OT-ish: Editing in new Tommy Lee show

filmy wrote on 8/16/2005, 11:26 AM
So here is todays "lesson plan" - for those who can watch the new Tommy Lee "reality" show tonight. I will be curious what people think about it and if the editing is good or bad, or just a bit too misleading, and if so, is that good editing?

They have been hyping this for almost a year now - how Tommy Lee wanted to go back to college and how he did (From October 2004 - read about his first days here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6205694/) and it seemed he was going back to school. But the thing is all he really did was do what any of us can do - freely go in and evaluate classes. I undertstand they pop up a disclaimer to this fact but it got me thinking about all the disccusions we have here about editing and that this show might be a good one to watch to see how they present it. I mean the entire concept is reflected in the show title Tommy Lee Goes to College So will the editing make it seem like he was *really* going to college? Will it make it look like he was *really* living in a dorm? If it does, forget about the disclaimer(s) for a moment, than this might be a great example on how to do really "good" misleading editing..."reality" style / documentary style /GW style...err...I mean political style.

There is no reason behind my post other than, as someone who edits, I am curious to how others will see this. Sort of in the same vein of how many people truly thought "Blair Witch Project" was real.

Comments

B.Verlik wrote on 8/16/2005, 12:53 PM
Sorry, but I need money to watch anything Tommy Lee is in. I may check out the editing of the Pamela Anderson Roast though.
winrockpost wrote on 8/16/2005, 2:02 PM
TV , sometimes I'm so proud to be a small part of it.
beerandchips wrote on 8/16/2005, 4:25 PM
"Television is called a medium becuase it is neither rare nor well done"

This is posted in my suite.

Don't know the author but it is pretty much true.

filmy wrote on 8/16/2005, 7:39 PM
Well..hmmm. First thing is the disclaimer zaps by at the end of the show in a lower third manner in true TV style...so fast you can only read the first few words. Only There for legal reasons no doubt or else it would have been full screen at the head of the show.

Editing - yeah, I goota say typical "reality" TV but if you didn't know it you would think he was really enroled in the classes and really living on campus in a dorm so on that level the editing was pretty good. Clearly it is edited to give a campy feel, complete with an over-serious but campy narrator. I have to say the "best" part was when Tommy and roomate are doing laundry and the roomie asks about Pam...which leads to an offhand comment, by the roomie, about the sex tape. Tommy is noticably uneasy and laughs and changes the subject to the laundry and asks "How ****ing long is this gonna take?" Another good moment is when one of the drum/band leaders says asks "This guy is a rock star???" when Tommy just can't keep up with the drum routine.

Overall I jujst want to see the raw footage because it is a pretty lame show - and I get the impression there wasn't much to work with as Tommy was not really "going to college". I can see the meeting after the shoot wrapped - "Ok, this footage sucks. How do we cut this?" "We can show all the girls and partys." "No the school would never be happy with that" "We can play it serious" "No Tommy would never go for that because he looks like an idiot" "We can play up things so it makes it seem funny" "Yeah...go on..." "Well say we play up things to make them seem funny and we cover up the fact he wasn't really in school" "I like everything but the last part, we need people to believe he is really going back to school...we better get legal in on this."
TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/16/2005, 9:47 PM
hahaha... love that faux conversation at the end. :)

Speaking of college & college-like editing, I just got back from QuakeCon 2005 (www.quakecon.org) & did some interviews & stuff (and currently editing!) and gotta say... it reminds me of a normal college weekend, except that had 6000 people & my college had 3500. :)