Television Mockumentary

Television Mockumentary PDF Author: Craig Hight
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719073175
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mockumentary is now an established part of the spectrum of television styles, with both deep roots in television history and a key part of innovations in the sitcom genre since the 1990s. Tracing the development of mockumentary series within the broader history of traditions of satire, drama, and nonfiction programming, the author uses detailed discussions of popular and innovative television series from Britain, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. This is the first detailed study of the rich vein of mockumentary television programs, covering series such as The Larry Sanders Show, The Daily Show, and the British and American versions of The Office to discuss how producers have experimented with mockumentary as a distinctive approach to storytelling.

Television Mockumentary

Television Mockumentary PDF Author: Craig Hight
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719073175
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mockumentary is now an established part of the spectrum of television styles, with both deep roots in television history and a key part of innovations in the sitcom genre since the 1990s. Tracing the development of mockumentary series within the broader history of traditions of satire, drama, and nonfiction programming, the author uses detailed discussions of popular and innovative television series from Britain, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. This is the first detailed study of the rich vein of mockumentary television programs, covering series such as The Larry Sanders Show, The Daily Show, and the British and American versions of The Office to discuss how producers have experimented with mockumentary as a distinctive approach to storytelling.

Mockumentary Comedy

Mockumentary Comedy PDF Author: Richard Wallace
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331977848X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is the first to take comedy seriously as an important aspect of the popular mockumentary form of film and television fiction. It examines the ways in which mockumentary films and television programmes make visible—through comedy—the performances that underpin straight documentaries and many of our public figures. Mockumentary Comedy focuses on the rock star and the politician, two figures that regularly feature as mockumentary subjects. These public figures are explored through detailed textual analyses of a range of film and television comedies, including A Hard Day’s Night, This is Spinal Tap, The Thick of It, Veep and the works of Christopher Guest and Alison Jackson. This book broadens the scope of existing mockumentary scholarship by taking comedy seriously in a sustained way for the first time. It ultimately argues that the comedic performances—by performers and of documentary conventions—are central to the form’s critical significance and popular appeal.

Science, Entertainment and Television Documentary

Science, Entertainment and Television Documentary PDF Author: Vincent Campbell
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137385383
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Get Book Here

Book Description
The shift from traditional documentary to “factual entertainment” television has been the subject of much debate and criticism, particularly with regard to the representation of science. New types of factual programming that combine documentary techniques with those of entertainment formats (such as drama, game-shows and reality TV) have come in for strident criticism. Often featuring spectacular visual effects produced by Computer Generated Imagery these programmes blur the boundaries between mainstream science and popular beliefs. Through close analysis of programmes across a range of sciences, this book explores these issues to see if criticisms of such hybrid programmes as representing the “rotting carcass of science TV” really are valid. Campbell considers if in fact; when considered in relation to the principles, practices and communication strategies of different sciences; these shows can be seen to offer more complex and rich representations that construct sciences as objects of wonder, awe and the sublime.

Too Bold for the Box Office

Too Bold for the Box Office PDF Author: Cynthia J. Miller
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810885182
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Too Bold for the Box Office, Cynthia J. Miller has assembled essays by scholars and filmmakers who examine the unique cinematic form of mockumentary. Individually, each of these essays looks at a given instance of mockumentary parody and subversion, examining the ways in which each calls into question our assumptions, pleasures, beliefs, and even our senses. Writing about national film, television, and new media traditions as diverse as their backgrounds, this volume's contributors explore and theorize the workings of mockumentaries, as well as the strategies and motivations of the writers and filmmakers who brought them into being.

Documenting the Documentary

Documenting the Documentary PDF Author: Barry Keith Grant
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814339727
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 604

Get Book Here

Book Description
Documenting the Documentary offers clear, serious, and insightful analyses of documentary films, and is a welcome balance between theory and criticism, abstract conceptualization and concrete analysis.

New Documentary Ecologies

New Documentary Ecologies PDF Author: K. Nash
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137310499
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book Here

Book Description
Providing a unique collection of perspectives on the persistence of documentary as a vital and dynamic media form within a digital world, New Documentary Ecologies traces this form through new opportunities of creating media, new platforms of distribution and new ways for audiences to engage with the real.

Too Bold for the Box Office

Too Bold for the Box Office PDF Author: Cynthia J. Miller
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810885190
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
Although considered a relatively new genre, the mockumentary has existed nearly as long as filmmaking itself and has become one of the most common forms of film and television comedy today. In order to better understand the larger cultural truths artfully woven into their deception, these works demonstrate just how tenuous and problematic our collective understandings of our social worlds can be. In Too Bold for the Box Office: The Mockumentary from Big Screen to Small, Cynthia J. Miller has assembled essays by scholars and filmmakers who examine this unique cinematic form. Individually, each of these essays looks at a given instance of mockumentary parody and subversion, examining the ways in which each calls into question our assumptions, pleasures, beliefs, and even our senses. Writing about national film, television, and new media traditions as diverse as their backgrounds, this volume’s contributors explore and theorize the workings of mockumentaries, as well as the strategies and motivations of the writers and filmmakers who brought them into being. Reflections by filmmakers Kevin Brownlow (It Happened Here), Christopher Hansen (The Proper Care and Feeding of An American Messiah), and Spencer Schaffner (The Urban Literacy Manifesto) add valued perspective and significantly deepen the discussions found in the volume’s other contributions. This collection of essays on films, television programming, and new media illustrates common threads running across cultures and eras and attempts to answer sweeping existential questions about the nature of social life and the human condition.

When Women Invented Television

When Women Invented Television PDF Author: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062973339
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Get Book Here

Book Description
New and Noteworthy —New York Times Book Review Must-Read Book of March —Entertainment Weekly Best Books of March —HelloGiggles “Leaps at the throat of television history and takes down the patriarchy with its fervent, inspired prose. When Women Invented Television offers proof that what we watch is a reflection of who we are as a people.” —Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia Jennifer Keishin Armstrong tells the little-known story of four trailblazing women in the early days of television who laid the foundation of the industry we know today. It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women—each an independent visionary— saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch tv today. Irna Phillips turned real-life tragedy into daytime serials featuring female dominated casts. Gertrude Berg turned her radio show into a Jewish family comedy that spawned a play, a musical, an advice column, a line of house dresses, and other products. Hazel Scott, already a renowned musician, was the first African American to host a national evening variety program. Betty White became a daytime talk show fan favorite and one of the first women to produce, write, and star in her own show. Together, their stories chronicle a forgotten chapter in the history of television and popular culture. But as the medium became more popular—and lucrative—in the wake of World War II, the House Un-American Activities Committee arose to threaten entertainers, blacklisting many as communist sympathizers. As politics, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and money collided, the women who invented television found themselves fighting from the margins, as men took control. But these women were true survivors who never gave up—and thus their legacies remain with us in our television-dominated era. It's time we reclaimed their forgotten histories and the work they did to pioneer the medium that now rules our lives. This amazing and heartbreaking history, illustrated with photos, tells it all for the first time.

Documentary for the Small Screen

Documentary for the Small Screen PDF Author: Paul Kriwaczek
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1136044892
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 270

Get Book Here

Book Description
Film and video have grown to be as significant in our time as books, newspapers and magazines. Documentary film-making is fast becoming as important and useful a skill as the ability to write well. Like writing, it can be learned by anyone. Film and video have grown to be as significant in our time as books, newspapers and magazines. Documentary film-making is fast becoming as important and useful a skill as the ability to write well. Like writing, it can be learned by anyone. Documentary for the small screen is both for those who are new to documentary film-making but want to know how to create productions of a professional standard, as well as for those already working in the medium who wish to improve their skills by taking a closer look at the way they carry out their tasks. It is written in a logical, straightforward way, the first half taking the reader through an analysis of what documentary actually is, to constructing it through developing the story and assembling the appropriate building-blocks. In the second part, the pre-production stages of preparing proposals, costings and outlines, and researching the subject are all carefully examined, as are production planning and the shoot, followed by the post-production stages involved in editing and reviewing the completed film. Paul Kriwaczek is an award winning documentary maker who has a wealth of experience to pass on, having worked for many years at BBC Television where he wrote, directed and produced documentary, drama, music and science programmes.

EBOOK: Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices

EBOOK: Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices PDF Author: Thomas Austin
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 0335236278
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 376

Get Book Here

Book Description
From a boom in theatrical features to footage posted on websites such as YouTube and Google Video, the early years of the 21st century have witnessed significant changes in the technological, commercial, aesthetic, political, and social dimensions of documentaries on film, television and the web. In response to these rapid developments, this book rethinks the notion of documentary, in terms of theory, practice and object/s of study. Drawing together 26 original essays from scholars and practitioners, it critically assesses ideas and constructions of documentary and, where necessary, proposes new tools and arguments with which to examine this complex and shifting terrain. Covering a range of media output, the book is divided into four sections: Critical perspectives on documentary forms and concepts The changing faces of documentary production Contemporary documentary: borders, neighbours and disputed territories Digital and online documentaries: opportunities and limitations Rethinking Documentary is valuable reading for scholars and students working in documentary theory and practice, film studies, and media studies.