Yes, virtual worlds can add credibility to the unscripted TV genre
For many people, “reality TV” is a far cry from reality. An overly fabricated social experiment feels inauthentic. Ironically, having a fully digital, artificial world has the power to elicit more genuine emotional response and honesty than a plywood set house.
To recapture the “reality” part of reality TV, producers need to actively help participants to be their most authentic selves. Many new shows are pushing formats that place greater importance on characters and abilities over confounding variables such as physical appearance. We have been looking for ways to free ourselves from prejudice, but this approach has not yet been fully utilized.
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Artificial world, real people
In order to take this premise of perfect reliability to its fullest potential, it is essential to remove from the real world any obstacles that people may face.
Enter HyperReality, where virtual reality and gaming technology are used in television production. In this new wave of television, the series’ cast are instead immersed in an entirely artificial world.
In “Alter Ego,” singers raced behind avatars. (fox)
Creating a universe means that producers have a complete blank slate of endless possibilities and have complete control over how the series is shaped. There are no limits to how you can explore relationships, challenges and identities in HyperReality. While it may seem counterintuitive to look to fakes to bring out the “real” in people, many studies show that anonymity is not usually exhibited in real-life interactions, both positive and negative. This suggests that it is possible to draw out the personality traits of
Custom-crafted to represent the true essence of the participants and imported into the world of the show using real-time motion capture technology, the digital avatars take the approach of the previous show’s elements of anonymity and dial in Raise it to the maximum. This new layer also allows showrunners and producers to remove formulated barriers and preconceptions from the real world. For better or worse, participants freed from these constraints can be their most vulnerable and most loyal selves.
push the genre forward
Creating a series that takes place in a virtual world and uses digital avatars may feel like a leap into the distant future, but some traditional shows like “The Masked Singer” It uses artificial tricks and tools to obscure reality. Virtual production methodologies have already appeared on the main stages of movies and TV dramas, with LED volumes appearing all over the world. The logical next step is non-scripted content.
Corn in the “Andrew Lloyd Webber Night” episode of “The Masked Singer.” (Michael Becker/Fox).
We can explore this notion by examining the non-scripted subgenre of dating shows. What if instead of the classic picnic on the beach, future partners were instead transported to deep-sea submarines? , to test compatibility.
Placing contestants in such an unfamiliar environment adds to the stakes for both participants and viewers. After stripping away the vanity of physical attraction, will surviving such a stress test ignite a real romance, or will it quench a love story before the two actually meet?
This can be achieved through virtual production techniques such as motion capture, adding simulated environments, and real-time visual effects. All of these enable seamless transitions across challenges and worlds.
Ultimately, there will always be an aspect of reality TV that is facilitated in some way. Producers and studios select casts and facilities. But through these technologies, beyond intervention and post-production storytelling his arcs, new opportunities are emerging that can instead amplify the human experience and express raw emotions. At its core, HyperReality creates the most surreal situations imaginable, but it is through these situations that we discover who we truly are.
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