Homes under the hammer is a daytime television program on BBC One. It has two main presenters, Lucy Alexander and Martin Roberts. The show lasts for one hour in which they follow one or two houses, the houses are all different styles, sizes and prices. This helps create a wider audience, rather than focusing one house type and therefore excluding many other house types and potential viewers.
In the show, one of the presenters will view a house that will be up for auction, they point out attractive features and potential problems with the property. Then an estate agent goes to view the property and evaluate it. After we see the estate agents point of view, they go to the auction where the property is sold and we meet the buyers. One of the presenters will interview the new property owners and find out where they are form, a little about their background and why they bought the house. The presenters ask what they plan to do with the property and leave them to the work for 3 months or so when they revisit the property. They then go around the house showing each room and what they have improved and what their plans are next.
The first shot of the program is of the two presenters Lucy Alexander and Martin Roberts. The camera pans quickly from a monument in a park to the presenters walking along the grass and introducing the show. They walk up to the camera whilst until they are at a mid shot where they stop, it then cuts into the opening credits. The opening credits have the theme tune and images of houses and money, the last clip of the opening cretist is the name of the show 'Home Under the Hammer'. Then the show begins with different shots of the relevent area that the house they are viewing is in. It uses still shots of the area, the clips look like they have been filmed with a hand held camera as they are steady, but there is a little movement in them. As these clips appear, there is a voice over by the presenter talking about what area they are in this episode, she talks positively about the area, emphasizing it's good points. As the presenter goes the view the house there is a shot of a bus driving past and then cars driving past on the busy road, then a clip of her walking on the pavement in front of the house, this clip of her walking is filmed on a hand held camera as it moves back as she walks forward and follows her movement. As she pauses outside the house the camera slightly zooms onto her face and, again you can see it is a hand held camera as there is movement in the shot. Panning shots of the house and road from the outside are filmed on a camera on a tripod as the movement is very smooth and there is no shakiness at all. through out this house viewing, the shots of the presenter looking around the house are filmed with hand held camera and the shots of each room using panning, zooming and still shots are all used on a tripod, they are all very still and smooth. Similar shots are used when an estate agent comes to view the property, although when he is asked about what he thought of the house it looks as though that is filmed on a tripod as it is very still. In the auction room quick shots are used cutting from the auctioneer to the buyers each time the bid goes up, this gives the audience a feel of the speed these auctions happen, also music is played in the background to help the audience feel a part of it and to create tension. When they find a buyer the camera pans and zooms to the buyers, the transaction is smooth and has been filmed on a tripod.
A lot of the camera work is hand held, due to walking around property and following the presenters and buyers.
