Understanding TV Formats & Types Part- D

Uderstanding Television
Formats Part -D
Notes By : Ashish Richhariya
Course : FTNMP / BMM
Designation : Faculty at Thakur College Of Science &
Commerce
Query : arichhariya30@gmail.com

Television Pilot
 A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed
as a tele-movie) is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the
show to a television network.
 The pilot is meant to be the testing ground to gauge whether a series will be
successful. It is, therefore, a test episode for the intended television series, an early
step in the series development, much like pilot studies serve as precursors to the start
of larger activity.
 In the case of a successful television series, the pilot is commonly the very first
episode that is aired of the particular series under its own name; the episode that gets
the series "off the ground".
 A "backdoor pilot" is an episode of an existing successful series, featuring future tie-in
characters of an up-and-coming television series or film. Its purpose is to introduce the
characters to an audience before the creators decide on whether or not they intend to
pursue a spin-off series with those characters.
 Television networks use pilots to determine whether an entertaining concept can be
successfully realized and whether the expense of additional episodes is justified. A
pilot is best thought of as a prototype of the show that is to follow, because elements
often change from pilot to series.
 Variety estimates that only a little over a quarter of all pilots made for American
television proceed to the series stage.Most pilots are never publicly screened if they
Thakur College Of Science & Commerce,Mumbai

Types of pilots
 Standard pilot
 Presentation pilot
 Demo Pilot
 Backdoor pilot
 Put Pilot
 Unsold pilot

Sequel
 A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video
game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the
common context of a narrative work of fiction.
 A sequel portrays events set in the same fictional universe as an earlier work,
usually chronologically following the events of that work.
 A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear repeatedly.
Although the difference between more than one sequel and a series is
somewhat arbitrary, it is clear that some media franchises have enough
sequels to become a series, whether originally planned as such or not.
 Sequels are attractive to creators and to publishers because there is less risk
involved in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing
new and untested characters and settings.
 Audiences are sometimes eager for more stories about popular characters or
settings, making the production of sequels financially appealing.

Classifications of sequel
 Direct sequel- The most common approach is for the
events of the second work to directly follow the events of
the first one, either resolving remaining plot threads or
introducing a new conflict to drive the events of the
second story. This is often called a direct sequel.
 A legacy sequel is a work which follows the continuity of
the original work(s), but takes place further along the
timeline, often focusing on new characters with the
original ones still present in the plot.[3][4][5] Legacy sequels
are sometimes also direct sequels that ignore previous
installments entirely, effectively retconning preceding
events.
 An example of this is Halloween (2018) which is a direct
sequel to Halloween (1978).Thakur College Of Science & Commerce,Mumbai

 When a work is set in the same universe, yet has very
little if any narrative connection to its predecessor,
and can stand on its own without a thorough
understanding of the series, the work can be referred
to as a standalone sequel.
 2 Fast 2 Furious, Mad Max: Fury Road, Jumanji:
Welcome to the Jungle, Son of the Mask and Cars
3 are examples of stand-alone movie sequels.
 An installment that is made following the original
product, that portrays events prior those of the original
work is called a prequel.

 Midquel is a term used to refer to works which take place between
events. There are different types of "midquels",such as interquels.
 Interquels are stories that take place in between two preceding
stories and serve as a sequel to one, and a prequel to another
simultaneously.
 For example, if 'movie C' is an interquel of 'movies A' and 'B', the
events of 'movie C' take place after the events of 'movie A', but before
the events of 'movie B'.
 Rogue One of the Star Wars Saga is an "interquel" since it takes place
between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars:
Episode IV – A New Hope.
 Intraquels on the other hand are works which focus on events that
place between the events of a single film. Examples include Beauty
and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas which takes place
during Christmas between the beginning and the end of Beauty and
the Beast, and Bambi II, which takes place during the gap between the
death of Bambi's mother and the character's reappearance as a youngThakur College Of Science & Commerce,Mumbai

Unofficial sequels
 Sometimes sequels are produced without the consent of
the creator of the original work. These may be dubbed
unofficial, informal, unauthorized, or illegitimate sequels.
 In some cases, the work is in the public domain, and
there is no legal obstacle to producing sequels. An
example would be books and films serving as sequels to
the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which is in the
public domain (as opposed to its 1939 film adaptation).
 In other cases, the original creator or their heirs may
assert copyrights, and challenge the creators of the
sequels.Thakur College Of Science & Commerce,Mumbai

Serial
 Serial (radio and television)
 In television and radio programming, a serial has a continuing plot that
unfolds in a sequential episode-by-episode fashion.
 Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or
even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from traditional
episodic television that relies on more stand-alone episodes.
 Serials rely on keeping the full nature of the story hidden and revealing
elements episode by episode to keep viewers tuning in to learn more. Often
these shows employ recapping segments at the beginning and cliffhangers at
the end of each episode.
 The invention of recording devices such as VCRs and DVRs has made
following this type of show easier, which has resulted in increased success
and popularity.
 Serials contrast with episodic television, with plots relying on a more
independent stand-alone format.
 Shorter serial programs known as telenovelas (and earlier, radionovelas),
originating and often produced in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin

 The term "serial" refers to the intrinsic property of a
series – namely its order.
 In literature, the term is used as a noun to refer to a format
(within a genre) by which a story is told in contiguous
(typically chronological) installments in sequential issues of
a single periodical publication.
 More generally, "serial" is applied in library and information
science to materials "in any medium issued under the
same title in a succession of discrete parts, usually
numbered (or dated) and appearing at regular or irregular
intervals with no predetermined conclusionThakur College Of Science & Commerce,Mumbai

Series
 A television show (often simply TV show) is any content
produced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable,
or internet and typically viewed on a television set,
excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are
typically placed between shows.
 Television shows are most often scheduled well ahead of time
and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings.
 A television series is usually released in episodes that follow
a narrative, and are usually divided into seasons (US and
Canada) or series (UK) – yearly or semiannual sets of new
episodes. A show with a limited number of episodes may be
called a miniseries, serial, or limited series.
 A one-time show may be called a "special". A television
film ("made-for-TV movie" or "television movie") is a film that is
initially broadcast on television rather than released in theaters
or direct-to-video.

Series Abroad
 In North American television, a series is a connected set of television program episodes
that run under the same title, possibly spanning many seasons.
 Since the late 1960s, this broadcast programming schedule typically includes between 20
and 26 episodes. Before then, a regular television season could average at least 30
episodes, and some TV series may have had as many as 39 episodes in a season.
 Until the 1980s, most (but certainly not all) new programs for the American broadcast
networks debuted in the "fall season", which ran from September through March and
nominally contained from 24 to 26 episodes.
 These episodes were rebroadcast during the spring (or summer) season, from April
through August. Because of cable television and the Nielsen sweeps, the "fall" season now
normally extends to May. Thus, a "full season" on a broadcast network now usually runs
from September through May for at least 22 episodes.
 A full season is sometimes split into two separate units with a hiatus around the end of the
calendar year, such as the first season of Jericho on CBS. When this split occurs, the last
half of the episodes sometimes are referred to with the letter B as in "The last nine
episodes (of The Sopranos) will be part of what is being called either "Season 6, Part 2" or
"Season 6B", or in "Futurama is splitting its seasons similar to how South Park does, doing
half a season at a time, so this is season 6B for them.“
 Since the 1990s, these shorter seasons also have been referred to as ".5" or half
seasons, where the run of shows between September and December is labeled "Season
X", and the second run between January and May labeled "Season X.5". Examples of this
include the 2004 incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, ABC's FlashForward, and ABC

India - Series
 In India, the shows are particularly referred to as serials,
wherein the production is complex as well. The shows
usually amount to at least 200 episodes, of 20 to 25
minutes each.
 On special episodes, referred to as Maha-Episodes, the
duration last up to about 45 to 50 minutes.
 The show airs till the TRP (television rating point) is a little
less than decent.
 The rating points depend on various criteria. Usually, shows
which fail to attract TRP for a long time are shut down

Short films
 A short film is any motion picture not long enough in running time to be considered
a feature film.
 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an
original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all
credits".
 In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from the
1920s into the 1970s when confined to two 35mm reels or less, and features for a
film of three or four reels.
 "Short" was an abbreviation for either term.
 The increasingly rare industry term "short subject" carries more of an assumption
that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a feature film.
 Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and
made by independent filmmakers with either a low budget or no budget at all.
 They are usually funded by film grants, nonprofit organizations, sponsor, or
personal funds.

T.V. SPECIAL
 A television special (often TV special, or rarely "television spectacular") is a stand-
alone television show which temporarily interrupts episodic programming normally
scheduled for a given time slot.
 Specials have been produced which provide a full range of entertainment and informational
value available via the television medium (news, drama, comedy, variety, cultural), in various
formats (live television, documentary, studio production, animation, film), and in any viewing
lengths (short films, theatrical films, miniseries, telethons).
 The production of early television shows was very expensive, with few guarantees of public
success, and ongoing (weekly) shows typically required a single, major sponsor to operate.
 As the industry matured, this trend reversed; by the 1950s, most networks aimed to provide
stable, routine, and proven content to their audiences.
 Television executives, such as CBS president James Aubrey, sought to avoid any disruption
in viewing habits which might cause viewers to move to another network.
 These weekly series, though, typically became too expensive for any single sponsor, so
stand-alone shows offered a way to continue accommodating the single-sponsor practice,
leading to shows like Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951, sponsored by Hallmark Cards as
part of the Hallmark Television Playhouse) and the Ford 50th Anniversary Show (1953, a
two-hour variety show simulcast on both CBS and NBC).

SPIN OFF
 In media, a spin-off (or spinoff) is a radio program, television
program, video game, film, or any narrative work, derived from already
existing works that focus on more details and different aspects from the
original work (e.g. particular topics, characters or events).
 One of the earliest spin-offs of the modern media era, if not the first,
happened in 1941 when the supporting character Throckmorton P.
Gildersleeve from the old time radio comedy show Fibber McGee and
Molly became the star of his own program The Great
Gildersleeve (1941–1957).
 In genre fiction, the term parallels the usage in television; it is usually
meant to indicate a substantial change in narrative viewpoint and
activity from that (previous) storyline based on the activities of the
series' principal protagonist and so is a shift to that action and
overall narrative thread of some other protagonist, which now becomes
the central or main thread (storyline) of the new sub-series.
 The new protagonist generally appears first as a minor or supporting
character in the main story line within a given milieu, and it is very
common for the previous protagonist to have a supporting or cameo
role, at the least as a historical mention, in the new sub-series. Spin-offsThakur College Of Science & Commerce,Mumbai

Television program types:
 animated:-
 anime
 computer animation (CGI)
 stop-motion
 traditional animation
 live-action
 models
 puppetry

Animation
 Animation is a method in which pictures are manipulated to
appear as moving images.
 In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on
transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited
on film.
 Today, most animations are made with computer-generated
imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D
animation, while 2D computer animation can be used for stylistic
reasons, low bandwidth or faster real-time renderings.
 Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique
to two and three-dimensional objects like paper
cutouts, puppets or clay figures.
 Animation is more pervasive than many people realize. Apart
from short films, feature films, television series, animated GIF's
and other media dedicated to the display of moving images,
animation is also prevalent in video games, motion graphics, user
interfaces and visual effects

LIVE ACTION
 Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead
of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action
animated film.
 Live-action is used to define film, video games or similar visual media.
 Photorealistic animation, particularly modern computer animation, is sometimes
erroneously described as “live-action” as in the case of some media reports about
Disney's 2019 remake of The Lion King.
 According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, live action "[involves] real people or
animals, not models, or images that are drawn, or produced by computer".
 As the normal process of making visual media involves live action, the term itself is
usually superfluous. However, it makes an important distinction in situations in which
one might normally expect animation, such as when the work is adapted from a video
game, or from an animated cartoon, such as Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, 101
Dalmatians films, or The Tick television program.
 The phrase "live action" also occurs within an animation context to refer to non-
animated characters: in a live-action/animated film such as Space Jam, Who Framed
Roger Rabbit, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, or Mary Poppins in which humans and
cartoons co-exist. In this case the "live-action" characters are the "real" actors, such

 2020s
 2020 - Dolittle, - Animated opening sequence
 2020 - Birds of Prey, - Animated opening sequence
 2020 – Sonic the Hedgehog
 2020 – The Call of the Wild
 2020 – The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
 2020 – The One and Only Ivan
 2020 – Clifford the Big Red Dog
 2020 – The Loud House: A Very Loud Christmas (animated opening
sequence)
 2020 – Tom and Jerry
 2021 – Peter Rabbit 2
 2021 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2
 2021 – Space Jam: A New Legacy
 2022 – Minecraft
 2022 – Cut the Rope (Stop-Motion animation)

Understanding TV Formats & Types Part- D

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