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BB 2020: A Series of Post-Production Faux Pas

the Theorist

Over-thinker. Over-analyser. Over-complainer.
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So, this topic has been discussed endlessly in other threads but I figured it was worth starting its own to collate a masterlist for the growing number of blatant editing blunders this year, which are only getting more obvious as the season progresses.

It's no secret this season has been cut to an inch of its life. We have dodgy audio editing in every episode, examples of copy-and-pasted dialogue (Marissa's "Sarah!" and Angela's Bunker Room laugh), the exhaustive catalogue of music to influence emotions, and ridiculous reaction shots that are clearly out-of-sequence with the conversations shown onscreen. Anyone who knows what to look for can tell that almost none of these moments happened alongside the dialogue/actions we are being led to believe they have.

We also know, based on interviews with evicted HMs, that all major arguments in the house have been deleted from the show. Apparently one blow-up between Kieran and Garth in the eviction room ended in shouting and tears, and allegedly a lot of Kieran's true antics in the house are also being cut from the show - evicted HMs are claiming crocodile tears at numerous evictions, outbursts and fights that all paint Kieran in a very different way than he's being portrayed in the broadcasted episodes. Bombshells conveniently aired at the end of two episodes (i.e. Kieran's snake comment and the revelation of Garth being in the Bunker) were also completely dropped and never mentioned again in subsequent episodes.

Personally, you'd think Seven would be milking the drama for all its worth... clearly not. I believe this could be why many HMs are so frustrated and bitter about the show that's being aired. I understand all reality TV has a level of manipulation within its editing but many scenes here are being portrayed in a way that literally did not happen in real life. For a show like Big Brother, especially when we are meant to be voting for the winner, this is a serious case of misdirection that leads an audience believing something that plainly isn't true. Their lazy editing was clear right from the beginning with our recent discovery that the final few HMs are spoiled in a pre-season promo.

A post by @up_all_night sums this up best:
We are meant to get a somewhat accurate version of events in the house. Yes, that's impossible, yeah there is always going to be some bias and omissions and misrepresentations. Yet at its core, with Big Brother, we're meant to be observing. We're not meant to get curated narratives, with the actual narratives hidden and obscured. Or even worse, be given FALSE narratives.

This is a major issue in the non-public voting system and pre-recording. That was a random element because many people perceived things differently. Now we are getting the outcome determining the editing, the narrative we are being told.

After this eviction, we know for a fact that we can not trust the editing or the presentation of anything that is being shown to us. To a wildly extreme extent.

So, to kick off... this is probably the most obvious example of blatant manipulation we've seen so far (and quite frankly, just very silly editing). Allan's "close call" with the latecomers in Episode 2. This moment was already fishy right from the start, but upon closer inspection our doubts were 100% confirmed...

This scene was aired to look as though Allan entered the kitchen while the others were in the nearby bedroom. This was already unrealistic for a number of reasons. But between the shots of the latecomers and the shots of Allan getting water, you can clearly see these events did not occur at the same time - in fact, they didn't even happen on the same night! Take note of the kitchen layout, in particular the stools underneath the counter.

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The worst part is the attempt by editors at masking the two shots together - the split-screen dividing the shot of Allan entering as Garth exits is downright lazy. Take a look at the stool... or what's left of it. :rolleyes:

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Big shout-out to @buck07 for uncovering the above clues, and for this animated comparison:

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Additionally, when Angela returned in Episode 8 we were shown back-and-forth shots of HMs greeting her in the corridor. We are led to believe that Daniel stayed outside of the room. But for a split-second, Daniel can actually be seen inside the corridor with the other HMs. Ridiculously, this shot is shown almost directly side-by-side with the reaction shots of Daniel looking "shocked" and "upset" where he isn't standing in the same room at all and isn't even facing the right direction. These have been presumably been cut from another moment in time, possibly minutes later when Angela is near the kitchen area discussing where she's been.

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Following Episode 9, it was quickly noted Casey was missing from the eviction ceremony. So, where was she? An early theory predicts she might have been asked to isolate due to COVID-19, as the timing of this episode comes close to when the alleged shutdown of production occurred. But this has not been confirmed and her sudden disappearance is yet to be acknowledged in or out of the show. Interestingly, Casey also doesn't appear in the Extended Vote on 7Plus for this episode, which actually puts the entire eviction in doubt as there's no evidence for how she voted nor any explanation for her absence.

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These are some of just a few editing blunders so far. I know there's plenty more...

Fire away!
 
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Indeed, how can we interpret the psychological responses of any scene if what we are seeing is a library of facial expressions getting mashed together? The more I see this indicated by the edits and the evidence shown by some astute observers, the more concerned I feel about the health of the franchise for a show that is all about people.
 
I actually think the narrative of who is going to go each episode has been really clear.
I think the point is how accurately the real emotions and feelings are being presented, especially in reaction shots. The editing is very mish mashed and very frequently is not cut in a consecutive timeline. The editing this time is performed to create a narrative which suits some story the producers are wanting to distort & manipulate.
 
I think the point is how accurately the real emotions and feelings are being presented, especially in reaction shots. The editing is very mish mashed and very frequently is not cut in a consecutive timeline. The editing this time is performed to create a narrative which suits some story the producers are wanting to distort & manipulate.

Like survivor.
 
I can't load it on 7plus at the moment, but I'm sure that during the opening of the episode of 23/6 we saw the recap of Garth being evicted, then were shown a "later" night scene of the housemates sleeping, whose number included... Garth!
 
In Episode 9 last Tuesday, we were shown a montage of the ladies taking a long time in the bathroom, complete with timestamps, but not told what day it was. Then the next scene we see it announced it's before dawn on Day 19 when Shane visits the Diary Room. I wonder if that montage was put together from multiple days just to fit the narrative of the girls taking so long in there?
 
I think I've mentioned this already somewhere, but in episode 2 when the housemates are getting dressed up for the Sunday roast, Angela is wearing the pink outfit she wore at the table at one end of the bedroom, then the very next shot she's wearing casual attire at the very back end of the bedroom on the complete opposite side. Not a massive moment or blunder, but something I noticed.
 
Does anyone know if the finale will actually be filmed live, or will it be prerecorded and we see the result later? I pray that it will be live..... That will at least be a decent way to finish this heavily edited season...
 
They were still intending to get them all back to one location (the house presumably) for the final last I saw, but wouldn't be surprised to see that scaled back to just the final 3 and maybe some producer faves, with others involved via Skype/Zoom etc.

I guess pre-Covid the plan might have been to use the front of the house with a crowd in front of it.
 
The chopped up voice overs used from the diary room are so bad they are reminiscent of Keeping Up with the Kardashians editing. Clearly taken from completely different conversations to make them say what they want .
 
Yeah this isn’t even Big Brother anymore, it doesn’t even come close to the original format. There are more similarities with this season of “Big Brother” to Australian Survivor than there are to this season and the original format of the show. Of course it isn’t a surpise that the show has turned out this way, since they hired Amelia Fisk (the same executive producer of Australian Survivor) to produce this season of “Big Brother”.

Take any show from this season of Big Brother, for instance, and compare it with the average Australian Survivor episode - same recycled concept by the same producer, simply disguised under the guise of “Big Brother”:

  • Pre-record the entire portion of the season ✔
  • Heavily edit and cut out parts of the show (days of content condensed into a 1½ hour episode) ✔
  • Start the episode out dramatically with a 1+ minute recap ✔
  • Continue to overuse a soundtrack throughout the episode for dramatic effect ✔
  • Start the episode off by showcasing a very small montage of interactions ✔
  • Hype up the episode with a minor rewards challenge ✔
  • Feature even less interactions, while building up to the final challenge ✔
  • Have the most important challenge take place at the end; winner is safe from elimination ✔
  • Continue the rest of the episode with the contestants discussing strategy ✔
  • Always make it seem like there are two targets on the chopping block ✔
  • Attempt to mislead the audience by making it seem as if one of those specific players will be voted out ✔
  • Contestants sit in a room while the host interrogates them prior to voting ✔
  • Showcase each contestant having their name called out and wandering to their voting destination ✔
  • Only reveal footage of 2-3 contestants voting against obvious targets, while skipping the rest of the contestants choices, for a more suspenseful ending ✔
  • Have the host read out every number of vote per contestant ✔
  • Attempt to shock the audience by announcing that the other targetted player has been eliminated ✔
  • Continue with this same formula for the rest of the season ✔
  • Hold a live finale “reunion” at the end of the show ✔
  • Rinse and repeat for another season ✔

Of course there are a lot more things that Survivor and this edition of Big Brother have in common, but I’ll just leave it at that. At least Survivor still has it’s own original concept to this day. These features work well for a strategy-based game like Survivor, but it does not belong on Big Brother.

Considering the show originates from the idea of the audience being like Big Brother, observing everything, it's pretty disappointing.

buck07 made a good point, the main signature purpose of Big Brother was for an audience to bare witness to a social experiment, “social” should immediately play a key part in the format, where an all-seeing entity would take control over the housemates lives, where we would view how these housemates actually interact with one another and how they operate under these circumstances, actually delve deep into their lives and witness their development throughout the show, be able to feel a level of emotion when your favourite is under the threat of eviction. This show has been devolved so far from it’s point of originality, that it just isn’t the same show anymore, like why would the new producers even bother calling it “Big Brother” anymore? Survivor: Indoors sounds a lot more plausible for this iteration.
 
Survivor: Indoors sounds a lot more plausible for this iteration.
Agree completely with your post, spot on with every point there. Somebody earlier was arguing with me & saying it’s not at all like Survivor. That response would have floored him. lol

I must say that I think Emilia’s production style is not very open to live formats at all. In fact 3 or so Australian Survivor reunions were filmed a week before and in fact, were not live. That’s a worry.
 
Yeah this isn’t even Big Brother anymore, it doesn’t even come close to the original format. There are more similarities with this season of “Big Brother” to Australian Survivor than there are to this season and the original format of the show. Of course it isn’t a surpise that the show has turned out this way, since they hired Amelia Fisk (the same executive producer of Australian Survivor) to produce this season of “Big Brother”.

Take any show from this season of Big Brother, for instance, and compare it with the average Australian Survivor episode - same recycled concept by the same producer, simply disguised under the guise of “Big Brother”:

  • Pre-record the entire portion of the season ✔
  • Heavily edit and cut out parts of the show (days of content condensed into a 1½ hour episode) ✔
  • Start the episode out dramatically with a 1+ minute recap ✔
  • Continue to overuse a soundtrack throughout the episode for dramatic effect ✔
  • Start the episode off by showcasing a very small montage of interactions ✔
  • Hype up the episode with a minor rewards challenge ✔
  • Feature even less interactions, while building up to the final challenge ✔
  • Have the most important challenge take place at the end; winner is safe from elimination ✔
  • Continue the rest of the episode with the contestants discussing strategy ✔
  • Always make it seem like there are two targets on the chopping block ✔
  • Attempt to mislead the audience by making it seem as if one of those specific players will be voted out ✔
  • Contestants sit in a room while the host interrogates them prior to voting ✔
  • Showcase each contestant having their name called out and wandering to their voting destination ✔
  • Only reveal footage of 2-3 contestants voting against obvious targets, while skipping the rest of the contestants choices, for a more suspenseful ending ✔
  • Have the host read out every number of vote per contestant ✔
  • Attempt to shock the audience by announcing that the other targetted player has been eliminated ✔
  • Continue with this same formula for the rest of the season ✔
  • Hold a live finale “reunion” at the end of the show ✔
  • Rinse and repeat for another season ✔

Of course there are a lot more things that Survivor and this edition of Big Brother have in common, but I’ll just leave it at that. At least Survivor still has it’s own original concept to this day. These features work well for a strategy-based game like Survivor, but it does not belong on Big Brother.



buck07 made a good point, the main signature purpose of Big Brother was for an audience to bare witness to a social experiment, “social” should immediately play a key part in the format, where an all-seeing entity would take control over the housemates lives, where we would view how these housemates actually interact with one another and how they operate under these circumstances, actually delve deep into their lives and witness their development throughout the show, be able to feel a level of emotion when your favourite is under the threat of eviction. This show has been devolved so far from it’s point of originality, that it just isn’t the same show anymore, like why would the new producers even bother calling it “Big Brother” anymore? Survivor: Indoors sounds a lot more plausible for this iteration.
Well said! They could have called or something completely different, cause it sure ain't Big Brother
 
Was there ever a reason given by a housemate on social media since last night on why the ninth episode ended on Day 20, but episode 10 started on Day 22? We've mysteriously lost an entire day - if the onscreen day count on the episode is correct.
 
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