Some Dumb Stuff

Discussions at the Edinburgh TV festival this week focused on documentaries, in particular whether or not reality television and overt - attention grabing characters have hindered filmmakers as they offer a cheap and but ever increasingly popular alternative to "serious documentaries." I think there is always a case that popular culture dumbs down society on the whole. Popular music, Hollywood blockbuster and celebrity magazine are just some dumb examples.

Brian Woods, argues that fewer and fewer commissioners are wiling to fork up £40,000 for a serious journalistic piece, (of course never actually having asked anyone for £40,000 I wouldn't know!)and that channel heads aren't willing to take a chance to give the docs "prime time" making them inaccessible to the a majority of viewers. I do think this is wrong, as there are now so many opportunities to catch shows, More4, C4 and the BBC4 have done great work airing documentaries. With regards to the investment issue, with so much talk of cuts in the government and the media, (UK film council and the current BBC issues to name but a few) it is no surprise that such projects get side lined.

In my opinion the bottom line lies in the fact that there will always be sufficient numbers of people who crave intellectual and serious program making, but there will always be more Pineapple dance studio fans...

Theatre of War

Theatre of War from Richard Mosse on Vimeo.

Just been checking out this video from Richard Mosse shot in one of Saddam Hussein's hilltop palaces. I think Mosse uses angles and parallel lines really well to get some awesome static shots. The sound of prayer and the shear scale of the backdrop really gives a sense of magnitude of the operation and even the boredom that the troops in frame are going through