Tuesday 12 January 2016

What was so right with Russia's War and Peace Slow TV - война и мир?


russia.tv
Oh those Russians. Two things Russia has produced in the past year have really impressed me. Assuming readers are familiar with a certain notable annual song competition, in May 2015 you may recall a first half of the vote announcements of the Eurovision Song Contest as a slog-it-out between Russia and Sweden. 

The second half of the votes saw Sweden surge ahead and take the top spot from Polina Gagarina. I think it was more the cute Swedish guy and endearing animation which helped the song win. Polina’s belting out of a power ballad got my vote last year, and would you not agree that this year’s competition would have had a lot of additional interesting dynamics if Moscow had been hosting Eurovision 2016?

So, Russia’s 2015 Eurovision entry, A Million Voices, came second - but later in the year about 1,300 voices participated in a monumental Russian Slow TV transmission. In December, Russia 1, Russia Kultur and Radio Mayak broadcast a live, real time reading of Tolstoy's War and Peace. It represented the very best of what a Slow TV broadcast can achieve. 

While its subject wasn't the progressive linear journey through a pretty landscape or watching a craft activity pass in front of the camera, it was like NRK's 60 hour continuous sing-through of the 899 Hymns of the Norwegian Hymn Book in 2014. It was the celebration of literature with national resonance which framed a Slow TV broadcast with such punch.


Here are nine things I think are so RIGHT with Russia’s War and Peace Slow TV.

A SENSE OF COMPLETENESS


voinamir.com - Война и мир - Читаем роман
It was a complete work, all the way through, no edits. No cutting out less interesting bits. The parts less racey, less dramatic helped give definition and greater meaning to the dramatic parts. The whole thing, a self defined work independent of anyone’s thinking ‘this is too long, we must shorten it’.

SOMETHING WHICH EXISTS INDEPENDENTLY OF TV PRODUCTION


It was a work which existed independently of the production, not devised for it. Whether or not the production had happened, the work is there. This means that there's an audience, there's an interest in what is related by the TV cameras before the TV cameras get involved. Yes, it was assembled into a TV broadcast but was not contrived into being as a 'new' idea for TV. Unlike other reality formats which contrive and fix a subject or activity for a broadcast, the book exists aside and before a production company brings it to the screen.

IT WAS GIVEN AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO DO IT


It was given as long as it was needed on a TV broadcast (as well as the internet and radio). It was not truncated, abridged, edited to make it shorter so it would fit a scheduled regular slot on TV. By disrupting the usual broadcasting schedule it communicates that it is not usual broadcasting.

IT WAS GIVEN A PRIME TIME MAIN CHANNEL FOCUS


voinamir.com - Война и мир - Читаем роман
The broadcaster accommodated it prime time on principal channels as well as a specialised channel and online. With its main focus being verbal content - the reading of the book - radio accommodated it too. Yes, online viewing is significant in today’s broadcast landscape but consuming media on a main TV channel on primetime is still the thing which make a large number of people think ‘this is important’.

IT WAS SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO A LOT OF THE AUDIENCE


It was something culturally and historically significant for the country which broadcast it. Tolstoy’s War and Peace is cherished and embraced as something which captures the essence of national pride and identity. People care about it and are deeply interested in the broadcast. It wasn't in itself a novelty but something which matters, presented in a novel manner.


IT WAS PARTICIPATORY


voinamir.com - Война и мир - Читаем роман
It was participatory. Russians famous and not famous, Russians around the world and across the country, able bodied, disabled, blind, uniformed, un-uniformed, military, civilian, religious and spiritual, in palaces, on the street, in the space station, in the arctic. In all about 1,300 representing every aspect of Russian diversity and perceived nationhood participated.

IT ALLOWED ENOUGH TIME FOR VIEWERS TO SEARCH THE PICTURE THEMSELVES


It may not have been ‘ambient’ wallpaper like natural scenery, but allowed three minutes or so of each reader, their context, location, sometimes more when several readers were in the location. You become aware of the immediate story of that person while reading their page, and over many readers, a much bigger story. 


voinamir.com - Война и мир - Читаем роман
There were opportunities to view what was going on around or behind the reader - the natural landscape, the city landmarks, the human activity, the museum exhibits, the historic environment. So much to take in, even if you don't know what the reader is saying.

IT WAS A TV EVENT

It created a sense of an event, an attention grabbing but significant novelty. Too much and too frequent, the novelty becomes annoying or ignored. A balance of the above factors, it is a meaningful distraction from the typical TV schedule - and like important national events or major sporting events - it is accommodated entirely and even disrupting scheduled broadcasts after it.


IT WAS A CELEBRATION OF MORE THAN A TV PROGRAMME

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It was a celebration - of reading, of a book, of a country, of history, of identity, of places, of diversity.

I hardly understood a word of it. I knew "Mir" before (thanks, space travel). I understood "Niet, Natasha" (which seemed to be said a lot). Without knowing much about Russia, except what a diet of Western Media and an occasional foray on to Russia Today when your own domestic broadcaster becomes overly repetitive, I got a wider idea of Russia. Its diversity.

I saw palaces, museums, landscapes, cities (other than Moscow), even learnt a few characters of the Cyrillic alphabet. I got an interest in learning more about Tolstoy's tremendous tome (how convenient that a BBC drama of War and Peace of it registered on the TV schedule horizon shortly afterwards).

voinamir.com - Война и мир - Читаем роман
Most of all, I felt this was a broadcast that nails the benchmark of a masterful Slow TV broadcast as well the best of the Norwegian NRK Slow TV broadcasts to date - something audiences and broadcasters can learn from as more countries begin dabbling with Slow TV. It's not something to dabble with. It's something to take a big, calculated, well produced run, jump and plunge. Slow TV represents a genus of TV format which can be odd and quirky, a nice visual trip. It can be an attention grabbing benevolent broadcasting behemoth. It can be that novelty wallpaper TV but it can be a national celebration which many feel compelled to watch.

LINKS FOR WAR AND PEACE


"War and Peace - We Read the Novel" was broadcast live online HERE with archived segments available, with some segments falling on Russia 1 (Россия 1and Russia K (Россия К - dedicated culture channel also featuring material about War and Peace) and Radio Mayak (Радиомаяк). Look for the hashtag "#войнаимир" on social media.

Slow Television - The Slow TV Blog



1 comment:

  1. Check my War&Peace Themed week on the blog!

    www.pastiche.today/blog/?tag=War+and+Peace+Week

    ReplyDelete