Week One Reflection – “What is Live?”

Live Broadcasting is a tricky term: it usually involves a multi-camera set-up and refers to a type of media that does not have a significant delay, and is not pre-recorded. This has both benefits and downfalls as we discovered in the first session of the class, with things like live radio + live television sometimes going horribly wrong.

We split up into groups within the class and discussed different modes of live television, multi-camera and singular camera screening and some examples of what we thought ‘live’ broadcasting was. We established that live television was shown as it was happening, with no editing involved and the audience consuming it at the same time as the live audience. The authenticity of such program is usually defined by reactions from a live audience or the presenter, the occasional mistake or mishap and is specific to an event (for example, the winter olympics). We also concluded that there was many genres of live: sports, comedy, reality TV, the news and breakfast tv, big events (such as the Royal Wedding) and game shows/music competitions.

All in all, preparing and talking about the studio made me more excited to get started on our assignments and preparing to use the new Media Precinct. I didn’t really know going into Ready, Camera, One if it would be the type of studio for me, but (so far!) I am glad I am giving it a go.