| Your regular TV columnist is on a
wedding break, so I’m filling in. I wouldn’t
have been able to do this a couple of months
ago because I hardly watched any television
back then — but life has changed now that
one no longer has to deal with troublesome
cable operators who take weeks to fix a
loose wire. (All hail Tata Sky!) |
| |
| These days I’m increasingly fascinated
by channels such as National Geographic and
The History Channel, especially by their
dramatised simulations of real-life events.
|
| |
| This wasn’t always the case: a couple of
years ago, I was a bit put off by the
Discovery Channel’s Virtual History series —
specifically, by their attempts to “exactly
recreate” what happened on key dates in
human history: for example, July 20, 1944,
the day of a failed assassination attempt on
Adolf Hitler.
|
| |
| Discovery’s technique involved making
plaster casts of the faces of the historical
figures involved, using computer-generated
effects to create digital copies of these,
recording and processing the facial
movements and dialogue of living actors and
then transposing these to the “CGI faces” so
that you had the “real” Fuhrer, Stalin,
Roosevelt etcetera moving and speaking in
coloured footage presented in a slightly
grainy documentary style to make it seem
more authentic. |
| |
| All very meticulously done, but I
thought there was something dishonest about
this dogmatic insistence on presenting
Absolute Truth; after all, even with the
best researchers, historians and CGI in the
world, there’s still no foolproof way of
knowing exactly what the people concerned
were thinking and doing at every moment.
Wouldn’t a well-scripted dramatisation (with
good actors playing the roles) be more
effective? |
| |
| Now, a show called Air Crash
Investigations, which airs on National
Geographic, provides an example of how this
sort of thing can be done really well. |
| |
| This very engrossing programme,
originally telecast in the US as Mayday,
examines various air disasters, ranging from
major ones with hundreds of fatalities to
relatively minor incidents where luck — or a
composed pilot — saved the day. |
| |
| Typically, the first half of the show
recreates what happened (or probably
happened) onboard and the final outcome; the
second half details the post-crash
investigations, attempts at cover-up if any,
the conclusions reached, and how some of
these helped in correcting flaws in aviation
technology or communication, and preventing
further accidents of a similar nature. |
| |
| One might think these two halves would
be incompatible — the first plays like an
exciting feature film of a doomed flight,
unfolding in real time, while the second is
a piece of prosaic procedural work — but, in
fact, they come together extremely well.
|
| |
| Together, they provide many valuable
insights into the working of the aviation
industry, the huge responsibilities on the
shoulders of ground personnel such as
aircraft designers and air-traffic
controllers, the split-second decisions
required by pilots and first officers, and
how important it is for passengers to stay
calm. |
| |
| The producers were probably treading
dangerous ground here (imagine the reactions
of air crash victims’ families if they felt
a show was gratuitous) but the simulation of
the disaster is done with just the right mix
of drama and restraint. |
| |
| It features actors playing the
passengers and the staff, but this is
interspersed with interviews with the
real-life survivors of the incident, which
brings dignity and authenticity to the
project. |
| |
| Air Crash Investigations is a fine
example of dramatisation being put to good
use, gripping enough to hold the viewer’s
attention, but providing valuable
information at the same time. |
