全國高職學生 103 年度專題暨創意製作競賽 專題組 決賽說明書 群別 : 外語群 參賽作品名稱 : A Talent Show Show Yourself Off Nobody to Somebody 關鍵詞 : Talent shows, Contestants, Audience
Abstract Presently, there are a variety of TV programs, and the talent show is absolutely one of the most popular ones. Since nowadays more and more people like to show off themselves, talent shows which provide a stage for the public to perform themselves are flourishing. They also convey a message, As long as you have talents, you can show them in front of the public, and even become a star. Talent shows are just the perfect chances for the ordinary people to realize their dreams. In this project, we tend to study the reasons why talent shows have become so popular in recent years, and even stand a vital place among so many entertaining programs. Besides, we want to know why the talent shows in foreign countries can persist longer than those in Taiwan. Last but not least, the effects the talent shows have on the audience and the contestants are also what we would like to investigate. In order to make our study trustworthy and persuasive, we adopt the means of literature review, phone interview and questionnaires. We hope through our study, we can make people understand the effects of the talent shows on the audience and the contestants. We also want to help the producers of the talent shows in Taiwan make the programs of better quality, and thus strengthen the positive effects. With a fair and better system of the program, Taiwan is sure to provide a platform for people to perform themselves, realize their dreams, and even help them turn themselves from nobody to somebody! Key words: talent shows, contestants, audience i
Table of Contents Abstract... i Table of Contents... ii I. Introduction... 1 I.1. Motivation... 1 I.2. Background... 1 I.3. Research Questions... 2 II. Literature Review... 2 II.1. Definition... 2 II.1.1. The Talent Show... 2 II.2. Origin, History, and Development of The Talent Shows... 2 II.3. Features of the Talent Shows Nowadays... 3 II.3.1. Blind Audition... 3 II.3.2. Coaching System... 3 II.3.3. Special Composition of Judges... 3 II.3.4. Multifarious Performances... 3 III. Methods... 4 III.1. Instruments... 4 III.1.1.The Questionnaire... 4 III.1.2.The Phone Interview... 4 III.2. Participants... 4 III.3. Procedures... 5 IV. Results and Discussion... 5 IV.1. Results of The Questionnaire... 5 IV.2. Results of The Phone Interview... 8 V. Conclusion... 9 VI. References... 11 VII. Appendix... 12 ii
I. Introduction I.1. Motivation People nowadays are more willing to show themselves off. With more and more people becoming successful and even turning themselves into somebody through the talent shows, people start to see attending a talent show as a common access for them to realize their dreams. Talent shows have definitely drawn more and more attention and caused quite a stir around the whole world. In today s modern world, everyone must encounter some challenges in his life, especially when trying to pursue his dreams like us. One may then feel confused, desperate or frustrated at times. Then, it is extremely an essential lesson for one to learn how to confront the challenges and tackle the difficulties, which is just the spirit of the contestants who participate in the talent shows and conquer every challenge they meet. Therefore, we decided to conduct a research on the topic of the talent shows and further investigate the reasons why they become so popular, why the talent shows in foreign countries can persist longer than those in Taiwan, and also what effects talent shows have on the contestants and the audience. As a student in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages, reviewing the foreign literature is also the chance for us to understand the foreign cultures and know the cultural differences. To carry out our research, we applied all the skills we acquired from the vocational high school these three years, including the presentation skills from oral training courses, academic writing skills from writing training courses, skills in searching for information, analyzing the data and teamwork from project learning courses, and literature review skills from reading courses, into practical use. With this research, we hope to encourage people of all ages, young and old, to learn from the contestants spirit of never giving up, persisting in pursuing their dreams and achieving their lifelong goals. I.2. Background With the rapid development of the mass media over the past years, modes of the reality TV programs have changed significantly. A Talent show is one kind of its versions, and has gradually caught the audience s attention. Now, producers all over the world are making more and more talent shows because of its great popularity. The audience are also lured to watch the talent shows due to the sense of the authenticity. Talent shows indeed become a platform for people to show their talents, put their dreams into practice, and finally help them change from nobody to somebody. However, when comparing to the talent shows in Taiwan and those in other 1
foreign countries, we found that the talent shows in foreign countries can last for many years while the talent shows in Taiwan seem to get involved into the circulation of in fashion and out of fashion. After a further comparison, there are indeed some differences between them such as the evaluation system, which may be the possible reasons for the success of the foreign talent shows. Thus, in this study, we would like to investigate Taiwanese s perspectives on talent shows. We hope through this project, people can gain more knowledge about talent shows, help the producers in Taiwan improve the quality of the shows, lengthen their persistency, and provide a really fair stage for people to realize their dreams. I.3. Research Questions To achieve the purposes above, three questions are formulated as followed. 1. Why do talent shows become so popular? 2. Why can the talent shows in foreign countries persist longer than those in Taiwan? 3. What effects do talent shows have both on the contestants and the audience? II. Literature Review In order to obtain the related information about talent shows, we surfed the Internet, and went to the library. We got lots of information and discussed it in the following. II.1. Definition II.1.1. The Talent Show A talent show is a genre of reality TV programs. It mainly offers the ordinary people a platform for them to show off their talents such as singing, dancing, imitation, etc. Usually the outstanding contestants can get the prize or reward. Many talent shows are performances instead of contests (Wikipedia, 2013). However, in this study, the talent shows imply the actual contests, which attract the ordinary people or amateur artists to join the competition, and help them become successful commercial entertainers. II.2. Origin, History, and Development of the Talent Shows The most long-lasting talent show may probably be Eurovision. It started from 1956, and it is still held annually till now (Wikipedia, 2013). The earliest talent show might be Opportunity Knocks. Its radio version was first released in 2
1949, and then its TV version appeared in1956 (Jack Falconer, 2013). Later, one of the well-known talent shows, Britain s Got Talent, adopted most of the evaluation system in Opportunity Knocks, in which the winner was not elected by the professional judges, but by the audience. This kind of evaluation format also becomes one of the main features in the popular talent shows worldwide now. II.3. Features of the Talent Shows In recent years, in order to prolong the existence of the talent shows and attract more audience to watch them, the producers in the talent shows have started to come up with new ideas such as blind audition, coaching system, special composition of judges and the multifarious performance. The former three features are adopted in the program The Voice of China, and the last one, in Britain s Got Talent. The above-mentioned features will be introduced below. II.3.1. Blind Audition Blind Audition refers to a musical audition where a contestant shows off his talent behind the screen or a wall before performing it on the stage. The purpose of this kind of audition is to prevent the judges from making evaluation based on the contestant s appearance (Wikipedia, 2012). II.3.2. Coaching System Coaching System means that all the contestants will be divided into several groups according to the coaches teaching them. The coaches of the team will dedicate themselves to giving the contestants advice, and helping them strengthen their skills in the performance (Wikipedia, 2012). II.3.3. Special Composition of Judges Presently, to make the competition become fairer than it used to be, in some of the talent shows, besides being evaluated by the professional judges, the champions will also be selected by the mass media or the audience. II.3.4. Multifarious Performances In some of the talent shows, the contestants can perform any talents they have such as dancing, magic performance, imitation, aerobatics, etc., which can give ordinary people more chances to turn themselves from nobody to somebody. 3
III. Methods This study aims at examining the popularity of the talent shows, and the effects the talent shows have on both the audience and the contestants. With the purposes, we designed a questionnaire and distributed it to the public. In the questionnaire, most of the questions are close-ended to facilitate the participants responses. Moreover, in order to collect the detailed information about the contestants perspectives on the talent shows, the one-to-one interview was conducted. Both of these two types of data are quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed respectively. III.1. Instruments In order to achieve the purpose of this project, two instruments were designed, including the questionnaire and the phone interview. III.1.1.The Questionnaire The questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first part is the background information about the participants. The second part includes five questions related to our research. III.1.2.The Phone Interview The interviews were given to the contestants who used to attend the talent shows. We asked them about their experiences and feelings concerning their participation in the talent shows. III.2. Participants With regard to the questionnaire, 150 people from the Internet or walking past the Douliu Train Station were recruited randomly to fill out our questionnaire. Their ages range from eleven to forty. We adopted them as subjects because we believed all of them may be the possible group watching talent shows, and they could provide more reliable information. There were 59 males, and 91 females. However, here we didn t subdivide the subjects according to gender. What s more, in this study, the reason why we picked the contestants to participate in the interview was that they could give us more practical information about the talent shows, and shared their experience with us, which might be helpful for our research. Among all of the contestants, thirteen of them were involved in this study. 4
III.3. Procedures To get more reliable information, we first distributed the questionnaire to the randomly-selected pedestrians, and also made phone calls to interview the contestants. Finally, we eliminated the invalid data, and adopted the complete responses, and analyzed the results. IV. Results and Discussion The results of the questionnaire are presented and discussed below. IV.1. Results of The Questionnaire What kind of talent shows do you like most? Multifarious Performances 17% Singing 30% Others 38% Dancing 15% Figure 1. The audience s preference for the types of the talent shows First, with regard to the audience s preference for the types of the talent shows, it is found that the top two types of the talent shows Taiwanese like are the singing and the multifarious performance. Therefore, based on the result, it apparently shows that most Taiwanese prefer the singing talent shows to other types, which is the reason why this type of the talent shows has been on the spotlight mostly. The multifarious performance, in Figure 1, stands the second place, but in Taiwan, at present, there is only one program called Super Copy King, which is similar to this kind of show. Consequently, we strongly advise the producers to make more shows of the multifarious performances to arouse the audience s desire to watch them. 5
Being one of the audience, do you like the evaluation system of the "Blind No 36% Yes 64% Figure 2. The degree of the audience s preference for the evaluation system of the blind audition What s more, as manifested in Figure 2, 64% of the people prefer the evaluation system--- the blind audition. By adopting this system, people consider it a fairer competition. What s more, this evaluation system will let more people who are not confident in their appearances dare to attend the shows, and have more opportunity to win the contest. It can be inferred that most of the people nowadays emphasize one s talents more than one s appearance. Nevertheless, still 36% of the people dislike this kind of evaluation system. In their opinion, it is important for a successful artist to have both talents and good appearance. Have you ever thought about attending the talent shows and becoming a star after watching those shows? No 31% Yes 69% Figure 3. The audience s desire to attend the shows, and become a star According to Figure 3, it showed that 69% of the participants have the motivation to pursue their dreams by seeing the contestants become popular through attending the talent shows. Besides, seeing the contestants become well-known through their participation in the talent shows, the audience will be encouraged, and thus, have the incentive to pursue their dreams. In addition, the audience will think that they can change from nobody into somebody as well, 6
just like the contestants who have become successful. Do you want to have the rights to decide whether the contestants will be eliminated from the competitions? No 43% Yes 57% Figure 4. The degree of the audience s willingness to have the right to decide whether to Furthermore, some other consequences are revealed in Figure 4 and Figure 5. To begin with, in Figure 4, 57% of the participants want to have the right to make an evaluation on the contestants, which can let them have a sense of participation in the voting process. By doing this, the audience can show more concern about the talent shows than they used to be. Also, they can indeed support the contestants they are in favor of. What s more, the results of the competition will be more reliable and objective since the audience come from all parts of Taiwan and all walks of life. It can also attract the audience to keep watching the shows, which helps the shows persist longer. However, the evaluation made by the audience is sometimes considered unprofessional. eliminate the contestants Have you ever been fed up with the talent shows since talnet shows are overwhelming in Taiwan now? NO 26% Yes 74% Figure 5. The percentage of people who feel tired of the talent shows 7
In addition, in Figure 5, it implies that 74% of the subjects start to feel tired of watching talent shows due to the overwhelming occurrence of the talent shows. Because of its growing popularity, more and more producers in Taiwan have made the similar programs--- the talent shows focusing on singing only, and the overexposure of these shows without any creativity begins to get the audience to be fed up with them. In order to solve this problem, it is suggested that the producers do the brainstorming, and make a big innovation so that the programs can be more appealing and persistent. Then, more audience will be attracted to watch the talent shows. IV.2. Results of The Phone Interview In this section, the contestants responses regarding their thoughts and experience of taking part in the talent shows are presented. Some incomplete and irrelevant responses of the contestants are eliminated, and finally only the complete and related answers are kept and discussed. First of all, in the interview, when the contestants were asked about their original intention to attend the shows, most of them said that they hoped to be famous, and eventually become super stars. Also, some of them expressed that they wanted to show themselves off in front of the public to make more people appreciate their talents. Next, the second question related to how the contestants overcame the hardship during their participation in the talent shows was asked. Many of them did once think of giving up for the process was difficult and cruel. Some contestants had difficulty coming up with new ideas to make their performances better. Others were asked to make a big breakthrough. Still others were criticized for lacking confidence, and not having much improvement in their performances. Nonetheless, these contestants still hung on and did whatever they could do to satisfy both the judges and the audience. As for the result of the question 3, it demonstrates the effects that the talent shows had on the contestants. Most of them thought that they gained more knowledge about how to improve their skills in the performance, which helped them make significant progress in the performing arts. Besides, some of them found that they became more confident than they used to be. The contestants answers indicated that talent shows did bring some benefits to the contestants such as enhancing their confidence and strengthening their skills. With regard to the question 4, it shows the contestants opinions on the reasons why talent shows are so popular nowadays. Half of them thought that most of the audience like to see the ordinary people become successful, popular and 8
well-known after attending the show. For the people who have talents, they have the same dream--- hoping to become a celebrity--- just as the contestants some day. Besides, for the audience who are not so talented, but still hope to be successful in some way, watching talent shows also gives them hope, courage and motivation to pursue their own dreams. It is revealed that the participation of the ordinary people in the talent shows shortens the distance between the audience and the contestants, and this kind of talent show is really a possible access for a nobody to become a somebody. From the contestants responses, we knew that talent shows really help some of them achieve their original goals such as being famous or becoming a star. Although they might encounter some obstacles during the competition, they finally overcame them and became more confident than they used to be. What s more, by attending the shows, their performances became better. There s no doubt that the talent shows provide ordinary people with a platform to show off their talents and an access to shape themselves from nobody to somebody. V. Conclusion These years, many countries have faced lots of problems such as the economic regression, the problems of global warming, the high unemployment rate of young men, etc. It seems that people in the whole world can t see their bright future. Then, at this time, the talent shows emerge, and encourage people to dare to dream, and persist in pursuing their dreams. It is apparently seen that talent shows affect some people s lives. Through our survey, we have gained some useful information and the valuable insight into this issue from the perspectives of the contestants and the audience. The ideas manifested below are some significant conclusions drawn from our findings. In terms of the perspectives of the audience, it is found that the type Taiwanese like the most is the talent shows focusing only on singing. Therefore, it can be speculated that this is the reason why the producers in Taiwan make so many programs similar to this type of talent shows. However, when it comes to the fairness of the competition, most of the participants thought that the champion should be selected according to the contestants talents rather than their appearance. It can fully explain that most people support the blind audition, which causes the evaluation system of blind audition to be adopted in some of the talent shows presently. What s more, after watching the talent shows, the majority of the participants have dreamed of attending the talent shows and becoming a star. Lured by the former successful cases, the audience are braver and more willing to show off their talents in front of the public. In this way, it can be inferred that talent 9
shows do provide a stage for the ordinary people to realize their dreams. Nevertheless, as there are so many similar types of talent shows, people begin to be fed up with this kind of program. Therefore, to address this problem, we made some suggestions to the producers of the talent shows in Taiwan, which will be discussed in the later section. What s more, concerning the effects on the contestants, it showed the talent shows do help some of them attain their original goals. Furthermore, after attending the competition, they got some valuable experience and developed some useful skills. Although they might encounter some obstacles in the process, they still overcame them and became better than they used to be. After completing this study, some suggestions were offered to the producers, contestants and audience. For the producers, it is advised that they set up a fair competition format and clear criteria in evaluation, which can lure more people to attend the talent shows. In addition, they should make an innovation or create various types of talent shows. By doing so, it can attract more audience to watch the shows, and give people with different talents more chances to show themselves off in front of the public. As with the contestants, they should be braver to pursue their dreams no matter what difficulties they may run into. What s more, they ought to be more confident and seize the opportunity to show off their talents on the stage. In this way, they can strengthen their skills in the performance, and really become a well-known and professional entertainer. Regarding the audience, they should support the talent shows more. Also, after watching the contestants performances, they can learn from the contestants spirit. Thus, they will be more courageous to realize their own dreams, persist in achieving their goals, and turn themselves from nobody to somebody. Finally, in this study, some of the methodological limitations should be pointed out. For instance, the subjects in the phone interview were only 13 of the contestants, and the participants in the questionnaire were the people chosen randomly from the Internet, and from the pedestrians walking by the Douliu Train Station, which makes the representativity of the subjects and the generalizability of the results under threat. Thus, the findings in this study are not conclusive. Further research is needed. 10
VI. References 1. Chinese Million Star (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/chinese_million_star 2. The Voice of Holland (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_voice_of_holland 3. Eurovision Song Contest (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/eurovision_song_contest 4. Opportunity Knocks (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/opportunity_knocks_(uk_tv_series) 5. Reality Television (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/reality_television#television 6. Talent Show (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 31, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/talent_show 7. Blind Audition (2012). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 28, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blind_audition 8. 銘傳大學新聞系邱瑞惠 顏彙燕 (2012) 熱潮過後歌唱選秀節目的轉型與轉機 取自 http://tavis.tw/files/13-1000-13342.php 9. 李淑寧 ( 譯 )(2010) 夢想可以成真: 蘇珊大嬸的美聲傳奇 臺北市 : 時報出版 10. Montgomery, A. (2010). Susan Boyle: Dreams Can Come True. New York: Penguin Group USA 11. Falconer.J (2013). All-singing, all-dancing-tv talent shows from the UK. CAN NEWSWORL, 55, 112. 11
VII. Appendix Questionnaire Hello. We are students of Department of Applied Foreign Languages at National Douliou Vocational High School. We are doing a research about talent shows. There are two parts in the questionnaire. The first part is your background information. The second part includes five questions in total, and all of them are multiple-choice questions. We need your valuable opinions in order to have more contributive findings. Thank you for your kindly help. Teacher Li Yu-Chi Group Members Chiang Yu-Tzu, Hsu Li-Shin, Liu Yi-Ju, Tsai Yun-Ying, Hsu Yuen-Pin Personal Information 1. Sex: Male Female 2. Age: 11~20 21~30 31~40 Over 41 Relative Questions 1. What kind of talent shows do you like most? Singing Dancing Multifarious performances(combining singing, dancing, and so on) Others 2. Being one of the audience, do you like the evaluation system of the Blind Audition? Yes No 3. Have you ever thought about attending the talent shows and becoming a star after watching those shows? Yes No 4. Do you want to have the rights to decide whether the contestants will be eliminated from the competitions? Yes No 5. Have you ever been fed up with the talent shows since talent shows are overwhelming in Taiwan now? Yes No This is the end of the questionnaire. Thanks for your participation. 12
Phone Interview 1. What was your original intention to attend the talent shows? 2. Have you ever thought of giving up and how did you overcome it? 3. After attending the shows, what effects did it have on you? 4. Why do you think these talent shows are so famous and popular? 13
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