Okay, allow me the smallest of rants before I get to the point. .gif) Last night I watched 2 documentaries (while ironing). The first was about the construction of the channel tunnel. I swear on my life that within 5 minutes, the narrator repeated the same fact 4 times (about how delays created soaring costs). Admittedly re-phrased a couple of times, within 20 minutes this same point was laboured about 10 times. No section of footage lasting longer than about 4 seconds, it was full of jump-cuts and graphical flashes. Even a single sentence spoken by an engineer was cut into 2, with the second half inexplicably jump cutting to extreme close-up on his face. More like watching MTV. Next thing I watched was 'Around the World in 80 Treasures'. Which was fascinating. Old bloke goes around the world, pointing out 80 of the greatest human creations. Some of them not obvious (in New York his skyscraper choice was the Seagram Building), and he had the insight to criticise President Jefferson for creating a bill of rights ("all men are created equal") while actively supporting slavery - a legacy still troubling America today. It was a genuinely engaging and interesting programme from which I actually learned new things ! So, what is it with documentaries lately? Horizon's dumbed down, Equinox has vanished. And apart from the occasional gem (like "The Politics of Fear") modern documentaries seem to re-hash the same single point 20 times over to fill out the hour instead of exploring a bit deeper. This kind of thing annoys me, but I wonder what your thoughts are ? (Edit: to explain I really liked Around the World in 80 Treasures) Edited by silver jon at 13:11:49 01-03-2005 |
The state of documentaries today . . .
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silver-jon 1,518 posts
Seen 10 years ago
Registered 17 years ago -
The 'docu-drama' is the worst invention since... they invented inventions. I hate them. Hate. -
Blerk wrote:
I also dislike this creation, I hate the way that they interview the people of the time.
The 'docu-drama' is the worst invention since... they invented inventions. I hate them. Hate. -
Tiger_Walts 16,674 posts
Seen 4 years ago
Registered 19 years agoBlerk wrote:
The 8 Wonders of the Industrial World was a docu-drama series but was very interesting. It's the ones that try and make something that isn't exciting, exciting that annoy.
The 'docu-drama' is the worst invention since... they invented inventions. I hate them. Hate. -
I'm tending to take documentaries with bigger pinches of salt now than I used to. Maybe because of Neitzche... -
sam_spade 15,745 posts
Seen 1 week ago
Registered 20 years agoDoes he keep saying: "Well that's wrong!" "And so is that!" -
I've got a few documentaries downloaded from UKNova because I missed them, looking forwards to watching those. Ones like "Young, Nazi & Proud". Y'know; ones to make me lose all hope for the human race.
But yes... they're in a bit of a state generally, aren't they? I caught that Horizon one about 'Sonic Fusion' (quick, Sega, copyright it!) and they honestly could've covered all of that within 10 minutes, if that.
Horizon is almost approaching the depths Equinox sank to before it disapeared. Pity. -
Machiavel 5,964 posts
Seen 22 hours ago
Registered 19 years agoSaw a dreadful one recently, meant to be an expose of Michael Flatley, where all the scenes appeared remarkably 'untrue' and merely served to present him in an unbelievably positive light (surrounded by gaggles of girlies, showing remarkable in-depth knowledge of construction and plumbing issues, wealth and famous friends, etc). Only at the end did the little caption "Some scenes reconstructed for dramatical effect" suggest it was all bollocks. As indeed it appeared to be.
On the other hand, SuperSize, Michael Moore and the ilk are remarkably fusing a documentary with the ability to actually change things (for good or ill, a moot point). -
StixxUK 8,755 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 19 years agoI liked the series Tribe, and the Natural World about cave diving on Sunday was wicked too. -
dadrester 2,560 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 18 years agosomething that really gets me is the (over)use of stupid john carpenter-esque synth stabs to highten tension?! it's not the sodding thing! it's a neighbour you don't get on with!!!
/must stop watching channel 5 -
I think that in a way, its a good thing that TV is as shite as it is today as eventually it will just drive viewers away from the telly and on to other activities, that may not include sitting down and staring at a box full of pretty colours 'n' stuff.... -
GTBurns 1,772 posts
Seen 9 years ago
Registered 18 years agosilver jon wrote:
So, what is it with documentaries lately? Horizon's dumbed down, Equinox has vanished. And apart from the occasional gem (like "The Politics of Fear")...
'Politics of Fear' (and/or 'Power of Nightmares') was excellent and the only one to pick up on the fact the Americans were effectively responsible for dissemination of the moniker Al Qaeda.
Horizon has gone right down the shitter and - on the natural history front - so too has Wildlife on ONE. So much so that Atters has called it a day! -
bef 1,766 posts
Seen 35 minutes ago
Registered 18 years agoHow can you say that the quality of documentaries today is not good? It's like saying tv series nowadays are bad.
You just have to look a bit harder. And when I visited the IDFA documentary festival in Amsterdam some time ago, I didn't get the impression that the quality is any worse then other years.
You want to be shocked?
Watch the impressive docu Darwin's Nightmare.
You won't be the same person after watching it. -
GTBurns 1,772 posts
Seen 9 years ago
Registered 18 years agobef wrote:
You want to be shocked?
Watch the impressive docu Darwin's Nightmare.
You won't be the same person after watching it.
Linkage???
/is lazy -
silver-jon 1,518 posts
Seen 10 years ago
Registered 17 years agoThanks for correcting me GTBurns, yes - that was the very documentary. Brilliant it was.
And bef, I'm not saying ALL documentaries are "bad", though to be fair many of them are just so badly diluted that you might as well watch a man in a suit repeating the same 5 sentences over and over and over again while the visuals feature speeded-up footage of sunrises and crowds going to work (a la Koyaanisqatsi). It's the documentary equivalent of a buddhist mantra.
(Look I'm sorry because I realise this risks looking like I'm saying "I am so smart. I am so smart. S-A-M-R-T . . .")
I believe that in the rush to appeal to the lowest common denominator (not a bad thing because it helps to involve some who may not otherwise bothering watching anything 'newsy'), virtually ALL of them have stopped actually explaining things in detail, and have chosen the path of edutainment. -
bef 1,766 posts
Seen 35 minutes ago
Registered 18 years agohere.
Some spoilers though.
Anyways, please, try to find and watch this one. -
GTBurns 1,772 posts
Seen 9 years ago
Registered 18 years agobef wrote:
here.
Some spoilers though.
Anyways, please, try to find and watch this one.
Ta fella!.gif)
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It's definitely worse than it used to be with Horizon being the biggest offender. They often seemed structured for commercial breaks, with endless recapping, but ultimately i think it's a combination of padding, and wanting to recap for people who can't be arsed to watch from the beginning.
OTOH, there are still some great documentaries about. That wildlife one about Australia (Wild Down Under) a couple of years back was pretty good.
.gif)
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