ANALYSIS OF A TELEVISION PROGRAMME:
Love Island
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Production location(s): Sant Llorenç des Cardassar, Spain; Mallorca, Spain; Cape Town, South Africa. The Love Island villa live on ITV2 takes place on the Spanish BalearicIsland of Majorca. While the exact location of the villa remains under wraps, it is situated towards the east of the island, in Sant Llorenc des Cardassar and is about 1 hour and fifteen minutes from Palma airport.
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There is a total of 69 camera's that follow them around in order to ensure that every angle and actions of every contestant is recorded. In the villa, they are cut off from the outside world as there is no communication. There are multiple rooms but the main villa has one bedroom where the contestants sleep. The beach hut is set up as an interview room where the contestants can talk in private or the ''Hideaway room'' which can be used as a reward for the couples who choose to spend the night alone.
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Presenter:
Caroline Louise Flack is an English radio and television presenter. She began her career starring in Bo' Selecta! in 2002 and has presented various ITV2 spin-off shows such as I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Born: 9 November 1979 (age 39 years), Enfield, United Kingdom
Height: 1.63 m
Residence: London, England
Movies: Is Harry on the Boat?
Books: Storm in a C Cup: My Autobiography
Born: 9 November 1979 (age 39 years), Enfield, United Kingdom
Height: 1.63 m
Residence: London, England
Movies: Is Harry on the Boat?
Books: Storm in a C Cup: My Autobiography
Cast:
When it comes to the cast members, they are chosen by the producers of the show and it has to be members of the public rather than any celebrities.
Narrator:
Iain Andrew Stirling is a Scottish comedian, writer and television presenter.
Born: 27 January 1988 (age 31 years), Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Height: 1.88 m
Partner: Laura Whitmore
Books: Not Ready to Adult Yet: A Totally Ill-Informed Guide to Life, Not F*cking Ready To Adult: A Totally Ill-informed Guide to Life
Education: Liberton High School, The University of Edinburgh
Born: 27 January 1988 (age 31 years), Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Height: 1.88 m
Partner: Laura Whitmore
Books: Not Ready to Adult Yet: A Totally Ill-Informed Guide to Life, Not F*cking Ready To Adult: A Totally Ill-informed Guide to Life
Education: Liberton High School, The University of Edinburgh
Format & Narrative
According to Wikipedia,'' Love Island involves a group of contestants, referred to as Islanders, living in isolation from the outside world in a villa in Mallorca, constantly under video surveillance.'' The aim of the game would be for the islanders to form a relationship with another islander. Any islander who is single after cuppeling is eliminated and ''dumped'' from the island. There are many reasons why the islanders can choose to couple up. This could be either due to actual love, friendship or just money since in the end of the show, the winning couple earns £50,000. On day one (episode 1) the islanders are forced to choose their coupling based on first impressions of each other but as the show progresses, they are forced to re-couple. They can choose to either remain with their current couple, swap or change. For television purposes, all the drama from their reactions and heartbreaks are recorded. Depending on public votes, the contestants are eliminated however, sometimes the producers twist this around and get the other islanders to vote for the islander they feel should be eliminated. For advertising and marketing purposes, the public is forced to use the love island app which is available on any hardware such as a phone, tablet or even a computer. On that app they choose their favorite couple or whoever they feel is most compatible. When it reaches the final week, the public has the opportunity to vote for the couple that they most want to win. The winning couple receives £50,000 to take home.
According to Wikipedia,'' Love Island involves a group of contestants, referred to as Islanders, living in isolation from the outside world in a villa in Mallorca, constantly under video surveillance.'' The aim of the game would be for the islanders to form a relationship with another islander. Any islander who is single after cuppeling is eliminated and ''dumped'' from the island. There are many reasons why the islanders can choose to couple up. This could be either due to actual love, friendship or just money since in the end of the show, the winning couple earns £50,000. On day one (episode 1) the islanders are forced to choose their coupling based on first impressions of each other but as the show progresses, they are forced to re-couple. They can choose to either remain with their current couple, swap or change. For television purposes, all the drama from their reactions and heartbreaks are recorded. Depending on public votes, the contestants are eliminated however, sometimes the producers twist this around and get the other islanders to vote for the islander they feel should be eliminated. For advertising and marketing purposes, the public is forced to use the love island app which is available on any hardware such as a phone, tablet or even a computer. On that app they choose their favorite couple or whoever they feel is most compatible. When it reaches the final week, the public has the opportunity to vote for the couple that they most want to win. The winning couple receives £50,000 to take home.
The producers intended outcome
Positive representations:
The intended outcome from the producers was to reach the maximum point of entertainment for the audience. This is why they hired the comedian Iain Andrew to narrate for them. The show itself is very easy to follow and does not require the viewer to engage with full brain power in order to understand whats happening on the show. This makes entertainment one of their main goals of the show which is also a positive representation to the 3.5 million viewers.
The intended outcome from the producers was to reach the maximum point of entertainment for the audience. This is why they hired the comedian Iain Andrew to narrate for them. The show itself is very easy to follow and does not require the viewer to engage with full brain power in order to understand whats happening on the show. This makes entertainment one of their main goals of the show which is also a positive representation to the 3.5 million viewers.
Negative representations:
The producers themselves like all other TV shows had no negative outcomes intended by the producers however, this doesn't stop the audience in gaining a negative representation by the women featured in Love Island. With recent and significant advancements in the body positive movements, images have started to accept body diversity and no longer airbrush strech marks. Love Island however shows only one type of body, the typical bikini body ready body which sends out dangerous messages to their young target audience. The current body ideal is achievable in less than 5% of the population as the average dress size in the UK is a size 16 yet, the 3.5 million viewers of the show, especially the young and vulnerable could begin to think something is wrong with us especially considering the fact that 40.7% of 16 year old girls have some form of disordered eating, 80% are unhappy with their looks and 34% of girls as young as five are restricting their intake just so they could try and aim for this unrealistic beauty standards we see in the media.
The producers themselves like all other TV shows had no negative outcomes intended by the producers however, this doesn't stop the audience in gaining a negative representation by the women featured in Love Island. With recent and significant advancements in the body positive movements, images have started to accept body diversity and no longer airbrush strech marks. Love Island however shows only one type of body, the typical bikini body ready body which sends out dangerous messages to their young target audience. The current body ideal is achievable in less than 5% of the population as the average dress size in the UK is a size 16 yet, the 3.5 million viewers of the show, especially the young and vulnerable could begin to think something is wrong with us especially considering the fact that 40.7% of 16 year old girls have some form of disordered eating, 80% are unhappy with their looks and 34% of girls as young as five are restricting their intake just so they could try and aim for this unrealistic beauty standards we see in the media.
SALES, statistic & DISTRIBUTIONAL METHODS
Gould believes that Love Island became so popular due to the fact that the show isn't exploitive and seems more gentle compared to other reality shows. The way the TV show focuses on the cast members relationship makes it seem both relatable and authentic. Since the cast members had no idea what was going on on the world and not given any information about the production, all they could do was be themselves. What makes this show more appealing would be Iain Stirlings funny commentary of the show which just adds more appeal. ITVs' 4-pronged strategy for love island consists of driving viewing to the live show, supporting commercial ventures, attracting the 16-34 demographic and making sure that people are aware of the holistic world of ITV such ass any apps that are an addition to the TV channel itself. What also drove more people into viewing their show would be the daily exclusive previews they had on their social media account as the crew tried to find things that could live on social but don't actually have place on their show. This just adds excitement to the viewers for that night's episode. ITV also made sure that the show included a lot of those brand partnerships such as Ministry of Sound ( they sponsored a party at the villa and Superdrug suntan lotion and hand cream) their brand seamlessly integrated into the show. To add onto this, there has been a lot of created Love Island merchandise which was made available for the public. Usually, the shirts would be available in the store within the first 48 hours of the show and sell out over the weekend.
As a result, these are Love Islands statistics and demographics are:
- 75 percent of all 16-25 year old in the UK are registered on ITV Hub.
- About 58% of the viewers are female however, considering the fact the majority are young females, this makes the show very valuable to potential advertisers.
- The primary target audience for the show falls into the E and D category.
- 1 million people watch the finale night of series 3 live on a tablet.
- For each of its series, Love Island has doubled the pervious series ratings.
- Sold 110,000 personalized water bottles in 4 weeks. At one point, ITV sold 7,500 thousand of them a night.
- Sold 197,000 slogan t-shirts at Primark.
- Demographic location - “More than a quarter (29%) of viewers live in the north of England. That's followed by the Midlands (22%) and London (16%). It's somewhat less popular in Scotland (8%) and Wales (4%), although the lower percentages there are partially a reflection of of their smaller populations” - BBC News
- 280 million video views across social media
- 5 billion Twitter impressions
- The most Tweet about moment was when Johnny dumped Camila and snogged Tyler, which received 9,000 Tweets per minute as it was airing. That’s more than any moment during Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Links Used:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Island_(2015_TV_series)
https://www.celebsnow.co.uk/latest-celebrity-news/love-island-2015-contestants-couples-now-789493
https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2017/09/love-island-itv-used-social-drive-viewing-sales-hit-series/
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/love-island-a-huge-step-back-for-the-body-positive_uk_5b18e737e4b01889b80760fd?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEGSBiAuu21hzTQ6SqSgu--ZGV1p9D1R8OIXCRFsXXOePyTAUjrCe02GlfIcFWCuK1TdT28cQekwCe6yyJuKBIicRKnVwfZXYlvInLZx6VaOHvtcYD8yPThOZAoBjGLVQB4ODg5k7HWNSgcAInTIRHq34bYgNFDbz0glfq3BLZJd
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/representation-of-female-sexuality-love-island.aspx
https://www.celebsnow.co.uk/latest-celebrity-news/love-island-2015-contestants-couples-now-789493
https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2017/09/love-island-itv-used-social-drive-viewing-sales-hit-series/
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/love-island-a-huge-step-back-for-the-body-positive_uk_5b18e737e4b01889b80760fd?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEGSBiAuu21hzTQ6SqSgu--ZGV1p9D1R8OIXCRFsXXOePyTAUjrCe02GlfIcFWCuK1TdT28cQekwCe6yyJuKBIicRKnVwfZXYlvInLZx6VaOHvtcYD8yPThOZAoBjGLVQB4ODg5k7HWNSgcAInTIRHq34bYgNFDbz0glfq3BLZJd
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/representation-of-female-sexuality-love-island.aspx