Technology is integral to the presentation of reality programming, which producers maintain is different from the "reality" game shows hogging so much limelight.

A child can’t seem to sleep through the night and wanders around the house, driving his parents to distraction. It looks like a case for Dr. Michael Weiss and the crew from Real Families.

A clinician with 22 years experience, Weiss makes a point of seeing the families he treats in practice out of the office – "in the home or the school or wherever [the family’s conflict] is going on; the mall, the backseat of the car, grandmother’s house [and so on]." And Real Families, the series for which he serves as exec producer and on-air talent, follows that lead.

"We delude ourselves that what is said in the office is reflective of reality. How people are at home versus in the artificial confines of an office are very different. When you’re spending time in people’s homes they start to fall into the typical patterns and habits of their days. What they may not be aware of is their patterns; if you were reliant on their self-report you would never see it. We’re terrible self-reporters, we’re not good at stepping back and seeing the big picture."

For a show that depends on catching families at their most candid, and is pieced together from footage shot in the family’s home, inconspicuous technology is at the heart of the production process.

Shooting for the series, which has aired on Life Network since 1999, is carried out through a variety of means. At its most crowded, the crew consists of four: Weiss, a cameraman, a soundman and a director.

"The real director of the show is the kids, they determine a lot of what is going on. All four of us are literally making decisions on the fly as events are unfolding. Now we’ve shot so much together we don’t even have to talk to know what to do," says Weiss.

Action is also frequently captured with "hidden" cameras, which the participants are aware of, but usually forget about.

"We do a lot with covert cameras, one-chip digital cameras. Because it’s stationary they forget it’s there. A lot of time we’re not using a formal hidden camera, just a camera hanging from the wall."

Ambient technology came into its own in the case of the 30-month-old "gymnast" who could leave his crib at will, usually in the middle of the night. The child’s nighttime activity was filmed with the help of "these little Sony cameras you can get with infra-red lights on them and in the pitch black you could see what was going on," Weiss explains.

Booms are used to record sound only for interviews. "If there’s any movement whatsoever we use wireless mikes. From a technical standpoint it’s tricky because you can’t put remote wires on kids. Kids pick at it. We’ll place covert cameras around the house so we can get the sound and have wireless mikes on me and the parents. It’s been interesting from a technical standpoint: with different sound levels from different mikes, you have to be very technically savvy to even it all out."

"It’s not enough to have a house wired with cameras. You have to understand human behavior. From the lighting side, how little light can you get away with and at what point does infra-red look like some bizarre Fellini movie? You need both technical savvy and an understanding of human behavior."

This approach is central to what Weiss is aiming for in his production. "I wanted to couch the reality of family life in an entertaining way where the viewer can eavesdrop on the family behind closed doors and learn something about child-rearing and family."

And it flies in the face of the approach taken by other titles in the same category. "It’s really reality TV as opposed to what I view as unscripted TV, like Survivor. That’s unscripted but it’s not reality. When was the last time someone got stuck on an island with 11 friends and started eating monkey brains? Everyone’s lives are interesting and fascinating to watch."

Mini-cam miracles

Another reality show with similar demand for portable and inconspicuous technology is Little Miracles, a series from Toronto’s Breakthrough Films and Television that follows young patients in Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

Catching people at what is for most a fairly low moment to begin with, and one made all the more traumatic by the involvement of a child, series coproducer Peter Williamson emphasizes the need for sensitivity, which includes an unobtrusive crew.

"You do have to scale down the shooting, to be sensitive to the situation. We try not to be exploitative. We tend to take a step back rather than a step forward. It’s a delicate balance but the family knows they can tell us to go away at any moment," says Williamson.

"It’s a very small crew. We usually have a two-person crew: camera and sound. We use a lot of radio mikes. The director is sometimes not able to go to every part [of the shoot] – the place might be too small. Obviously he has to constantly monitor the video," even when, for example, the director finds himself out in a hospital corridor while parents and patient confer with a doctor and the crew films.

"With the filming part of it you don’t want to disrupt what you’re filming so we might just have the camera guy and sound guy with radio mikes. I think there’s some disruption, but you’re filming a process, that process goes on whether you’re filming or not. [The process] overrides that and that makes more it enjoyable to watch; it’s not a setup, not a drama, you’re not sure what will happen. That’s what makes the show addictive."

"We use mini-cams – digital cameras – a smaller consumer camera that’s broadcast-quality. They’re very good ones, but you could imagine a consumer buying them. They’re relatively inexpensive. With lenses they might cost upwards of $10,000; they’re much smaller and flexible for a small room. People forget we’re there because we follow them for long periods."

The unpredictable nature of real life dictates the shooting schedule for reality producers.

"Because it’s real life we might film something and have it not pan out or there might be a time delay. We have to shoot a lot of stuff to make sure we have enough material. There might be medical complications that mean [shooting of that story has to be] postponed for a year. We’ve already started stories for season three; we’ve already shot a part one that could go into season two [screening now], but there’s no end to it. Season two we’ve been shooting since last April. We’re there [at the hospital] all the time filming. That’s the challenge with Little Miracles. Reality TV does have that more demanding tolerance."

And more personnel.

"We have more crews, less people [than on a conventional shoot], but more crews because of the shooting schedule. We could have five crews shooting at the hospital. At the one time we might be following several stories. The developments in those stories mean we couldn’t possibly do it all with one crew. Somebody will be on call all weekend. For example, one story we did was a baby waiting for a heart and the crew had to go there and shoot it [when a donor heart was found] on Saturday night. You have to be able to literally get up and go to the hospital.

"You have to edit, too, and like any documentary film, when you have lots of rushes you have to go through them. So the story producer is crucial because they have to go through the rushes looking at all the hours of material to make story notes to pass on to editors and then they cut or assemble the story and then the stories are assembled – it’s quite industrial." *