Visualize This American Life
This American Life is a wonderfully quirky radio program (listen here) that I have enjoyed off and on for several years. By chance I found out that the now radio show is being turned into a television show, to be airing on Showtime.Click here for a delightful video sample.
Ira Glass, the show's host, appears to be as nerdy as I imagine him when listening to his choppy, observational voice. The show's logo treatment is wonderfully simple and fresh. What intrigues me the most, however, is the way that the show is shot. Keeping the storyteller role and staying true to his radio roots, each story seems to be told with voice over beautifully composed images. It seems to be a really nice way to keep what radio fans love about the show (the quirky storytelling, mixed with odd music and a focus on the truth of American's oddball lives) with a visual surprise - National Geographic quality video that explores the subject matter, but not by dramatization.
I'm really looking forward to this new offering. Now, I only wish I was able to get Showtime :-(
Labels: radio, television
2 Comments:
I agree, Ben. This American Life is a great show. I can't stand Ira Glass' nasaly, whiny voice, though. But the stories are so good, that I'll put up with it. Why can't they find a good voice for it? Would that kill the appeal? Or enhance it?
Well, at this point, Ira's voice is part of the This American Life brand. It's weird because you can't fault him for his voice, and it's been highly successful on radio–and if a voice can be successful there, well it seems hard to argue that it should be changed.
There are other voices on the show, and they seem to be a little easier on the ear. For me the thing that always bothered me… was the short, choppy nature… of his sentences. It always seems that he… finishes the sentence… two words before it's actually over.
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