) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2018 10:03:44 GMT -5
When Millionaire was introduced in the UK back in 1998, we saw emotion, suspense, pressure and excitement during the run of the contestants for a million. But when the US format made it's premiere in 1999, we had received many of these priorities once more, when contestants would either play to get to the hot seat in Fastest Finger First or when they were playing in order to go for the top prize. But how did the emotion have such an impact on the classic format of the show? Well, let's discuss that by taking a look at the main priorities for an episode of U.S. Millionaire:
Let's begin with the format itself, which - back then - was entirely based on the original UK format. There were the 3 classic lifelines, Fastest Finger First and of course, the classic soundtrack, which all contributed to the emotion in the format. One of the biggest factors of these priorities was also the way they were expressed; for example, the contestant would rather be motivated to try getting as far as possible and play strategically, since one wrong move could come at a great loss. Because of FFF being present back then, it would take longer for contestants to make a return to the hot seat, which was no longer present in the current format.
Speaking of FFF, I personally believe that this was also one of the greatest factors of the emotional impact on the contestants, because whenever somebody succeeded, they realized that this was the moment that could indeed change their life or someone else's life. This is when they finally achieved their goal and managed to get a chance to play for the million. Regis, who knew that the contestants were indeed excited because of that, motivated them to play and handled every contestant's reaction perfectly. While the current format does the same, it does not have the type of emotion that Millionaire is supposed to represent, thus not being as superior as the classic format was in that department.
The next thing I would like to address is the emotional impact that the music had: When a contestant would answer more and more questions correctly, the music would become more suspenseful and dramatic, thus symbolizing the increasing seriousness in the situation. This can be noticed in the composition of the cues, since the low-tier questions are rather calm, the mid-tier questions are serious, and the high-tier questions are mysterious and dramatic... similar to the modern cues, which do indeed share some of the priorities, too.
Now, let's discuss the final reason the classic format was emotionally superior to the other ones - it's development during the questions. If the contestant managed to reach the high-tier questions, they were going for the greatest amounts of the money tree, which means that the questions were automatically getting harder. The contestants started to feel more pressure and became far more excited whenever they answered the high-tier questions correctly. This also means that Regis would reveal the correct answers later, in order to increase the suspense. This, in my opinion, is the strongest priority of the emotion which was present back in the classic format, and this is the reason I consider the classic format to have been the best one, since it fulfilled all requirements which were needed to make Millionaire what it is meant to be - a show that can permanently change everything.
So what do you think? Do you personally agree with my opinions? And which of all U.S. formats do you consider to be the one to capture the emotion in the best way?
Let's begin with the format itself, which - back then - was entirely based on the original UK format. There were the 3 classic lifelines, Fastest Finger First and of course, the classic soundtrack, which all contributed to the emotion in the format. One of the biggest factors of these priorities was also the way they were expressed; for example, the contestant would rather be motivated to try getting as far as possible and play strategically, since one wrong move could come at a great loss. Because of FFF being present back then, it would take longer for contestants to make a return to the hot seat, which was no longer present in the current format.
Speaking of FFF, I personally believe that this was also one of the greatest factors of the emotional impact on the contestants, because whenever somebody succeeded, they realized that this was the moment that could indeed change their life or someone else's life. This is when they finally achieved their goal and managed to get a chance to play for the million. Regis, who knew that the contestants were indeed excited because of that, motivated them to play and handled every contestant's reaction perfectly. While the current format does the same, it does not have the type of emotion that Millionaire is supposed to represent, thus not being as superior as the classic format was in that department.
The next thing I would like to address is the emotional impact that the music had: When a contestant would answer more and more questions correctly, the music would become more suspenseful and dramatic, thus symbolizing the increasing seriousness in the situation. This can be noticed in the composition of the cues, since the low-tier questions are rather calm, the mid-tier questions are serious, and the high-tier questions are mysterious and dramatic... similar to the modern cues, which do indeed share some of the priorities, too.
Now, let's discuss the final reason the classic format was emotionally superior to the other ones - it's development during the questions. If the contestant managed to reach the high-tier questions, they were going for the greatest amounts of the money tree, which means that the questions were automatically getting harder. The contestants started to feel more pressure and became far more excited whenever they answered the high-tier questions correctly. This also means that Regis would reveal the correct answers later, in order to increase the suspense. This, in my opinion, is the strongest priority of the emotion which was present back in the classic format, and this is the reason I consider the classic format to have been the best one, since it fulfilled all requirements which were needed to make Millionaire what it is meant to be - a show that can permanently change everything.
So what do you think? Do you personally agree with my opinions? And which of all U.S. formats do you consider to be the one to capture the emotion in the best way?
