I notice that NBC heavily edits shows like America's Got Talent and Hollywood Game Night. They're reality shows or game shows, yet the producers edit them like crazy. Nothing can happen in real time. Everything's chopped up so it happens much faster.
For instance, we see an act taking with Nick Cannon in the wings, about to go on stage in AGT. But then in an instant, they're already at center stage. Are we too impatient to watch them walk out? The judges talk but they're words are edited down to single sentences. You KNOW Howard Stern doesn't really talk in single sentences. Then he wants to go up and hug a child who just finished his act. But in an instant, he's on stage hugging the child.
Same with Game Night. Jane Lynch calls two celebrities to come up and do a quiz. But in an instant they're standing next to her. You see a celebrity make a joke and the person next to them has their hands on their lap. Then the camera cuts to their reaction but their hands are at their sides. Obviously, the producers just cut out one or two seconds between the two takes.
BTW, there's a three second rule for all takes on AGT. Everytime the camera looks at something, it can only last for one, two or three seconds. That's it. After three seconds, there has to be another take. Even if someone is crying we can't stay with them for more than 3 seconds. Even if a woman is at the bottom of a pool trying to get out of handcuffs and a straight jacket, we can only see her for three seconds at a time, max. Then the camera has to cut to something else.
This is crazy. Real time has to be edited? Real emotion is too boring? Am I too old fashioned to think a good host and a good show doesn't need to be so heavily edited? And are we so easily bored that we can't watch a single take more than three seconds. If they go to four seconds, we'll change the channel?
I even look at today's kids shows and see how much more noisy and frantic and fast they are, even for young viewers. But younsters are not savvy viewers. Today's three-year old is really no different than three-year olds from decades ago, when we thought the slowly moving, gentle Mr. Rogers was just fine. Even cartoons like Bugs Bunny, while sometimes noisy and even violent, weren't as frantic as today's Sponge Bob is. But kids are basically the same. They haven't had time to get sophisticated enough to want faster reality. They're still learning to talk and think at real time.
Are the producers simply doing what they think is cool, what they think we want? Do they really think they'll get more viewers if they keep turning up the speed and the editing, to the point where they even have to edit real time? OK, maybe the old days of a single camera take of Perry Mason talking to a client for several minutes is too long. But do camera takes have to be shortened to a maximum of three seconds?
For instance, we see an act taking with Nick Cannon in the wings, about to go on stage in AGT. But then in an instant, they're already at center stage. Are we too impatient to watch them walk out? The judges talk but they're words are edited down to single sentences. You KNOW Howard Stern doesn't really talk in single sentences. Then he wants to go up and hug a child who just finished his act. But in an instant, he's on stage hugging the child.
Same with Game Night. Jane Lynch calls two celebrities to come up and do a quiz. But in an instant they're standing next to her. You see a celebrity make a joke and the person next to them has their hands on their lap. Then the camera cuts to their reaction but their hands are at their sides. Obviously, the producers just cut out one or two seconds between the two takes.
BTW, there's a three second rule for all takes on AGT. Everytime the camera looks at something, it can only last for one, two or three seconds. That's it. After three seconds, there has to be another take. Even if someone is crying we can't stay with them for more than 3 seconds. Even if a woman is at the bottom of a pool trying to get out of handcuffs and a straight jacket, we can only see her for three seconds at a time, max. Then the camera has to cut to something else.
This is crazy. Real time has to be edited? Real emotion is too boring? Am I too old fashioned to think a good host and a good show doesn't need to be so heavily edited? And are we so easily bored that we can't watch a single take more than three seconds. If they go to four seconds, we'll change the channel?
I even look at today's kids shows and see how much more noisy and frantic and fast they are, even for young viewers. But younsters are not savvy viewers. Today's three-year old is really no different than three-year olds from decades ago, when we thought the slowly moving, gentle Mr. Rogers was just fine. Even cartoons like Bugs Bunny, while sometimes noisy and even violent, weren't as frantic as today's Sponge Bob is. But kids are basically the same. They haven't had time to get sophisticated enough to want faster reality. They're still learning to talk and think at real time.
Are the producers simply doing what they think is cool, what they think we want? Do they really think they'll get more viewers if they keep turning up the speed and the editing, to the point where they even have to edit real time? OK, maybe the old days of a single camera take of Perry Mason talking to a client for several minutes is too long. But do camera takes have to be shortened to a maximum of three seconds?
