Semi OT: Up-cycling crap

[Rob Morley]

Hospital waiting rooms ...

[michael adams]

Even leaving aside the ethics of the thing, I'd imagine the last thing most people would need is a pissed-off cleaner who was good at hiding her true feelings, who presumably has access to most parts of your home.

Other than that, many people would probably feel embarrassed at having sold somebody such a wreck in the first place. Not having themselves realised just how bad it was.

michael adams

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[Dave Plowman (News)]

Most know the condition of a banger pretty well when selling it. That's exactly why they are selling it. If it were still a decent banger you'd carry on using it.

[michael adams]

With stuff like "Ice Road Truckers" and "Ice Road Truckers Most Dangerous Roads" the actual footage is real enough and unlike with "Top Gear" there's no possibility of re shoots. However what they do do is ramp up the drama, the possibility of the ice breaking on frozen lakes is enhanced with CGI simulations and artificial deadlines are imposed to add drama. Artificial deadlines seem to be a feature of a lot of this stuff. Plus, pised off drivers changing firms is a feature of IRT

The acting in the car buying section of Wheeler Dealers is admittedly a bit clunky. Brewer is standing by the car and the buyer enters camera left. Then the speil about not wanting to pay that much and Brewer caving in. Almost every single week.

Most GPO and Crown Film Unit docs used staged sequences. There was a programme about stamp collecting the other night, showing a clip from a GPO short from 1935 where Barnett Freedman the designer was shown discussing the brief with a GPO official. There's a CFU film about Islands of Britain which included the Channel Islands with Humphrey Jennings playing the role of a tomato buyer in London although that fact's not in the BFI booklet which accompanies the DVD. Nor on the interweb. "Terminus" 1961 about Waterloo Station used actors for the little boy lost sequence among others. "Every Day Except Christmas" the one about Covent Garden did as well. Not lost little boys but singing market porters

michael adams

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[michael adams]

But in this case the OP obviously didn't, did he ?

Which happens to be the whole point of the story.

Really ?

Presumably the same goes for clothes as well.

So in addition to happily driving around in old bangers you've no intention of replacing those wide lapel jackets, kipper ties, platform soled shoes or flared trousers for a good few years yet. Not when there's still a good bit of wear in them.

I see.

Or more generally, if it weren't for the fact that most people or their nearest and dearest aren't prepared to carry on using the equivalent of "old bangers" be that cars, vans, computers, Windows XP, furniture, TV sets, cameras, kitchens, bathrooms etc etc then the entire economy would grind to a halt.

The very fact that this possibly unwelcome fact of modern life appears to have totally escaped you is I admit somewhat surprising. But there you go.

michael adams

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[Brian Gaff]

Yes well said. I gave away my old video machines but maybe I should have got them fixed. Brian

[Chris J Dixon]

The Alaska Railway programmes each seem to follow a predictable story outline, with an off-grid dweller needing to make a vital rail trip, and the track needing last minute work to enable the train to get through. Not contrived, oh no!

They do seem to like firing off large shells to sort avalanche risk. :-)

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You think all of it absolutely real and not staged afterwards? Would be a first for that sort of prog.

[michael adams]

Have you actually watched these programme ? No.

I know you're trolling but nevertheless - Ice Roads are roads across frozen lakes in Northern Canada and Alaska. These roads are only available for a few months in Winter.

There is no need to stage anything. Tension and drama are introduced by the fact that the roads are only open for a few months and so they're always rushing to meet deadlines. In addition the roads in Alaska which service the oil terminals are often iced over and impassable at times. Tension is introduced over decisions as to whether particular drivers are going to use chains or not. As they're all competing against one another to deliver the largest number of loads.

Same with Dangerous Roads. This was filmed over mountain passes in the Himalays and Andes. Many of them called "The Death Road" Large 40 foot trucks bombing along the same roads Clarkson and co were pissing themselves over, when crawling along in 4X4's.

None of this is staged. Each truck is fitted with numerous cameras. The drivers are aware beforehand of the dramatic elements, tension rivalry etc which the makers want to emphasise. They simply shoot loads of footage and then create the programmes in the editing suite.

The same can well apply to loads of reality shows. Because the technology is so cheap nowadys with no need for expensive crews and assorted luvvies, with their catering vans and tantrums, they can afford to shoot miles of footage. And so all the work is done in the editing suite.

Whereas as I explained to you before, which you've chosen to snip many examples of what many people would regard as classic documentaries are in fact riddled with staged sequences. "Man of Aran" where they filmed people in small boats killing basking sharks is another example which springs to mind. Plus if course any conversations betwen the participants in films such as "Night Mail" have to be scripted so as make them intelligible to the viewer.

And of course documentaries no less than any other medium will always be selective in choossing which aspect of "reality" they choose to portray.

Given your experience in the industry, quite frankly I find it astonishing that you could be quite so wrong about all of this.

So that even if you are trolling, it would seem to be at considerable cost to your credibility. Otr perhaps you simply don't care. Dunno.

michael adams

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[Bill Wright]

Well it was only £200 and he was struggling to start up as a gardener, having been made redundant with no payout. And I wanted to keep on the right side of his missus.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

There wasn't a trust issue, but yes it would have been daft to upset them. She'd always been fair with us.

That's exactly right. That was the main thing. Apparently the van had serious corrosion underneath, beyond sensible welding. All the brake pipes needed changing. The track rod ends were worn. A rear light cluster was corroded inside. There were other things. The daft thing is I'd been driving it around quite happily, and if I'd been pulled they would have thrown the book at me. I'd also been overloading it.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

In fact I honestly didn't realise. I thought it needed a bit of welding and the rear light.

No, it was time for a new 'un. It isn't good to have a disreputable vehicle when you're working in prestigious places. I've always bought new and run them into the ground then sold them for peanuts. This one I'd kept longer than I should have. It was becoming a bit of an embarrassment.

I needed a new windscreen a few months before I scapped it and the body rot around the top of the windscreen aperture was so bad the bloke said there was nothing to fasten to.

I've just remembered it needed new brake bits (disks?). We went over Ilkley Moor in it and on the way down engine braking wasn't enough and I daren't use it much anyway because the silencer had holes in it and it backfired like crazy, so the front NS wheel started to smoke. That was the only wheel that braked properly I think. I stopped and ran into a church hall where some ladies were doing PT and grabbed the cleaner's bucket and splooshed the wheel. Paul was with me and he asked me to drive him into town so he could get a train home.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

To be honest I do wear clothes when they're well past it. Hil bins them and I sneak down and get them out.

Well that will happen anyway if Corbyn gets in.

Bill