TV IS DEAD?

PROGRAMME 1: STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD

ACTIVITIES

Guidance

These activities support a variety of individual, paired and group work and can be chosen and adapted to suit the needs of the students involved.

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Before viewing

Organise students into small groups and ask them to discuss the following:

1. How important is television to you? Why, when, where and how do you watch it?
2. How has television changed in your life time?
3. Are your viewing habits different from adults in your life? If so, in what ways, and why do you think there are differences?
4. Do you think that channels differ from one another? Take the five main terrestrial channels and come up with a brief description of their identity.
5. How do you select what you are going to view? What informs you?
6. To what extent do you watch the bits in between the programmes – the adverts and trailers? Do you enjoy this information and if so, why?
7. Do you think TV is dead? Explain your answer.

Now randomly select a number of programme titles from across the main TV schedule and ask students to decide which channel they are shown on. Discuss their answers and reasoning.

Give students a list of TV personalities and ask them to decide which channel they associate them with and why. For example:

• Jonathan Ross
• Simon Cowell
• Russell Brand
• Carol Smillie
• John Snow
• Sir Alan Sugar
• Gillian McKeith
• Alan Titchmarch
• Ant and Dec
• Gordon Ramsay
• Trinny and Susannah
• Ricky Gervais.

Get them to list the top ten people they associate with television and believe are important to it. Ask them to explain their order.

Programme-related activities

To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows Media Player for PC or Mac, which is free to download from Microsoft:
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/
player/download/download.aspx

The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end, so we have included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.

History

Make two columns. In the first, list the developments that have taken place in the world of television since its inception. In the second column, briefly summarise the impact this development has had on viewers and on viewing habits.

What is the function of a continuity announcer? Describe their role and how it has changed over the years.

Idents

What is the function of the trailer? In what way is the promotion trailer for 'Lost' complex? What features of this trailer prepare the viewer for the actual series? Do you think the trailer is successful?

American drama
Clip: 14:30 – 15:12

• In (narrator): 'For the broadcasters, US dramas seem to be safe bet.'
• Out (Lisa Opie): 'and people can rely on its quality.'

List the television dramas you are aware of having seen over the last couple of years and the channel on which you saw them. Is there a pattern? How many of the dramas are American? Summarise the characteristics you associate with American drama and with British drama. How different are they and what is the appeal of each? Which do you prefer and why?

After viewing

Continuity announcer

In preparation for the task, ask students to spend a little time watching live terrestrial television and to pay particular attention to the continuity announcements. Give each student/group a copy of a recent TV schedule, with a specific programme marked from one of the following channels: BBC1, ITV 1 and Channel 4, choosing different times of the day for each group. Ask them to script the continuity text following the marked programme and the next. Remember they not only have to introduce the next programme but also need to think about the programmes that will follow later on that day and what is coming up on the associated channels. Ask them also to consider what visuals will accompany their voice-over. They need to bear in mind that they have a very limited time, say 50 seconds, and need to pack a lot of information in. Get them to record their voice-overs.