Ocean

Once a base concept has been conceived it will be time to decide on a format for your media. Show Format refers to how your story, educational process or marketing is presented to an audience. You may choose to have an on-screen host talk to the audience. Perhaps you'll choose to have only narration matched with images. You might choose to shoot with multiple cameras and capture a live event or situation in real-time. All of these options and limitless others will combine to create your Show Format. 

Examples of long standing Show Formats carrying over from the old TV days are:

• Talent shows such as 'American Idol' or 'Dancing With The Stars'
• Variety shows such as 'Late night' or 'Saturday Night Live'
• Sitcoms such as 'Friends' or 'Everybody Loves Raymond'
• Reality shows such as 'Survivor' or 'The Osbournes'
• Dramas such as 'CSI: Miami' or 'Lost'

In most cases, producing a show of the matched quality and durations of the formats listed above is an expensive undertaking and is intended for mass audiences. There is no niche topic or specified audience as the producers of such shows need to have large passive audiences so that the distributors can record (or make up) large viewership numbers to justify the huge advertising dollars they charge their ad partners. 

 

Some newer show formats are based on some old models but are also capable of defining new territory in media.  Some old formats that you might adopt for yourself are:

• Documentary
• Industrial Marketing Video
• Commercial (review or endorsement)
• Infomercial
• Reality

These formats, within the context of Ocean production standards, are considerably more economic to produce but can still contain compelling (ofter more so than Television content) programs, stories or representations of characters or products. The key is in focusing in on specific niche  audiences who personally identify with and care for particular topics or subject matter. 

The following show format is the current favored show format being pursued for the Conscious Build show:

Personalities
*"Professional" narrator/host introduces story line, carries viewers through each show

*Conscious Build people, other designers and laborers, and all people associated with the home build are "sub-characters". None host, but they may appear in any given episode working, talking to each other, talking to host on-site casually, or being interviewed. So the show doesn't rest on any one character from Conscious Build.

Story
*Each show has a story. The stories aren't about Matt, or Conscious Build, or even necessarily Luxury and Architecture. They are about the problems (carbon pollution, scarcity of energy, etc) and the tools and strategies that are used to solve those problems. Matt, Conscious Build, Luxury and Architecture are all communicated during the story, but they are not THE story.

*The story arc of each episode would look something like the following:
1) State an environmental problem
2) Define that problem
3) Identify a possible strategy to solve the problem
4) Define the strategy or tool that will be used
5) Implement strategy
6) Relish in success of solution, give out action items based on what we learned

*At least 2 or 3 problems/solutions will be packaged into one show. Sit-Com model of jumping between story lines to keep topics interesting.