Directing and Producing for Television, 5th Edition

chapter fiveDemonstration Format

The demonstration format, a kind of “show and tell,” has been a part of television since its very early days. It includes productions ranging from a food channel production that “shows and tells” how to cook, to shopping channels that sell all manner of merchandise to segments on late-night television where the host shows album covers, funny pictures, funny headlines, and so on. Much of the production in corporate videos is created using demonstration formats. Googling “how to” gets more than a billion hits. There’s a wide variety of advice demonstrating subjects such as “How to Carve a Turkey,” “How to Draw a Circle Freehand,” or “How to Tune a Ukulele.” All these “how-to” productions are very direct in what ...