Hi Mark et al,
For the first show that was broadcast live back in June 04, the focus presented to us by National Geographic (our client) was the expedition itself as we knew that we were simultaneously capturing footage for the second show which would eventually focus on some of the results of the expedition. So you saw a lot of our host moving about our host NOAA ship, a lot of the ROVs, a little bit of recapping history of the ship and her re-discovery, and the vagaries of a scientific venture (e.g. cranky ROVs) combined with an ongoing TV production. Keep in mind, we were still at sea over the wreck when that show was broadcast so we had to cull from footage that we had very little time to review (had to use only the first three dives)and I am thrilled with what we showed that night.
For the next show which was eventually titled Titanic Revealed, we focused on what the layman may not know about the Titanic Community: the collecting, the auctions, the gatherings/conventions, the salvage vs. preservation argument and how her enduring legacy is as powerful as ever. As a liner collector myself and a burgeoning member of the Community, I was very vocal to my peers about what we needed to show to the die-hard experts and rivet counters. But filmmaking can be a very frustrating avocation as we need to balance the needs of us, the story-tellers, and the clients who better know their audience.
Knowing exactly that what you noted in your letter was equally frustrating to those individuals such as yourself and Ken (HI KEN!) we planned all along to create a couple of extras for the DVD. The audience for this format is much higher than the original broadcast as the NatGeoChannel is still growing and not yet in a large percentage of American households. I remember a wonderful response from Ken when I asked him what he would like to see and I shared that info with the team, and it helped guide my selection. I hope that if you buy the DVD, you will find the gallery of images that were personally chosen by me to be a nice addition to those you may have seen on TV or in Dr. Ballard's book from the expd.
Had there been more time on the DVD, I would have added many many more as there are a great deal from over 100 hours of dive time. There is also a video tour of the wreck with no interviews, no sunsets, no power problems, no camera problems, just the ship and the debris field. We tried to choose all new segments from the dives that were not shown in either show. I hope they can begin to satisfy the desire to see her in all her ROV-lit glory.
Best,
Glenn
