None of the television programs mentioned accurately reflect reality. News broadcasts and documentaries contain bias and only show one perspective. Reality crime shows are edited and only show sensational aspects. While reality dramas portray familiar police neighborhoods, they still construct characters and stories through editing. All television mediates and constructs reality through arbitrary decisions in editing and storytelling that shape audience interpretation.

1. REPRESENTATION

4. The purpose of ‘reality’ dramas is to convey the idea of the ‘real’ Police at work in the neighbourhoods with which we are more familiar. Does this make them more ‘real’ than a more obviously constructed product such as Life on Mars or The Bill ? Are the people who appear in this more real because they are actual Police rather than constructed characters – played by actors? Does the programme not create ‘characters’ by positive or negative reinforcement of personalities through the editing?

7. Representation Reality The real world Mediation The process of producing a film text. Representation The text itself. A ‘representation’ of the real world.

9. 1. What is represented? Consider the information the text gives you about subject matter, place and characters. 2. How is it being represented? Consider how the technical elements have suggested this information.

10. 3. Who is responsible for the representation? Consider the producers and the institutions responsible for production. What agenda do the producers have? Why would they want to represent things in a certain way? (Think about target audience, genre, commercial aspect or artistic expression, etc.) 4. What does the audience make of it? Taking all of the above into account what might the audience response be? Don’t forget to consider different types of audience and the different responses.

11. Lily Allen Consider the 4 points on representation above for the 2 different images of Lily Allen.