DOI: 10.12731/wsd-2014-9.3-2 UDC 7.097
TV SHOW DRAMATURGY THROUGH
postmodern principles
Kemarskaya I.N.
Changes in the media environment entail keen interest in TV dramaturgy. Traditional approaches to television as the kind of journalism, social, institutional or mass media phenomenon prevent from deeper research into the creative side of TV content. The existing domestic classifications of TV programs are generally based on their genre and thematic divisions, which does not help to disclose general laws of programmes composition and construction. However, applying postmodern key principles, such as collaging, mosaicism, fragmenting, contextuality and others, allows holistic approach to analyzing TV programmes and their perception by the audience. Postmodern categories used in creating TV programs uncover general principles, tools of audiovisual language and drama techniques in modern television.
Keywords: television; dramaturgic principles; postmodern categories.
О ДРАМАТУРГИИ ТЕЛЕВИЗИОННОГО ЗРЕЛИЩА В КОНТЕКСТЕ КАТЕГОРИЙ ПОСТМОДЕРНА
Кемарская И.Н.
Обострившийся интерес к драматургии экранных зрелищ, в частности, телевидения, вызван изменениями медиасреды. Традиционные подходы к изучению этого «технического искусства» как средства массовой коммуникации социального и/или институционального феномена уже не позволяют анализировать процесс
создания современного креативного телевизионного контента. Устаревший характер существующих отечественных классификаций телепроизведений, основанных на жанрово-тематических делениях, препятствует выявлению общих закономерностей построения программ. Тогда как обращение к ключевым категориям постмодерна применительно к структурным, драматургическим основам телезрелища дает возможность рассматривать экранные произведения в едином потоке, основываясь на особенностях их восприятия зрительской аудиторией. Принципы коллажности, мозаичности, фрагментарности, контекстуальности, а также иные постмодернистские категории, применимые в универсальном приложении к созданию телепрограмм, позволяют выявить целостность и общность приемов использования аудиовизуального языка современного телевидения.
Ключевые слова: телевидение; драматургические принципы; категории постмодерна.
Present-day television is in transition from audiovisual journalism to the form, which has not yet acquired the name, but is associated with the digital epoch of conveying the meaning, postmodern era. 'Satellite TV, video, computer, the Internet, e-mail, mobile communication, CD-ROMs are among the components of postmodernity and electronic civilization. Their range and number is constantly growing and expanding the social memory of the individual, the society and the planet.' [1, 9].
In this paper we are going to look at how postmodernity reveals itself in the dramaturgy of TV programmes. However we should bear in mind that in Russia there are several debatable approaches to the research into TV dramaturgy. Television has a short history and what was in the beginning regarded as its basis proved to be an isolated case or one of its development phases after a short period of time. Initially television was referred to 'small screen' entertainment. Half a century ago V. Sappak wrote: 'You should only know what television is. You can only see it by the number of people glued to their
home screens...'(Italics by the author - I.K.) [2, 1]. However, nowadays the screen's size and position are no longer typical characteristics of TV. The very fact of the screen's presence is now questioned after 'nonscreen' technology like augmented reality technology and digital mapping appeared. The dependence of the TV show on its technical characteristics cannot shed light on the creative side of the audiovisual product. Neither is television referred to visual arts: 'Television cannot be even regarded as image. Television is a visual space' [3, 250].
As for the dramaturgical side of TV products nowadays the researchers mention the uniformity of 'creative techniques used in the plots despite the fabula' [4, 1] as a negative trend. They view TV as a simplified version of cinematography and perceive the repeated elements in TV programmes' formats as a simplified creative process, but not as standard dramaturgical forms, which allow creating new content for every issue of the TV programme. V. Sappak, who has successfully anticipated the fundamentals of many TV programmes, stressed the informative function of TV, which 'photographed life' and denied its scripted formats: '.there is nothing worse for the television than a thoroughly rehearsed improvisation, a 'live' speech learnt by heart in advance or laborious naturalness' [5, 2]
In Russia this tendency has revealed itself in the classification of TV content into fiction content (script based) and non-fiction content (documentary, which involves improvisation, has to be truthful and record things going on in front of the camera). Such classification places non-fiction programmes beyond the framework of dramaturgy and hampers the development of their creative aspect. However unlike theorists TV professionals have always ben-efitted from using emotional elements of the composition, techniques to create suspense and other dramaturgic techniques in TV shows: 'Classifications made by TV companies have always varied. They were good for production purposes, but useless for comparative analysis. At present to classify TV programmes we need to take into account the topics, the viewing public, the form, the functions ....' [5, 144-147]. According to the Russian art critic N.M. Zorkaya, 'despite the improvisation, unpredictability and the impromp-
tu any artistic piece or creative work as an integral unit has a solid structure and system'. [6, 7].
Rapid substantial changes in the modern media (including new types of shows - reality shows, sitcoms, multimedia projects, crowdsourcing, etc.) have destroyed the existing classifications of TV content and have as a result created new and more complex classifications of the growing number of TV programmes. Both Russian and foreign researchers note how complex the task of elaborating the uniform system of evaluation criteria for TV products is. 'Because it is common, television is also dismissed as insignificant, unworthy of respect or care. Because it is pervasive it is voracious - television needs material, and it reproduces like an amoeba, constantly dividing and replicating itself to fill the continuing void.' [7, 13]. Attempts to introduce subsystems make classifications too branched, so they lose system and structure. 'Every next attempt of classification created unadopted areas, every categorization multiplied ambiguity and every road sign revealed new perspectives of impassibility' [8].
However, the problem can be partially eliminated if we look at the television as 'a show organized according to the laws of screen dramaturgy' [9] or apply the terms 'show' and 'screen show'. These definitions may include TV programmes, their separate episodes, and partially level the differences in genres and broadcasting platforms. A TV show is 'a simulation of human life right before our eyes' [10, 19]. A simulation presupposes creating certain cliches, according to which the simulated screen reality is organized.
It is important that screenplay templates of TV programmes are different from those used in cinematography, at the theatre or circus.
Audiovisual aspect, the moving images are typical for both TV and cinema. However their perception is different. A film viewer is continuously looking at the screen during the whole film (with very few exceptions). This continuity is taken into account when the film script is created to hold the viewer's attention. The logic of the plot, dramatic turns and uniformity in the film's style grasp the viewer's attention from the very beginning and hold it till the end. TV viewer's manner of watching is intermittent with frequent
switching ('channel surfing') and digressions. Therefore the composition of a TV show takes into account this 'start and stop' character of viewing: 'Nowadays a cinema performance may still involve a deeper penetration into the material, while TV allows moving tangentially to the information and the show turns into an everyday background' [11, 67]. Improvisational and instantaneous character of a TV show requires a different logic enforced on the screen action as compared to cinematography.
The compositional structure makes TV similar to the theatre. Theatre performances are based on plays. The basis of a TV programme is a repeated format. At the theatre the spectator can watch various productions of the same play while TV viewers can watch their favourite TV shows over and over again. However a theatre performance based on a familiar play is unique due to a different production and acting, while every new episode in a TV show is made unique through introducing new content within the same format.
A circus performance is similar to a TV show die to improvisation and 'open' active performance. Amusement shows with an unpredictable result are the most popular with both circus spectators and TV viewers. However while at the circus the dramatic performance is taking place insitu (like in a sports game), on TV the time during the show may be compressed, stretched or fragmented while the viewers are waiting for the outcome.
The key similarities and differences suggest the following characteristics of the TV:
a) unlike a plot-based film a TV show is fragmented into segments, which are to attract the viewer's attention while they are watching the show as a background;
b) every TV programme is based on a repeated format, which in different from other programmes and is filled with new content every time;
c) the 'open-end' action is varied and makes the viewers wait for the outcome.
Let us summarize the abovementioned conclusions in more generalized categories and characteristics of a TV show:
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