I finally got to see the official FITA DVD for Athens 2004 recently, and was pretty impressed.
The DVD has three sections:
- Main Feature
- 82 Minute Extended Feature
- Technical Aspects
The Main Feature is a relatively short piece (30 minutes-ish) that summarises the 2004 Athens Olympic archery events in a Trans-Worldish style. It concentrates on the competition aspects of the event, detailing the progress of the various competitors and the surprises and upsets. There are some wonderful shots of arrows in flight, too. Good viewing -- this should be broadcast, since it would make a good advert for the sport.
The 82 Minute Extended Feature is the best part. This spends a lot more camera time on the competitors executing their shots, making it possible to analyse their form and execution. This is full of surprises. Many of the top archers have what appear to be form and execution errors. They're probably not really errors, since they get excellent results, so it shows that there's more than one way to shoot a bow properly. It's also interesting to see where the top archers drop points.
This section does a good job of humanising the competitors -- even the Korean women come across as real humans, rather than the robots they appeared to be on the TV coverage. It's hard to watch the British competitors being beaten again, though it's always a pleasure to watch Alison Williamson winning bronze. And it's amusing to hear GT saying "That's a bullseye!"
The Technical Aspects section is a disappointment, since the technical aspects it's concerned with are those of camera placement! Oh well.
11-07-06, 11:12 AM
Linear Mode
