On 4/5/2013 5:19 PM, Tom Fine wrote:
>
> As for Jazz, WWII and the National Parks, totally agree with all the
> criticisms, and I couldn't even plow through the ones after Jazz. Jazz
> was so infuriating that I admit a morbid fascination compelling me to
> watch each night, to see how angry it could make me with the
> over-simplifications, the distortions and the misrepresentations.
>
> Regarding slow panning over photographs, it was one of the first
> studio-camera techniques detailed in my standard-issue textbook for
> making public-access cable shows in the 1980s, so it was completely
> established and hackneyed by the time Burns started making productions
> for PBS.
If, like Tom and many of the rest of us, you've had it up to here with
Ken Burns documentaries, keep your eyes peeled for "The Battle of Pussy
Willow Creek" by *Grace* Burns, about a hitherto-unexplored battle that
saved the Union. It's a brilliant send-up of the Ken Burns style. I
particularly recommend the songs, mostly by the unknown composer Collin
Stephens. (He's unknown because the film-maker invented him.) Wendy Jo
Cohen, the actual film-maker, did a bang-up job on all aspects of this
movie. She's working out distribution now.
Peace,
Paul
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