MTV's the Hills: Reality Gold or Fool's Silver?

A Review of the Crafty Editing Tactics on the Reality Tv Show

Through the fast paced and ever-expanding world of reality television was born the love child of Laguna Beach and The Real World, thus was hatched the smash hit "The Hills". The patched together "real life" story of Lauren Conrad, fashionista and socialite among the MTV crowd, wooed viewers from the first season when fans were drawing the lines between Team Lauren Vs. Team Heidi. These days the facade of "reality" has blurred as the editors and cinematographer's of the show have grown sloppy on site. From rough editing botches to leaked pictures of a scene set-up, The Hills is losing the illusion of reality, but gaining a slew of new viewers to watch the mistakes taking place each week.

Some of the most infamous and talked about glitches are LC's nail polish debacle, the color changed rapidly from clear to vamp red in a "spur of the moment" conversation. As well as Spencer Pratt's, (Heidi's on-again, off-again bad guy boyfriend) clean shaven to hobo chic beard. In several scenes the status of his lower face changes within seconds, ruining the image that the show portrays un-staged "days in the life". There have since been a number of other instances in the press and in the tabloids fueling the debate of The Hills reality. Pictures have been leaked of camera men giving direction and setting up scenes between actors, the most famous example of this between LC and a male model in season 2. The man went to the tabloids with his story of being scooped up from a modeling shoot and paid to ask the leading lady on a date where awkward conversation and a fake kiss made teen tongues wag the day after the episode aired.