Then we see the female and male house-mates arguing about gender discrimination and this argument is first shown in long shot to include everybody at the table then the shots kept changing between medium shots and close-ups but there were no extreme close-ups. I think this was done to show the body language and the expressions of everybody in the conversion even the people who were not participating in the argument. Young people will get the message you don’t even have to talk or contribute to get air-time on television as during the argument a house mate called Tanya got a close-up even though she was not participating in the conversation.
Immediately after that scene the boys were shown discussing about how the girls had seized the supplies from the men and how the morose men were getting nothing. This conversation is shown at a high angle and was done at night time producing a sinister effect, I think this camera angle and lighting are opposites as a high-angle shot shows an object as small or inferior but the dark lighting produces a menacing effect. Individually I think that the two scenes could not have possibly been back-to-back as one scene was at daytime and the other was at night time. I think this will show the young audience that going on television can also be fun and you can show your rebellious side and no one will mind.
Following the two miniature dramas between the males and females, two of the housemates Nush and Jon were seen sitting on the edge of the sofa looking down at documents and arguing about who has had more food. This part was done as a high-angle shot. Although this scene starts off as long shot it goes into medium shot which means we only see the two housemate’s face, then as they argue a close-up takes place on Nush to show her reactions to what Jon is saying. This is an important scene as it shows that you don’t have to keep your opinions to yourselves and you can show your emotions on television like when Nush is getting angry at Jon.
The other Big Brother episode that I watched was Justine’s eviction, at first we see all the contestants sitting around the couch to see who was going to be evicted and while this is happening there is non-diegetic music playing in the background to increase the suspense. This scene was done in a long shot to show all of the surroundings of the housemates. A voice is heard overheard announcing that ‘Justine has been evicted’ and immediately the camera switches to a close-up of Justine clamping her hands over her mouth. I think that this will discourage some young people as they will see the person exploited on television as it not their choice to leave the show but others who like a challenge will be convinced that this is a good opportunity.
After the announcement of Justine’s eviction there is sympathetic non-diegetic music playing in the background and the screen cuts to a montage of clips showing Justine at different stages of the competition. The first one is ironically of Justine entering the Big Brother house and meeting all her new house mates. There are comments in clips such as ‘Justine is really great’ and it is all very touching to see Justine go. There is also a comment by Justine herself saying that she really does not want to leave the Big Brother house. The rest of the clips include Justine having fun in the house and being silly including her getting hit on the nose by a pole. Justine’s elaborate montage ends with a clip of her saying ‘lovely memories’. This episode is a very important as it will discourage some youngsters from going into the Big Brother house to get exploited and have their dreams shattered in front of millions of viewers, but it also gives a sense of hope because the other person nominated to be ejected from the Big Brother house was Jon and he is considered a ‘nerd’ or an ‘outcast’ but he did not get evicted.
The X-factor episode that I watched started off as a trailer of some sort because there was a voice over boldly declaring the names of the judges. As the names are being said, there are shots of the judges in highly expensive transportation means such as a private jet or a Rolls Royce. This display of wealth will immediately pull young people to the show as they all want mansions and flash cars. After this there was a montage of shots associated with the judges and the pictures all turned black and white. This black and white feature also added to the whole 'trailer' set-up because this colour scheme makes the object look grand. The non-diegetic tune playing in the back-ground was vaguely familiar to the 'Gladiator' film where there is heroics and action and a battle. The young people will feel that they should fight the battle to live their dreams and this can be a way to do it.
After the brief introduction of the judges the scene changed to a graphical image of a big X and after that came a heading stating '50,000' and while that was happening a voice over read out the statement and the same happened again when the words 'one dream' came up, also as this was being said there was a high angle shot of countless people with their arms raised as if to grab something. As soon as the voice had finished saying ‘with one dream’ a medium shot of an average young women who says ‘to be on TV and singing’, finishing off the voice over’s sentence. This statement sums up most of the young audience’s dreams. This statement also encourages these youths to follow their dreams as they see that other ordinary people have also tried and they have achieved fame on a well-known reality show.
I also watched the ’10 worst auditions’ which were all put together for the public to see. The editor has used unique selling point to make this episode. They try to use the humour factor in this episode to attract more people to the show. They also know that the public want to see other people failing. The public gets reassurance from the fact that they are not as bad as these other people and that if the most atrocious voices get air time then wouldn’t they? The show also uses the judge’s comments as another source of humour and one of the many unique selling points of the brand such as when Simon says ‘individually you sound horrendous, together they sound even worse’ to appeal to the audience. The younger people watching the show will be pulled towards the idea of an easy fame because the show is making it seem so easy to get air time that all it looks like is that you just walk onto the stage, show the judges what you have to offer and hope for the best.
I think that these types of shows are making it all too easy for people to get air-time or at least that’s what it seems… people are humiliated on the shows and they are told rude comments by some of the participants, although they choose to go to these reality shows. I think that Big Brother and X-factor can be equally insulting to its participants as in Big Brother the evicted person thinks of themselves as un-wanted and un-welcome, as if they are not needed so they were kicked out, whereas X-factor has more obvious insults in undoubtedly form of the comments from the judges ‘Robert I can honestly say that you are the worst singer I have ever heard in my life’. These shows are a big influence on young peoples lives.
