The state of video on TV

I'm not much of a sleeper so I tend to be up early each morning. On the weekends I will come down stairs and watch one of the several hunting stations that Direct TV offers. I have to say several are in poor shape. I've been running a camera in the woods for about 5 years now and while I'm not Big George or Waddell, I'm still better than some of these clowns. Since early spring I've seen some of the worst camera work out there. It gets me to thinking how in the world some of these folks end up on these shows. It's not cheap to start up a show. There is a lot of money and work that goes into it. So it surprises me even more when I see this. I've seen things like the camera man and hunter get in a wrestling match in a blind and knock it over while on the hunt. I've seen the camera man start talking to the hunter during the shot. Here a few days ago I saw the camera man startle and bump the camera when the hunter pulled the trigger and miss the camera shot then tell the shooter to hit him again all the while he never bothered to put the camera on the animal as the guy took two more shots. Then I got dizzy trying to watch as they went to retrieve the animal and the camera guy had the camera ALL over the place. I've seen some of the worst bow shots in history and the hunter starts celebrating like he shot a 200 inch at 60 yards and double lunged it. Don't get me wrong, there are several fantastic shows out there but there are also some folks running camera for some other shows that looked like they got a call the night before and had never done it before. That kind of video work is fine if you are filming for the fun of it and to show to your buddies but there really seems to be a real lack of pride in what's being shot out there. I know everyone wants to be in front of the camera but there is something to be said about taking a lot of pride in the work being done behind the camera. I can honestly say that I never mind running camera for someone. It's every bit as hard as what the hunter is doing and then some cause your have to get the right shot on every animal that comes in and not just the shooters plus you have so much more to take care of and check. I certainly would like to see more pride taken in camera work. And if you know someone out there that has a show or hunts on a show and they are doing this then give them my contact info and I'll film for them and get it right. Here are a few shows that I've seen great camera work. Some of them are the big time shows like you would expect and a few are not. If you like the show or not is one thing but they do good camera work and that's just as important as getting in the right stand.

Crush
Bone Collector
Archer's Choice
Whitetail Freaks
Road Trips
Beyond the Hunt
All the Drury shows are done well
Eastons show with Fred Eichler is great.
Preditor Pursuit
Arrow affliction is done very well.
Duck Commander
She Outdoors beyond the lodge
Jim Shockey's show is fantastic as well


HOw about some of these other shows stop worrying about getting their mug on camera and start worrying about getting it right

Thats a good write up Robert. I totally understand what you are saying...

Yeah,I agree with that.I'm getting to the point where I hardly ever watch the Outdoor Channel or VS.Not to say there aren't any good shows on there,I still like to watch the Drury's.I've been buying DVD's from some guys at hunting shows and most of them are done pretty good,it's nice to watch something different.Still looking forward to getting Abnaki's video sometime.I just finished watching one from Team Harvest,it was pretty good.

[quote="LawCoBowhunter"]Still looking forward to getting Abnaki's video sometime.

Got out this morning and shot some footage for the video.

I agree with Robert there is some shotty work displayed on some of these shows.

Dave wrote:

Thats a good write up Robert. I totally understand what you are saying...

Yep, same here.

Watched a new show the other day that I'd like to add to the list of watchable shows. It's called "The Season with Justin Martin". I don't really know who Justin is but from watching the show I understand that he is a big time 3D shooter. The show is done well and looks interesting. Justin has a regular job and family and hunts for the love and passion of it. Just kind of reminds me of who we all are. If you get a chance look it up and give it a go. Looks like it's gonna be a good one