for TV.
He spoke impressively of how “reality TV” is not exactly reality. I learned how a reality TV show might take a first pass of a shot using the characters in true reality – but then, in order to enhance the effect they use body-doubles to show a few more passes at different camera angles… for a better story. Some experts have questioned this tactic – but hey, the better show wins. Think about those first few times you watched “Survivor.”
Then he led me down of path of logical thought but brought me to a conclusion I didn’t expect. Its now easy to “picture” how your TV and computer will soon merge. And this makes it simple to imagine how all “shows” will soon be shown on-demand (and perhaps, perfectly measurable in how many viewers are watching). And with this development, in tandem with the DVR/Tivo capabilities now popular, you can imagine how advertising need to change its tune. So this shift may soon drive more of what Chris called “branded entertainment.”
It started with E.T. and his Reese’s Pieces… paid product placement built right into the storyboard and plot. The “Truman Show” may soon become more of a reality. Not just logos on a screen but product in full interaction with the show. Film and TV producers will soon pitch full storylines that may leave open the spaces to include products – from the car to the soda can. Crazy. Further from that, we might lose the distinction between church and state when corporations go further to create specific shows or movies that are centric to their brands… like the BMWfilms push a few years back.
Cool to watch this happen. Imagine what we’ll tell the kids someday: “There used to be a time when there were these things called advertisements that interrupted your favorite show.” Right next to, “There used to be a time when your cell phone was this HUGE device you carried around all the time… and it dropped signal all the time.”
The one thing I forgot to tell Chris? We don’t have a TV.
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