Editing a 'Reality TV' show

So I am debating whether to accept a long term gig editing a reality TV show.

The main problem is twofold:

1) I have not had a TV for years, so while I am aware of the reality TV genre in general, its not something I am very familiar with. Especially in terms of the conventions, pacing etc. I have experience editing scripted shows, documentaries, short films, webiosdes, music videos etc. But not reality TV.

2) The amount of footage will be immense (the show will follow basic scripted stories, but the characters will wing the details). The turnaround will be pretty quick too.

Does anyone have any experience editing reality TV? I get the feeling FCPX would be perfect for it from a technical point of view, but I am worried that its going to be too much work for just 1 editor.

Also, you know in reality TV they have a lot of audio conventions (like the rising tension audio when someone says something about someone else, cue the rising tension audio, and cut to the shocked reaction of everyone else in the room)? Is there some place to buy a collection of reality TV style soundbites?

Hi Simon

I say go for it. It won't take you long to check out some current reality shows and be brought up to speed. If its out of your comfort zone its only going to help you grow as an editor. I think with you're experience with other type of projects you will adapt pretty quickly. Most of the reality shows out there are scripted to some degree anyways...

I think you'll be able to develop a quick workflow/turn around with FCPX. I edit 50min 4WD travel shows every 3-4 weeks. There's usually 7 cameras ranging from main cameras to in car cameras. I'm the only editor working on this. At first I found it a little overwhelming but adapted to it just fine.

As for audio effects you may want to check out these guys: www.videocopilot.net/products/dsfx/
I use their effects quite a lot.

Cheers

simonpwood wrote: …Does anyone have any experience editing reality TV? ..

Not me, in my 2nd business life a hundred years ago I was a 'professional watcher' of TV, you know, one of those white collar idiots in their expensive business suites, standing behind you in the edit room, " turn her face a 180° so we see her reaction from the other site?" etc etc etc.

socalled Reality TV (real?? pffff :woohoo: ) has, developed over the years, a very rigid structure, I called them Endless Trailer Shows - every 6min you have to announce the next highlight/scandal/'scene'; switching place, pace, protagonists, time of day, OMG-faces, "what is that??", "You don't dare, no, you don't!", "I quit!" etc etc etc ...

So, from a professional p.o.v., RealityTV is incredible boring, as 'format radio'… in the making.

When you realize the structure of the show, it's like filling dropzones - from an editors perspective easy money, but eeeeeendless skimming, "we need a reaction of bitch#2 to that!" <= yep, you get a very misanthropic relation to your 'stars' ....

a) grab the money and run (avoid alcohol et al while doing this job)
or
b) stay with your actual projects, stay happy and poor :blink:

Simon, absolutely: go for it.

If you have read the article about Metronome Productions: that's exactly what they do and they are very happy with FCP X for this kind of work. If you want more detailed information, I think the FCP Expo presentations from IBC will be made public soon. You will find some very interesting workflows in there, some specifically targeted at reality television multi-user post production.

- Ronny

Ok thanks guys.

Looks like this is going ahead, and I will also be filming some of the 'set-piece scenarios' too.

The more I look into it the more interesting the genre seems, from the perspective of an editor at least. As Karsten mentions there is a very rigid structure in place. The endless repetition of the key points is weird too:

The show starts with a complete summary of what you are about to see - minus the most interesting outcomes which are left hanging. We might also get a recap of what happened last week.
Then we see some of the scenes leading up to the main outcome, but cut to commercial after another summary of what is about to happen in part two (minus the the key outcome).
Part two begins with a summary of what we are about to see, PLUS a summary of what happened in Part one!
Part two eventually resolves the key outcome (a let down considering all the build-up), BUT we are left with a cliffhanger.
Show ends with a summary of what happens next week! Ad infinitum, ad nauseum...!

Mostly repetition from what I can see, but clever enough in structure to hook the audience and create all this false tension and build up....over nothing. The fact that the shows keep going is really a credit to all those that make them, because there is some serious skill there to keep the audience watching.

Thanks Gavin; I have checked them out and will probably buy a collection (or two). Any other sources would be appreciated!

Thanks Ronny; I am actually looking forward to this now - something I can really sink my teeth into in terms of the structure. I had not read that article before - its a monster!

I am going to post some links here that I have found useful and might be interesting to anyone else who finds this thread by searching for something similar (feel free to post any other link here too people):

I have tred to order the links from serious at the top to less serious below. The last one is an interesting article on how Trump is currently running probably the greatest reality TV show in history during his run for president!


www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/articles/1687-f...elevision-production

www.postmagazine.com/Publications/Post-M...TING-REALITY-TV.aspx

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ManipulativeEditing

johnaugust.com/2005/organizing-reality

producingunscripted.com

www.cracked.com/blog/5-secrets-making-re...nt-want-you-to-know/

www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedshift/career-co...eveals-t#.uewGB0dA4A

edition.cnn.com/2011/10/27/showbiz/tv/good-reality-tv-berger/

www.rd.com/culture/13-secrets-reality-tv...ucers-wont-tell-you/

www.tvguide.com/news/reality-shows-editing-interview-1032146/

www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/1...lity-show-rules.html

I'm actually doing an editor course on reality tv/observational documentaries. You might consider doing this along side your work. insidetheedit.com/

Hey TPayton, thanks. Do they do an actual module specific to Reality TV conventions?

Hey guys; another quick question.

I have Logic Pro X, which has a pretty big collection of sound effects. Are these royalty free for commercial use on broadcast TV?

Yes, they are.

- Ronny

simonpwood wrote: ..... I am going to post some links ..I have tred to order the links from serious at the top to less serious below. ..

Awesome source of info, thank you very much for sharing, Simon! Just read the article about manipulative editing (any editing is .... ok, that's a different story) - very nice read, in plain words, describing what was 'til then a vague feel in the guts.

My harsh denial of reality tv is based upon a very narrow view of the subject; I was in tv-industry when first episodes of Big Brother appeared on the screen - even a brandnew format, it was terrible to watch!

Funny enough, 25y later, I like to waste time with The Deadliest Catch etc :ohmy: that's RT, right?
Excellence in execution (camera work, if I'm correct won prices), but 'story telling'-wise? cages into water, crabs out of water. End of story .... but I like it, sort of warm fireplace replacement .... LOL

Can not comment the technical aspects of your joboffer, I'm an hoobyist; perhaps to reflect the rigid structure of RT asks for a smart database FCPX? ... But as a daily job..?

btw: you forgot in your structure the protagonist who recaps in his own words what he himself has done a splitsecond before this very interview!'American Chopper' did this ad nauseam!!!

... we should write a 'Dummies Guide for Making RT' .... rotfl.
Or, rippletraining-like "RT in under 5 minutes", todays episode "six easy tricks to expand 1min realtime into a quarter hour broadcasting!"

hillarious ... sorry, I don't mean the makers!!!

Haha, you're right though as a genre the limitations are hilarious! You're correct - I watched a number of RT shows today about people catching Tuna on different boats. After every 'incident' they cut back to the person back on land who recaps the scene we just watched! Its just guys fishing for goodness sake, it hardly needs explanation! The amount of close up shots in that show of a fishing rod reel doing nothing, but with the rising tension music playing....will the fish bite or not.....Yes! It bites!

Karsten Schlüter wrote:

My harsh denial of reality tv is based upon a very narrow view of the subject; I was in tv-industry when first episodes of Big Brother appeared on the screen - even a brandnew format, it was terrible to watch!





Or, rippletraining-like "RT in under 5 minutes", todays episode "six easy tricks to expand 1min realtime into a quarter hour broadcasting!"

I lived in The Hague for a while back in the late 90's when Dutch TV started making a show about people living on a bus, while the bus drives around the country. One day the bus parked on a rooftop car-park that I could see from my apartment window. A big crowd gathered around the bus, and I asked what was going on. Everyone was saying it was this groundbreaking new show. We watched the show shortly afterwards and I figured it would never take off as a format. How wrong I was...


Theres money in that RT course I tell's ya!

There is nothing "real" in reality tv. We prefer to call it "based on reality". Most of the work is done during post-production, against strict deadlines, and that's why the RT post-production process is one of the most demanding there is. Both on the systems that are used, and on the people who are working on the shows. You get to deal with tons and tons of footage, a lot of it pretty useless, and you constantly have to search for those special little moments that will make your story compelling. That's why many RT shows get pre-cut by journalists and story editors before going to final editing. The big shows involve large multi-user workflows with anything between 5 and 20 people working together on a program at the same time. A good reality lead editor can turn any boring crap into compelling television. Very often you have to fake things to make the story more exciting. And you cannot learn how to edit RT if you don't have the feeling for it, because everything changes every single day. Good RT is not only popular, it is also very difficult to make. Fishing programs are far too realistic to be called "reality tv"

- Ronny

simonpwood wrote: Hey TPayton, thanks. Do they do an actual module specific to Reality TV conventions?

Actually the whole course is related to narrative docs and reality tv. This is in the description:

"Inside The Edit has been specifically created for anyone working or wanting to work in the narrative based television found in high end documentaries, entertainment shows and reality TV."

I figured it would never take off as a format. How wrong I was...

John de Mol is, or was ..., an excellent salesman
people living in a bus? = did you mean Kelly Family?? :silly:

ronny courtens wrote: There is nothing "real" in reality tv. … Good RT is not only popular, it is also very difficult to make. Fishing programs are far too realistic to be called "reality tv"

nothing real in reality tv ..... whooo, he said the word, stone him!! :lol:

No doubt, from my favorites list mentioned Deadliest Catch, or those crazy gold diggers (=seen dozens of episodes I don't even remember title of show ... really just fireplace-replacement, LOL) ... from a technical pov executed awesome! drones, gopros anywhere ... great! But content? Drama? I mean real drama? Th crab fishers lost a main character (I assume lung cancer) ... 'theme' for a whole season.

Was The Osbournes/MTV RT?
Ozzy rules!! ... what impressed me most, the show was runninng for 2 years, I learned they have THREE kids! but #3 didn't want to participate .... so much for 'real' (how to you make a 5th housemate vanish!? Exellence in camera and editing.... as said before: technically (fishing story in tons of daily material counts to techniques) a very high standard!

Kelly Osbourne said in an interview, shortly after Meet The Osbournes ended, that they purposefully edited Ozzy himself to be at his absolute worse. He's actually very smart, reads constantly, and only walks hunched over because of very severe back injuries he got from a 4-wheeler accident. He runs and works out a lot, and is in very good shape. I saw the Black Sabbath reunion concert in Las Vegas a year or two ago, and Ozzy was non-stop, all over the stage, very athletic. I was amazed.

So no, there's no "reality" in RT. I have close friends who've worked on a few here locally. All the same story. Either the entire show was scripted and used professional actors, or everything on camera was re-enactments.

There was one about a French Quarter wedding chapel, real business, 100% scripted and acted by professionals. Then there is Swamp People (my wife grew up with some of those guys on the bayous), which they do follow them around all day, but have them re-enact 75% of what you see is re-enactments of what they've already said and done, with direction on how exactly to do it differently, for dramatic effect.

I knew someone who worked for awhile on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Said they'd fuss at each other, then the producer re-wrote that fuzzing into a full blown fight, and have them re-do it on camera like that. So, was that real, scripted, or some sick perverse hybrid?

No, there is NO reality in reality TV. It should be called "TV-TV", imho...

BenB wrote: …
No, there is NO reality in reality TV. It should be called "TV-TV", imho...

known here as 'belly button perspective "the world turns around me, me, me!" :sick:
Creates those 'social media phenomenas', you never heard of, but appear as 'c-grade' stars in some djungle camp. Famous because they are famous ....

"Either the entire show was scripted and used professional actors, or everything on camera was re-enactments. "

Some cable-stations do 'bindge broadcastings, 4,6,10 episodes in one evening of the same show; we play "Find the discontuity"...
Those rer-enactors 'block' their stuff - so, whatever location (crab trawlr, auction in a storehouse, all-girls-appartement) you NEVER see a camera (or boom), allthough, when you follow the edit, you MUST see a 2nd unit ... if it would be recorded 'live'.

Nice game, try your own, diff. name, same rules "Catch the Crew"- every time you see or SHOULD see crew members "Skøl!"

.... impossible this is 'real', ... aka not staged..... :silly:

ronny courtens wrote: There is nothing "real" in reality tv. We prefer to call it "based on reality". Most of the work is done during post-production, against strict deadlines, and that's why the RT post-production process is one of the most demanding there is. Both on the systems that are used, and on the people who are working on the shows. You get to deal with tons and tons of footage, a lot of it pretty useless, and you constantly have to search for those special little moments that will make your story compelling. That's why many RT shows get pre-cut by journalists and story editors before going to final editing. The big shows involve large multi-user workflows with anything between 5 and 20 people working together on a program at the same time. A good reality lead editor can turn any boring crap into compelling television. Very often you have to fake things to make the story more exciting. And you cannot learn how to edit RT if you don't have the feeling for it, because everything changes every single day. Good RT is not only popular, it is also very difficult to make. Fishing programs are far too realistic to be called "reality tv"

- Ronny

Very interesting Ronny; have you been involved with some RT shows?

Yes I don't mean to knock it; after watching a lot of RT recently I can see that there os a hell of a lot of work that goes into it.

Another link here, to do with shooting rather than editing, but interesting nonetheless:

www.danielhaggett.com/blog/182-how-to-sh...vational-documentary