In week 8, all groups had to present their show idea to Ruth and guest lecturers, Heather and Rohan. Our group pitched ‘Tropic like it’s Hot”, a late-night talk show taking inspiration from SNL and island-themed concepts such as Total Drama Island. Before the presentation, our group brainstormed how to incorporate game show tropes into the talk-show format, engaging games/challenges that could easily be done from the main stage, creating a motive and drama for the talent and the show. Alice and I briefly talked about how we plan to use the multi-cam production and how we intend to improve the crew’s communication on the day of production. It was daunting presenting in front of Ruth and the guests as it had been a while since we all had an in-class presentation. However, we were all confident in what we had to pitch to them.
Although there was a mishap with the presentation slides’ order and format, it didn’t derail our momentum. Improvising with what we had, all of us were able to clearly explain each critical aspect of what will be needed for the show. Our main selling point of the presentation was the theme of the show and the purpose of each segment. Staying true to the interview aspect of a talk show, we also meshed together hints of a game show where each segment progresses in either success or failure for the guests. Also, having specific floor plan changes of how each segment will look like; different set presentations for each to make it look unique and not standardised.
Furthermore, Ruth, Heather, and Rohan enjoyed our presentation and found it very engaging. They were appreciative of our ambitious and Max’s well-thought plan on how we’ll utilise the studio space for each segment. However, they did point out that it might be a challenge when changing the sets and camera position on the day of production if every segment needs to look different. We took that feedback into account and thought of simplifying the floor plan changes, which would allow the crew to quickly change if our show got chosen to produce. Apart from that, they enjoyed the comedic value we tried to include in the show and how we plan to have both verbal and physical segments which require guests to compete in entertaining challenges. Moreover, we were happy that they told us that our ideas for the overview of the show were well thought of and how all segments link with each other and have no missing gaps in between.
I immensely enjoyed ‘The Charlie Show’s presentation. Their group was very big on including the tropes of over the top shenanigans seen in soap operas, which made it unique from everyone else. In addition, their mission to combine drama and comedy into the show is appealing as it creates engaging storylines that will unfold throughout the two episodes. Their presentation also briefly discussed the development of the character arc (host and guest) and how the attributes of each character and their relation to each other will affect the show’s narrative.