Re: when dinos ruled

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

(Posted for Jeff Hecht and cleared through me as being relevant
to our scientific discussion of dinosaurs.  Mary)

Dan Varner wrote:

>  One of the larger problems with these documentaries as time has gone by is
>a kind of cult of personality that has developed. Perhaps the old Rolodex is
>getting worn out. I think more time should be spent in informed and intimate
>study of the fossils themselves, using all the technical tools and marvelous
>photographic techniques available.
>  I would like to see more scenes like those of a great veteran
>paleontologist like John Ostrom lovingly do a show-and-tell of one of his
>great finds. Please, less shots of guys getting into trucks, driving trucks,
>getting out of trucks, walking, walking and looking cool, etc.

AMEN! I wonder if the problem is that the camera types and producers are
all new to this, so they're having fun taking pictures of the human action
that they haven't seen before. That stuff gets old fast. On the other hand,
the scenery is often worthwhile. What's great, but hard, is when you find
the right angle for shots like the one I had published in Earth of Brooks
Britt's group on top of a Utah mountain digging mid-Cretaceous dinosaurs,
with the setting sun bringing out the color highlights and white-topped
mountains in the background.

A program of
>paleolife artists like Greg Paul, Brian Franczak, Doug Henderson etc., etc,
>discussing their art and research and the reseachers they work with would be
>FABULOUS! And inexpensive to produce! Good God, there's a world of things one
>could put into a documentary. That's why it's depressing to see the same
>imagry, sound effects,and same people over and over again. Get Jeff Hecht or
>Jane Davidson to come up with something different for cryin' out loud.

I'm flattered. But what's really needed is storytelling capability, and
some of these documentary makers are supposed to have that. I think "How do
you build a dinosaur" would be great, with a few artists taking the viewers
step by step from incomplete fossils to a full painting, drawing or
sculpture. Then switch to some of the scientists to tell what they see
happening.

For that matter, I'd like to see something taken from a few other than the
American ethnocentric one. The Chinese dinobird fossil beds would be
wonderfully exotic. Follow a couple of the farmers showing the spots they
discovered. Bring in the Chinese paleontologists. Make it a CHINESE story,
with a few comments from the Americans. And do the same for the Argentine
finds. Let's hear accented english and translations, and see the insides of
the Chinese and Argentine institutions.

I may be learning more about the documentary business; a documentary maker
wants to do a documentary based on my history of fiber optics, CITY OF
LIGHT, but he has yet to contact me.



Jeff Hecht     Boston Correspondent    New Scientist magazine
525 Auburn St.,          Auburndale, MA 02466             USA
tel 617-965-3834 fax 617-332-4760 e-mail jhecht@world.std.com
URL: http://www.sff.net/people/Jeff.Hecht/
see New Scientist on the Web: http://www.newscientist.com/