I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with mainstream television, especially when it comes to survival style programmes.
The standard format from what I can see is one of the following:
1) Get an expert to talk you through how they would survive in a particular environment, but editing it in such a way that you only see the gory bits or the finished products.
2) Grab a group of numpties who know nothing about survival and try to produce something that makes even the most placid person scream at the television as they witness utter stupidity.
3) An obviously set up environment where everything is provided, but its fun to poke the people involved for the entertainment of the masses.
Well... I personally am tired of it. I want to see something real, something a bit more gritty and true to life. Leigh survived a night with nothing but a knife and bravely (in my view) posted up a video of the entire experience, including when he was a tad overwhelmed when fire finally happened for him. It was fascinating to watch and really kept me gripped because I wanted to know what happened next.
So, question is, a new programme called Project Survive. What format would you have it in? How would you like to see it play out?
I personally would like to see Project Survive being a completely silent film other than the noises of nature... much in the same way as the recent Owen Bush documentary covered his knife making. A group of 4 people, separated out into different environments and the camera trained on their efforts to survive. It would be fascinating to watch how each tackled their environment, what they chose as a priority and more importantly, how active each person was with their will to survive. Who wins? The viewer.... the viewer gets to see true survival with no frills and with no conclusions drawn about how each participant did, it is left to the viewer to decide what they take from it.
And I know, I'm probably dreaming here, but maybe some bored producer one day may stumble on ideas posted here, and we may actually get a decent survival series that gives the viewer something to think about.
The standard format from what I can see is one of the following:
1) Get an expert to talk you through how they would survive in a particular environment, but editing it in such a way that you only see the gory bits or the finished products.
2) Grab a group of numpties who know nothing about survival and try to produce something that makes even the most placid person scream at the television as they witness utter stupidity.
3) An obviously set up environment where everything is provided, but its fun to poke the people involved for the entertainment of the masses.
Well... I personally am tired of it. I want to see something real, something a bit more gritty and true to life. Leigh survived a night with nothing but a knife and bravely (in my view) posted up a video of the entire experience, including when he was a tad overwhelmed when fire finally happened for him. It was fascinating to watch and really kept me gripped because I wanted to know what happened next.
So, question is, a new programme called Project Survive. What format would you have it in? How would you like to see it play out?
I personally would like to see Project Survive being a completely silent film other than the noises of nature... much in the same way as the recent Owen Bush documentary covered his knife making. A group of 4 people, separated out into different environments and the camera trained on their efforts to survive. It would be fascinating to watch how each tackled their environment, what they chose as a priority and more importantly, how active each person was with their will to survive. Who wins? The viewer.... the viewer gets to see true survival with no frills and with no conclusions drawn about how each participant did, it is left to the viewer to decide what they take from it.
And I know, I'm probably dreaming here, but maybe some bored producer one day may stumble on ideas posted here, and we may actually get a decent survival series that gives the viewer something to think about.
to say nothing about the subs.
