Deadliest Catch

I know a guy who shot for a couple seasons. Based on what he told me, the making of the show is far more exciting than the show itself.
 
Eastside Parkway said:
I know a guy who shot for a couple seasons. Based on what he told me, the making of the show is far more exciting than the show itself.
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Last week they actually aired an episode about the making of the show. Very, very interesting and exciting. My favorite bit was learning how they get the tapes back to land. They toss them in a pelican case, tie a buoy to it and chuck'em overboard!!! The chase boat, which films the shots of the ships, picks them up and takes them back to shore. Looks like extremely dangerous work, and I doubt they are as well compensated as the fisherman are.
 
Oh of course not, different markets entirely! The content being produced isn't nearly as valuable as each crab they pull in. I believe on average each crab is worth about $100.
 
My favorite bit was learning how they get the tapes back to land. They toss them in a pelican case, tie a buoy to it and chuck'em overboard!!!
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I saw that behind the scenes show. I found it more entertaining than the actual show but throwing hours upon hours of footage you risked your life to get into the ocean can't feel good. I'm sure it's safe if they decided that's the best way to do it but it'd still leave me feeling very uneasy.
 
I love that show... and the best episode was the BTS. The camera dudes are taking bigger risks then anybody else. The worst episode was the one where they fake an emergency of a guy falling overboard... really bad move in my opinion. Fortunately with reality TV there's no "jump the shark" moment, because one show can be weak and the very next one great... and the last show is the only one that matters... but when you see the "guy fell overboard" show you'll laugh your ass off at the acting of the panicking captain... and before you say it wasn't fake... notice that you NEVER SEE a guy in the water... EVER... he supposedly falls from the other boat... and they never show the actual fall... and when they pull him up on the other boat... the action STARTS with the guy being helped over the rail... like you could do by stepping ONE foot over it and then facing back towards the boat.

Overall that show kicks ass... I love it! It's pretty cool that they are turning hard-working guys into celebrities also (just cool in an "anything can happen in America" kind of way)... I just don't want them to stage any excitement in a "reality" situation... but I guess other shows do that already... I just expect more from a channel of this caliber.
 
I love that show... and the best episode was the BTS. The camera dudes are taking bigger risks then anybody else. The worst episode was the one where they fake an emergency of a guy falling overboard... really bad move in my opinion. Fortunately with reality TV there's no "jump the shark" moment, because one show can be weak and the very next one great... and the last show is the only one that matters... but when you see the "guy fell overboard" show you'll laugh your ass off at the acting of the panicking captain... and before you say it wasn't fake... notice that you NEVER SEE a guy in the water... EVER... he supposedly falls from the other boat... and they never show the actual fall... and when they pull him up on the other boat... the action STARTS with the guy being helped over the rail... like you could do by stepping ONE foot over it and then facing back towards the boat.
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You think that was faked? If it's the episode I'm thinking off (last season), I don't think that was fake at all and I really don't think the captains would go along with that. These are pretty proud, no nonsense guys. I've seen them on CNN headline news talking about the incident and it seemed really legitimate to me.

And yeah, love the show. Watched it last night. Were a little behind the US discovery so the BTS has yet to air here.
 
I don't think it was faked, but as someone who has worked in reality TV, I'm sure it was exaggerated. The fact that there were no shots of it only means the camera guys missed it for whatever reason.
 
All those camera guys and nobody caught a shot of even water dripping off the dude? How about when the captain is talking into the radio mic and he's shaking his hand back and forth? So the camera is ON the guy that is "about to fall off" and then he tilts down to point the camera at the wave (cam literally swings down to show only water) and the shot cuts... then the other cameraman on deck doesn't use any of the time required to pick up the guy in the water to get in position for the shot of the guy DOWN IN THE WATER... but rather he can only get a shot of the guy once he's got one foot over the rail?

Not fake? If all those guys truly missed all those money shots, then they're over-paid. There's no way you wouldn't get a shot of the guy in the water at any point. Think about it.
 
You realize we weren't debating the reality of the show at large, but just one incident right? I'm not questioning the bad-ass-ness of the entire show and the people involved... I just think we had a one-time case of "let's pump up this episode"... because of all the danger that they talk about.
 
MattinSTL said:
All those camera guys and nobody caught a shot of even water dripping off the dude? How about when the captain is talking into the radio mic and he's shaking his hand back and forth? So the camera is ON the guy that is "about to fall off" and then he tilts down to point the camera at the wave (cam literally swings down to show only water) and the shot cuts... then the other cameraman on deck doesn't use any of the time required to pick up the guy in the water to get in position for the shot of the guy DOWN IN THE WATER... but rather he can only get a shot of the guy once he's got one foot over the rail?

Not fake? If all those guys truly missed all those money shots, then they're over-paid. There's no way you wouldn't get a shot of the guy in the water at any point. Think about it.
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From what my friend has told me, when things like that happen, the camera guys often put down their equipment and do what they can to help save the person. That's probably what happened.
 
Eastside Parkway said:
From what my friend has told me, when things like that happen, the camera guys often put down their equipment and do what they can to help save the person. That's probably what happened.
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I know, seriously, forget the show. Do you want to be the camerman who let some guy die which you otherwise could have helped save in lieu of getting the great "money shot"? Not me. That would be pretty sad.

If I were in the water about to die and the camera man were just sitting there filming when he could have been saving, if I made it through, I would go smash him and his camera to pieces.
 
From what my friend has told me, when things like that happen, the camera guys often put down their equipment and do what they can to help save the person. That's probably what happened.
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I don't see a camera man just sitting there filming a guy drowning. I'm sure he was over at the rail with the rest of the guys, trying to get him in.

You realize we weren't debating the reality of the show at large, but just one incident right? I'm not questioning the bad-ass-ness of the entire show and the people involved... I just think we had a one-time case of "let's pump up this episode"... because of all the danger that they talk about.
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Yeah, I know.

I still think it was real though.

In the interview I saw with the two brothers/captains, they said it was one of the proudest moments they've had fishing. They've written a book and heres a bit I found about them saving the guy:

Balancing out that story is the tale of rescuing Josh White, a crewman on the F/V Trail Blazer who fell into the sea while working a stack of pots six high. Andy said it's his favorite part of the book.
"That was the coolest thing in the world," he said. "That was the most awesome thing."
The Time Bandit was right by and the crew jumped into action at the man overboard alarm. Homer crewman Russell Newberry got into a survival suit and into the sea. Johnathan maneuvered the Bandit close to White. Younger Hillstrand brother Neal also the ship's engineer threw a life ring to White. Newberry got close to White and put the ring around him, and with Andy at the crane controls, they pulled him to safety.
"'My Mom thanks you; my Grandma thanks you; my girlfriend thanks you. You saved my life,'" White said in the book.
"I was puffing hard with adrenaline," Johnathan writes. "'Last time that happened, we pulled a dead guy out of the water.'
"Andy said, 'Not this time, huh, John?' "No, this time we got him.'"
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I think Deadliest Catch is at least more real than a lot of reality shows. They pump up the drama and danger, no doubt, but I think that there is a lot of drama and danger in what these guys are doing. If you compare it to other "reality" television shows, in many cases they're creating drama and conflict, not just pumping it up. Top Chef is a prime example of this, with the camera capturing worried and serious looks combined with ominous music, as if the whole world was going to come to an end if the guy's soup doesn't come out right.
 
This whole direction started because all I said was that ONE EVENT in the entire show shouldn't have been "done"... otherwise I like the show and agree that yes, it is very dangerous and therefore interesting... and it's a great show!

Were you guys the same people arguing with me that nothing in Man v Wild was staged... because if you search "Man v. Wild" you'll see that I predicted the future, but everybody else insisted that the guy was drinking his own pee, etc.

I've worked a fair bit of run 'n gun... and your logic goes against every journalistic reality. The shot is on a guy that appears to be hanging off the other boat... and then the camera tilts down as you hear somebody say he fell in... meanwhile he's on a boat 300' away (full zoom)... so it was going to take 5 minutes to get to him... and none of the cameramen could shoot for 2 MORE SECONDS to show that the guy did, in fact, fall in the water?

It's not a matter of human compassion... that explanation doesn't even make sense or I guess no unfortunate event should have ever been filmed because the cameramen should have dropped the cam as soon as a bad event began unfolding. There's a reason why 95% of "bad events" are filmed and 5% are missed... the 5% may have special circumstances OR they're crappy cameramen... car crashes, motorcycle crashes, sporting mishaps, any news event of human drama of any kind... basically think of the entire series of videos that are based on capturing THAT moment (videos that I don't patronize)... so it's ridiculous to say that not one, but a CREW of cameramen, hired to shoot dramatic events on a boat... would ALL miss ANY ACTUAL SHOTS of the most dramatic event that ever happened on the show... and even if we want to accept that insane premise... what of the FIXED CAMS that are on the boat? There's one right off the captains window that shows the whole area that the guy was hoisted up on, which of course we never saw happen.

It's not an issue of emotions in that split second... it's being a professional, or not. If you can't do anything for 5 minutes and you set the camera down in a panic... um, "fired". I think if anything you're selling those cameramen short.

Maybe they re-enacted it? So by that interview not only did the one guy end up in the water... but others? And we never see ANY shots of ANYBODY down in the water?... and I'm a jerk for thinking that's odd?
 
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You're wrong. Did you ever see the Everest IMAX film? Ever wonder why they never got any shots of the storm that made the film so famous? It's because they packed away their equipment and provided help for the climbers stuck in the storm.

It's hard to imagine unless you've been in the situation. When I was shooting in Tanzania a few years ago we had an emergency and I stopped shooting to help out in any way I could. I didn't get any footage in the end but I don't regret it because we got out of the situation safely.
 
Does anyone know when the making of the show is going to air again?

I'd really like to see it.
 
This whole direction started because all I said was that ONE EVENT in the entire show shouldn't have been "done"... otherwise I like the show and agree that yes, it is very dangerous and therefore interesting... and it's a great show!

Were you guys the same people arguing with me that nothing in Man v Wild was staged?
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I'm not saying that you think the whole show is fake, I'm just disagreeing with you that this particular issue is faked. Who knows, maybe it is, but IMO I don't think it is. Nobody is a jerk for thinking either way.

Also Man Vs Wild is the most real show there is.:)

Seriously though, before it came out that he wasn't actually camping out and catching all of these animals, I new it was fake, there is no way someone just wonders upon a dead deer in the middle of the woods that's in perfect condition, or sets up a few snares and immediately catches a rabbit.

You want a real survival show, Les Strouds Survivorman is fantastic.

You can check out the BTS episode here - http://www.surfthechannel.com/info/...3766/Behind+The+Scenes+Special.html?aid=48693
 
Here's the only video I could find... and it's crap... but it's good enough to prove the point... I'm always surprised that guys who make video can be so easily fooled by video. This happens all the time though... people think Kobe jumps over speeding cars and 14 year old girls make catches that the best major league player couldn't make... or casually kick soccer balls 75 yards through donut signs... so I don't know why this always surprises me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXXtMIgmc8Y

As you'll notice... there's PLENTY of opportunity to get the shot... there's no "hey I gotta' set the cam down to help" moment... do you think it was that important to get a good long shot of the guy slipping on a suit? Or running down the stairs... or the captain's long looks of concern... or adjusting the throttle? Um... maybe stick the cam back to the window again and get a quickie of a bobbing head in the water? Watch from 1:00 to 3:00 or so... case closed... cameras were running, but the shots didn't actually show "the story"... as we say in the industry. The guy in the water... that's the story.
 
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