A key element to all television programs is the lighting. Traditional television shows that are filmed in studios basically have it easy because they can control exactly how much light goes onto the actors and have much more control over their surroundings. But, there are other shows, often times reality shows which have less control over this sort of thing and must therefore be more creative with the way they use light. Reality shows generally have to use landscape lights orlandscape lighting in order to make sure that things look right. Interestingly, over the past few years or so reality shows have become a large part of television for a few reasons. First of all reality shows work because people can envision themselves in the roles of the stars because they’re typically just normal people. Also, they work for the producers because they don’t have to sign the “actors” to expensive contracts and therefore are very cheap to produce. The following paragraphs will talk about some of the more popular reality shows to hit the airwaves over the past twenty five years or so.
The show that essentially started the reality show trend is a show on MTV called the Real World. The Real World is a show where a group of people live in a house together, which is actually a lot like people’s normal lives. But, the main difference between this show and most people’s lives; is that the people that live in the house are generally psychotic and mental. Also, in the show and unlike real life, the producers of the show pay local bars in whichever city are hosting the show in a particular season to give the housemates free alcohol to induce even more madness.
Another important show in the revolution of sorts in television is Survivor, a show in which people are stranded on a desert island with complete strangers. Then, the people form groups called tribes and vote each other out and see who can become the sole survivor and winner of one million dollars. The big twist in this show comes when the last few people voted out of the show then turn around and get to decide who wins the million dollars by becoming part of the jury and voting for who they think should win.
Lastly, possibly the most famous in the last few years amongst reality shows, is multi time Emmy award winning show The Amazing Race. In the Amazing Race people choose partners and go on a race around the world. At each stop, each pit stop as they refer to it on the show, contestants are required to perform two different tasks. In one task they work in their groups as a team to accomplish the goal as fast as possible. But, for the other task only one person can compete against one member from each other pair. Typically, the contestants have goes to every continent except Antarctica.
Reality shows are becoming increasingly a part of American television and possibly even global TV.
