Date of Submission
8-2023
Type of Work
Exegesis and Creative Work
Principal Supervisor
Dr. Toby Wren
Associate Supervisor
Dr. Jodie Taylor
Second Associate Supervisor
Dr. Teresa Rizzo
Keywords
Practice-led; Short form; Textual analysis; Screen Ruptures; Prosumers; Television; Streaming; Bingeing; Style; Interruption; Distruption; Screen Production Research; Social media
Audience
General (G) - suitable for everyone
Abstract
Television content has faced various forms of interruption to the viewing experience since the very beginning with the location of the television set and interruptive nature of advertising breaks. Irani et al. (2010) note that television has always been “a fixed temporal structure” and that the physical location of the television set has always had a place in the home where the opportunities for distraction and disengagement form a part of the viewing experience (p. 621). Similarly, the presence of advertising intermittently interrupting episodes of television programs quickly became a norm, which further characterises television viewing as a disrupted practice. Recently, however, the creation of social media platforms like TikTok and the possibilities of streaming have altered the way younger audiences engage with television narratives and is indicative of a changed economy of attention. Irani et al. argue that “technologies such as set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and on demand services have allowed for considerably more flexibility in these temporal structures” (p. 621). This has not meant that the new generation of television audiences lack attention, but instead that their attention has become divided across platforms. This exegesis investigates the best method for content creators to create concurrent content for the youth of today by incorporating their mobile devices into the overall structure of a television series and encouraging the disruptive nature of their viewing practices. This strategy gives content creators freedom to encourage the distracted viewer and reward them with additional narrative content.
This practice-led research has two components:
1) This exegesis
2) The creative deliverables
The creative component of this exegesis investigates how content creators can change and experiment with the style of television series through short videos designed to engage viewers concurrently to more traditional television viewing practices. Inspired by other television series who have abruptly changed their style momentarily during the series, these short videos are designed to deepen the engagement of a distracted viewer by creating moments of ‘rupture’ where the audience is prompted to engage with the show in an alternative way. The production experiments with different process methods to best distribute these ruptures: specifically, augmented reality, TikTok and split screen editing. This process is detailed to help future content creators create content that is a better fit for the younger audiences of today. Textual analysis has been conducted on the existing case studies that contain stylistic changes as well as on the short video ruptures themselves to make judgements about the effectiveness of the research. Furthermore, each video is informed in pre-production by research on the current state of television and has been evaluated after production through reflective vlogs.
Notes
Aside from this paper, this research includes a creative component. Hospitality is an interactive project created as partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Creative Industries through SAE Institute, Australia [SAE University College].
Screen ruptures videos were created for this masters investigation. Each video was designed with a particular distribution method in mind. Reflective videos were recorded after each video creation, and were designed to help inform the next video creation and consider the method of distribution.
Hospitality Screen Ruptures Video and Reflection
Acknowledgements:
Dr. Lola Montgomery, Stephen Lance, Dr. Anne Chesher.
Recommended Citation
Clark, K. (2023). Screen Ruptures: Disrupted content for the prosumer generation [Masters dissertation, SAE University College]. Creo.
Included in
Higher Education Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Social Media Commons