Analysis Of The Concept and Content of a Studio Production Relevant To Pitched Idea: THE BIG FAT QUIZ OF THE YEAR

Analysis Of The Concept and Content of a Studio Production Relevant To Pitched Idea:

THE BIG FAT QUIZ OF THE YEAR

The Concept

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year is an original Channel 4 comedy game show. The show began on the 28th December in 2004, the show is still presenting its concept and show to this current time, and the game show has always been hosted by comedian Jimmy Carr and directed by Mick Thomas. On the IMDB website, it describes a part of the concept to be about a 'British television show with a panel in the style of a pub quiz' (Needhan, C. 2008). Which by reading that brief synopsis on the website, makes me wonder that the game show is being inspired by an ordinary pub quiz and showing that element in British culture. To be more specific on the concept of the game show, according to the British Comedy Guide website, it explains on a different explanation, however, still explaining in a brief notice, 'Channel 4 panel show about the year. 25 episodes, 2004 - 2020. Stars Jimmy Carr, Rob Brydon Jonathan Ross, David Mitchell, and others' (Boosey, M. & Brown, A. 2003). From reading that different description of the concept of Big Fat Quiz of the Year, it explains that there are celebrities who participate in the show as contestants, the total episodes and years it has aired, and the focus of the theme of the game show is about the year. This makes me wonder if another theme of the game show, is nostalgia and the nostalgic moments the game show discusses, and from each episode through each year. More of the specifics on the concept of the game show, on the Fandom website, there is a description part on the synopsis of the show, about how its all-round presentation is about. The website announces, 'six questions are asked about two months of the year in turn, with answers scribbled down using electronic pens. The answers are then revealed and scored. Guests come on at various points to liven up the proceedings' (Miller, P. (2021). Reading that fundamental part of the synopsis, it's describing the substance of the show with what the viewers, audiences, and the contestants can expect from the entire duration of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year and what type of genre the game show is, and which is classed in the category as a 'panel' comedy, game show. 

   The Content

1. (Thomas, M. 2020)
The first screenshot regarding the content of the show is of this medium, one-shot of the comedian Jimmy Carr as the host of the game show and this was on the latest special from 2020 of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. Jimmy Carr is always placed right in the center of the stage, as it's his job as the host and being placed in an appropriate position to make eye contact with all of the celebrity contestants, the audiences, and his own specific, individual camera to make his jokes and presenting the questions for the game show. 

2. (Thomas, M. 2020)
This second screenshot of the content of the show is a two-shot wide of the first out of the three teams and two celebrity contests sitting socially distance between each other. Showing some background content, of the famous individuals from around the world, that represented a specific part and event of the year in 2020. For example, there is Donald Trump representing the event of the 2020 United States election, and next to him on the right is the actor John David Washington, who represented a huge big-budget film called Tenet. The colour representing green, to show the two individuals are in a team for the game show. This wide, two-shot represents our two celebrity contestants as their personality, character, and team chemistry between each other. 

3. (Thomas, M. 2020)
The third screenshot of the content of the show is the second team of two famous individuals as the contestants, once again socially distant and representing the colour red, to show the audiences and viewers they are in a different team together. Once again, another background with a few famous individuals who represented moments of the year, for example, at the end of the right is Sacha Baron Cohen returning as his character Borat after fourteen years, and the individual next to David Mitchell who is sitting on the left laughing is the actor Chadwick Boseman who unfortunately passed away and truly created inspiration for many people around the world.

4. (Thomas, M. 2020) 
The fourth screenshot of the content of the show is the third and final team. Representing the colour blue as they are in a team together, socially distant and in the background showing more famous individuals who made history in the year 2020. For example, Joe Biden becoming the new President of the United States and next to him on the right is Kamala Harris who made the history of becoming the very first African American Vice President in the 2020 U.S election. 

5. (Thomas, C. 2020)
In this fifth screenshot, there is a screen picture of Donald Trump and the host will be asking a question relating to Donald Trump, and the celebrity contestants will need to guess what event and moment happened in the relevance of the politician and of course in the year of 2020, that could have caused trending or controversially, in the subject of politics. 

6. (Thomas, C. 2020)
In the content of the sixth screenshot, this is another question for the celebrity contestants to guess. However, the only difference it's in the context of words and not a picture. It's describing a film that was released back in 2020, and it's an opinion statement from an audience member who was very disappointed with the film, and with this question used in the show, it's another trend moment of the year in the context of cinema. 

7. (Thomas, C. 2020)
In this seventh screenshot of the content of the show, this is another question for the celebrity contestants. The difference in this question is the film poster is replaced with the host (Jimmy Carr) face and one of the celebrity contestants' (David Mitchell) face replacing in the film poster as well.  It's in the subject of a 2020 film poster, but with guessing with Jimmy Carr's face on as the challenge for the celebrity contestants. 

8. (Thomas, C. 2018)

This eighth screenshot of the content of the show is from the Big Fat Quiz of the Year back in 2018. This is a photo from the perspective of how the audience members can see and experience the game show. The photo shows an appropriate amount of detail of the production design, the lights, the colours, and small TV screens for the audiences to see for a closer experience, from the different camera operator's perspective. The tone and mood of this photo look very colourful and uplifting to make the audiences feel positive and in a good spirit for their moods of what type of game show they are about to experience. 

9. (Thomas, C. 2016)

In the ninth and final screenshot of the content of the show. This photo is from 2016 special of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, and it's representing a question involving the individuals in this photo and in the costumes of some of the characters of Marvel's comic book characters who are The Avengers. I am guessing, for what the celebrity contestants must also guess for the question and challenge, is that one of these individuals is representing as one of the actual actor's own stuntman from one of the previous Marvel Cinematic films that were released in 2016. This question is on the subject, of comic book characters, successful box office films, and very popular pop culture characters, and in the specifics of the cinema and filmmaking events from the year of 2016. 

The Relevance of the Pitched Idea

With our theme from our pitched idea about film props and guessing what the specific props are from the previous to the current generations, choosing The Big Fat Quiz of the Year as an example for a quiz game show is the vast nostalgia it has as a theme and the colour and lighting elements that The Big Fat Quiz of the Year has as well and by comparing to what our pitch idea would be inspired from Channel 4's original quiz game show. Regarding The Big Fat Quiz of the Year's concept, by already mentioning the nostalgic theme, and being more specific on the theme of nostalgia, is how the game show has strength and research in mentioning and discussing many moments and events, from the many subjects and from the current year that is about to be concluded. Showing our pitched idea from this example is to show that similarity in the research and nostalgia of the film props in the categories. Another aspect is by having a similar host such as Jimmy Carr, nonetheless, we would want an individual host younger and which is a possibility that Jimmy Carr may not be mentioned in the pitch presentation. Having an individual with colossal confidence being on the stage, keeping the audiences in a positive spirit, and presenting the questions and answers with a clear and understandable explanation from the subjects. However, not needing and in focus to have a celebrity host and celebrity contestants, as by believing that would be very difficult and expensive to contact someone who is recognized and known as a celebrity. With regarding the relevance of the content of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, to the pitched idea, I am very inspired by the colour lighting, by already mentioning from figure number eight, it would be interesting and influencing to have similar lighting colours from The Big Fat Quiz of the Year and recreating the same tone and atmosphere for all of the participants to feel and experience the game show. For other technical aspects in the content of the game show, the shots of the contestants and the host would give the pitch idea some stimulation, for how myself and my peer team member would capture those similar shots and by also experimenting the social distance strategies from how The Big Fat Quiz of the Year's crew member done that achievement in the health and safety in the relation of the current global situation. 

Bibliography

1.] Boosey, M. & Brown, A. (2003) The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year. At: //www.comedy.co.uk/tv/big_fat_quiz_of_the_year/ (Accessed 11/02/21)

2.] Needhan, C. (2008) The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year. At://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343024/ (Accessed 11/02/21) 

3.] Miller, P. (2021) The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year. At://britquiz.fandom.com/wiki/The_Big_Fat_Quiz_of_the_Year (Accessed 11/02/21)

4.] Channel 4. (2021) The Big Fat Quiz| The Funniest moments from the big fat quiz of 2020 At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTP8IG-aBx4 (Accessed 11/02/21)

5.] Squires, B. (2020) 'Vulture Lists' In: Every 'Big Fat Quiz, Ranked At: https://www.vulture.com/article/best-big-fat-quiz-of-the-year-ranked.html (Accessed 11/02/21) 

6.] Wales, J. & Sanger, L. (2021) The Big Fat Quiz of the Year At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Fat_Quiz_of_the_Year (Accessed 11/02/21)

7.] Thomas, C. Figure 1 (Accessed 11/02/21) 

8.] Thomas, C. Figure 2 (Accessed 11/02/21)

9.] Thomas, C. Figure 3 (Accessed 11/02/21)

10.] Thomas, C. Figure 4 (Accessed 11/02/21)

11.] Thomas, C. Figure 5 (Accessed 11/02/21) 

12.] Thomas, C. Figure 6 (Accessed 11/02/21)

13.] Thomas, C. Figure 7 (Accessed 11/02/21)

14.] Thomas, C. Figure 8 (Accessed 11/02/21)

15.] Thomas, C. Figure 9 (Accessed 11/02/21)