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The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

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Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#131

Post by quietbritishjim »

hjkl0 wrote: post #87

This is my pet peeve. I don't know the show, but when I first watched this clip (under the title of "greatest shot on television") I totally bought in to the hype and thought it really was amazing. You start out just walking alongside him, and only slowly realize where you are and what is about to happen, and everything is perfectly timed and composed: he ends his walk, reaches the conclusion of his explanation, and…

The article mentions this:

> Watch it enough times yourself, and you’ll notice that it also pulls off some minor sleight of hand by having Burke walk from a non-time-sensitive shot into another with the already-framed rocket ready for liftoff. But that hardly lessens the feeling of achievement when the launch comes off.

Personally, I saw it exactly that way when I first saw it - the cut is super obvious because the background is totally different after. If the commentary before had been with the same background then it could well have had the illusion of being continuous.

Regardless: Like the article author, I still think it's great television.

Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#133

Post by AnimalMuppet »

jleyank wrote: post #91
hjkl0 wrote: post #87

This is my pet peeve. I don't know the show, but when I first watched this clip (under the title of "greatest shot on television") I totally bought in to the hype and thought it really was amazing. You start out just walking alongside him, and only slowly realize where you are and what is about to happen, and everything is perfectly timed and composed: he ends his walk, reaches the conclusion of his explanation, and…

If you want a single, unedited shot, Neil’s ladder descent would be a candidate. If you didn’t think Stanley actually did it.

But he blew his line! He intended to say "That's one small step for a man", but he left out the "a".

Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#134

Post by dredmorbius »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #109
RachelF wrote: post #4

The late 1970's were the golden age of documentaries: Connections, Cosmos, Civilization, The Ascent of Man and Attenborough's Life on Earth. Perhaps it's just me, but modern documentaries are rather dumbed down? As a side note: Quite ironic that he ends up pointing to a rocket propelled mostly by solid fuels.

I think if you watch Connections 2 & Connections 3 (and even Start Trek: The Next Generation ) then you can see the progression that all documentaries went by the 1980s. "Story" used to be more important, but then "eye candy" became far more important. Connections was so influential that my university (Purdue) introduced a 3 semester series of courses on the history of technology.

Agreed that Connections 2 and (especially) 3 were pale shadows of the original series.

However the related The Day the Universe Changed, which took a slightly different conceit (the episodes aren't necessarily linear in time) and focus (science and philosophy rather than technology), is excellent, and I'd put it right next to the original Connections series.

(There is, it turns out, a fourth season of Connections, "Connections 4", released in 2023 on Curiosity Stream according to Wikipedia. I've net seen any of it. It consists of only 6 episodes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(British_TV_series...>.

Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#135

Post by dredmorbius »

HocusLocus wrote: post #106

The "Trigger Effect" episode ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcOb3Dilzjc ) that set off Connections:I was one of the finest hours ever produced for television. It influenced my family and I in the years to come. Hope for the best, while preparing for the worst. It begins at South Tower of the World Trade Center, and as Burke enters an express elevator (Car 6 or 7 if you must know) he says in effect, "Do I worry abo…

In an episode that opened in the World Trade Center towers.

That is an awesome set of coincidences.

... or perhaps the series influenced OBL ...

Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#138

Post by hyperbovine »

hjkl0 wrote: post #87

This is my pet peeve. I don't know the show, but when I first watched this clip (under the title of "greatest shot on television") I totally bought in to the hype and thought it really was amazing. You start out just walking alongside him, and only slowly realize where you are and what is about to happen, and everything is perfectly timed and composed: he ends his walk, reaches the conclusion of his explanation, and…

Come now, he still managed to time the final walk scene to within <100ms of perfection. It's probably luck but still, you have to admire to feat.

Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#139

Post by dredmorbius »

inopinatus wrote: post #97
hjkl0 wrote: post #87

This is my pet peeve. I don't know the show, but when I first watched this clip (under the title of "greatest shot on television") I totally bought in to the hype and thought it really was amazing. You start out just walking alongside him, and only slowly realize where you are and what is about to happen, and everything is perfectly timed and composed: he ends his walk, reaches the conclusion of his explanation, and…

The press location is surely double-digit seconds sonically from the launch site. So the simultaneous launch rumble is also an edit.

The amount of sound creation in documentaries, particularly nature docus featuring long-lens shots of animals in the wild, is a whole 'nother domain of lying-to-tell-the-truth.

The Conversation's treatment (there are many others): "The animal sounds in most nature documentaries are made by humans – here’s how they do it and why it matters" (2024) https://theconversation.com/the-animal-sounds-in-most-nature...>.

Burke's time-shifting is a relatively minor sin, though I'd have appreciated if they'd allowed the original sonic lag to be experienced.

Re: The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)

#140

Post by curiousObject »

empath75 wrote: post #127
globular-toast wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a weird complaint. "The shot" is the one where he's standing in front of the blast off. Of course the shot before it is a different shot. Who cares?

He could have sat there repeating the same sentence over and over for several minutes.

No, because then the rocket would probably launch in the middle of the sentence. He had to start saying that sentence at the right second and pace the words and his movements perfectly.
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