Like/Don't Like: Cinematography
Tuesday, August 07, 2007 | posted by Mike
I'd like to introduce you to a new feature here on TVFF. It's a semi-regular new series, which means that I'll post something in this vein whenever I'm too lazy to actually come up with a real topic. It's called "Like/Don't Like," and it will center on a theme of some sort that is somehow relevant to two things, one that I like and one that I don't. Confused yet? Good.
For example, today's topic is "cinematography."
Like: Alton Brown's second season of Feasting on Asphalt. Just as we said in our review of the first season, the show is almost a "playground" for the cinematographer in AB, and he takes the opportunity to try out some new toys and techniques. Part of it is necessary, having to travel light, and therefore unencumbered by the trappings of a full video crew. But part of it is the ethos of the road, which he is able to capture to a much greater degree in these digital video cameras. They're light, they're portable and they're on the move, even though they still haven't managed to work their way out of Louisiana by the end of the first episode.
The only reservation that I do have with the new season is the unfortunate decision to tinker with the format of the pre-commercial bumper, which now features the postcard-on-a-map motif rather than the slow zoom over three photos that they used last year. I greatly prefer last year's model. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments below if you feel differently.
Don't Like: The new season of 30-Minute Meals. Love the new digs, Rachael. Love the new look, too. Don't love the shaky-cam. It's not overwhelming, but when the camera dollies from side to side in the new kitchen, they're incorporating a little bit of a first-season-of-NYPD Blue thing that is slowly driving me nuts. Just like Blue toned it down considerably, I'm hoping they'll do the same on 30MM.
Labels: Alton Brown, Rachael Ray
