|
The Wrecks of the Battle of Jutland by Innes McCartney; Titanic's Sister - HMS Britannic by Nick Hope and Innes McCartney
The Wrecks of the Battle of Jutland by Innes McCartney; Titanic's Sister - HMS Britannic by Nick Hope and Innes McCartney
Periscope Publishing is a venture by top technical divers Innes McCartney and Nick Hope, designed to take advantage of some of their hard-earned video footage and wreck research.
Both the new Britannic and Jutland wreck videos begin with stirring brass bands and military marches, a nice change from the moody modern instrumentals usually dubbed onto underwater sound tracks.
Though not in the same league as the BBC Natural History Unit's work, the pictures and editing were good enough for me and worked with the dialogue to tell the stories behind both expeditions.
The only area in which both videos are lacking is the narration. It is clearly spoken, but stilted and clunky. It sounds like text written to be read rather than voiced, and contrasts poorly with the nicely spoken interviews.
There is little mention of previous dives at either location, other than reference to Jacques Cousteau locating the Britannic years ago. The Jutland video mentions only in passing that the wrecks have been dived before, though a well-known East Coast liveaboard has been taking divers there for years.
The Britannic video also leaves unmentioned the previous expedition by UK divers - but then, the BBC production featuring the M1 conveniently neglected to admit that Innes McCartney got there first!
Narration apart, I thoroughly enjoyed both videos - more so, in fact, than I have enjoyed many acclaimed TV diving programmes. They contained a good balance of history and diving information and benefited from having been produced by divers for divers.
If sold for broadcast, the narration could no doubt be tidied up to produce some first-class viewing.
John Liddiard
|
| The Wrecks of the Battle of Jutland by Innes McCartney; Titanic's Sister - HMS Britannic by Nick Hope and Innes McCartney. Periscope Publishing (www.periscopepublishing.com) or Underwater World (020 8943 4288). VHS/PAL, 32min & 30min, £14.99 each |
|
|
Archive | 
