Survivorman’s Wilderness Survival

If you haven’t already, tune in to the Science channel on Wednesday nights(schedule) and catch an episode of Survivorman. Les Stroud gets drop off alone – yep, that means no camera crew. He carries an estimated 50 pounds of camera equipment with him through the wilderness.

What makes Survivorman so entertaining is he films the whole show by himself. This breaks away from the other make believe survival shows (such as Man Vs. Wild) where you are fully aware that the lone hero is actually support by a full crew is behind the lens.

Not Les. Some of the most endearing moments are scenes where he walks away from the camera (to get the proverbial antagonist walking into the wilderness shot). Because at those moments, the viewer are made aware the Les will have to come back and pick up the camera.

And this really relates to my previous post about audience getting smarter. In the age of YouTube, the authentic can be more convincing than the constructed. In the world of perfect CG and special effects, bad attempts to a proximity of reality is never as convincing as simply to film it.

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