A TV show opens with the Japanese announcer standing beside a grove of blossoming cherry trees. It almost looks real, but the ground beneath the trees is too regular and flat and the light on the announcer doesn't match the light on the rest of the scene. The announcer stands on his mark and neither shifts his feet nor looks away from his teleprompter. Many of these shows use the blue studio effect instead of building real sets or taking the announcer on location. The only TV "talents" who appear at all comfortable with it are the kids.
Captivated by a nascent plot bunny, I begin to think (not that I haven't been thinking all day in the process of doing DSP homework) about taking this setup to its logical extreme. What if the TV broadcasters artificially generate everything until what we see on TV bears no relationship at all to the world we see around us? The implications would be—
Oh. We already have that. Ugh. Never mind.
169 words | April 3, 2004 09:09 PM | Because I said