Why slow TV deserves our (divided) attention
As SBS’ slow TV continues, Aaron Burton considers what it all means for our fast-paced media landscape in this crossposting from The Conversation.
SBS’ suite of slow TV programs, “Slow Summer”, arrived at a fortuitous time in our annual media trajectory, when we were briefly relieved of the busyness plaguing our lives.
On the back of last year’s successful trip on The Ghan, SBS commissioned Sydney-based Mint Pictures to produce two more journeys, The Indian Pacific: Australia’s Longest Train, and The Kimberley Cruise: Australia’s Last Great Wilderness. The programs were each three hours long on SBS. Longer versions (17 and 14 hours respectively) screened on SBS’s Viceland channel.
Others airing are BBC Four’s All Aboard! The Canal Trip (a mere two hours), and North to South, a three-hour, Tolkien inspired, multiple vehicle journey through New Zealand’s Middle-earth.
Those monotonous shots of the Ghan would attract more viewers if there could be captions of where you are and what you are looking at. On the international flight screen on an aircraft at last they flick to a route map that shows your location. Can’t be hard to do. Have a camera that shows the name of the town on the platform. Can’t be hard to do