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Posted by susam 9 hours ago

The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)(www.openculture.com)
194 points | 84 commentspage 2
camkego 3 hours ago|
If you look at the start of that episode, there is another crazy thing in there, a device which allows you to "see" the bits on a credit card track.

Apparently something called "magnetic viewing film" can allow you to see the bits on the magnetic stripes of credit cards.

I had never heard about this before.

Link to video time: https://archive.org/details/bbc-connections-1978/Connections...

rbanffy 6 hours ago||
I’d also mention the ascent of the Apollo 17 LM. The camera could be commanded to move up to follow the ascent, but the command had to be given ahead of time, from the MOCR, to coincide with the launch, which was commanded from the LM. The audio from the LM was delayed, as was the video from the camera, and the command would take about a second to reach the camera on the moon.
jurf 6 hours ago||
I wonder if this show is the ”Connections” in “Technology Connections” [1]. I can’t find a reference on it but I wouldn’t be surprised.

[1] https://youtube.com/c/TechnologyConnections

DavidWoof 7 hours ago||
I loved Connections so much as a kid, but I'm so tired of this clip. There's so many better clips from this show.

So he nailed a 13 second countdown. Who cares? Newscasters do this at every commercial break. Sports announcers do this without a script and they still nail the cut to commercial almost every time. Yes, there's a talent to timing your speech to a countdown in your ear, but it's a talent that people do thousands of times a day around the world on far less preparation than Burke had here.

The fact that this article calls a simple cut a "sleight of hand" just terrifies me. Does the public really not know what editing is?

shmeeed 2 hours ago||
I absolutely adore both Burke and the Connections series, and without a doubt this is a lovely shot, but I feel the same: I don't get the hype. It's been memefied to death for no real reason. There's no incredible feat involved. It wasn't a tightrope walk without a net live on air. You can bet they had stand-in footage done before that they could have made a montage of in case Burke stumbled a line.
Joeboy 1 hour ago||
I suppose it's like a magic trick. It's less impressive once you understand how it all works. But still, it's clearly effective and you can admire the artistry.
Joeboy 3 hours ago|||
> Does the public really not know what editing is?

I think most viewers would be unaware of the cut unless it was pointed out. Hence this sequence being called a "shot".

hyperific 5 hours ago||
If it gets someone to watch the show for the first time then that's a win in my book. I think every young student should be exposed to Connections at various stages of their education.
RedShift1 2 hours ago||
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCJh5D0FCZk with the correct aspect ratio
soundworlds 5 hours ago||
James Burke is one of Earth's treasures. Connections is the best docuseries I have ever seen.
slipheen 7 hours ago||
If you haven't seen it, there was a new season of connections made in 2023 as well.

https://www.space.com/connections-with-james-burke-docuserie...

Scroll_Swe 3 hours ago||
I love this back when we where not afraid to exhault our own virtues.
tclancy 1 hour ago|
If that’s what you got from James Burke’s body of work, may be worth a revisit.
Scroll_Swe 1 hour ago||
I have not seen it but compared to today I see a white man mentioning Verner Braun in a positive note.

Made today it would be a woman or MtF person screeching about it and a disclaimer in the beginning.

momo26 6 hours ago|
really miss the time when the documentaries take the audience as audience.
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