Following this it quickly puts on the title sequence, which is full of glamorous pictures of the OC and a very catchy theme tune. It is quite a fast and happy song, which is good to keep the audience entertained, as if it was a slow, boring, sad and a long song it could put people off as it would reflect badly on the show and bore the audience. This could be an easy place to lose viewers, but the OC, in my view, manages to keep the flow which will help make viewers watch on. It also gives them time to think about the show ahead.
Now into the actual show and the way it is formed to keep its viewers. The story lines in the OC form an arc. This is a narrative trajectory. It starts at an equilibrium, then a disruption occurs, followed by a resolution, then a denouement, finishing with a closure and a new equilibrium. This is clear to see with a dysfunctional relationship, for example; Marissa and Ryan, then Theresa shows up, then Eddie arrives, a fight between Ryan and Eddie occurs, then Marissa leaves.
That was how the OC is physically set out, which keeps things moving and there are always a few arcs, like the one above, constantly on the move, which keeps the audience on their toes and they have no time to lose interest or get bored. Now into deeper aspects of holding and even gaining attention.
The principals of the arc were talked about, but the end of the arc which is the closure has a very good use to keep the programmes audience from one episode to another. This is something called a delay device and a continually deferring closure. It is when a closure is postponed or affected by something else, just as a new equilibrium is about to be reached another disruption occurs or it could just be hard to reach a new equilibrium. This could roll on for several episodes keeping the audience guessing and excited to find out what happens in the end.
Intertextuality. This is how the music and the visuals work together, they help each other create emotion and the audience can empathise with the characters more easily. Also when a sad bit is occurring and not much is being said, music is usually put there to fill the silence in a suitable way, for example with Anna and Seth at the airport. This helps hold peoples attention with the intense drama and emotions.
All the different storylines are happening at the same time and each scene only lasts about one minute. This is the editing. The show is very fast paced, so as to not lose the audiences attention and not make them want to turn the channel over, opposed to if each scene dragged on for ten minutes or more. Jump-cuts are used a lot which helps speed up the whole movement of the show.
To finish this essay, the main power the OC has to gain and hold an audiences attention is its content. It is full of attractive, glamorous people and not so attractive happenings within the show which provides great excitement. There are many exaggerated relationship problems and new ones forming. Love and hate is constantly being thrown all over the place which is exactly what its aimed at, teen, audience want. There is so much action with so many hormones, people just have to carry on watching.