We
now live in an age where we have 3D, HD, curved, smart televisions that
understand voice and hand commands, and do everything apart from ordering you a
takeaway in time to watch your favourite program. Therefore, it could be
considered that we're in the golden age of televisual viewing. The quality of
picture and sound that the television can emit is exemplary. However, I can't
help but feel that the one thing that lets it down, are the actual programs on
the television.
It
would now be easy for me to then list off the garbage that is actually on the
television. Everyone does that; and I've done it many times before. The Real
Celebrity Chef Apprentices' Made in Essex Factor, or whatever these faux
reality/talent shows are called, come to mind. It would also be easy for me to
berate how tediously repetitive, formulaic and idiotic the shows, their
content, and their viewers, are. How producers plan 'real' lives to be
entertaining viewing. Or how they carefully pick contestants that viewers will
hate, that are unfit for purpose, or one's that will bicker to the end of time.
No,
that isn't where I was going with this. I mean the actual quality and approach
to producing and airing programs.
Let's
take Peaky Blinders as my first example. Fantastic series, and please
consider this as me riding on the bandwagon of everyone saying so. It is
gripping. It is gritty. It has jeopardy. It is has fantastic characters (and a
marvellous bunch of actors), who have interesting back stories, and all hold
integral roles in how the main story plays out. And it has a brilliant
soundtrack of songs that are used to beautifully match the feel of specific
scenes, and the series as a whole. Having only seen the second series, I can
easily say it is one of the best things that have been on the box over the past
five years.
BUT,
they mumble so much. Whoever was in charge of recording the voices, did a
shocking job. I have the TV volume turned right up, and I still have to really
concentrate to understand what they're saying. I would watch with subtitles on
if I didn't think it detracted from the series.
This
is a problem which I'm finding with a lot of television. I have the TV turned
up so I can hear what is being said, and then the adverts start and I have to
quickly fumble for the remote so the volume doesn't perforate my eardrums. Why
does everyone have to mumble? Can they not just turn the sound up on the actual
program? I'm only 22. I feel really sorry for anyone over 80 trying to watch
television.
Let's
take Coronation Street as my second example, but this is an issue which
exists in other programs. Background noise; I bloody hate it. I have a decent
set of speakers plugged into the back of
my TV, and they produce good surround sound. So if a character is watching
television, whilst having a conversation with someone else, all I can hear is
the noise from their TV, and it's highly distracting.
Switch
to another house, and they're doing their washing. It has absolutely nothing to
do with the story, but they have insisted on putting a washing machine noise in
the background. I'm now sat, ears pricked up, wondering what is making that
whirring noise in my flat. I know they're trying to authenticate real life, but
that is perhaps one step too far.
If
you're lucky enough to be watching a drama with no sound issues, then chances
are you can't see what is actually happening. Producers don't understand that a
dark drama doesn't literally mean making the picture dark. Peaky
Blinders is one example, and most drama series set in the Victorian period
or during the war suffer the same. There must be a compromise between
authenticating life before the 100 watt bulbs and being able to actually see.
However,
Sherlock is a good example of being dark. The first series was terrible.
As soon as anything happens at night in Sherlock, I might as well be
watching an audio book. It has no excuse either. London is a brightly-lit city.
I understand all about using the senses to emulate how emotionally dark the
scene might be, but I just wish they would tone it down; well, up, surely…?
And
not that I have actually watched it myself, but from the clips I have seen of
The Missing on BBC 1 seems to have been shot with an Instagram filter.
Everything has that blueish-green tint to it. That isn't how life actually is!
Well, not until they invent contact lenses that will give the normal drudgery
of life that unappealing hue; if they haven't already.
So,
let's assume you've found a program which you can hear and see clearly, free
from anything which actually detracts from the episode. Brilliant. Expect the
chances are, you already know everything that is to happen, and therefore
taking away any possible sense of intrigue or peril. The trailers for programs
are far too revealing, and continuity announcers say too much. I understand the
desire to draw the potential viewer in, and a way of doing that is by briefly
showing the best moments from the upcoming show.
The
biggest recent offender, is the Doctor
Who series finale. During the first episode of the two-parter, there were
lots of very clever and subtle hints towards who the enemy was. 'Ah, I
recognise that design… Where have I seen that before?' is what I could have
been saying if I hadn't been told the week before. At the end of the episode, there was the big
reveal. That would have been a great moment, full of suspense and intrigue, if
only I didn't already know it was the Cybermen. I had worked so hard to avoid
all the season spoilers that existed on the Internet, content with my own
guesses, to have the BBC ruin it for me instead.
Maybe
continuity announcers have to reveal as much as they do, purely so the viewer
can get a gist of what they're missing through inadequate sound and picture?
