Live Television

809 Words2 Pages

Live Television

In the Article The Concept of Live Television: Ontology as Ideology, Jane Feuer presents the idea of liveness in television. Television as an institution identifies all messages emanating from the apparatus as live. However in the technological advances, the meaning of live has greatly changed. Computerized editing equipment has made editing as flexible as most film editing. Much of this new equipment is used for the recording and freezing of "live" sports events that were supposed to be the glory of the medium. Even in terms of the simplest conception, live television is a collage of film, video, and "live" all woven into a complex scheme.

Another point made in her article is the concept of flow as a way of explaining the effect of immediacy the experience of television gives. Television becomes this continuous never ending sequence in which it is impossible to separate texts. This idea of liveness smoothes over text breaks for things such as commercials. This is a fascinating idea because live programs are the most popular, and since this concept makes us not really realize when commercials are going to occur, we end up watching commercials more, creating a large and very tuned-in audience for advertisers. This experience of flow relates with the television-viewing situation because the set is in the home. It is always available, is a part of everyone's daily lives, and one can intercept the flow at any point. Television is designed to be...

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