INPUT / … / … / Production Matters – Blending Styles and Formats in Current Affairs TV

You are making TV, but have no pictures. Or no money. Or no interest from your audience. What to do? Forget all those fancy concepts of purity, tradition and (supposed) good taste. Mix genres – even if offends your ‘serious journalist’ sensibility - and make current affairs more digestible to a wider audience. Without losing your public broadcaster soul. Everyone loves eating. So how about using a gourmet meal to help explain, and even stop wars? There is your new format. And what about the usual dilemma of telling a story for which the camera was not present? Well, borrow from fiction: sets, actors, even animation. You do not have much of a budget? Set up cameras for 72 hours at a local hot spot. You got yourself a new series. When it comes to production techniques in this mixed session, nothing is sacred except the results – good, innovative television.