This document discusses conventions used in reality television shows that were implemented in a student documentary project. It describes including a disclaimer to verify the factual nature of the content, introducing characters in the opening titles to emulate shows like Geordie Shore, and adding hashtags to encourage audience engagement on social media, as reality TV viewers often discuss shows online. The purpose of these conventions was to make the student documentary feel authentic and connect with its target teenage audience.

1. Showing what was on the
serious last week is a typical
convention of a reality TV show,
such as Essex, as it remind the
audience of what happened to
make them more aware of the
situation now. It also allows
views who haven’t been
watching from the start to feel
more involved and informed.
Having four teenage girls as our actors was
to draw attention to our target audience
as they could relate to the circumstances
and personalities of the girls. When the
audience feel more connected to a
character it encourages them to use
watch. This method is portrayed through
Geordie shore, a reality TV show on MTV.
After doing our research it was evident
that Geordie shore was a large influence
into our final outcome.
Having a disclaimer was to follow the
typically conventions of a reality TV
show as Essex does. This verifies the
factuality of it being real or false. Having
this in made our documentary more
realistic and categorise it in the section
of reality serious which inspirations are
in such as Essex, Chelsea and Geordie.
Introducing the character
during the opening titles was
our way of interpretation
Geordie shore as our
character, as are there’s, are
the main part of the show.
Introducing a new topic into each episode was a convention we wanted to
implement to make our reality TV a twist. Having an educational element to it made
it more formal compared to some of the other reality shows. But this twist came
from the encouragement of Educating Yorkshire, as every episode is either about a
character or a situation that is happening.
Making sure our documentary was up to
date with social norms we didn’t fail to
recognise that the majority of people use #
to attract the audience. # are used to
tweet about the show on the 140
character limited global social network
therefore added it in so the audience
would be able to comment and share their
opinion about the show.
Fly on the wall footage was made for our time filler so we could have a voice
over. Both of these techniques are used in a type on convention. They can
help set the scene and show the location, area and surroundings, helping
the audience create a mental picture, as well as making its more real for
them.