Angelie New Media Technologies 08

I'd Do Anything is BBC One's second series in which Andrew Lloyd Webber searches for a new West End leading lady (and there was also one last year which looked for a leading man). Andrew Lloyd Webber and his panel narrow down all the auditionees to a final 12 girls who could play Nancy, as well as 12 boys who could play Oliver in London's upcoming production of 'Oliver'. From then on, each week the Nancys sing during a live show and the public can vote for their favourite Nancy, and every week the Nancy with the least votes is eliminated.
The website for I'd Do Anything acts to promote the show.

On each page, the I’d Do Anything logo and a picture of Graham Norton (the show’s presenter), along with a BBC One logo is prominent at the top of the page. Underneath the navigation bar, is a selection of the finalists photographs, each of which links to a profile. Using the arrows at either side, website visitors can scroll through to see the photos of the other finalists. Visitors can easily identify eliminated Nancys by their greyscaled photos. Also on every page, is details of when the next shows are on.

The I'd Do Anything website is split into 9 sections:

1. Home
   The home page contains highlights from many of the other sections of the website. There is a BBC iPlayer showing video clips that have recently been added to the website. On the right hand side, is the News section, which features links to the most recent news stories from the Nancy house. Underneath the news section is 'Oliver! Facts'. Next to the 'Oliver! Facts' is the 'About the Show' section, which has links to pages about The Vote and The Bursary. On the left side of the 'About the Show' section, is the 'Features'. In the features section are links to the Production Diary and 'Music on the Night' (which details who sang what on the live shows each week).
   
   
2. About the Show

~ The Show: in this section there are details about the show, story so far, Nancys, Olivers and the live shows.
~ Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh, Graham Norton, Barry Humphries, Denise Van Outen & John Barrowman: each of these people have their own page, detailing their previous work/experience.
~ The Bursary: as viewers vote each week, 14p per call will go to the BBC Performing Arts Fund. This page gives details on the fund.
~ Interactive: in this section, information is given about the interactive aspects of the programme. For example, during the live shows, if viewers press the red button, song lyrics will be displayed on screen so that viewers can sing along.


3. The Vote
   
On this page, explanations are given on the live shows, and how the Nancys and Olivers are chosen.


4. News
   
On the news page, lots of links are given to news articles and videos from the Nancy house. The news page is updated very regularly, since various new stories and videos are put up every day.


5. Video
   In this section, there are lots of videos, including videos of performances from previous live shows, video diaries and 'Nancy Natter' (where the live audience gives their opinions on the best Nancys and Olivers).
   
   
6. Gallery
   The gallery section features a 'Meet The Nancys' section and a 'Meet the panel' section, as well as performance stills from each week's live shows.
   
   
7. Mobile
   The mobile are of the website details how viewers can get news updates, contestant profiles and wallpapers send to their mobile phones.
   
   
8. Comments
   The I'd Do Anything viewers can write in to the comments page saying who they think is the best Nancy, and the best comments get displayed on the page.
   
   
9. Feedback
   On the feedback page, visitors can use the form provided to make any queries or comments about the website.
   

I'd Do Anything is essentially a family show, as the live show is on on Saturday evenings and it's a casting mechanism for a musical which families are very likely to go and see together. So, people of most ages and both genders are likely to visit the website. Audience members are most likely to be interested in the video section, as it contains a lot of behind the scenes footage that isn't shown on Saturday/Sunday's shows. The audience may also like the interactivity of being able to express who they want to win on the comments page. The programme itself offers a lot of interactivity since it is essentially the general public who get to choose who will play Nancy.


With I'd Do Anything, there are two institutions involved: the BBC and Cameron Mackintosh's production company, Delfont Mackintosh. The show itself is used to promote Delfont Mackintosh's production of 'Oliver!', so the website can in turn promote 'Oliver!'. Although, interestingly enough, there don't appear to be any links to sites where visitors can actually buy tickets for 'Oliver!'. With reality casting shows, theatre production companies ensure that lots of people will go to see the shows in the West End. This is because, the potential Nancys build up a fan following, and then the fans will go and see 'Oliver!' once it opens in the West End. Reality casting shows are effectively a guarantee that the show well sell tickets really well, and may even sell out for months on end (like 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'). This ensures lots of revenue for the production companies.
Through I'd Do Anything, and other reality casting shows like How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, and Any Dream Will Do the BBC creates a symbiotic link between themselves and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group. It also means that the BBC has a reputation as a "patron of the arts" (as emphasised by the BBC in a recent article in which Kevin Spacey attacked the BBC for advertising Andrew Lloyd Webber's shows).
The website can be used by the BBC market the programme. Since details of the next episode's time are given on each of the pages on the website, hopefully visitors will be encouraged to tune in. This should increase the viewer numbers.

Key Concepts

1. Convergence
   The I'd Do Anything website is an example of convergence since video streaming is used a lot.
2. Time-shift
   The BBC iPlayer gives visitors the chance to stream or download the most recent episode of I'd Do Anything. This means that they can watch the episode whenever is convenient for them.
3. Non-linear
   The audience can choose how they want to navigate around the site and what order they want to view things in.
4. Interactivity
   Although the website itself only has a few interactive aspects to it, the show itself is very interactive, since it is the viewers that decide who will be Nancy.