 |
For every hobby, every recreational activity enjoyed by more than a handful of individuals, you're going to find people making web sites and people making videos. As a hobby grows so does the prevalence of media & documentation about it, and with the help of the Internet, R/C videos are now as easy to come by as hopups for your favorite stadium truck.
I've seen probably a dozen amateur and pro-level VHS creations made over the course of the past 15 years, and the range of production quality and sheer entertainment value available is extremely wide, from stitched-together backyard bashing flicks to carefully coordinated event coverage from major championship races. Very solidly into the latter category do the two DVD's pictured above from Ray Wood R/C Videos fall.
The videos are distributed on DVD discs, but play as flat VCD's -- no fancy menus, deleted scenes our ottakes. That's okay, though, because less time spent on fluff means more time spent on the good stuff. The footage is all shot on high-quality camcorders with very good resolution and fast autofocus. And yes, I did say camcorders, plural. Every race is covered with what looks like at least 4 cameras, including at two following every moment of the action and at least two mounted on tripods, trained towards the more interesting corners. The moving cams are operated extremely well -- there's no jerking and you don't feel like you're going to die of motion sickness while watching. There are smooth zooms, good coverage of pit stops, and crisp, clean cuts. Graphics are thrown up on to the screen at regular intervals during the long races to give you context, and you get to listen to the race announcer for narration, with Ray Wood splicing in his own voiceovers on occasion to cover lead changes, crashes and retirements.
Before & after specific race events you're treated to copious and gratuitous slow-mo shots of crashes and pro drivers either goofing off or being all too serious in the pits. The coverage is well-rounded and you do get a good, realistic feeling of the atmosphere. The main narrative voiceover track, though, comes off rather flat, unemotional, and even forced. This is definitely the biggest detractor to me in both DVD's. The video could be an order of magnitude more exciting with a good narrator (or two) who watches a lot of ESPN or Speed Channel to spice it up. The musical overlays used seem rather dated, as well.
In all, these DVD's give you good bang for the buck. The work and skill that went into setting up and operating the cameras is unmatched in the R/C field and the editing work is also no joke. I'd like to give them an A for effort, but the uninspiring audio work forces me to hold back just a notch.
Ray Wood R/C videos are distributed by Venom Racing in the US and are also available direct from RayWoodRCVideos.com.