Magazine Program Segment

I watched The Great Outdoors on Monday night and choose a segment on Andrew Daddo's visit to the Gallipoli sites. It was a very well made segment. Facts about the places were recited but then Andrew gave some personal reflections on the places, which gave the segment a very personal and emotional feel. At the start there was a brief introduction with a flag superimposed over a shot from the Dardanelles. This was accompanied, as was most of the segment by soft emotive music, reflecting the mood that was trying to be created. Andrew's voice over was also softly spoken with many pauses and silences.

There was a particularly good sequence when Andrew was speaking about the beach and old wartime stock film of the beach was shown then contrasted with a beautiful shot of the beach as it is today with blue water and rich soil tones. During the second part of the segment when an interview with a local was conducted Turkish music was played in the background to help create the mood. Andrew also made a few jokes with the man to lighten the mood and let the Turk give his countries side of the story. The transitions between the shots were mostly long cross-fades to soften the mood and give a graceful effect.

Throughout the segment there was good use of juxtaposition as very sad topics of Australians being killed were discussed while shots were shown of the beautiful landscape contrasted with the memorial and rows upon rows of graves. The segment was also split up into several mini-segments. I believe this was done so that the somber mood of the segment wouldn’t be overwhelming. Instead the viewer would be able to enjoy a few less serious segments before seeing the rest of the ANZAC segment. It was probably also done so that a viewer would have to watch the whole show to see the segment and all the ads in between.