In this internetty age of information on demand and lots of it too, it’s often easy to forget the effort that goes in to producing some of the content we take for granted. For example Podcast Bob’s TGO series. I particularly enjoy Cameron McNeish’s Five Minute Mountains, such as Beinn Sgritheall. The music is wonderful and complements the scenery perfectly. When you think about it, the footage must require a fair amount of leg work up and down the hill in places, not to mention carrying the film gear itself.
The first time I saw one I was a bit surprised at the size of the format, as it’s very small and you can’t watch it at a higher resolution as the intrepid adventurer melts into a pixellated landscape but in fact, after watching a few, the size actually works rather well. When you watch a program such as Tir is Teanga, you get full format television, interviews with people on the hill and fantastic scenery in high definition but you’re left feeling slightly isolated from that scenery as the equipment is designed to do just that, isolate the environment and bring the presenter to the focus of the viewer.
In Five Minute Mountains, the small format brings to mind camping in the wilds, catching waves of receding radio reception, emphasising just how remote it can be. The gear doesn’t get in the way. You can hear the wind and almost feel the buffeting on the camera. The format is not weather dependent either and I wanted to reach out and touch those wet summit rocks with the cloud swirling round. It really is a great antidote to the office blues.
Cameron also produces top notch filming such as The Sutherland Trail but I think these small videos, rough at the edges perhaps, work superbly at bringing a real taste of the outdoors to your desktop. So thanks for taking the effort and here’s to lots more!
