According to the video jacket, "this non-verbal series uses spectacular cinematography to look at everyday things from unique and surprising perspectives." So, for example, What Is...a Stream? shows us rather unspectacular and unsurprising footage of the surface of a stream...for nearly four minutes. Although the audience is supposed to "guess" the subject (and this would seem to be a rather easy one that even the post-graduate students on the recommended audience of "K-12, College, Adult" could get), "stream" would actually be rather hard to determine, since we're shown only flowing water close-up, always out of context (without any of the other wondrous facets below the surface which combine to make a stream). If you think that one's tricky, wait till you try What Is...a Garden?, which asks us to infer "garden" from a series of unmemorable shots of parts of flowers. Too, the "natural sounds" that "enhance the beauty and mystery of the piece" included--unless my hearing aid is in serious need of a tune-up--a lot of distracting unnatural human-made sounds. For what it's worth, the other shorts (each of which, incidentally, is available separately for $59 per) are rather unimaginatively stuck in a general architectural rut, examining walls, fences, windows, and doors. Overall, I suspect that like-minded kindergartners, college freshmen, and grandparents will join me in pronouncing these mental exercises in perception to be both totally bogus and totally boring. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: E, P. (R. Pitman)
What Is...? Series
(1999) 24 min. $225. Bullfrog Films. PPR. Color cover. ISBN: 0-7722-1023-3. Vol. 16, Issue 1
What Is...? Series
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