Sebastian Rothwyn
CMT 10: 1601W
Professor Jeffrey Wisotsky
November 10th, 2011
Reality Bites
I am not a fan of reality shows. I never have been and probably never will be. The distinction between reality shows and actual events shown on television is very clear. The reality the producers attempt to showcase an idealized view of their subjects, or rightfully described objects, and the special guest reality show star Malik LeGare has only further supported my opinion of these shows.
It is important that I begin by stating my experience with reality shows in a brief paragraph. Many years ago when I was a creative consultant for professional video gamers, I coached several of these potential reality stars on making their personalities so large that the producers would be forced to use the material that they brought to the character and prevented from augmenting it in a way that would be unfavorable. It worked for a time, until the characters became less diligent and eventually, when they fell into despot, the reality show’s producers took advantage and the entire character was then ruined for all time, in many cases. There are still a few successful instances, but those are the exceptions to the rule.
Malik LeGare showed us episode 116, Act 1, of a reality show which aired about two year prior, called Hot Chicks Date Douche Bags. His ex-girlfriend, Patricia,sent a letter to MTV and I believe the producers felt, from the lack of intellectual prowess displayed in the email, that she would be a good subject for them to manipulate in the reality show.
The premise of the show where the girls are all hot, both intellectually and physically, and the guys were supposed to be akin to feminine care after-use garbage bags, was a concept they stuck to fairly rigorously during the production of the show. The narrator of the show, who was recorded entirely in post-production, would remark on the positive values the hot chick possessed and always the negative values the douche bag possessed.
Malik, who in reality was a student, was simply alluded to as a jobless loser who lacked ambition. Patricia was alluded to as a highly educated and successful lawyer. The show used methods to characterize him as a “Player bag”, which was a play on the douche bag concept.
There was a library outing where she attempted to nourish his mind, but spent most of the time emasculating him. Regardless of the actual events, scenes were carefully chosen to illustrate the point that he had no interest in learning and only in having a fantasy of sex-in-the-library come to fruition. The millions of video gamers in the world were then insulted by the super imposition of an 8-bit animation of his character fighting with books and losing the battle of the library. The worst part about the situation was that they were both portrayed in a negative light because her character played into his sexual fantasies.
Interestingly, Malik was involved in the pre-production process; however a lot changed when the producers wanted a certain outcome. Malik worked with location scouts and found several areas such as the basketball court, for the show. Despite his involvement, the show must go on. Patricia and Malik are shown having dinner at a relatively nice restaurant. The producers manipulated the scene by preventing Malik from actually eating the entire day. They found many creative ways to keep him from actually eating so when the dinner came, he was rather comfortable eating his food in a rush and not considering what he looked like on camera. It was all too late when he realized he was manipulated.
There were other manipulated scenes, such as the sports clothing store where the producers placed a microphone of the sales associate who they expected Malik to flirt with. Although he actually had no intention of doing so, the producers manipulated it so that the sales associated was open to exchanging numbers then she would light-heartedly chastise him for doing so because he had a girlfriend. Also, when the two friends he came with thought that the camera was off, they began to joke with the sales associate. However, the cameras were rolling and those jokes were cleverly edit together to make him and his friends look completely negative and desperate.
Upon closer analysis of the entire process from pre-production to the airing of the show, Malik did remark that he would do it again because he did learn a lot and a few good things came out of it for his future. Unfortunately he did not make nearly as much money as he should have, for the work he did, and he knew that they would simply have gotten someone else who simply wanted their face on television, to do the show.
During his interview he remarked that a lot of the positive statements and behavior were edited out so the show could only portray him negatively. Since they were broken up for almost a year, it was quite difficult to do some scenes which involved intimacy because the “reality” of the situation differed greatly from the “intention” of the show. Most of the show was done in post-production, such as overlays and narration so it was quite different at the end that he expected.
A lot of the show was shot similar to sitcoms. There were three cameras, lighting crew and the typical amount of staff you would see on a sitcom. Malik was quoted as saying, “If you don’t make a fool of yourself, they will set you up.” It is very much the formula of a sitcom that reality shows employ.
Malik has completed his degree in Media Technology and Filmmaking and gone forward to make several music videos for up and coming artists such as Safe’s “Love is a Gamble”. He works with his cousin, George LeGare, a digital still photographer, and they write, produce and sometimes make cameo appearances in their productions.
CMT 10: 1601W
Professor Jeffrey Wisotsky
November 10th, 2011
Reality Bites
I am not a fan of reality shows. I never have been and probably never will be. The distinction between reality shows and actual events shown on television is very clear. The reality the producers attempt to showcase an idealized view of their subjects, or rightfully described objects, and the special guest reality show star Malik LeGare has only further supported my opinion of these shows.
It is important that I begin by stating my experience with reality shows in a brief paragraph. Many years ago when I was a creative consultant for professional video gamers, I coached several of these potential reality stars on making their personalities so large that the producers would be forced to use the material that they brought to the character and prevented from augmenting it in a way that would be unfavorable. It worked for a time, until the characters became less diligent and eventually, when they fell into despot, the reality show’s producers took advantage and the entire character was then ruined for all time, in many cases. There are still a few successful instances, but those are the exceptions to the rule.
Malik LeGare showed us episode 116, Act 1, of a reality show which aired about two year prior, called Hot Chicks Date Douche Bags. His ex-girlfriend, Patricia,sent a letter to MTV and I believe the producers felt, from the lack of intellectual prowess displayed in the email, that she would be a good subject for them to manipulate in the reality show.
The premise of the show where the girls are all hot, both intellectually and physically, and the guys were supposed to be akin to feminine care after-use garbage bags, was a concept they stuck to fairly rigorously during the production of the show. The narrator of the show, who was recorded entirely in post-production, would remark on the positive values the hot chick possessed and always the negative values the douche bag possessed.
Malik, who in reality was a student, was simply alluded to as a jobless loser who lacked ambition. Patricia was alluded to as a highly educated and successful lawyer. The show used methods to characterize him as a “Player bag”, which was a play on the douche bag concept.
There was a library outing where she attempted to nourish his mind, but spent most of the time emasculating him. Regardless of the actual events, scenes were carefully chosen to illustrate the point that he had no interest in learning and only in having a fantasy of sex-in-the-library come to fruition. The millions of video gamers in the world were then insulted by the super imposition of an 8-bit animation of his character fighting with books and losing the battle of the library. The worst part about the situation was that they were both portrayed in a negative light because her character played into his sexual fantasies.
Interestingly, Malik was involved in the pre-production process; however a lot changed when the producers wanted a certain outcome. Malik worked with location scouts and found several areas such as the basketball court, for the show. Despite his involvement, the show must go on. Patricia and Malik are shown having dinner at a relatively nice restaurant. The producers manipulated the scene by preventing Malik from actually eating the entire day. They found many creative ways to keep him from actually eating so when the dinner came, he was rather comfortable eating his food in a rush and not considering what he looked like on camera. It was all too late when he realized he was manipulated.
There were other manipulated scenes, such as the sports clothing store where the producers placed a microphone of the sales associate who they expected Malik to flirt with. Although he actually had no intention of doing so, the producers manipulated it so that the sales associated was open to exchanging numbers then she would light-heartedly chastise him for doing so because he had a girlfriend. Also, when the two friends he came with thought that the camera was off, they began to joke with the sales associate. However, the cameras were rolling and those jokes were cleverly edit together to make him and his friends look completely negative and desperate.
Upon closer analysis of the entire process from pre-production to the airing of the show, Malik did remark that he would do it again because he did learn a lot and a few good things came out of it for his future. Unfortunately he did not make nearly as much money as he should have, for the work he did, and he knew that they would simply have gotten someone else who simply wanted their face on television, to do the show.
During his interview he remarked that a lot of the positive statements and behavior were edited out so the show could only portray him negatively. Since they were broken up for almost a year, it was quite difficult to do some scenes which involved intimacy because the “reality” of the situation differed greatly from the “intention” of the show. Most of the show was done in post-production, such as overlays and narration so it was quite different at the end that he expected.
A lot of the show was shot similar to sitcoms. There were three cameras, lighting crew and the typical amount of staff you would see on a sitcom. Malik was quoted as saying, “If you don’t make a fool of yourself, they will set you up.” It is very much the formula of a sitcom that reality shows employ.
Malik has completed his degree in Media Technology and Filmmaking and gone forward to make several music videos for up and coming artists such as Safe’s “Love is a Gamble”. He works with his cousin, George LeGare, a digital still photographer, and they write, produce and sometimes make cameo appearances in their productions.
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