Visually Stunning Television

TV has got good. Really good. Not all of it of course, but two pieces of TV I've seen recently have been truly stunning.

My daughter is 10. There isn't much that we can both watch and enjoy. Thankfully she thinks as much of Honey G as I do, and there is only so much canned laughter of the American teen "comedy" shows I can take.

But Planet Earth 2 had us both totally gripped. To be honest, Natural History isn't her genre of choice, but I thought I'd take a punt and persuaded her to give me five minutes.

Two hours later, we'd sat through Mountains and Islands, with not a word said other than "wow", "ooh", "aah", and "run!!!" as the lizards out-ran the Racer snakes. It was truly compelling viewing.

Extraordinary storytelling, unique footage and amazing image quality made it truly engrossing.

The audio is first class too, with great care given to this art to build the narrative.

She likened the snakes vs lizards scene to something from a Harry Potter film, such was the sinister Nagini-esque stealth with which they hunted their prey.

We now have a pact not to watch the series without the other, and I can't wait until next week.

So – TV at its best. Enthralling, compelling, and educational. Great work BBC and all those involved.

The most hyped TV show of the year, and maybe of any year, arrived during this week. And that too was truly staggering. True, the “Top-Gear-on-steroids” Grand Tour changed little of the formula that has worked so well for so long. It just got Amazonified beyond belief.

In a maelstrom of acronyms, GT had 4K, HDR, HFR and OMG it was stunning viewing. Visually superb, and what TV can be, if you have the budget, and really, really good camera operators.

I felt inspired and excited to be working in an industry that delivered such quality experiences.

I know this has nothing to do with finance... that's how much I loved these shows!!

Article by Duncan Payne, Regional Director, Azule Finance.

T: 01753 580 500 | E: [email protected] | W: www.azule.co.uk

This article is also available to read at BFV online here, page 47.

(JP)